East Street Arts
‘Space’ can mean merely an expansive area or a big black thing with stars in it, but there is one fundamental element that remains the same: space gives room for manoeuvre.
At Patrick Studios in Leeds, the space relates to art-related manoeuvres. Here, you can find a writer working in a self-contained studio next to an artist, next to a filmmaker. Like the fizz of angry electricity you can feel when you walk into a room after an argument, the space here buzzes with creative sparks. It’s like a pleasant form of tinnitus: the background hum of endeavour. The bumper cars of ideas move around and collide amicably in the respite-from-the-world space of the studios. Simply knowing that there’s a huddle of creative people working within the studios is inspiration enough. You think, ‘If the artist crafting sculptures from doors can spark with ideas, and the filmmaker editing short stories can concentrate on story telling, then why can’t I?’
Karen Watson is the artistic director and co-founder of East Street Arts, the organisation that manages Patrick Studios. She says: ‘The space here fits with the ethos of the venue. We encourage an open, friendly and welcoming space wherever we are – it is just that Patrick Studios has had more money spent on it so looks better than some of our other space. But if the atmosphere or ambiance is wrong, artists will move on.’
And it’s clear that Patrick Studios has benefited from financial investment. The building incorporates that kind of minimalist thinking that makes you wish you were tidier at home. Adelle Stripe, who works for the studios but is also a writer and poet, says that it’s a unique hub in the Leeds area. ‘There’s nowhere like this,’ she says. ‘It’s a purpose-built studio site, a centre for visual arts.’ But why Leeds? ‘The city’s a hotbed of arts-based activity,’ Adelle says. ‘ Leeds is a great place to work, there’s affordable space, and there’s an ecology of creativity here – performers, dancers, sculptors, digital artists. There’s a strong sense of community.’
Patrick Studios echoes that sense of community that is stitched into the fabric of the city. Leeds is home to no less than three universities, each of which offers its own menu of creative courses. You’ve also got the Leeds College of Art throwing itself into the mix. As such, there is a relatively high number of pockets of artistic thinking, from galleries to gigs, readings and recitals, from students, graduates, expats from the south and Yorkshire locals. Adelle says that the ‘culture here is very much 1996-Hoxton’. Just without the sky-high rents of London.
The community spirit is distilled at Patrick Studios, giving the potential for ideas and creative work to reach their full potency. ‘There are times when Patrick Studios is quiet, staff are working in their office, artists are in their studios and there is a sense of the industry doing what it needs to do sometimes – focus and work,’ says Karen. ‘And then there are other times when the building is chaotic – staff are framing work in the resource area, a group are meeting in the kitchen, a tour is taking place somewhere around the building, artists are running a workshop in the meeting room and members of the public are visiting an event or exhibition in the project space.
‘We like both times, because it reflects the way we all work and make things happen. Some things are chance conversations in passing, some things are three-hour planning meetings, sometimes people just turn up at the door. The art has to exist in this kind of space.’ Perhaps then, Patrick Studios is all forms of space: expanses of areas, opportunities for manoeuvres – and a place with stars in it.
If you would like more information about working in one of the 34 studios at Patrick Studios, call 0113 248 0040.
