Williams
walks. My garden tends to get periodic bursts of intense
attention, then languish for even longer periods while I
focus elsewhere. Luckily everything in it is rather hardy
stock.”
My last question for Karen was on her business name:
Skunk Hill Studio. It is so unusual that I asked if there was
a story behind it. And indeed there was. “Skunk Hill Studio has been around since the late-90s. At the time I was
co-owner of an art gallery in mid-Missouri and struggling
to establish myself as an artist, both in my own mind and
in the eyes of those around me. Of the artists I worked
with, those I most admired all seemed to have wonderful
names for their business or studio. Names have power
(as any storyteller can tell you), so I decided I needed to
name my studio, and I wanted a name that spoke to my
surroundings, the natural world that inspired so much of
my creativity. I lived on a little hill in the middle of town
in an old neighborhood that had grown up to resemble
a forest, with maples, oaks, dogwoods, elm, squirrels,
rabbits, opossums, even the occasional deer wandering
through. But none of those felt right. Then early one hot
summer morning, I went out to weed my garden and
found it already occupied by a skunk. Standing on my
back deck, I watched as it casually ignored me and continued it’s leisurely perusal, sniffing a flower here, turning
over an empty flower pot there, working its way through
my garden, indulging its curisioty in a relaxed, leisurely
fashion.”
“It was amazing. This small, curious animal, so bold and
fearless in its explorations; it completely ignored my presence until it was satisfied and wandered on. I was so full
of fear at the time, fear of calling myself an artist, fear that
others would call me a fraud, fearful of creating in case
what I created was truly awful. I needed the strength,
courage and fearlessness of that skunk, as well as his curiosity and playfulness. And my studio was named. Every
once in a while I seriously consider renaming my studio to
something a little less odd, but the truth is, I still need
those qualities today to keep myself creating. And so the
name is still there.
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