inside the new Cave
Through the uncertainty of 2020 and with a lot of help along the way, the new Cave Paper studio is now up and running. I think we have all experienced time moving in strange ways this year, and I’m not sure if the past two months lasted an eternity or passed in the blink of an eye. Either way, we got a lot done.
July began with the physical move from Minneapolis to Tucson, a trip to Santa Barbara to pick up some generously donated equipment, and the beginning of our studio build-out. Each step of the move was a riddle to solve, ranging from “How do I relocate the equipment and continue my training with Amanda safely during a pandemic?” to “How the hell am I going to get the beater off the truck and into the studio?” Thankfully I had a lot of help answering these questions!
Amanda loaded the moving truck in Minneapolis, and my dad Mark volunteered to drive a rental car up from Tucson and bring the truck back here in record time, yet again securing his title as #1 Dad.
The crew from TCM Tucson who took on our build-out also unloaded the beater for me, an all-day project. Dan may not like it, but he is now the expert in moving this beast.
I also drove out to Santa Barbara to visit artist Jill Littlewood, who donated some amazing equipment from her studio to Cave Paper. I first met Jill in early February after Amanda connected us. At the time, Jill and her husband J's home was a hub of activity, and during my short visit I felt instantly welcomed and uplifted by their warmth, creativity, and involvement with their communities. This recent trip to pick up the equipment was obviously under much different circumstances, but seeing Jill even briefly from a distance was a joy, and I maintain that she makes the best cup of coffee this side of the Rockies.
Phase two was completing the build-out of our new location. Formerly a pinball arcade, the space is in a historic warehouse just around the corner from my favorite bookstore in town. I spent a long time searching for the right place to lease in Tucson and feel so lucky to have ended up where I did. We have since covered the murals, but I enjoyed sharing the studio with the Creature from the Black Lagoon for a while.
Dan and his crew worked hard to finish this job quickly, which included building a heavily insulated room around the beater to mitigate noise when it is running.
The last, crucial element of getting Cave Paper up and running was continuing my training with Amanda on the equipment here in Tucson. She arrived in town mid-July, greeted by the only real rain we have seen this summer, and generously stayed for almost a month.
With the studio still under construction until her last week here, we had to get creative with how and where we worked. Even so, it was an incredibly busy and fruitful time that enabled us to get our feet on the ground.
There are still many unfinished details around the studio, but we are in production and I know these things will come together in time. The next big project will be setting up a system to collect and re-use our water that improves upon my current method of emptying everything into buckets and trash cans.
Questions of how to operate a production studio during an ongoing pandemic are also prevalent in my mind, and I am so thankful for your continued support and patience as we navigate these new unknowns. I look forward to opening the studio for artists’ workshops, internships, and events in the future. For now, I hope everyone is staying safe and taking care, not always easy to do in these tense times. More soon with some highlights from Amanda’s time in Tucson and more photos on our instagram @cavepaper.
