Body Library: Becoming Through Doing

Artist Tyrone Weedon working on a projected enlargement of a Disability Pride design on a banner to be used in a performance at the Disability Pride Arts Fest at Make Studio in 2023

In supported studio settings, every physical interaction—retrieving materials, hanging a canvas, washing a brush—is an opportunity to grow. These aren’t just tasks to be completed. They’re acts of orientation, acts of authorship. They help a person not only make art, but become an artist.

We’re not only supporting people in making artwork—we’re supporting them in being artists: people who understand their materials, make decisions about space and process, and encounter moments of inspiration by trying something just a little different. Artists often describe key moments of discovery that emerged not from instruction but from experience—from doing something ordinary in a new way.

The body absorbs this kind of learning. It catalogs repetition and experimentation. In that way, the studio becomes a kind of “body library,” where knowledge is built through motion, where muscles remember, and where small challenges slowly build confidence.

Even the simplest moments—placing dishes in a cupboard, rearranging supplies—are part of this process. They ground the artist in their environment and cultivate a rhythm of doing that supports both independence and insight. These repeated acts become part of a personal creative language.

By honoring these everyday motions, we affirm that art-making isn’t just what happens on the canvas—it’s also what happens around it. The work of being an artist includes all the gestures, choices, and adjustments that help someone encounter their world more fully—and shape something meaningful from it.