Getting Better at Being Interested

Andrew Pike, working on "Ned Kelly in an Irish Landscape" in the KCAT Studio in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Studio practice is really just a dressed-up way of saying: I’m dedicating time to getting better at being interested.

It’s not about being good at something—it’s about caring enough to keep trying.

The studio isn’t just a workspace. It’s a relationship space—with materials, with time, with frustration, and with the satisfaction that comes from staying with something long enough to see it through.

We often describe creative practice as a muscle to be exercised. But what if it’s less about building strength, and more about building tolerance—tolerance for ambiguity, for trial and error, for moments that don’t go according to plan?

Studio practice gives form to frustration. It turns stuck moments into choices: Do I give up, or do I try again—differently, messily, with help, or with humor?

In many support settings for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), routines and schedules are emphasized for stability, but they don’t always leave space for personal agency. Supported Studios shift that.

They create environments where exploration is encouraged and where decision-making—central to any artist’s studio practice—is not only possible but expected.

Here, persistence isn’t prescribed—it’s discovered.

Self-direction isn’t assumed—it’s built.

Supported Studios model what it looks like when people are trusted to guide their own process—not toward a specific outcome, but toward a sustained relationship with curiosity.

Because when someone is given the time, the tools, and the support to keep going, they’re not just making art. They’re making a practice—one that builds identity, resilience, and joy.