Secret Studio

07/29/2024

Y E S come on down to the stage and be with this magic on Saturday night⭐️✨⭐️✨⭐️ ❤️🔥

07/26/2024

07/12/2024

So excited for you to meet Melissa! Her show opens tonight and it’s beautiful ❤️

Here’s her Artist Q&A✨



When did you know you were an artist?

From day 1 (says my mother)
But maybe we all start out as artists?


Your typical creative process?

There are many steps involved in making my embroidered photographs. First, I must find an appropriate model or location to photograph, next I take the photographs, then I print them either in a darkroom or digitally, and usually draw out a plan of how I will alter them. The most time-consuming part of creating for me is hand sewing, which can often take weeks or even months per piece (depending on scale).


Rituals or habits?

Lately, I swim every morning until I can clear my mind which is usually about 45 minutes. Swimming energizes me and takes stress away. (NY is kind of a stressful place to live). Next, I walk to my studio and stay there and work until it’s time to go home and feed my cat. In my studio is where I alter my photos with hand embroidery or painting. I love to be alone, and my studio is the only place where I can create and not be distracted by people and the busyness of New York.


How do you decide when a piece of art is finished?

Most of the time it’s instinctual. Sometimes it’s hard not to over work something I’m making. It’s best to stop before it becomes over worked.
In the past year my process has really changed. I used to work on one piece at a time until I finished. More recently, I have been working on many pieces simultaneously and not finishing anything! I am only now finishing pieces that I started a year ago. I find that if I get stuck that it’s best to put it aside and when I come back to it, I can come to a solution more quickly. I have also been challenging myself more recently by adding paint and text to my images, sometimes collaborating with writers/ poets. For these pieces, I have had to scale down the size of my pictures so I can feed them into my manual typewriter! I really enjoy working by hand and not create art made on the computer.


What role does experimentation play in your work?

Although, I started out as a “straight” photographer (primarily documentary and portrait photography), very early on in my career I decided I wanted to make unique one of-a-kind photographs that were not reproducible. For over twenty years now I have been embroidering on my photographs. I also like to paint and type onto my photographs, but I always return to sewing as I find it a very meditative process (although sometimes it feels like torture). It’s also a challenge to experiment with patterns, designs, and colors that will blend well with my portraits (without burying them).


How has your creative process evolved over the years?

I have been interested in photographic portraiture since I was given a camera when I was eight years old. In fact, the pictures that I took of my family and friends as a child look very much like the pictures that I take today. I was also always interested in drawing and painting. Over the years I have figured out ways to combine my multiple interest in the arts. I never planned to become a “textile artist” as I am sometimes labelled, and I never took a sewing lesson, it just happened quite by accident. Many years ago, there was a time when the only materials I had access to were thread and handmade paper. I met another artist who taught me to how to make paper and one day I saw some colorful thread at a hardware store. I bought a handful of thread and started sewing small pictures onto the paper I had made. This led me to think that the sewing would look wonderful on my photographs. I initially thought of sewing as a way to draw onto photos, but instead of using pencils, I used thread, which resulted in more texture and dimensionality. Now, many years later, I am still sewing and still photographing. the subject matter has changed, and the stitching has evolved, but the materials are similar.


Who are your favorite artists?

Daphne Du Maurier, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Diane Arbus, Lenore Tawney, Lucinda Williams, and Lydia Loveless J

Where do you find inspiration?

Live music
The sea
The NY City Subway
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tender Buttons, button store in NY
moody French movies
Funny tv shows
My cat
My step dog Charlie
The Brooklyn Cyclones
My daughters

What is a secret of the universe?

I haven’t figured that out yet. Please tell me


What have you been loving lately?

Reading romance novels, daydreaming, eating Doritos, crossword puzzles, people watching, rainbows, punk rock.

07/12/2024

The Summer Music Series starts tonight! Here is the complete list of shows for the year. See you tonight for a great show and Franklinton Friday!

07/11/2024

Secret Studio presents an evening with John Calvin Abney!✨❤️✨❤️tickets in bio!

US singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist John Calvin Abney has crafted a distinctive style all his own that is winning fans around the globe. To quote Rolling Stone, Abney’s music is “Dreamy folk with a good balance of sadness and sunshine… Comforting and pleasant as a bright autumn day…a little bit like Elliott Smith if he’d founded a scruffy alt-country band and moved to Oklahoma”.

Located in the heart of Franklinton, Secret Studio is a recording studio, arts space and concert venue owned and operated by local artists – poet Amy Turn Sharp and musician and audio engineer Keith Hanlon.

Food & Bar: Our full food and drink menu will be available before and during the show.

07/10/2024

Sunday funday with John Calvin Abney
✨❤️

Secret Studio presents an evening with John Calvin Abney! US singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist John Calvin Abney has crafted a distinctive style all his own that is winning fans around the…

07/10/2024

❤️

Goings On in Columbus, OH: Austin's Leche | Melissa Zexter | American Homeboy Screening | Paisha Thomas | John Calvin Abney

07/09/2024

We love Adam and his art.

07/01/2024

Adam's beautiful, tiny work is still up! Pease come see us this weekend.

preview! ADAM ELLIOT 6/14 6-9pm

100 verses of ragtime show

for the tiny obelisks, lilliputian matter.
same orbit with different concerns.
margins & scraps.
tossed in a box.
listening to the carpenters
in a ford focus.
free color, smells like mold.
4 right angles.
deadhead with fingernails,
keep stepping in the mud.
pointing at pointless things.
not trying to take up too much space.

modpodge collage
100 4in.X 4in. works presented in various frames

06/20/2024

Coming soon….

06/13/2024

Tonight! The Mommyheads return to Columbus for a show at Natalie's - Grandview, with Adam Newman opening. Ticket link in the comments. We hope to see you there!

06/09/2024

Update: the talented Adam Newman is opening. This Thursday at Natalie’s!

https://nataliesgrandview.com/events/secret-studio-presents-the-mommyheads/

06/07/2024

Stop in tonight for the closing of "Portraits," and meet the artists!

06/04/2024

preview! ADAM ELLIOT 6/14 6-9pm

100 verses of ragtime show

for the tiny obelisks, lilliputian matter.
same orbit with different concerns.
margins & scraps.
tossed in a box.
listening to the carpenters
in a ford focus.
free color, smells like mold.
4 right angles.
deadhead with fingernails,
keep stepping in the mud.
pointing at pointless things.
not trying to take up too much space.

modpodge collage
100 4in.X 4in. works presented in various frames

06/04/2024

05/30/2024

Still up!
Stop by for open gallery night FRIDAY 7-930!

05/23/2024

Another great show coming soon! The return of The Mommyheads! If you know, you know....
https://nataliesgrandview.com/events/secret-studio-presents-the-mommyheads/

05/21/2024

See you May 31!

A night of Morricone kissed rock n’ roll. The Bloodthirsty Virgins are a high drama rock combo that layer lush vocals, and fuzz guitar leads with a stormy rhythm section.…

05/01/2024

We're so excited to be a part of Blockfort Alley Island this Saturday! Please come and see us!

04/12/2024

setting up! ❤️

04/12/2024

TONIGHT 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
6-9 Secret Studio
Fordyce & Bush art opening reception
8pm
John Calvin Abney& Lydia Loveless
show!
Donations suggested ❤️