That pretty well sums us up. We're the new kids on the Ventura Art Block, two artist friends who up and decided one day to open their own space to the public and other artists. Our gallery space has a nontraditional living room feel with the hope that a homey setting will bring the art closer to the viewer, in effect create a more visceral impact and allow people to experience art in a different way. Our studio itself shares the same space, bringing the creative process right out "into the living room" as it were, inviting people of all ages and skill levels to come in and create as well.
Kawoni itself began long before the studio opened its doors. Karen and I each have worked for years in our various branches of art; selling, teaching and donating to our lists of favorite charities. One day - ironically through e-mail, we were talking about how people are losing a vital connection to their world and each other. We wanted to help change that, a little at a time.
~Karen comes out of the restroom~
Karen: What'cha dooin'? (she's from Minnesota)
AprylRae: Ahm workin' on our About Page. We have to have somethin' up, well, somethin' more than "The history of Kawoni Studios, coming soon to a plain brown wrapper near you" ya know. (she's from eastern Kentucky).
Karen: You know - I had an awesome idea for that page just a couple of weeks ago.
AprylRae: ~waits for it~
Karen: I have no idea what it was.
AprylRae: ~rolls eyes~
Karen, sheepishly: I figured it was such a fantastic idea that there was no way I'd forget it.
AprylRae: You shoulda written it down.
Karen: I was probably driving or at the grocery store or in the shower or something. I'm always somewhere where I can't jot down good ideas. ~shrugs~
Karen: ~Light bulb~ (we go through these a lot here). Well, when you write the About page, make sure and put in that I had a great idea for the page - and totally forgot it.
AprylRae: Yeah, I can see it now, "Kawoni Studios - where AprylRae runs around like she's got a squirrel in her britches and Karen forgets ideas thirty seconds after she gets them" - that'll tell people about us won't it?!
AprylRae: ~light bulb~ (Told you)
Karen & AprylRae: Yeah, it will!
Karen: While you're at it make sure and tell them we started this all with our own money, we can't sit still long enough to go get a @#$% bank loan like normal people.
AprylRae: We're hardly normal! Besides, we wanted to bring out the art and loans take time. And you do realize I'll be typing symbols for that bad word, right?
Karen: Yeah, with your fingers in your ears.
Karen: ~feigning AprylRae with fingers in ears~ LALALALALALALA I can't hear that, I'll just type harmless symbols.
AprylRae: I'm going to hell for this!
Karen: ~making driving motion~ Well hop on, I'm driving the bus!
AprylRae: But, the bus pass is 37 cents, and I only have 36 - so I'll just need to walk.
Karen: ~rolls eyes~ It's a free ride.
AprylRae: But, where's my basket? And my bus pass paperwork?! I know I filled it out with that other stack of papers already - it was right there on my desk!
Karen: What desk?
AprylRae: We only have one! Remember?!
Welcome to Kawoni Studios - always an experience to be sure. We may appear to be two untimely released asylum inmates, but we're good. And we bring out the good in you through classes, or for you through custom orders. We thrive on art for art's sake and are overjoyed when we get the chance to bring it to people who would otherwise get very little exposure, or when we are able to use it as a vehicle to help our favorite charities. Kawoni is constantly in motion, we reinvent ourselves weekly - looking forward to the programs we'll be able to start this fall (including our artists receptions and special showings/demos), and tending to the programs we opened our doors February 07 with (including our Art in the Classroom and KS Paws for Pets). There's an odd balance to be found here - an undercurrent of energy wrapped up in a calm atmosphere. We're the studio where people can come and hang out, where artists can get away from the rush of life and create - and where novices can come in and dip their toes in the well. We have a little of everything here - and between Karen and I we work in almost any medium (neither have experience with metal - and that's about it. Beware the day we get a blowtorch. Really - beware it - I'm sure there'll be some sort of advisory or something. Tune in to your local radio station for weekly updates. "Kawoni is torchless, you can sleep well tonight"). As for the rest... "What you dream, we create" (And we promise - I won't go so idea happy with you that you find your house redecorated, wardrobe changed, and a new set of cookbooks, and Karen has a large notepad that she keeps with her - we call it her 'short term memory' and she keeps notes about our people in it - no one's lost).
Come on in and experience Kawoni for yourself. LOL - come for the art, stick around for the free floor show.
