STEEL HOUSE RENOVATION
“Steel House is a co-working space that provides an active community environment for artists, designers, creatives and small businesses.”
As part of an attempt to reinvigorate the presence of Steel House in the local creative community and draw in more talent, Kate Dannessa, a fellow designer, and I rebuilt the Steel House website and renovated the interior of the Steel House HQ. The building is made up of cubicle-like studio spaces on the street level and a fabrication shop in the basement.
The new layout of the space includes a kitchenette, a bar, a lounge area, a computer desk, a tool wall and communal work benches. We re-distributed the studio spaces and added a few additional spaces, currently allowing for 10 studio members. We also created a Floating Membership option to allow for more types of creatives to take advantage of the facilities, without needing to commit to a space.
Photographs by Erin Tokarz
events
5TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY POP-UP SHOP
Organized the Steel House Holiday Pop-Up Shop, which offered a curated selection of work from 29 artists and makers working in Midcoast Maine. Objects for sale ranged from ceramics, tableware, bags, and jewelry to letterpress cards and handmade books. The Pop-Up Shop also included art and crafts made by creative teens at The Landing Place, a comprehensive youth program supporting highly resilient and often marginalized youth in Knox County. I was responsible for putting together the group of artists, curating the work, advertising the event, hosting an Artist Reception to celebrate the artists and taking care of the accounting.
Photographs by Erin Tokarz
PIC NIC | AUGUST 2019
Organized a community waterfront PIC NIC with artist Izabel Nielsen. Izabel’s work revolves around the concept of hospitality. She works with arts and culture institutions to create eating experiences, such as this, that bring the community together in a multi-sensory ritual revolving around locally sourced food.
BLOCK PARTY | JUNE 2019
Organized a “Block Party” between Steel House and the Apprenticeshop to launch the new Steel House North space and celebrate the beginning of summer. This party also kicked off the collaboration between the two organizations that share waterfront property in Lermond Cove. There were Buck-a-Shuck oysters donated by Glidden Point, a mobile pizza oven, live music, animated-short screenings by local artists, drinks, free sailing on wooden boats and a dance-after-party.
Photographs by Erin Tokarz
LANCE LEE SUPPER | APRIL 2019
Organized a fundraising Supper to honor and benefit local legend Lance Lee, founder of The Apprenticeshop. The proceeds went towards his book project, which is a capstone and summation of his life's work. The Supper included a fireside chat with Lee, a home-cooked Moroccan meal and an exhibition of photography by Erin Tokarz, who has been documenting the Dublin Bay 24 project. This Supper was a part of a series of crowdfunding events organized by Steel House.
Photographs by Erin Tokarz
construction
