Hi!
This is Sam and Andrea. We're a couple of art students painting, printing, learning and living at Queen's university in Kingston, Ontario. With our bachelor's degree nearing completion we've been dreaming up possibilities outside the bubble that is school.
Having spent the last four years cooped up in our studio space, we are ready to take ourselves and our studio out onto the road and into the wider world.
The idea came to us about a month ago while cramming for an exam. (German art history to be exact.) At about 3 in the morning while reading about Freidrich Schinkel we decided we must have a Bildungsreise! A 'journey of cultivation', they used to take them in Germany after the Napoleonic war as a means to finding their place in society and the world in general. We thought this was a good idea, but we didn't want to take guided tours of Paris or anything like that. So, inspired by the great Canadian plein air painters/outdoorsmen, and in the vein of the many road trip movies produced over the last 40 years or so, we've begun to plan a year-long cross-Canada trip set to launch in 2012.
And the planning led us here! If we want to spend a year on the road, we probably don't want to sleep on the ground every night. We could also use some space to keep our professional accoutrements and, you know, maybe some food and water or something. That and the teardrop trailers are so freaking cute.
We both have some woodworking experience (at least as much as is needed to build stretchers and folding easels), some welding, and the necessary tools for the job. More importantly we're surrounded by more experienced people who are happy to teach us. We're hoping that with some extra help from you kind folks we'll be able to build a serviceable live-in studio on wheels.