At work

Reno Art Works is a nonprofit artists’ collective and co-working space from which more than a dozen people create and exhibit their work. At the center of its operations is Lauren Hufft, a textile artist whose primary focus is on tie-dying. The title on her business cards reads “Bossy McBosspants,” but—having closed the retail location for her store, Prism Magic—she had no intentions of managing RAW when she took up residence there a few years ago.

“I just wanted a tie-dye studio,” Hufft said. “I was done. I was done being a manager. I was done dealing with people. I was done, done, done.”

But RAW’s then-director Aric Shapiro moved to the Generator across town, and “right away,” Hufft said she began noticing things like an insufficient number of overhead lights in the building’s large studio space. She got in touch with an electrician friend of hers who said he had extra light fixtures and would install them for $400.

Not long after, the other artists at RAW began using the sink in her tie-dye studio to do things like clean paint brushes. It was another problem for which Hufft sought a solution.

“The bathroom had just a regular sink for washing hands,” Hufft recalled. “My ex-boyfriend, who is a retired plumber and has done a whole bunch of construction work—I went to him, and I’m like, ’What would you charge us to change this bathroom into a functioning studio bathroom? He goes, ’I don’t know—300 bucks.’”

Hufft also raised funds for additional power outlets in the artists’ workspaces. Now she’s working to fundraise for RAW, find scholarships to cover artists’ dues and solicit art supply donations from the community.

“So suddenly I’m stepping into this role of making it function, because that’s my thing,” she said. “I want studios to function, so people can be successful.”

It’s a lot of scrapping together funds and a lot of creative problem solving. Improvising is a theme at RAW—also present in the work of the artists there, four of whom make art full-time. The rest of the residents do it as a hobby or side job; among them are Liz Leonard and Victoria Velazquez.

Leonard paints bright, happy portraits using interior and exterior house paints. They often feature animals.

“She gets a lot of the mis-tinted stuff at the different Home Depots, Lowes, etc.,” Hufft explained. “And she also owns a party prop company called Celadon Events—so this is her creative outlet from a creative job.”

Velazquez teaches high school mathematics. At RAW, she creates glossy, swirling paintings by pouring acrylic paints over canvasses—but prior to suffering a brain injury in the military, she created mathematically exacting fractals in her artwork.

“She’s still an artist, and she’s had to find a way to get all of that out of her,” Hufft said.

RAW is normally closed to the public, save for two monthly events—an artist’s exhibition and RAW Open Studios.

“The way open studio works, is that people can come in and either watch the artists work—or they can actually come in and work,” Hufft said. “They can rent a table. I’ve had people show up and rent my studio.”

Hufft said it’s also a chance for people to come in and see if they’d like to have a permanent studio space at RAW—or get involved in some other aspect of its operations, like fundraising.

“We’re not like some other collectives that, you know, you may have to go through a proving process,” Hufft said. “For us, here, if you want to do art, come find your voice. Let’s see what we can do.”