Everyone’s on the field, but nobody really knows the game. We stretch slowly with creased foreheads, shuffling while the warm-up feels too long. Adrian’s looking at the rulebook, but he smiles and shrugs.

Reflecting on the studio, it was one large warm up for ‘the big game.’ Building team skills, becoming familiar and responding in a group discussion toned down the immediate tensions and opened up the concept of the studio process. What is a studio? What is their purpose? For one, the collaborative and creative work that will be produced is a given. Secondly, it is in this fact that the studio relies on collaborative and creative ideas to be successful, and thus, understood simply, one must actually do the work. But what will be the work exactly?

Like Adrian’s concept of an artist trying to create a sculpture, their marble and their goal are inextricably linked by the thought of creation. The artist can sketch, write or visualize the sculpture for hours on end, but the sculpture will not form unless the artist approaches the marble and strikes. However, while one can explain how to make a sculpture through a general process, one cannot direct how to make it appeal in an aesthetic sense. This is where tacit knowledge becomes fundamental when mastering a skill process.

Tacit knowledge can be cultivated but not taught and this is what gives the studio process it’s advantage. While working towards assignments could be an outcome of the structure, it is not the goal. I’m looking forward to exploring the creative process of this subject and the problems I will have to navigate. Oh, and get this, we get snacks every Friday!