The artist’s studio is a sacred place. For Kim Morski, her studio is the product of decades of dreaming and the patient collection of printmaking equipment. Her artist’s studio now exists as the nexus of creativity in a detached garage in the Harvey Park South neighborhood in Denver. Her studio is a place of artistry and generosity, home and hospitality.  

Kim was first inspired by a college professor’s backyard garage print shop. Her vision would take 15 years to become a reality. Over the years, she purchased and was gifted large print making equipment that would be collected in storage units and family basements. When her family moved into their home in 2021, the timeless printmaking machines were consolidated into her studio, located steps from her back door.  

For Kim, the garage provides a connection to people and place. In juxtaposition to a white-walled and sterile studio space, the garage door raises to invite in natural light and sounds from the neighborhood. With three young children at home, accessibility to her studio has proven to be critical to her creating. Printmaking requires extensive setup and cleanup time, so proximity supports her creative work. Outside the studio, her daughters play in the backyard and often participate in their own creative work in her studio. Kim’s work reflects this integration of art into family life rather than a separation from it. Her integration of home and creativity is balanced in having a dedicated space to be present to her work.

The printmakers’ studio is unique among artists’ studios, as traditionally printmaking has been done in shared spaces. Artists have rarely had private print shops due to the cost and space equipment requires. “Printmaking feels like it's meant to be done with other people," Kim shares about her conviction of the democratic and social aspects of the medium. She ignites about the artform she participates in. “Printmaking is a way to have original, real art. It's not in the way that we have access to virtual or reproductions now. Printmaking is a financially affordable way for people to own art that touched an artist's hands. That matters to me.”

The social and relational nature of Kim’s creativity with her art studio has been expressed in multiple ways. She hosted a letterpress broadside with a local poet, where prints were created while people gathered on blankets on the hill in her backyard to hear poetry about Colorado. She also hosted a three-day children's art camp. “We did paper making, textile printing, and linoleum block carvings they editioned on the press.” Kim proudly shares, “They did high-level techniques. The children made their own handmade paper, and then addition prints on it. And it was super beautiful.”

An artist’s studio is a place where the process of creativity is uncovered. “When you look at a print, it's really hard to understand what goes into it,” Kim vulnerably shares. “When people come into my shop, and they see a block that I've carved by hand, and then they realize I’m rolling ink onto this and hand cranking it through a press, it gives them an appreciation for the work.” An artist’s studio provides visibility to the labors of love required in any artistic expression. For Kim, her studio is the place where she creates timeless prints that reflect her deep conviction for her family, her home, and her faith. An artist’s studio is a sacred place. 

Thank you to Kim Morski for her contribution and the conversation about her studio and her generative creativity that extends to neighbors and friends. You can discover her work at kimmorski.com.