Four artists with ties to the University of Windsor’s School of Visual Arts have teamed up to open a working studio in the city’s downtown.

Alumni Arturo Herrera (BFA 2011), Collette Broeders (BFA 2009) and Alana Bartol (BFA 2004) and professor Susan Gold Smith have established their collective enterprise at 110 Park Street West, in the base of Victoria Park Place.

“We were all looking for studio space and we all wanted a space where we were in close contact with other artists—where we could be stimulated by the creative energy of others,” says Bartol.

She says downtown is a good location, since the School of Visual Arts will be moving into the former Armouries building, close to other art galleries: “It’s a real hub of creative activity.”

Their space boasts street-level windows that can showcase their works. Herrera’s Background #02 The Banana Republic and Make Shift: Identity (in progress) are currently installed; Bartol’s performative work Artist for Hire will follow soon.