В Боземане открылся коворкинг для художников ArtLab, созданный музыкантом Сьюзан Корниш

Susan Cornish comes from a musical background. She majored in music education at Montana State in 2013 and played bassoon for the Gallatin Valley Concert Band and the Spirit of the West Marching Band. Her true passion is art and crafts. “I’ve always been into doing different arts, more than just a hobby, and never thought of selling it or anything,” Cornish said. “I’ve just been around creative people for a while, and I think the big thing is I just like providing opportunities for others.” During a May 2025 trip to Vancouver with her husband Spencer, Susan was called by one of the producers of the AMC series “The Audacity” to teach child actor Everett Blunck to play the bassoon. While training Blunck to play the woodwind instrument, Susan and Spencer visited MakerLabs, a 26,000-square-foot coworking space. That was Susan’s inspiration for ArtLab, a new co-creative space for different artists across the Gallatin Valley to bring their artistic visions to life. “We have people who have made it and are retired and want to do art for fun, and then we have the side of where people want to get into the art scene but they don’t have that sort of opportunity to have that time and that space to work on their stuff,” Susan said. “It doesn’t matter what you do, whether it’s painting, sewing, pottery, gel printing, basically anything and everything under the sun.” ArtLab opened soon after construction began in July 2025. As of July 2026, it houses 12 members. When a creator signs up for a membership with ArtLab, they can pick an open workspace which is outlined by painters’ tape on the floor and put together their own office. They provide their own equipment and have 24/7 access to the facility. The amenities include a darkroom, a pottery space with a kiln and a classroom. In November 2025, Bri Mango became the first member of ArtLab. She’s a metalsmith who primarily forges knives. The Montana State Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Formula One racing team utilized the space to fabricate and assemble one of its cars earlier this year. Artist Misty Carey heard about ArtLab from a friend. She recently started dabbling in gel plate painting, a practice that takes different colors of paper and uses them to make a collage of any design. Carey said that she has lots of space in her home to paint but chooses to work at ArtLab for the social interaction. “I like to be around people and activities, and other people, and their creative ideas and their creative flow,” Carey said. Susan bought the space from landlords David Yakos and Steve Sanford in May 2025. Rather than hiring a construction company to create the space, Susan and Spencer decided to build it with their bare hands. “There’s something really rewarding about realizing that you did this yourself, and also you save a lot of money by not hiring (someone),” Susan said. “We put in probably $5,000-$6,000 to start, but even that was just all for materials. We would spend hours here after work or on weekends to try and improve the space.” ArtLab benefits from its relationship with Bozeman Makerspace, a non-profit business next door specializing in woodworking and modeling. “The Makerspace benefits by having extremely enthusiastic and active members that come out of people who are artists here,” said Spencer, a Makerspace officer. “Then in exchange, the Makerspace has lots of tools that people wouldn’t normally be able to afford on their own, and it’s just right next door.” With the grand opening set for July 25, Susan hopes that ArtLab will be soon be packed with more artists and creative minds. “I hope to see a classroom that has classes all the time, and a dark room that is booked a lot and basically that there is no vacant space,” Susan said. “When I’m working here and painting, or getting signage ready, you can hear and see the interactions with the other artists, which is cool.”{/div}