Baldessin Studio: The Legacy

“Reality exists only as a yearning”

…written in George’s hand, on a scrap of paper on his desk in the studio. I found it after his death in 1978, and it touched me deeply. I have never forgotten it, and as decades pass, I understand it more. I wonder how George, at the age of 39, had so much insight into the creative process and its purpose. My return to St Andrews, alone, after 17 years in France, was due to this yearning, like a magnetic pull imbued with a sense of inevitability. I knew that I had a calling to do something related to George, the studio and the healing past, and it was indeed a sort of yearning for truth or reality. The bringing back to life of George’s studio was what I had to do, there was no choice involved. At the time I had no idea of how it could happen or what it would look like, but I knew it would have to be a worthy homage to George and our studio. Firstly, it would have to be a place for artists. Simple as that. A place where artists would feel comfortable and were able to attain the necessary state of creative surrender to make real art. Beyond that, there was no real plan, and it evolved as it has over 21 years and will no doubt continue to do so for a while yet. On my return in 2000 the building resembled an abandoned junkshop, covered in cobwebs, dusty drapes, rat droppings, and yellow newspapers dated 1982. The big etching press was there, alongside all of George’s printmaking equipment. This included rickety wooden workbenches, pots of solid inks, and rollers and brayers, all melted à la Dalí, symbolic of time and gravity. After the indescribable process of cleaning and ordering the studio space, helped by many wonderful friends, the Baldessin Studio was a newly born entity. Since those early years, the entity has grown in every way, and what we have now is truly a haven and favourite place for so many artists who come almost as a pilgrimage to use George’s press and make great prints. The building itself, built by George and friends, is steeped in our DNA and literal blood, sweat and tears. But it is the people who come to this almost sacred space that make it so special. The commitment and passion of all the people involved over two decades are not to be underestimated, permeating the space and binding individuals into a real intentional creative community. Artists are special people and Baldessin Studio welcomes them just as George did in his Winfield Building studio in the 1970s. Even without the master’s physical presence, there is an underlying seriousness of creative purpose among the light and cheerful atmosphere. The team at Baldessin Studio understands and respects artists and their particular sensibility, it is the yearning for reality, which is itself the yearning. Tess Edwards Baldessin, August, 2022