There are inherent risks whenever working people share spaces. But office folks, even if they work in one of those “shared office” businesses, have no concept of just how challenging shared studio space can be for artists.

One artist thinks, “I’m still in process here, so I don’t need to put my stuff away just yet.” The next one comes along and thinks, “I don’t know whose stuff this is; I’ll just leave my stuff out over here.” The third artist comes in and thinks, “Great. Looks like we can just leave our stuff out.” And so on. The first person never comes back; they’re off on a new project. Or else they came back, couldn’t find their stuff, and left again.

Then, sooner or later, someone comes by needing a temporary spot to store some big honking thing, and exclaims, “Hey, there’s a little space left in here!”