MADISON TWP., Pa. (EYT) — Kim Bissett’s entire career in the arts, both as a studio artist and teacher, was anchored in Cleveland; however, when she retired in 2017, she started planning a new studio in a place special to her — Madison Township near Rimersburg — next to a stone house built in 1844.

The Clarion County Planning Commission recently gave her preliminary approval to construct a new 1,197 square foot commercial building which will house an art studio, a new 1,320 square foot gravel driveway, and a 752 square foot parking area and sidewalk.

“I taught sculpture, bronze casting, and drawing for 22 years at the Cleveland Institute of Art, drawing at Baldwin Wallace University in Cleveland for seven years, and before that taught art in a high school for 15 years,” Bissett said.

She explained that her teaching was a unique type where you have to push students, and they’re going into a life in the arts.

“I’d like to finish my teaching life at the studio in something that’s more relaxed, that’s more inclusive, and that’s not as academically driven, and that’s more geared to individual satisfaction.

“I still had the verve to start a new chapter.”

Why Madison Township?

As for why she selected Madison Township, some history is in order.

“My father’s family is from Greene County, on the Mason-Dixon line,” said Bissett. “My father, Leon Bissett, grew up on the family farm, and like so many families in the late 1930s, the family had to sell the farm. There was just no way of making a living. My father’s parents came to Ohio so that the boys could work in the steel mills in Alliance, Ohio, but my father never lost his Pennsylvania roots.”

“He became an artist and was the creative director for American Greetings in Cleveland, His love was wildlife painting, and many of the subjects were drawn from his boyhood — and to cut to the chase, when he retired, his passion became renovating old homes.”

“He was over here in Pennsylvania visiting his sister who lived south of East Brady in 1998. One of my cousins told him that there was this stone house that was empty and that was on the market. My father came up to see it and bought the house — built in 1844 — the day that he saw it. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1999,” Bissett continued.

“I didn’t grow up with my dad, and he left me this place on nine acres along Rimersburg Rod and Gun Club Road, and it was a total surprise. Because it was my father’s home, even though I lived in Cleveland and was working in Cleveland, I couldn’t sell it because it was my father’s gift to me.”

“Even though I had a very good childhood, there was this gap in my life, and I never wanted to change my name…I’ve maintained my maiden name.”

1844 Stone House

“Walking on this property has been a way to get to know my father more deeply than I ever did in life,” said Bissett.

Holding back tears she said, “It’s been a very, very deep journey for me with the transition of moving from urban life to Rimersburg. As time goes on, this feels like home to me, not in a superficial way, but almost a generational memory kind of way.”

“Dad lived here for a year, and while he did not die at the house, he died while he was working. The building is a work in progress, and it’s an amazing building. It’s rough around the edges, and it’s just been a joy and honor to be able to live here and feel the history at your fingertips. I don’t know what it is about Western Pennsylvania, but my gosh, you just feel the layers of generations and the layers of history here.”

Planning the Studio

“I have spent a couple of years in the planning of this studio space,” said Bissett. “My Cleveland architect’s name is Mark Kearney. We started with Mark coming to my Cleveland studio and then making numerous trips to Pennsylvania. We wanted to come up with something that is a creative space that feels welcoming, something that’s unusual, that’s verbal, and yet doesn’t feel too out of tune with the landscape.”

Barn Foundation for New Studio

“The new studio is going on the old barn foundation that went with the house,” said Bissett. “The barn burned about 50 years ago, but the remnants of the foundation are there. The plan is to eventually have a sculpture garden in the barn foundation, and the studio will be behind this. I’m looking to start this rather modestly run, teaching classes in sculpture, and drawing primarily.”

“The dream was also to run some intensive workshops. My idea of this is two- to three-day workshops several times during the summer, welcoming and hopefully bringing in some people from out of state to stay here for several days and really be able to have a full immersion experience in carving, plaster, casting, clay modeling, and that kind of thing.”

“I enjoyed teaching, but it is good to get out of the rat race, and I think others will enjoy that. I’m going to work away in solitude. And, now that I’m 70, this piece of creating something meaningful is so important to me and something that’s generative. I need to do something that’s larger than myself and larger than the scope of my own personal satisfaction. I want to contribute. I want to leave something that’s meaningful. This has many threads for me.”

Orange Dog Studio

The name for the studio came from discussions with her friend Tammi McGreevey.

“I have a sheepdog named Bradshaw who is the light of my life, and he wears an orange hunting vest.”

Bissett added, “I’m right next to the Rod and Gun Club.”

Accommodations

Talks with Tammi over the last few years generated some ideas.

“The idea is that Tammi would take over ‘the hospitality piece,’ meaning my dream is to have a full studio done for people with meals and a place to relax, unwind, and really allow for individual personal expression in the arts,” explained Bissett.

“Accommodations are yet to be determined, but there are options around here. There’s a bed and breakfast at a historic property down the road, and I can put up a small number of people, but at this point, we don’t know. That’s the dream down the road, and I’m not talking about a ton of people. My ideal would be four to six people for something like that, so it would be very personal and very geared to what the individual people would like to get out of it.”

Are you going to have classes attractive to novices?

“That is one of the things that has really interested me,” said Bissett. “My professional life and my art life have been primarily in Cleveland. I know it inside and out, and when I began to spend time over here, one of the things that I’ve loved is that for me, the culture is very different.

“There is an incredible craft tradition over here. For example, I have a neighbor who would never brag about it, very soft-spoken who is a suburb metal worker and knife maker. I have friends over here who are doing quilt-making. I have friends who are interested in photography over here, and a mix of backgrounds. This is what is interesting to me.

“I’m looking forward to having a welcoming environment and some classes for people with ‘absolutely no background,’” said Bissett.

“Although people do have that background, sometimes they don’t realize it. We’re looking, feeling, and experiencing every day. I think somewhere along the line, people began to think that drawing is about photographic reproduction, or sculpture is about photographic reproduction. It’s much broader than that, and I’m very interested in tapping into that and seeing where we can go with it.

“I’ve had my life in academia. I’ve had a life with students who have had the drive and were very driven. I’m looking for something else that’s more holistic that cuts across ages, that cuts across experiential backgrounds, that is going to feel rewarding.

“I’m going to start slow and run it a little bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, to see what goes, and to find out how I can build slowly.”