Today we’d like to introduce you to Addie Oscher
Hi Addie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2023, Time Being Books originated as a reference library and independent creative practice bookstore. Curating books from her personal collection, Addie opened shop in a small studio situated within the Bolm Arts building––a haven for artists, gallerists, and other creatives seeking access to affordable space for experimentation.
Originally open by appointment and happenstance, guests would visit and often spend hours looking through the collection, taking photos and making scans of pages and spreads containing details for use in their own creative/discovery process, which Addie welcomed and encouraged. While an appointment-only bookstore was a strange concept to some, the individuals drawn to us were people that really enjoyed getting lost in discovery, and loved the thrill of the hunt as it relates to book collecting and sourcing unique art objects. Our guests typically came from creative fields, or were themselves artists that collect books as part of their research process, or as a form of expression.
The store, which moved to a new location in June 2024, is still based in the Govalle neighborhood of East Austin. The collection of secondhand books is now accessible to walk-ins, through Time Being’s studio situated within the yard of Mass Gallery, and remains a place for chance encounters––with reference material intended to conjure notions, discover insight, and prompt ideas.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Grappling with loneliness is an experience that’s been both a struggle and a source of inspiration throughout my career as a professional and in my creative endeavors as an artist.
Because my bookstore operates at the intersection of an independent creative practice and a business, it’s helped me to embolden myself by recognizing that being creative risks rejection. Putting something out there means someone might not get it, might dismiss it, or might outright criticize it. But that’s also how you find the people who *do* get it—who resonate with what you’ve built in ways you might not expect. This is a truth that working artists, and designers know well. So drawing insight from art making and the community I found around it has helped me to step out of certainty, into experimentation, knowing that doing something from the heart will land on another heart. While that approach may not be the most profitable, that’s what feels most authentic for me, and I think what makes the store a special place to visit.
Running a business on your own, all decision and momentum making becomes your responsibility. You have to be the rainmaker. In many ways, the career I had before starting the bookstore, shaped how I approach the balancing act of independent ownership—where vision, adaptability, and connection all play a role in keeping things moving. I spent years working for all sorts of creative, and brand agencies–where my role as a strategist was to help our clients find their self expression by uncovering insight that authentically revealed who they were. And part of that uncovering requires not only a strong vision from the founder, but an understanding of the people you want to serve, and a willingness to listen and learn from them. Raising a small business is a path meant to be walked with others, because as individuals, we’re wired for connection, understanding, and shared experiences.
A major catalyst for creating a space to connect over a browsable reference library happened at my last job, where I learned that collectively, our country was experiencing a cultural shift towards a desire for belonging. A report I’d found shared findings from the US Surgeon General that we were in an “epidemic of loneliness.” Through the pandemic, and after, people had become used to finding comfort through their phone screens at the cost of building meaningful relationships in real life. Now, we were lonely. Any excuse to reconnect and bond with others over shared excitement and personal interest could offer a sense of belonging – the US Surgeon General said. This was illuminating, as I too found myself feeling isolated and out of place in my workplace. And so with the money I’d saved from all of those years spent making other people’s visions come true, I decided to turn toward focusing on my own creative endeavors, and get back to the people, places, and activities that had shaped me. Balancing working a full-time job, I rented a small studio on the East side, an affordable space for experimentation. I was so invigorated to be among other creative people who were at various stages of being and becoming. So starting with my own book collection, driven by personal interests, I fleshed out a beautiful space to host visits for anyone interested in connecting over a browsable reference library. The idea was to offer guided access to the slow research practices that I’d found to be so inspiring throughout school and my career.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design deepened my understanding of the creative process and developed my muscles of seeing, curiosity, and appreciation. While my studies focused on art direction and communication design, getting in to things like color theory and typography, my education was really holistic, with foundations in print production, fine art, and art history. My mother, who’s been a working artist and small business owner her whole life, was also influential in teaching me how to be an expressionist, both through art making and art collecting.
In art school, you’re learning how to get ideas, not just how to materialize them. And using non-digital media like books, magazines, and the library was a big part of prompting thought, and discovering information to spark ideas. Those methods helped me recognize that the discovery process was what I enjoyed most about creative development. Sort of taking what you’ve got to work with, and making it fresh by informing it with something found.
As I face what it means to call myself an artist, the idea of ‘the archivist as artist’ comes to mind. It’s the idea that the process of archiving produces as much as it records. And as a curator, researcher and artist, I recognize the role that curated information plays in shaping knowledge, which in turn affects our futures. Working through a bookstore is a form of embodied curating, which underscores the bond to the relational nature of the practice. The book, “Unannounced Voices” by Z. Badovinac says that, “curating has performative power–it always creates an effect in real time; it’s duration doesn’t end with some self-contained event. Curatorial practices today occupy the same experiential time and space as the rest of life and are the result of the interaction of voices from every direction.” This sentiment speaks to my work, and the space I’ve created to host it. Like art, books have the ability to spark vivid notions and feelings, prompt memories, and hold narratives for us. Enjoying that is part of the experience of being a book collector, and witnessing that in others is the best part of running the bookstore. Private conversations–while ephemeral–have the power to change public life.
There’s also art I make without a destination; watercolors, illustration, photography, fabrication, and assemblage. I like what the visual artist Phyllida Barlow has said of work like this, “There’s plenty of artists who don’t have exhibitions, there’s plenty of art that’s never seen, and I think I’m intrigued by that––making work that doesn’t have a destination…many artists endure that for their entire lives…the creative act as a deeply private experience, but the great desire to just create something.”
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
The most important thing I’ve learned is to just get started. So many things about a project can only be fine-tuned once they’re in motion. In other words, decisions have to be tested, directions explored, and some parts need to fail for you to know how they can be corrected. Just get started.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://timebeingbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timebeingbooks
- Other: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iDETfiPRd322yszc7
