Are you curious about the studio space in which the artwork that you are viewing was created? Does this space help you understand the process? Does it enable you to know the artist a bit better? The studio is as personal a space as the space in which one lives. In essence the artist lives in his/her studio and sometimes literally. My studio where I do spend more time than at home was cleaned up prior to photographing due to a collector meeting. Afterwards I began to work and the creative organized mess began to creep in. Do you see it?
Works in progress are spread on the floor. Why? It just seems easier to see it from a distance before making a commitment of gluing down the pieces. Finished works are hung framed on the walls or push pinned to board for viewing by collectors as well as for my continued review.
This old easel that was saved from the trash heap outside an old barn serves as a good armature for a highlighted work.
The portfolio bins serve as a counter where I organize collage pieces by shape and size and later create the compositions.
Back to the floor is where more organization of pieces by shape and size takes place.
My other passion is cycling and my road bikes are stored in a corner of my studio.
Command central is where the business department of making art takes place. I would rather be spending most of my time creating. It is rather messy because I was working on selecting images for this blog.
Did I say earlier that the studio space is personal? Just look around at the book shelves and in the corners of the studio. You will see treasures. Artists save books, street junk, sentimental gifts, photographs, nature finds, things that make no sense, etc. for various reasons as any one does. These things may or may not have a place in the art making that they do.
Art books, exhibition catalogs, dictionaries, small mannequins, rolls of paper and acetate. What do they say about the artist’s interests?
Art supplies. Wow, they are so organized. This is not the case while working. I organized them for the photographic composition.
Shells and starfish are stashed throughout the bookshelves and the studio. They are always somewhere in sight.