I find looking at artist’s spaces just as interesting as looking at the artwork made there. In part, what I’m looking at when I look at art spaces is how people adapt their space to suit their needs (how the studio is influenced by the artwork) and how the artwork changes depending on size and light and flow (how the artwork is influenced by the studio). A studio is a self portrait, a cross connection of life circumstances, preferences, and adaptations. Few studios are perfect, so every space comes with puzzles, challenges of light, workflow, privacy, organization, square footage, and time/budget limitations. On top of adaptations, are personalizations. Some artists function best with a bit of chaos, others with organized tidiness. Few of us have exactly what we’d wish for. It’s fascinating to me.
“To have a sacred place is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room or a certain hour of the day or so, where you do not know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody or what they owe you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.” – Joseph Campbell, who incidentally did not have to keep up with Seattle rent prices, or provide care for any children
We have the spaces we have. Whether it’s an idillic backyard studio, a rented room, or your kitchen table between meals, those of us who work to create artwork also work to create a space to make them in. For the challenge today, record your space. Materials are artists’ choice.
I’m teaching a series on “How to SetUp Your Studio.” We’ll talk about stuff like lighting, layout, workflow, storage, small space tricks, thinking space, sacred space, photography, and ventilation. Aside from perfect studio scenarios, I’m planning to address real world scenarios as well, so participants will have a chance to problem solve the studios (or kitchen tables) they have so we can work on making the best of what we have. I’m looking for 2 more students. Care to join us? Don’t delay. We start Thursday. Click here to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your work! I love seeing these artworks online. People who post to Instagram or on Facebook will be eligible to win prizes (see details). No matter where you post, tag us so we can find it. #seattleartistleague #salchallenge #artstudio
The June SAL Challenge: Creative exercises once a day for 30 days.
Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of …
Doorzien – a Dutch word translated as “to see through.” In dutch art, doorzien referred to a painting that showed a view from one room into another, making the picture especially beautiful. I wish I knew what movie it was, but some time long ago I was in a college film class. The instructor showed us …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8949″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Been a while since I posted. Here’s a cheerful watercolor clusterlump of flowers painted by John Singer Sargent in 1905. My stars, look at that beautiful blue! Each flower perched atop a brushstroke. That can’t be transparent blue to be that bright on top of other colors. Maybe he …
The Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn created nearly one hundred self portraits during his 63 years of life. Roughly 40 of these self portraits were oil paintings. The rest were drawings and etchings. This was, and is, a fairly unusual number of self portraits for an artist without a smartphone. He might have made self portraits to practice rendering …
SAL Challenge: Creative Space
[image_with_animation image_url=”9399″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Francis Bacon’s studio
Where do you make art?
I find looking at artist’s spaces just as interesting as looking at the artwork made there. In part, what I’m looking at when I look at art spaces is how people adapt their space to suit their needs (how the studio is influenced by the artwork) and how the artwork changes depending on size and light and flow (how the artwork is influenced by the studio). A studio is a self portrait, a cross connection of life circumstances, preferences, and adaptations. Few studios are perfect, so every space comes with puzzles, challenges of light, workflow, privacy, organization, square footage, and time/budget limitations. On top of adaptations, are personalizations. Some artists function best with a bit of chaos, others with organized tidiness. Few of us have exactly what we’d wish for. It’s fascinating to me.
“To have a sacred place is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room or a certain hour of the day or so, where you do not know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody or what they owe you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.” – Joseph Campbell, who incidentally did not have to keep up with Seattle rent prices, or provide care for any children
We have the spaces we have. Whether it’s an idillic backyard studio, a rented room, or your kitchen table between meals, those of us who work to create artwork also work to create a space to make them in. For the challenge today, record your space. Materials are artists’ choice.
I’m teaching a series on “How to Set Up Your Studio.” We’ll talk about stuff like lighting, layout, workflow, storage, small space tricks, thinking space, sacred space, photography, and ventilation. Aside from perfect studio scenarios, I’m planning to address real world scenarios as well, so participants will have a chance to problem solve the studios (or kitchen tables) they have so we can work on making the best of what we have. I’m looking for 2 more students. Care to join us? Don’t delay. We start Thursday. Click here to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your work! I love seeing these artworks online. People who post to Instagram or on Facebook will be eligible to win prizes (see details). No matter where you post, tag us so we can find it. #seattleartistleague #salchallenge #artstudio
The June SAL Challenge: Creative exercises once a day for 30 days.
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Drawing Hands: Käthe Kollwitz
Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of …
30SAL Challenge: Doorzien Mystery
Doorzien – a Dutch word translated as “to see through.” In dutch art, doorzien referred to a painting that showed a view from one room into another, making the picture especially beautiful. I wish I knew what movie it was, but some time long ago I was in a college film class. The instructor showed us …
Blue Gentians by John Singer Sargent
[image_with_animation image_url=”8949″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Been a while since I posted. Here’s a cheerful watercolor clusterlump of flowers painted by John Singer Sargent in 1905. My stars, look at that beautiful blue! Each flower perched atop a brushstroke. That can’t be transparent blue to be that bright on top of other colors. Maybe he …
Rembrandt’s Self Portrait Drawings
The Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn created nearly one hundred self portraits during his 63 years of life. Roughly 40 of these self portraits were oil paintings. The rest were drawings and etchings. This was, and is, a fairly unusual number of self portraits for an artist without a smartphone. He might have made self portraits to practice rendering …