A View From the Easel

The 134th installment of a series in which artists send in a photo and a description of their workspace. Want to take part? Submit your studio — just check out the submission guidelines.

Eileen R. Tabios, Saint Helena, CA

I am a visual artist, but also a writer inspired by the visual arts. Thus, I surround myself with other artists’s works.  My studio is my son’s former teen playroom. After he left for college, I turned it into my studio. In the corner of the room, you can see one of my mobile sculptures. It hangs in front of works by Jenifer Wofford, Cristina Querrer, Melinda Luisa de Jesus, and Mail Order Brides. To the right are works by Rea Lynn de Guzman, Eliza O. Barrios, Marissa Sean Cruz, and Maryrose Cobarubbias Mendoza.

I focus my studio space on Filipino artists as I decided to create a gallery — “North Fork Arts Projects” — for showcasing Filipino-Pilipinz artists from around the world. On the left, the photo shows five works by Mel Vera Cruz, my fifth exhibited artist. Within the studio, the exhibition space is the wall between the two slanted ceiling beams. As the gallery is home-based, it’s open to the public only by appointment, with public accessibility mostly through the North Fork Arts Projects online site. The exhibition space, while modest, can have a larger effect through the internet, in addition to inspiring my own work.

Scott McCarney, Rochester, NY

My studio is in the attic of my house, a wooden structure built in 1875 a block from what at the time was the Erie Canal. My art takes shape in book form, so horizontal surfaces are more useful for production and review than vertical walls. I have been working here for about 30 years, and every inch of space is utilized to its fullest. There are crawl spaces behind the bookshelves and flat files, and a phalanx of banker’s boxes stacked underneath the central work tables. A good portion of my supplies and finished work are flat, so it’s scary how much stuff I’ve packed in.

My drafting table is situated under a skylight that provides enough natural light to keep the snake plant alive. A computer and printer are located in the back behind the black curtain, which maintains fairly consistent light for doing on-screen work. Most of the tools I use are modest, but there is a 40-inch blade cast-iron board shear that only made it up to the second floor and a 22-inch guillotine in the basement (worst pickup line ever), both of which facilitate projects that necessitate bookbinding.

Sunny Chapman, Brooklyn, NY

Here is one view of my art studio. I paint on paper on both side walls and have a work table for working on smaller pieces in the center. There’s a standing work table with paper storage underneath at one end, and a paper guillotine table at the other end. Despite its small size, I’m very happy in this studio, and I produce a lot of work there. There’s no place I’d rather be.

Clarence “Skip” Measelle, West Palm Beach, FL

I have been painting in my 1600 square-foot warehouse studio in West Palm Beach, Florida for 27 years. When I first moved in I had a month-to-month lease because I didn’t know how long I would be able to pay the rent. To avoid making too much of a mess with my paint, I covered the walls and floor with heavy brown wrapping paper. Over the years I wiped thick acrylic paint from my brushes onto the papered walls to avoid clogging-up my sink. I also over-sprayed and cleared my air-brushes on the papered walls. Eventually, the residue that accumulated on my floors and walls took on a life of its own and began to influence the direction of my painting.

Richard Bruce, Newburgh, NY

This is a shot of my long, narrow studio in Newburgh, NY. The view shows my one big window, which gives amazing southern light, and lots of works in progress. In the foreground is where I do more messy processes. Near the window is a raised platform where I refine and do neater work. Love this space.