A View from the Easel

CHICAGO — The nineteenth installment of a series (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,  13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) in which artists send in a photo and a description of their workspace. Want to take part? You can peruse the submission guidelines here.

Stacy Gibboni, Venice, Italy (site)

This studio shot was taken as preparation was being made for an installation of my musical chairs project. I have a fascination with chairs for as long as I can remember. I collect them, draw them, photograph them, paint them, write about them. My studio in Venice, Italy is a tall space with poor light and a fantastic typical Venetian Terrazza style floor. The pavement undulates, tacks roll, paint splats, mixes and disappears. I listen to the street below, rolling luggage, running residents off to catch the boat, babbling languages float through the open windows, tourists lost in the labyrinth of the city. I freeze in the winter and roast in the summer. It is home.

Mary Addison Hackett, Nashville, Tennessee (site)

I moved across country into my childhood home a couple of years ago. The garage is my summer studio. It’s not insulated so I’m unable to work here in the winter. It also floods a bit when it rains and it’s difficult to keep free of dust, but I love the feel of it.

I just put 2 peace lilies and a gerber daisy in here after reading they made for good air purifiers. In the winter, I wheel the palette table back into the house and work out of different rooms, sometimes painting still lives and interiors, and other times I work more abstractly.

The palette table was a dumpster find from one of my studios in Los Angeles. It’s the one piece of studio furniture I’m really attached too. I made a video about packing it up and moving it across country. I’m big on casters. Most of the furniture is on casters. A friend taught me how to bevel my strainer bars with an inexpensive table saw. I like the process of prepping my own. The bevel keeps them lightweight. I’m working small now, so I don’t need the heft. It’s obvious I am not a purist when it comes to light, though I could be more consistent when picking up light bulbs. I thought about painting the walls white, but I’m afraid the cracks between them would be more distracting, so I hung a drop cloth on the wall to look at the works in progress.

My studio barstool came from my studio in Chicago. I have two of them. They are perfect chairs for studio visits-not quite sitting, not quite standing. I have to work on an anti-fatigue mat; the floors are concrete. The powered pigments on the shelf are my emergency stash. I’ll use them every now and then, but seeing the powered pigment in a jar makes me feel good. Usually though, I use tube paint. I also use spray paint and other media. It depends.

My way of working has changed quite a bit over the years. I started painting on an easel about 4 years ago because I ran out of wall and floor space. It felt funny at first, but now I have three easels. I move them around to different rooms in the house depending on what I’m going to paint. I also work flat on a tall table or walk around cradling the canvases while I paint. It’s a little disconcerting to have my studio space be divided among a few rooms, but in adapting to my space and current conditions, I’ve opened up my work.

Grace Roselli, Brooklyn, New York (site)

Magic walks around in here if I can find it. I’m very physical: my body talks, the camera records, sometimes I paint it. My body and the canvas. I use a lot of paintbrushes, cameras and silvery things. I prefer to be alone, but that’s not always possible (see photo).

Sam Trout, Seattle, Washington (site)

My workspace is half of my living room in my one bedroom apartment. Computer and desk on the right for any creative computer work. On the left is my painting area. There’s usually a piece on the easel that I’m working on with two tables flanking either side to make it easy to spread out my materials and work however I need to. The pieces on the wall behind the easel are some of my best pieces and continue to inspire new ideas while I’m working.

Abel Macias, Brooklyn, New York (site)

Here is what my studio looks like at the moment. I work in the basement floor of my loft. I work in lots of media and always have a few projects going on at once: paintings, silkscreening t-shirts, or just doodling drawings. I have so many materials on shelves all around so I do try my best to keep things in the right place because if not I will go crazy looking for a particular thing when I need it.

On the left side of the picture are a few of the paintings I am working on. Some are old and some are too new to tell if they will survive. At the moment, I’m trying to collect old wood/boxes/books/frames and reassemble them to make interesting texture backgrounds. I like to use elements of spray paint as well and on the shelves on the right of the photo, you can see a few of the tons of spray cans I have. I keep them in old wine crates. I have a large variety and I usually test the color on the walls. You can see in the foreground all the circles where I test the paint. You can also see my PINK CLOUD which is my tag when I make street art. Plus it adds a bit of whimsy to my environment, which is very important.