CHICAGO — The 44th 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.
Jeff Harms, Saratoga, Wyoming (site)
I have given up my studio in Chicago and hit the road. I am a musician and a visual artist, so in my suitcase I brought clothes, my guitar, computer, mbox, a couple small bottles of ink, some various acrylic paints, sketchbooks, a saw, two files, an exacto knife, graphite sticks, brushes, wire, twine, a toothbrush, and books to read. I have three months of residencies in a row. In each place I am given a space, and in each place I am using whatever is free and locally available. I met a man, Chris Sharon, in Saratoga who has his own saw mill. He offered these scraps to work with and I bought him lunch. He even chain sawed a piece for me and is lending me a bucket of chisels and such. Turns out he has also built an impressive stage at his house and hosts a yearly music festival in town. So hopefully next time I’m passing through it’ll be with my band.
Ron Schira, Reading, Pennsylvania (link)
I’m a painter and an art critic. This is my studio, a side room in my house, two easels, two drawing tables, a window, and a fan, it’s all I need.
Nathan K. Menglesis, Berlin, Germany (site)
My studio is located in an old DDR office building now turned into studio spaces in a northern neighborhood of Berlin. I suppose I have this space in order to get some distance from things, it’s located a good distance from anything distracting or entertaining in the city, as well, there is no internet in there, allowing me to stop checking on things which I do not need to check on.
In the picture are my dual desks. The one on the left is the messy desk, used for sketching, reading, writing, eating, etc. and the one on the right serves as the clean desk. It’s used for when I need to work details into a drawing, so I pull whatever it is off of the wall, and can know that this one desk is clear of clutter and clean, place the work down and get into the details. What you can’t see is quite a few works in progress which are taped/nailed onto the walls, which is where most of the composing/thinking is going on.
Birgit Hutteman-Holz, Detroit, Michigan (site)
I am an encaustic artist painting with hot liquid beeswax and dry powdered pigment.
I fuse each layer (of self made paint) with my butane torch. The fusing is done horizontally, but I paint upright, like on an easel. Therefore I am very lucky to be working on an old architectural drawing table that can adjust to both positions. My studio is in “The Pioneer Building” an old converted warehouse that houses 33 artists. Our support system is amazing and I feel very blessed to work here daily.
Mark Barry, Baltimore, Maryland (link)
This is a view of my studio, just outside Baltimore. I also have a small studio in Vermont. My first paintings were on gessoed rag paper, often large (60″ x 60″). So I found it best to tack them to the wall to work on. I have been painting primarily on canvas for about 15 years and the wall is still the best option for me. After a while even the wall itself is a topic of interest for visitors to the studio.
