A View From the Easel

Welcome to the 233rd installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists turn to books for inspiration, create pigments from the natural world, and transfer surges of energy from subway commutes into their practice.

Want to take part? Check out our new submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.

Watson Mere, Manhattan, New York City

Describe an average day in your studio.

The average day in my studio typically starts around 10pm, once the space is quiet and I am able to create with a clear mind free of all of the distractions that come with living everyday life in New York City. I enter the studio fresh off of the A train from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to Midtown Manhattan, with each sense heightened with the surge of the dark and gritty energy that comes with riding a subway after-hours. I take this energy with me in the studio and try to transmit it through my visual and performance art practices. This starts with stretching and meditating in the center of space as I begin to work on choreography for a performance piece. Once that energy has been released, I use the inspiration from the motion of performance to drive where I will go during the visual art and painting process of the session. I typically listen to a sporadic mixture of hip-hop, neo-soul, jazz, bossa nova, R&B, and classical music. The rhythms, lyrics, and texture of the music drive the direction of the piece. I leave the studio around 5 or 6am, and usually what I witness in the subway underworld while I am traveling back home inspires the work I will create in my next studio session.

How does the space affect your work?

The studio space is void of any windows, so I tend to lose track of time as I am not aware of the weather or if the sun is out. Working in a space that is somewhat detached from the confines of time allows me to create and solely place my focus on my art. I also keep the center of my studio space empty with nothing but a carpet since I use this area to work on performance art. The ability to do this in the same space where I create visual art pieces allows me to seamlessly transfer the inspiration derived from the physical movements to the composition of the painting or collage work. Having a studio space near Times Square affects my work tremendously as well. Taking breaks to get coffee or food and venturing out into the chaotic overflow outside floods my imagination with ideas.

What do you love about your studio?

I love the solitude of my studio space. Having a space in Manhattan allows me to fully commit my focus to my artistic practice. I also love that it’s located in the heart of the city, so I virtually have direct access to a plethora of materials and supplies that I would sometimes have to wait for and order online if the studio were located elsewhere.

What do you wish were different?

If I could change one thing about my studio it would probably be the addition of more square footage, as I am now venturing into sculpting and photography. More room would allow me to have a space that encompasses all of my creative practices.

Melissa Dickenson, San Francisco, California

Describe an average day in your studio.

I always have multiple pieces happening at once; it’s usually a three-ring circus with paintings and I’m constantly drawing as you can see from the sea of charcoals I have hanging in my studio. I use these drawings as a warm-up exercise and then later again as maps of where to pour my paint on the canvas. I arrive in the studio in the late afternoon and usually have my pup Opal with me. I put on a podcast immediately when we get there so Opal doesn’t react to the little dog that lives upstairs. I find if I put on a show she focuses on that rather than its little footsteps on the ceiling. We like everything but lately have been binging all the Smartless episodes with a few murder podcasts sprinkled in and of course Beyonce’s new album, Cowboy Carter.

How does the space affect your work?

I love being immersed in my landscapes. I want to feel like I am in one of my paintings, and having my drawings and pigment library (where I catalog all the colors I’ve gathered in nature for the paints I make) available to reference for interesting palette combinations really inspires me. I love having rocks and soil from specific terrains at my fingertips to remember the beautiful places that I experienced while gathering earth color. All of this feeds my sense of place.

What do you love about your studio?

I love the height of my studio walls. I feel small in it and it really allows me to think big and make large-scale pieces.

What do you wish were different?

There’s not much I’d change, but maybe having a better heater in the colder months would be nice. It’s just my little space heater, so I always bundle up when it’s cold out.

What is your favorite local museum?

So many! SFMOMA and the deYoung are definitely my top two. San Francisco has so many awesome institutions, but these two always have interesting shows.

What is your favorite art material to work with?

Pigment that I find out in nature from rocks, soil, sand, and dirt that I make into my own paints.

Leemour Pelli, New York City

Describe an average day in your studio.

I usually begin working in the late morning. I do work on several paintings or works on paper at once. I use notebooks to write down thoughts or ideas for pieces. Sometimes I look at books of mine, or poetry, or writing for inspiration. I often listen to classical music (or anything intensely spiritual, romantic, or atonal) when I am working, and the music becomes part of the work. However, sometimes I like to work in silence.

How does the space affect your work?

I used to have bigger lofts in the past, so at times the studio area does feel a little limiting, particularly if working on a large triptych such as paintings that are 70 x 54 inches each in size. If I move things around it is possible to work in this capacity.

How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?

I have been involved in the New York City art community for 30 years. I went to the School of Visual Arts for two years, and have exhibited in Chelsea and Tribeca in the past.

What do you love about your studio?

I have a live/work loft and my studio is inside my home. I prefer this because art is a way of life and it is connected to me at all times.

What do you wish were different?

The art world … that it would be easier for women artists to get the recognition they deserve.