Welcome to the 240th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists build their own studios, make their own paper, and cherish the creative community around them.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Cheryl Edwards, Washington, DC
Describe an average day in your studio.
I wake early, sit on my porch, and have a cup of coffee. I give thanks for the new day, and then I begin working on my painting. In the afternoon I take a walk or a bike ride and come back to the studio and continue working. I carve out an hour for administrative things like emails or organizing my supplies.
How does the space affect your work?
The space is perfect for my work. It is a home studio with 10-foot-high ceilings. I am currently working on a painting that is 80 by 60 inches.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
I am very much a part of the larger art community in DC. I am a teaching artist at the Kreeger Museum and an advisory board member of the Washington Sculptor Group. I was on the advisory board to the former director of the David Driskell Center from 2015 to last year, and I am currently curating an exhibition of 51 artists scheduled to open next March at the Art Museum of the Americas.
What do you love about your studio?
I have 24-hour access and am living with my work.
What do you wish were different?
Nothing.
What is your favorite local museum?
National Gallery of Art.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Water soluble oils, ink, wax, found objects, stitching, handmade paper, canvas, and board.
Joshua Thaddeus Rainer, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
How long have you been working in this space?
Since May 1.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I usually get to my studio around 11am. I am a night owl, so I tend to stay at the studio until around midnight and sometimes as late as 3am if I am really in the zone. When I first arrive, I like to make a carafe of coffee while listening to The Daily podcast by the New York Times. I’ve been making this oatmeal lately with whole milk, pitted dates, crushed walnuts, raisins, a little salted ghee, maple syrup, and banana jam. I am the most efficient working in silence, but if I am in a rhythm, I’ll listen to a podcast (I enjoy Matter of Opinion, This American Life, The Moth Radio Hour, The David Zwirner Podcast, Talk Art and A Brush With) or music (if not Vulfpeck then something rhythmic, medium-to-fast-paced, and instrumental).
How does the space affect your work?
I have a home studio and a similarly sized 24-hour access studio on the Cranbrook Academy of Art campus, where I’m pursuing an MFA in painting. I’ve found I am more productive at my studio away from home and have more energy by way of being near other peers’ studios. My studio at the International Studio & Curatorial Program has afforded me many of the same benefits as my campus studio except that I’ve had the luxury of being close to so many wonderful museums and galleries. I have also been fortunate to work among and interact with a host of kind, profound artists. With Soho Art Materials within walking distance, I have easy access to supplies and with how high the ceilings are, I’ve been able to plot work on a larger scale.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
I enjoy walking around, noticing and taking quick photos of interesting color relations between different objects and buildings. Being from Detroit which has a relatively small population, I have been deeply fascinated by seeing so many different kinds of people, the social dynamic at work between hundreds of strangers and the infrastructures that accommodate everyone. I find myself going out of my way to be among more people. There are also a number of other artist studios nearby, including several alumni from the MFA program I am in now.
What do you love about your studio?
I love my studio’s large windows, amount of natural light, and high ceilings. My studio number also corresponds to my birthday. I began thinking a lot about the history of spaces and who inhabits them just before I arrived in New York City. I learned my studio has been occupied by 50 other artists from 25 countries, which fascinates me greatly. But what I love most is that it is shared with so many other thoughtful and generous artists from around the world.
What do you wish were different?
I only wish I could stay longer!
Ian Dugdale, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Describe an average day in your studio.
I’m up early getting the children ready for school and taking them there. Once that’s done, I try to get to the studio as soon as I can. The studio is at the bottom of the garden and the dogs normally potter about outside while I’m there. Coffee and music are needed; I generally listen to something familiar so that it’s not grabbing my attention. It may be anything from rock music to classical depending on whim. I work on multiple paintings at once. I currently have around 15 canvases on the go. This allows drying time, for those in small series to feed off each other, and means I can put things away to “forget” them so I don’t get overfamiliar and lose judgment. I fill sketchbooks and loose sheets with watercolors and drawings, sometimes as works in their own right, other times to inform an oil painting. The school-run puts in an afternoon pause and I normally get back to the studio for a few more hours late afternoon or early evening.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
My home and the studio are in the countryside a few miles outside Cambridge, England. The immediate environment is very calming, and being a landscape painter, trips out to draw and paint inform work in the studio. I paint locally, but also in other areas of the UK. I’m especially fond of the Peak District, the UK’s first National Park; I was brought up close by so it’s in my blood.
What do you love about your studio?
The quiet space without interferences and the proximity to home.
What do you wish were different?
The studio is a smallish timber cabin that I built myself. While it’s a reasonable size, I really would like it to be bigger. I know I could be better at de-cluttering but I don’t have quite enough separation for all the media I use (oil paint, dry pastels, watercolor, charcoal). I also could do with some heating in there; winters can be bitter and even with layers, gloves, and hats it can be challenging.
What is your favorite local museum?
There aren’t many really local ones, but the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is great. A bit further afield and I can take my pick of the London gallery scene.
