Studio As Sanctum

I love opening the door of my studio and walking in. I'm greeted first by the smell of wax and then by the wall of windows at the end with that beautiful north light. I am very fortunate in having a beautiful, spacious studio that is relatively cheap, as studio rents go. It's a peaceful, welcoming space that allows me to make my work and retreat from the world. I guess it's my version of a temple, but here I am god - or goddess. Actually, I feel more like a high priestess at the altar of art. Sometimes the priestess has to sweep out the temple because the festivities get a bit rambunctious and the lone worshipper has a habit of dragging out all the relics and paraphernalia until she can't walk around without tripping over things.

Walking into the studio

Recently, due to an important studio visit, I cleaned up and rearranged the sanctum. The walls could have used some patching and painting, but it was pretty neat and my work was easily accessed for viewing. In honor of the occasion, I took some photos, so I thought I'd give you a look

I'm not showing you my storage area because it's so stogged with stuff. That's the part of the studio that you walk into first. So we'll just scurry right through there and move on to the larger part of the space, which is where I actually spend my time working. (Note: click on each picture to enlarge it.)

Left wall

Left wall wider view

Moving down the wall

Older work at end of wall

Swinging around with my back to the windows

Work on top of flat file

More work on flat file

Right wall

"Carry On" and "Gateway" on right wall

Two vertical pieces

From end of right wall looking back toward windows

Pin-ups (including Rachel M.) and storage at end of right wall

Wider view of right wall

Small works on table

A little somethin'-somethin' for visitor refreshments

Of course it no longer looks like this because I'm working now and not entertaining. In a mere couple of weeks I'll have 15 students and faculty in from Smith College for my presentation about encaustic and their experimentation with the medium. I'll have to put all my in-process work away and rearrange everything again, but that's just part of life in the sanctum.

Unearthing Interesting Things

I'm still organizing things in the studio. Progress is actually being made. I bought 10 or 12 new storage containers (some transparent) and have been repacking the many old books I've collected for use in my work (not as reading material but as objects to deconstruct and reuse in various ways).  I've also sorted through the materials I use for texture, and the pieces of fabric, and all the papers, the tools, the various equipment and who knows what all. The good news is that I'm getting there and I can imagine a time when I'll finish and be able to rehang some work, set up the tables and be ready to roll.

Meanwhile, in one of the innumerable pre-existing storage containers, I came across a cache of notebooks that I used when I was a student at MassArt. Of particular interest to me was one for the color class that Rob Moore taught. Here is the initial direction and first homework assignment:

1) Collect found color from magazines (enough for 4-5 weeks worth of assignments)
2) It must be continuous color 
3) Collect as many greys as possible
4) Sort by color
5) Use railroad board or chip board to mount the colors for exercises.


First Assignment:
1) Create an illusion of red:
   (A) as black
   (B) as grey
   (C) as white
in 3 separate studies, using, to define the objective, 8 other hues beyond a constant red.
2) Place all 3 studies (24 colors plus red) into a single arrangement of color and shape.
Note: choose most saturated red.
This is a perceptual problem to challenge preconceived ideas of color. Intensity of a color does not increase by lightening or darkening which only affects hue. Perception depends where the color falls in the value scale, i.e. red as opposed to yellow. You will use a red that has a constant position in the value scale but change its function relative to the colors around it. This will be affected by the size of the color shapes and saturation levels.

Wow! No wonder I didn't understand what was going on.

Hedda Sterne, Machine No. 5

Attacking the Studio

Perhaps "attack" is the wrong word when beginning a project like this. I guess it's more like "avoid" and then begrudgingly begin.

Part of the avoidance was a back issue of Art in America that I received yesterday from Linda Cordner at the New England Wax meeting. She was kind enough to think of me when going through some old issues and seeing an article on El Anatsui.

This was a great issue of the magazine and I was very glad to page through it while eating my lunch. (Always eat as a means of avoidance is my motto.)

May 2006 issue of Art in America

There were a couple of El Anatsui pieces that I had not seen before, and I liked the way they were photographed because you could really see the texture of the aluminum bottle caps and wrappings that the pieces are made of.

This spiral piece is really fabulous looking and seems very different from his other work. It has so much dimension and the spiral seems set into the background of vertical strips. All that gold reminds me of Egyptian jewelry. It is a great piece.

So I read the article and then continued to page through. There are many other interesting articles in this issue and I am keeping it next to my chair so I can read them during future avoidance sessions.

One of the things I found in the magazine was this very amusing list by Amy Sillman. On the left are remarks that people make to artists at their openings and on the right is what they are really thinking. If you click on the image, it will open larger so you can read it more easily.

Well, by this time a couple of hours had passed and I was starting to get anxious thinking about all the work I had to do. What's happening is that I am teaching a class of Smith College students about encaustic next week at my studio. On Tuesday I will demonstrate encaustic painting and present a Power Point about the history of encaustic (with a survey of contemporary work in encaustic). Then on Thursday, the students will come back and experiment with the medium themselves. This is a class called "Historic Methods and Materials," and I believe that this is the first time the class has included encaustic in addition to oil painting, fresco, etc.

So this is what I'm contending with - a studio packed with stuff in various piles.

Messy working habits with half-completed projects strewn all over.

And barely room for me to walk around in let alone let students into.

Paint and materials for the Smith class

But worse than anything is this corner of my storage area that is (was) piled with bags of old bubble wrap, cardboard boxes and scraps of painted papers from years ago.

I'm happy to say that once I put down the magazine and got going, I tackled the bad corner first and took two shopping carts full of cardboard and old wrappings down to the trash room. I already have the cart filled and ready again with the next load. It's a relief to get at this mess and dig it out. Why did I save it all? is what I kept asking myself as I unearthed yet another bag full of bubble wrap scraps. And the answer, I guess, is because "you never know when it might come in handy." How much crap has been stored under that rubric and how good it feels to say, "I don't care."