Welcome to the 206th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. In this edition, artists pour paint across folded sheets of paper, regard their studio as an “office,” meticulously craft mosaics, and make small spaces feel limitless.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us! All workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Lola Sáenz, East Village, New York City
I am a Mexican, American-born Latina self-taught artist. I’ve been in my studio space since the early ’90s. I love my studio, I paint, dance, sing, eat, listen to music, I do pretty much everything in it. I’ve created many paintings in the little space, yet it feels like a big world, my world. I start off with raw canvas, that I tack on the wall, I add layers and layers of paint before I even start adding any figures to it. Most of my paintings have taken many years to paint. I work them, if I get stuck, I put them away. I’ll pick them up a few years later and work them again. My studio is like my belly, my life, everything that inspires me, comes out in my paintings, out of my studio. All the paintings, all the colors of my life that I’ve created including the ones in museum collections came out of my mind, my heart, my beautiful studio. I feel so blessed.
Sumru Tekin, Charlotte, Vermont
My workspace, located in Charlotte, Vermont, is a 12-foot-by-12-foot room that used to be a bedroom. Today it has three tables, two desk chairs, a green velvet wingback, assorted books, photographs and papers, a printer, a desktop computer, one plant, and two windows — among other things. There is no bed. I call it my office because I fancy myself busy doing productive, organized activities there, rather than locating and pursuing ideas that do not materialize.
Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford, Dulzura, California
On the floor is a work in progress in the medium known as LithoMosaic. This process involves creating the mosaic in the studio, then the mosaic is placed in wet concrete on site-upside down and backwards. The embedded tiles are troweled in the concrete to form a smooth surface. We have completed many LithoMosaics all over California, Arizona, Nevada, and beyond. This one pictured here will be installed in Coastal Oregon next year. Since we work together as a team, one of us takes the lead on each project. This is our daily practice. I am a painter as well and Robin works in glass and jewelry. Our approach to the LithoMosaic differs from one another — my style is more painterly and Robin’s is sculptural. We also train artists on how to manufacture LithoMosaics for public art works.
Bette Ridgeway, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Over the years I’ve worked in garages, laundry rooms, basements and any quiet corner that I could call my studio. Since my work now is so large, I maintain a warehouse for the big commissions, and a smaller one in my residence. I consider my studio sacred space; designated a “painting” space only. My main concern is good lighting. Walls and floors are always white — which reflect the light. I have a track of halogen lighting too which shows the work as it would appear in a gallery. The studio is also my laboratory. Experimentation goes on without outside observation. This gives me space to make mistakes and develop new ideas.
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