Artists at Work: Workspaces & ProcessesHow do artists develop spaces and methods for making their most authentic work as part of a daily artistic practice?

As art students you have spent years making work in response to “assignments”…creating “projects”.

There are no projects in this course. You must identify your own “project”. You are starting with “nothing”. No studio space. No assignments.

But in The World of Art, artists don’t work from nothing. When they enter their studio each day they pick up where they left off.

How do they develop work spaces, methods, routines, and rituals that help them to do this?

QUESTIONS:What do you see in the following artists’ studios?How does what you see in their studio relate to the way their work looks?What do you see that YOU relate to?

Alexander Calder

Jackson Pollock

Frida Kahlo

CARRIE POLLACKThings I can't live without:

CAMERA, Computer, books and the library, movies, walking and driving are the best studios I can imagine, DOG for encouragement.

I am not an everyday 24-7 studio person so I have found ways to have my practice going no matter where I am and actually all of my source material comes from the world so I have to go out and find and discover it.

The studio happens when I feel full and need to purge and then it becomes an intense period of making. I think I am like a field scientist where they pick a research topic, go out into the field and collect data, observe and then go back into the lab analyze their findings and then present their research.

I started a crit group with friends to keep the discussion going. Also I update website often.

Jamison BrousseauI have a list of ideals that include a private studio, killer stereo , tons of paint panels paper and supplies of every shape, and though I do have those things, I have realized that my art needs to be more important than my surroundings.

In other words, I need to be making it in some form or another no matter what the circumstances. I always keep a sketchbook handy and work in it religiously. When I travel I usually take a limited amount of supplies with me, and give myself a couple of assignments to work on. For me, my studio practice is my number one priority, and over the years I have learned that for me the studio needs to exist in my head, and I need to be able to make work wherever.

Hamlett Dobbinslike most folks, my life is on the over-busy side, i teach, curate art shows at two spaces (an exhibition space at a small liberal arts college and in a much smaller alternative space i run in my home), i paint, and i have a family. with all this busy-ness i find that there's a natural ebb and flow to what i do, and have come to the realization that it is best for me to think of my practice as one life rather than a series of pursuits. if i thought about how i should be painting when i'm teaching or how i should be working on my teaching while i'm out in the back yard with my kids, or that i should be in the back yard with my kids while i'm helping an artist install a show i would be pretty miserable and in a constant state of distraction. i find that it's important to be present in the moment. to take the time to look and focus on what it is that i'm doing at the time. i hope that when i'm dead and buried they won't just talk about one of the things i did, but all of them.for me, the routine that works best is to wake up early (i am writing this at 530 am) in order to work in the studio, later on i will walk on the treadmill and watch movies or tv while i do that, i'll do some teaching, and then at the end of the day when the kids/wife are home, i will be a dad/husband. once the kids are down for sleep i will come back downstairs for a few minutes before i go to bed and think about the paintings i made earlier in the day.the studio time is divided sometimes between my own work and a series of collaborative notebooks i work in with different friends across the country, some here in memphis, one in brooklyn and one in minneapolis. i find that collaborating in acrylics or drawing media in these notebooks is a way to broaden my own vocabulary and to just have fun.the most important part of my studio practice is to (try to) be present when i am with other people. since my work is about moments in my life with people or books or movies or art, i have to be in the moment with others in order to find these events about which i paint. if i'm not paying attention and miss the rainbow that the light through the window is casting on my little girl's hair, i'll miss out on fodder for painting or worse, i'll miss out on my life.

my studio must haves are my sirius radio (howard stern show) my podcasts (fresh air, sound opinions, radio lab, the treatment, on the media etc), books on tape, my computer for photoshop, my printer for the images from which i paint, and the hundreds of objects that make my studio feel like mine (gifts, found objects, other people's paintings, images of my friends and other places.)intertia is the key to keeping myslelf moving, if i am at rest i tend to stay at rest, if i'm painting i tend to keep painting, etc.

Andy Rosena rake, broom & a shovel-seems like no matter what I do in my studio or how hard I try to keep organized, I always end up pushing all my stuff into a pile. I think I've been doing this since I was 8 or 9 years old. I'd make a mess, playing/arranging my action figures, then just rake it all together into a pile in the middle of my room, sort through it and put stuff away.

I need music, good light and a space that has the capability to get really messy- I currently make use of an old garage/barn on my property. It has a wood stove and several small tables.All my stuff ends up filling the tables, so a lot of time I just work on the floor in front of the wood stove.I've tried to be neater and that helps but, the way I work things get a bit chaotic before they get organized.

Mostly, my method is just to make what ever comes to mind. Play around. Things rarely end up being what they start out as, and they all get worked into the mix eventually. If I get stuck and can't figure out what to make next. I go running. On the run I'll usually figure out what I want and comeback to tinker or make something quick in hot glue. If I'm not in my studio and I get an idea, it usually ends up on a post-it or scrap of paper. All the scraps eventually end up in my pocket sized sketchbook. Sometimes it'll be an image other times a phrase and sometimes the phrases will get jotted down on the wall of my studio.

"Just try to hold your form" "make it now while you can"

"you're reading into this too much"

and

"don't get too precious" (which I wrote for Rebecca's studio, a year ago and decided it was worth listening to my own advice)

I know what these things mean to me and when I read them while I'm in my studio, they have the ability to set me straight.

Joe Fig

As art students you have spent years making work in response to “assignments”…creating “projects”.

There are no projects in this course. You must identify your own “project”. You are starting with “nothing”. No studio space. No assignments.

But in The World of Art, artists don’t work from nothing. When they enter their studio each day they pick up where they left off.

How do they develop work spaces, methods, routines, and rituals that help them to do this?

QUESTIONS:What did you see in the artists’ studios?How does what you saw in their studio relate to the way their work looks?What do you see that YOU relate to?