Welcome to the 304th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists relish their studio as a safe haven and allow the work to dictate its own evolution.
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.
Liz Doles, Cambridge, Massachusetts
***How lo…
Welcome to the 304th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists relish their studio as a safe haven and allow the work to dictate its own evolution.
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.
Liz Doles, Cambridge, Massachusetts
How long have you been working in this space?
Eight years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
Atop the tallest building in Cambridge is my apartment/studio, one of 200 units in a residential facility for those who are elderly, infirm, and indigent, conditions for which I qualify in varying degrees. This tiny space affords me freedom to work unimpeded by others’ timetables and demands. First thing, I get to the gym and do errands, otherwise I won’t go out at all, just work on the several pieces I have going until time to collapse back in bed.
How does the space affect your work?
Seven hundred and sixty-four square feet doesn’t suggest large-scale work, but easel-sized pieces are too tepid for me, so I take over walls and floor space usually used for furnishings. Right now, I’m working on a 12-foot scroll and an eight-by-eight-inch hanging. The broad view and quietude remind me I’m playing a long game, so I wait for my work to tell me it’s finished and not dictate its evolution.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
My neighborhood, Central Square in Cambridge, has a distinct personality that has endured for the decades I’ve lived here. I’m not comfortable in less diverse environments. The seeming chaos fuels my energy. I’ve gotten to know so many artists and we greet each other in passing, which is enough validation to do this work for another day.
What do you love about your studio?
Sometimes I look around these two rooms and it’s as if another person, someone unknown to me, created this work and this space. I meet myself here.
What do you wish were different?
I wish the local, idiosyncratic art shops and hardware stores hadn’t been usurped by brightly lit chain stores and sameness. I hate the little sticky inventory tags and bar codes. I’m grateful the thrift stores and flea markets provide a sense of thrill when you strike gold.
What is your favorite local museum?
The Harvard Art Museums. The scale is intimate and the erudition shines forth without self-congratulation.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Charcoal is my first and most enduring love. I could drown in a sea of graphite and die happy.
René Romero Schuler, Monterey, California
How long have you been working in this space?
Three years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I typically either work out at the gym, or hike, before I get here around 9:30am. I tend to putter around, answer emails, and just generally organize things for an hour or so. I always put music on, which directly ties to my mood and energy for the day. I decide what I’m going to paint and start mixing colors … and then I work. I work on one piece at a time — start to finish. There are days when I work on prepping several canvases, or on varnishing several works, but as far as creation, the energy of a piece only feels pure if I work exclusively on one at a time.
How does the space affect your work?
Having a dedicated space to create allows me the freedom to work without concern for getting paint on things around me. The room is spacious enough that I can step really far back from work, the wide-open, airy, well-ventilated space allowing me to breathe, and the abundance of natural light allowing for a trueness in my palette.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
So many of my local friends are artists like me. We are incredibly supportive and encouraging of one another, and this aspect of living on the peninsula has warmed my soul. The immediate neighborhood around my studio is a running joke with my husband, because almost everything I talk about or do is “right by the studio.” My neighbors are super great. The liquor store to the left is handy because I buy a lot of ice (I make a lot of iced tea), and the owner takes in packages for me when I’m away. The game store to the right is equally friendly and fun. I have a hundred cafes, restaurants, banks, salons, and businesses all within a few blocks of here … every convenience!
What do you love about your studio?
Everything I just said, of course, but I also love that this is my own private safe haven. That is something I would wish for everyone. A private space where you can just BE YOU is simply vital.
What do you wish were different?
I mean, there are always little things, or dream things, but I genuinely love this studio. I miss being in a cool old loft space in Chicago’s industrial corridor. I also miss the easier access to materials and contractors that support the work I do. But I have found ways of keeping my workflow moving along, so really, no complaints!
What is your favorite local museum?
SFMOMA for sure! The deYoung and Legion of Honor are pretty amazing, too!
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Oil paint!