The artist’s studio, the place where we imagine and where we create. Whether neatly organized or in complete chaos, they are havens for artists and incubators of inspiration.
Melinda Campbell’s busy studio, filled with the results of her creative energy. Photo credit Jose Leiva.
French artist Anthony Smith Chaigneau’s watercolor landscape sits partially finished in his “atelier space.”
Jean Judd’s studio includes large space for quilts and storage for many fabrics.
Digital artist Renata Janiszewska’s Toronto studio has colorful inspiration.
Wendy Goldberg’s finished paintings sit among a large selection of pastels.
Assorted junk waits to be upcycled into jewelry in Mckenna Hallet’s studio on the island of Maui.
Painter Mark Bennett stores tools and supplies in his studio cupboard.
A large piece of fiber/mixed media art in progress at Kevan Lunney’s studio.
Indigene Theresa Gaskin has studio space filled with supplies, ready for work.
Brilliant pieces of agate await the hand of jewelry designer Tresa Meyer Clark.
Plenty of space ripe for creation in the studio of Canadian artist Sarah Pilon.
Artist Jennifer Wolcott’s shadow stands out as bright winter sunshine floods her studio.
Cheery yellow walls surround the peaceful studio of illustrator Cindy Lindgren.
Thousands of materials stand ready for jewelry artist Harriete Estel Berman. Photo credit: Aryn Shelander
Annie Strack’s studio includes a gallery wall filled with her watercolors.
Painter Carol Scavotto’s studio awaits, with work in progress.
Artist Carly DeBlock’s workspace, which could be called “Still Life with Beer.”
Fiber artist Carole Lyles Shaw stands in her studio filled with riotous colors.
Painter Janet Glatz blends traditional artist tools with high tech in her studio.
Artist Cyndee Star has materials and tools ready for her latest fiber collage.
This charming studio space belongs to jewelry designer Emma Lalumandier.
Mixed media artist Kate Carvellas creates among controlled chaos in her studio workspace.
Artist Barbara Harmer submitted two photos: Left, before the tree fell on her studio. Right, after the tree.
Thank you, Carolyn for including me in this piece. Methinks I may be a bit to anal???
I love this. Thanks!
I think your studio looks beautiful!
This was a wonderful idea, thanks for putting it together and sharing with us.
It’s an inspiration for me to walk up to my own gathering of supplies, and create!
Judy
Thanks for posting my studio! I do have a very tidy and serene space I keep very organized. It reflects my creative process as well.
Cindy, I think your work reflects that serenity.
Really nice to see all the studios of other artists. It’s interesting that some of us create in chaotic conditions, and others in pristine, organized areas. Thanks for the Starbucks card, I appreciate it so much. My studio is almost completely repaired. Just needs a few more ceiling panels and it will be finished. Grateful I wasn’t in it when it happened.
Glad you are getting back to normal, Barbara! I’m sure you’ll love that newly repaired studio.
Thank you for featuring me and my “messy” studio! You can always tell when an artist is having the best time in their studios, hence, the mess! Maybe that’s just what I tell myself 🙂 I’m also enjoying seeing the other artists’ studios as well. Annie Strack is a friend and her studio is lovely! 🙂 Thanks again for featuring me.
Indigene
Indigene, I don’t have a studio anymore, but I definitely have a messy desk! LOL
Thanks to Artsy Shark for sharing studio views. I have a pretty messy studio at times but I know where everything is and feel some kind of comfort with this style. I paint outdoors a lot so my studio is a “fix it” place! I’m enjoying your posts, thanks.
Thanks for checking it out. Now you know just how much you fit into the norm as far as studios go. If you haven’t got your materials out when you’re working, how can you be creative??
What a wonderful post! I love seeing other’s studios especially when they haven’t been cleaned up for the camera. A working studio is a beautiful thing to behold!
Carolyn, thanks so much for this opportunity to be seen and to peek into these delicious hotbeds of creativity! I feel like I have snuck into private spaces that no matter what the supplies at hand, I could sit there quietly and become immersed. We, as artists, so often spend many alone hours in these spaces, it was great to have them, and a bit of us brought into the light. could you imagine a series? the sock drawer, the refrigerators, the glove box…. All crazy spaces! Ha!
Yes, I could imagine a crazy series unearthed, but perhaps we shouldn’t go there! Thanks for being part of this group, Kevan.
Awesome! Thanks for the glimpses!! I love peeking into other artist’s studios!! It really shows me that I’m not the only one with creative messes everywhere and shouldn’t have been too embarrassed to submit my photo!! 🙂
omg…I think I am saying thanks? LOL! I so long for a studio like Cindy, or Janet, or Sarah, or… long list! But when I return from a house demolition with a truck load of “stuff” or as you put it so aptly Carolyn – “junk”, well… it pretty much just gets stacked where ever I can find space. A 360 degree turn will look similar from that corner. After 20 years – I have never figured out how to make it much more organized than it is today and will be tomorrow – especially if I learn about another demolition somewhere.
THANKS for showing us to each other and the world. Really fun stuff. I could have looked at hundreds of shots like this.
The wonderful thing about showing off your junk, Mckenna, is simply that you are OK with it. I host a discussion group where I invited artists to submit studio photos and got several replies like, “Oh no, my studio is too messy.”
But what I am seeing here is delight from readers in seeing the real deal. Yes, you work with metal from house demolitions. They cannot be neatly arranged in perfect rows. Your materials and your inspiration turn that junk into a thing of beauty. It’s the creativity and transformation that we celebrate!
Carolyn,
Thanks for including my studio in this collection.
I wonder….should we ask for insight? How does your studio reflect your work?
Harriete
Hi Harriete, I think you are seeing in the comments how artists feel about their work space and their resulting art.
How do you think the photo of your studio reflects what you are doing with your jewelry?
Thanks very much Carolyn for including me in your article. It’s so wonderful to be able to get a glimpse into the spaces artists occupy. I felt the creativity oozing out of the photo’s and love seeing the studios that showcase their work.
always fun to peek into an artist’s world…a lot of great work being created!!
To McKenna, no apologies or blushing , please! it’s not about the space but the creation. You know, sometimes the mess is more in our minds than our inventory!
No blushing or apologies from ME, Kevan! It would just be nice to have a serene space. But nothing about my business (tearing wiring out of a dumpster or pulling a radiator out of junked car) is particularly serene or “tidy”.
As the old saying goes: “It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.” (big chuckles) And as been pointed out: it is a constant source of inspiration. My piles are very exciting to me and anytime I need to start digging into them for my “raw stock” is a moment of “serenity” of it’s own ilk. I can get very “lost in the moment”. I am surrounded by beauty!
I don’t care either, Mckenna. Yours was my favorite!
Now I am blushing….;-)
Thanks Carolyn!
What a great article and how fun to get a peek into other artist’s creative spaces. Thanks so much Carolyn for including mine! And congrats to Barbara for submitting the winning photo, Very glad to hear that it’s almost back to normal and, as she said, very glad she wasn’t inside at the time!!
I want you to know, Kate, that I noticed in your studio photo there was one square inch of your table that wasn’t covered . . . so I wanted to put something in that spot!
LOL Carolyn! That picture is about as bad as it gets! I photographed it “as is”, just before I had to clean it up! I couldn’t find anything anymore! lol! But, no matter how pristine I get it, it ALWAYS ends up a mess once I start working on a new project. I’m like a tornado and a whirling dervish all in one! 🙂
Kate,
I really think that other people appreciate the photos that are cluttered and messy. They really look like somebody is at work there. I like them the best too!
Too much fun! I hope you do more! I think with each media comes certain personality traits by way of ‘organization’. I think the fiber artists are perhaps the most organized. Watercolorists too seem to have clean, bright spaces. Those of us who do mixed media and the like, well, chaos reigns supreme (‘organized’ chaos).
Hi Paula, I’m glad you like the article. Others have requested that this becomes a series too (I already got a photo submission LOL) so later this year I will probably do another one.
Now, about your theory … does anybody else agree that mixed media artists are the messiest? Watercolorists are neat and tidy?? We can take a poll and see if you’re right. My medium was clay, and my studio was pretty messy, so I’ll thrown in that potters are disorganized too. Except for when they load the kiln in a very organized way.
I think you are right Paula!! lol!
I loved seeing all the different studios! And I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one whos space is usually a disaster.
My work bench had actually just finished being built when my studio photo was taken. It definitely didn’t stay neat for long.
This was uplifting to see. Thanks for including me Carolyn!
here is how I shared the good news of this photo article on my blog. I’m a beginner at Internet marketing, so if there are any helpful hints, please advise. for instance I just realized that I do not have a subscribe button on my website for an email list. thanks, Carolyn, for all your help and the community you have established.
http://kevanart.blogspot.com/
I just loved this collection of studios! It is giving me the motivation that I need as we are in the process of moving our studio. We have been slowly and carefully dismantling and moving everything while we are still filling our wholesale orders for our magnets. We moved what we needed to create and ship our magnets (it’s amazing how much stuff artists DON’T need, but can’t get rid of) and now we are moving all of the storage pieces, furniture and extra supplies and equipment and the other stuff that we just like to have. But life is good, I have wonderful help, and I think that this new space we are in (with a beautiful Hudson River view) will be great!
Fredda from The Magnificent Magnet
http://www.themagnificentmagnet.com
http://www.themagnificentmagnet.etsy.com
Best of luck with your new studio, Fredda. Do you think it will be neat and organized or will it be messy?
fascinating to see how people arrange their workspace and surround themselves with inspiration and equipment – and great to be able to click through and see what they create! thanks for sharing this!
Thank you Carolyn for this wonderful feature! I love seeing all the other artists studios. Fun! I would like to thank and give photo credit to Jose Leiva for my studio photo shot, please.
This was a wonderful feature. What great PR! Many, many thanks!
Melinda
Melinda, I have added the photo credit for you.
Thank you so much Carolyn! Joe (Jose) can make silk out of a sow’s ear. He is a master photographer.
Thanks to artsy shark for this. Looking at artists studios is intriguing- like looking into the inner sanctuary – where it all originates, and everyone arranges their space so differently.
Jacqui, do you think it’s like looking into the mind of the artist?