A View From the Easel

Welcome to the 277th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists cultivate a kid-friendly studio and prepare to create by taking a walk with their dog.

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.

Mel Smothers, South Lake Tahoe, California

How long have you been working in this space?

Fifteen years.

Describe an average day in your studio.

My studio is on the bottom floor of a three-story duplex. It is a converted apartment which also includes its own boat dock. I have granola breakfast upstairs before coming down. I begin my studio day by putting a half-hour workout on the Peloton while I watch inspiring gallery/art fair/studio walkthroughs on YouTube. I take my dog Trout for a cool-down walk along the lake and now I’m ready to shut off the noise in my head and make creative things. Lizzi calls me upstairs for lunch. The big meal in our day. I’m back downstairs for afternoon, which usually includes a nap on the futon. At 4pm, Lizzi and I meet back upstairs for tea. When I come back downstairs, I switch to practicing jazz violin until 7pm, when I quit and close the studio up and go back up to watch the news and stream a current series or documentary before going upstairs to read in bed. Currently that’s a reread of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or just before that, Plato’s Dialogues. It’s a great schedule that keeps me healthy and productive.

How does the space affect your work?

I’m inspired by my spaces in general, whether in Bushwick in Brooklyn or along Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas. The studio with its surrounding environment presents unique opportunities that I can act on. That can be seen in my work.

How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?

I’m isolated with my dog. Since we are in the mountains away from art communities, we go for nature walks. I like to monthly Zoom with two gallery art groups: Carter-Burden Gallery in NYC and TAG Gallery in LA. I attend the local gallery openings. I rely on social media to keep up with artists that I mostly have never met but like what I see or what they write.

What do you love about your studio?

Its convenience.

What do you wish were different?

Larger space. I have to plan around 600 square feet, and tables have to be foldable. It takes planning to switch between oil, watercolors, printmaking, and sculpture.

What is your favorite local museum?

My favorite local museum is rock art in the desert because of my location, and The Met.

What is your favorite art material to work with?

Found objects, second is oil paint.

Margaret Timbrell, San Francisco, California

How long have you been working in this space?

Five years.

Describe an average day in your studio.

After I drop my kids at school, I head over to the Pacific Felt Factory (PFF); my studio complex is a converted felt factory in the Mission District in San Francisco. I have a thing with setting up specific lighting when I arrive to kind of Pavlov-Dog myself into work mode. I log my studio hours in a daily planner-type journal and listen to audiobooks or my record player.

How does the space affect your work?

Parenthood has really helped me understand the importance of keeping a studio space for myself. So I always have an area that is exclusively mine, where I can leave tools on the floor and pick up exactly where I left off. It is my chance to push my creative process in a continuous manner. At the same time, I often bring my kids to my studio complex. I let them build forts with my stretching pads, I share my materials — by nature my art is pretty kid-friendly and I like to encourage my kids to experiment. There are other parent artists in the building, which allows some really cool kids-of-artists friendships to develop.

What do you love about your studio?

I love the rug in my studio and my glider chair. I like to think my art brings comfort to people looking for a sense of belonging, and this is seeded here in my creative space.

What do you wish were different?

Of course, I would love more space, and maybe for the neighborhood parking inspector to be less aggressive with their ticketing.

What is your favorite local museum?

Root Division isn’t an art museum, but it is a local nonprofit artspace with excellent exhibitions and is very kid-friendly.

What is your favorite art material to work with?

Thread and yarn.