The sacred space

Greetings!

Recently, Eveleen Power of Dungarvan, Waterford, Eire, wrote, "I now have two art studios--one next to our home and a new one in town with nine other artists. How lucky I am. But I don't know whether to bring my really good easel into the new one or leave it in the old one. I can't decide which studio to have what medium in. My home studio has a sink so I'm thinking of just keeping that for watercolours, acrylics and water based mediums. Should the other one just be for oils? What would be some advice in this situation?"

Thanks, Eveleen. Dividing media between studios is not a bad idea. In one you might wear your watercolour hat and in the other your oily one. But it's not the "really good easel," or even the isolating of media from one space to the other that will make your work greater. It's what you bring on the commute.

State of mind is all-important. The British painter David Hockney said, "People have asked me, 'Isn't it boring in Bridlington, a little isolated seaside town?' And I say, 'Not for us. We think it's very exciting, because it is in my studio and it is in my house.'" The home studio need not be either big or fancy. "Small rooms," said Leonardo da Vinci, "set the mind in the right path; large ones cause it to go astray." Many significant artists treat the home studio as a secondary venue. "A studio," said Joaquin Sorolla, "is a good place to smoke your pipe." That said, the studio need only be a sacred place where work and imagination gently collude. "A space," said Rainer Maria Rilke, "for the spirit to breathe."

My observation of folks who decide to hang out with others (I've never tried it) is that they end up with social venues where interpersonal aggravation sets in, interest flags and quality becomes intermittent. There may be exceptions, of course, and it's certainly something that might be tolerated once a year or so. But it's a great loss not to work down at the bottom of the garden with the fairies.

Best regards,
Robert

PS: "The only thing that makes one an artist is making art. And that requires the precise opposite of hanging out; a deeply lonely and unglamorous task of tolerating oneself long enough to push something out." (David Rakoff)

Esoterica: My best advice is to teach yourself to work pretty well anywhere. The mere act of making this decision builds your capacity for growth. In the heady days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, sweet-spots appear like volunteers in a rambling garden. You can do it on a beach, on a heath, in a park, in a car or boat or on a friend's patio while he's trying to be a banker. Your home studio may be a pretty important place--the center of your universe--but the world is loaded up with other sacred spots. "Capto omnes" (Gennius - 36BC) "Grab them all."