Today I had the opportunity to visit the studio of Carrie Vielle, an fine artist specializing in nudes. Her studio space is on her property in Colfax and was built as a result to have her own space out of the house where she can spread out and work as she likes. The studio is a simple shed with several windows. Inside there are three tables that correspond to the process of her work as she prepares her canvas then applies color and finally draws her figures with white and black charcoal. One thing that Carrie stressed was the importance of storage depending on what type of art the artist specializes in and how much space they require to create a masterpiece. Especially when preparing for a show, Carrie wishes she had more room to spread out. Her studio is becoming crowded with canvas' and frames for her work.
It was important as a designer to visit a studio to help me understand what my artist might need in her studio space I will be designing. From having a mother who is also an artist I understand how great storage is. One thing I noticed from being around my mom and hearing Carrie talk was the importance of being able to find what you need easily. For them both, this came in terms of having open storage so that everything is easily accessible. Carrie has open cubicles where she stores paints and books. My mom on the other hand, stores her books and yarns in a unit with glass front doors. Since my artist is a painter, she will require a lot of space for the storage of canvas' and paint. When I have seen her work in gallery's it was not frames so I am going to assume she does not typically use frames. It will be fun to figure out functional ways to increase the amount of storage within the depot space that I am working with.
Overall, the experience of being able to visit a studio was outstanding and it helped me think about all the different things Jennifer Bowman would be using the space for. I know she will be using the space to teach several classes so I want to have as much space as possible for her to use. I look forward to having a conversation with Jennifer about her process and what she values in a studio space.
http://carrievielle.com/
