Welcome to the 287th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists create in the cavern of 14-foot-tall ceilings and keep a bucket of water within arm’s reach.
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.
Dai Ban, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
How long have you been working in this space?
Two and a half years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
The studio is about a seven-minute drive from my house. I will go in there around 10am or 11am and usually stay till 4pm or 5pm on weekdays. Most days, I make lunch with leftovers. I hate wasting food, that is how I grew up. If the weather is nice, I tend to wrap up early to go home and walk somewhere with my wife. I usually work on several pieces at the same time, because the materials I use require some time (an hour to overnight) before the next step in the process. I am a slob. I don’t realize how messy until my whole working surfaces are covered with stuff. Then I say, “Wow, I need to clean up this mess.” That’s my ritual. And I start cleaning up the whole mess I made. That makes me so refreshed and able to start clean again. I try to listen to some music, nothing particular, but something appropriate for that moment.
How does the space affect your work?
Most of the studios I had were multi-use spaces, corners of a workplace, guest bedrooms, living rooms, hallways, sunrooms without heating, outdoor patios, and basements. This studio is the second one dedicated to only my art, but the previous one did not have a sink. The water access changed my possibilities tremendously, compared to a five-gallon bucket filled with dirty water now under my worktable, which I love. Now I can work with clay, cement, and plasters much more easily. I love working in natural light, so my main working spot is by the window. My space is about 550 square feet, a half basement. I believe it used to be a grain storage building by the railroad tracks. In this building, there is a small theater with about 50 seats, a very old-fashioned, intimate, legendary place in town. My landlord is a talented screenwriter and I am very fortunate that she keeps the rent low. I added a wall divider made with plywood behind Sheetrock, because most of my sculptures are wall-hanging pieces. The other side is a kind of storage area. One side of the wall is exposed old stone foundation that gives me a warm, cozy feeling.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
Where I have my studio is a little funky part of town with a lumber yard, furniture maker, hair salon, masseuses, potter, artists, food trucks, and a theatre by the railroad tracks. Nice diverse community. I live next to a small town called Alford, where I formed a little art community and we organize the Open Studio Tour once a year. The area I live in is called the Berkshire, which has a music festival, dance festival, theater festivals, many farms, and museums surrounded by beautiful nature. Many different kinds of art are intertwined and somehow we know each other.
What do you love about your studio?
Funkiness. Lighting. Water. Stone wall. Warmth. Coolness. Rent. Landlord.
What do you wish were different?
I wish it were bigger or had a dedicated gallery area.
What is your favorite local museum?
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Clay. I rediscovered playing with clay. It was my favorite thing to play with when I was a little boy.
Eleni Mylonas, Soho, Manhattan
How long have you been working in this space?
I have been living and working here since 1981.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I start my day by checking email and doing other tasks on the computer and cell phone, i.e., looking over the photo harvest of the previous day and possibly posting some on social media. I am not an early riser, and it takes me a while to get to “the easel.” I have only one wall for very large works, so I work on several pieces at once only if they are smaller or if they can be worked on a flat surface. I put on some music to get me going, but as the day progresses, I may need to be quiet. When the spirit moves me and the work goes well, I dance. I don’t listen to podcasts or media when I work. It distracts me.
How does the space affect your work?
My space is fairly large and open. What affects me most positively is the 14-foot ceilings. I feel constricted if I am to show works in a small gallery space; the spirit of the works seems to suffer. I have an area earmarked for photography with a large light-box, and several areas of the studio are dedicated to necessary storage of works and archives. I both work and live in this space so it is my studio, my refuge, my home.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
In 1981, Soho was still semi-industrial and artists needed to have a certificate from the city proving that they were professional artists in order to be permitted to work and live in the cast-iron Soho buildings. Soho was zoned industrial. Things have changed enormously since that time when we knew most of the artists living in the neighborhood. No young artist could afford to live here now, and the city has dropped the certification requirement. There are a few old timers who are still living in Soho. A few years ago, one of my windows had to be bricked up due to new construction. More recently, two other windows have lost their open views as well as some light. But hey, it gets dark early in winter, so I mostly work with artificial light. It is now very quiet in my studio, but it is a veritable zoo when you step outside, very commercial and very crowded. My studio abuts Houston Street and it’s all NYU from here on up, so I benefit from the gardens, open spaces, and parks going north. I also love that all the subways are within walking distance.
What do you love about your studio?
I love that I can view my work in progress first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I have a very good neighbor who has three dogs and two cats that come into my studio at will. We have an open-door policy, and my life is enriched by their presence.
What do you wish were different?
I wish I had more wall space and indeed more space. There is never enough space, so my work takes over my living area as necessary. It would be nice if the neighborhood were less commercial and more welcoming to young artists, but I am happy here. No complaints.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
I am a multimedia artist, so this is a hard question to answer. I move quite frequently from one practice to another depending on my location and the project at hand. In this space, I work on drawing and painting with oil on unstretched canvas, mylar, or paper, photography and video on the computer, and performance in concept only. I usually spend a few months a year in my studio in Greece, where I work with encaustic, clay, and an array of natural and found materials and installation. Works with metal are materialized in metal workshops, and performance videos are shot in a film studio.
