Posts in Artists In the Studio

My Dear Sister: Leslie Nichols in the Studio

Oct 30, 2015

NEA Studio Residency Grant recipient Leslie Nichols hunches over a table strewn with metal letters. She holds a ruler against her block, squinting as dim light from the Letterpress Studio glints off of the metal type. Several sheets of paper hang on the wall behind her, each with a woman’s portrait mirroring the type Leslie… View Article

The Clay Menagerie: Undine Brod in the Studio

Oct 21, 2015

Down in the Ceramics Studio, resident Undine Brod blends rose-colored underglaze into her clay as she slowly builds her form. With the underglaze, every movement Undine makes is visible as she creates shoulders, an expressionless face, pointed ears. Markings hint at a mouth, a nose—but Undine leaves the figures without eyes, giving the viewer nothing… View Article

Pulp Fiction: Susan Shaw in the Studio

Oct 07, 2015

Bright, red pulp splashes onto the beginnings of a sheet of paper, fresh and still wet.  A nose begins to take shape, then a chin, then a neck. A silhouette of a face in profile fills the damp sheet. In the Papermaking Studio at WSW, Studio Workspace resident Susan Shaw created approximately fifty pieces inspired… View Article

Flood of Consciousness: Eileen Bushnell in the Studio

Sep 25, 2015

Light pours in from the windows of the Etching Studio, glinting off of the copper plates. Sketches of plans and ideas hang pinned to the wall. Test runs of etchings and monoprints are scattered on the counter beneath them, each one featuring more characters and patterns than the last. The images are busy and chaotic,… View Article

Redacted: Shanti Grumbine in the Studio

Sep 21, 2015

“I want a transformation to happen,” Shanti Grumbine says. “I want someone to know what they’re looking at but also not know what they’re looking at.” Shanti, WSW’s Ora Schneider resident, deals with the familiar. She works with newspapers and advertisements, things we see every single day, and transforms them into something completely foreign. Using… View Article

Lost and Found at Sea: Carly Butler in the Studio

Sep 09, 2015

Sheets of paper hang on a dimly lit wall, each with succinct pressed type against an otherwise bare page. “You are somewhere on this line,” it reads. Red waxed bookbinding thread ties these words together, boldly underlining them before tapering off and hanging limply off the edge of the paper. The words read like poetry,… View Article

Dual Postures: Mari Ogihara in the Studio

Aug 14, 2015

A heavy clay body sits perched on a foam cushion, its head and chest tilted back in serene expression. Legs pulled into her chest, the feminine form extends one hand outwards, like an offering for the viewer. “The figure itself has a spatial presence and tension, like it’s really struggling to keep its posture,” says… View Article

Casting a Concrete Past: Barbara Westermann’s “Regional Planning Lab”

Jul 31, 2015

Public art resident Barbara Westermann points to a dimly-lit photograph on her computer screen. An array of cement bricks lies on a table, illuminated by the harsh light of on-camera flash, in what looks like a basement. “These are what they call ‘test briquettes,’” Barbara says, explaining how engineers would pour cement into these sponge-shaped… View Article

Tending Hearts: Laimah Osman in the Studio

Jul 25, 2015

“The poems are almost like secrets,” says Workspace Resident Laimah Osman, opening the screen-printed covers of her 2013 project Ishqnama (The Book of Love), full of poetry written by Persian women of the early Islamic period. “They’re so gorgeous and contemporary, lusty and hot. Like lyrics from pop songs now.” Struck by such powerful outcries… View Article

Building Narrative: Emily Speed’s Meta-Rosendale

Jun 13, 2015

Three miniature, makeshift buildings, each with a pair of pale legs sticking out of their foundations, huddle together in the dark chasm of Widow Jane Mine. Wordlessly, they become characters, swaying and motioning to each other. In front of them is Rosendale Cultural Crossroads resident Emily Speed, filming with her camera. “I’m really interested in… View Article