Studio Spaces: Up In the Air Somewhere

I love visiting studios, and second best thing are images like these. Taken from Up in the Air Somewhere which is the studio of Chicago-based artist and designer, Susan Dwyer. With a sculpture background, Dwyer began creating a line of ceramic and papier-mâché vessels inspired by the clean, minimal lines found in industrial architecture. The silos, warehouses and watertowers that dot the Chicago landscape are transformed into elegant vases, votives and planters. Because they are individually hand-built without the use of molds, every vessel has its own organic, one-of-a-kind character. Her studio really matches her work. Minimal, industrial with splashes of colour!

upintheairsomewhere.com

Studio spaces: Heather Murray

Artist Name: Heather Murray
Shop Name and Url: HeatherMurrayArt (heathermurrayart.etsy.com)

Website: geocities.com/Shasta43_99
Blog: The Art Shack
City: Lovely Little Chatsworth Ontario , Canada



Where in your home/apartment/city is your studio located?
Owen Sound, Ontario in the historical (1860’s) Old Courthouse Building . A grand old rambling building in need of upkeep but inspirational in it’s cracks and crevices. Apparently it is haunted also (there used to be hangings there until the 1960’s!) and I have experienced a few interesting occurrences there which only seem to add to it’s charm (in the daytime that is!)I have many huge old drafty windows and a high ceiling to capitalize on space.



What equipment/tools do you use?
I usually work on canvas or masonite..and acrylic paint, multiple brushes ,gel matte mediums with an enormous collection of vintage ephemera and curious found objects.

Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
My entire three rooms provide inspiration..but I especially adore my Frida Kahlo project quilt constructed by various artistic folk from nervous industries round robin a few years back..also my old and distressed dolls ..and frayed books..anything historical makes me feel at home in my creative nest-but I am also inspired by my rural surroundings outside my log home..my chickens and the cows grazing over the fence...



heathermurrayart.etsy.com

See more of Heather's studio at her flickr stream here.

phm studio spaces: matte stephens

Artist Name: Matte Stephens
Shop Name and Url: Matteart (matteart.etsy.com)
Website: www.matteart.net
Blog: www.matteart.blogspot.com
City: Portland Oregon



Where in your home/apartment/city is your studio located?
Its in the spare bedroom in our condo


What equipment/tools do you use?
I use Gouache,plywood ,gocco,illustration board and paper for paper sculptures,

Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
I do have one its a wall in my work room. I'm really inspired by modernism mixed with a playful side. Irving Harper my favorite designer /artist is a constant inspiration for me. Even at 92 when he could be relaxing he takes the time to talk with me and gives me advice. I have several prints of his work on my wall and a print of his favorite painting Guernica. I also have lots of work from other artists that I know. Lab Partners,Amanda Kindregan,Maho Britt, Vivienne Strauss. I love the idea of suburbia it has been a very good source also.




How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?)
I love to watch movies while I paint. Movies from the 40's 50's 60's are the best inspiration for me while working :)


List (3) of your favorite artists
Ben Shahn
Paul Klee
Irving Harper

If yours isn't, what would be your perfect studio?
I had a rather large studio In Birmingham that I liked a lot but it was too much space. I love my new one its just big enough and very cozy. I have a very nice window to look out of all day.



Thanks Matte!

Studio Spaces: afavorite

Artist Name: amber j. favorite
Shop Name and Url: afavorite afavorite.etsy.com
Website: afavoritedesign.com
Blog: not only is my printing not 21st century, apparently neither am i
City: sweet home chicago



Where in your home/apartment/city is your studio located?
northwest side of chicago on the edge of avondale & logan square, about 2.5 miles from home

What equipment/tools do you use?
wilamina‹my 1913 c+p new series press
fredrick‹automatic triumph 4150a cutter
erika‹my antique german typewriter
gocco
lassco corner rounder



Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
i have more of an art wall of things i love. i do have clippings of inspirations in a folder. and a notebook. and all over my
desk at home. and maybe even several sketchbooks. i guess they're everywhere.


How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?
i create best under deadlines, listening to music, with as few distractions as possible. and some caffeine of course. I go in phases, this summer it was lots of vampire weekend & raconteurs. i often turn on andrew bird, wilco or radiohead when i just
want to make.




List (3) of your favorite artists

milton glaser
seymour chwast
aubrey beardsley (not his actual site, since he's deceased)


If yours isn't, what would be your perfect studio?

mine is close & it's perfect for now but eventually i'd like south & west facing windows, sunshine is a necessity for me. that & the north wind combined with the old windows is killer in my current studio. a sink & bathroom of my own, sharing with 8 boys plus a band on the weekend isn't always fun. also, it'd be wonderful to have something within walking distance of home.

studio spaces: kate bingaman-burt

I'm a huge fan of Kate Bingaman-Burt. Her hand-lettering and illustration is to die for (she's the artist behind Faythe Levine's designed Handmade Nation logo/banner), and last spring I was thrilled she accepted to do a studio tour with me while I was guest blogging at Design Sponge. Some of the pictures got edited back then, so I'm re-publishing it here in it's full version. She has since re-located to Portland to become an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University (hopefully we'll get to see that new space too one of these days). Hope you'll enjoy.

Artist Name: Kate Bingaman-Burt
Shop Name and Url: kateconsumption.etsy.com
Website: obsessiveconsumption.com
Blog: obsessiveconsumption.typepad.com
City: Starkville, Mississippi



Where in your home/apartment/city is your studio located?
Starkville, Mississippi. I work at The Public Design Center, which is a non-profit graphic design resource center that my husband and I founded at the end of last year. www.publicdesigncenter.org



What equipment/tools do you use?
Ink Pens, Markers, Color Pencils, MacBook Pro, Gocco, Sewing Machine, Long Reach Stapler (for my zines! I can't live without it!)




Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
My inspiration board is pretty much any open flat space where I can stick bits of paper and ephemera that I am liking at the moment. Right now a lot of material on these spaces include bits of fabric, things that get sent in the mail to me, family pictures, magazine tearings, my failed drawings, planes of color, one inch buttons and dumb things that I scavenge from other people's trash.




How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?)
When I draw I generally like to watch TV shows on DVD. When I was working on all of the handlettering for the upcoming Handmade Nation Book I watched the ENTIRE series of Six Feet Under. I don't have a TV, but I watch a lot of dvds on my computer. When I work on stuff that requires me to move around (installations, packing orders, sewing) I listen to music (right now lots of Okkervil River, The Dodos, Bill Callahan and Spoon)


Are you working on anything new and if so, can we have a sneak peek?
I have been working on incorporating color into some of my daily drawings. This is the end of the semester for me and it has been tough to do any non-prescribed work (teaching, daily drawings, blog updating, freelance work etc), so I am looking forward to this summer to experiment a bit more and to work on tackling some of my lists (work bigger! more color! more products! new website!)



List (3) of your favorite artists:
I can't pick. I am so lucky to be able to look at amazing work everyday. Here is a sampling:

Herb Lubalin
Marc Horowitz
Joseph Beuys
M. Sasek
Stephanie Syjucco
Kristen Martincic (side note: We shared a studio all through graduate school and I learned so much from her. We co-habitated extremely well).

If yours isn't, what would be your perfect studio?
Ideally it would be a live/work space like we have now. I want to be able to always be able to work easily. We are moving soon (this fall I will be teaching at Portland State University in Oregon!) and I realize that there is the possibility that we won't have a live/work right away. I can handle that for a little while, but hopefully we will find a great place soon!

I have had a lot of workspaces and my best spaces have been those that have been shared. My first great shared space was with Kristen (see above) and now I am sharing a space with my husband and can't imagine it any other way. We might keep our heads down for hours and communicate in grunts sometimes, but for me, nothing beats working hard on MAKING with someone who shares the same ethic as you do.

Thank you so much Kate!



obsessiveconsumption.com

Studio Spaces: Hello Lucky

We have a nice side trip today from the beautiful letterpress company, Hello Lucky out of San Francisco. Not only are their papergoods beautiful, we were instantly smitten with their studio too (check out that beautiful shelf above)! Here's the interview:

Artist Name: Hello!Lucky (Eunice and Sabrina Moyle, co-founders)
Shop Name and Url: Hello!Lucky (www.hellolucky.com)
Website: (www.hellolucky.com/)
Blog: (www.hellolucky.com/wordpress)
City: San Francisco (and London!) - our studio is in San Francisco, and we have an office in London which is also a great source of creative inspiration!



Where in your home/apartment is your studio located?
We're lucky enough to have a studio space that is completely separate from our homes. It's in an old button factory in the SoMA area of San Francisco. The neighborhood's eclectic (Blue Bottle Coffee + wig store + liquor store + perpetual garage sale store!) but up-and-coming (so they say!) and it's pretty central, so we love it!

The downstairs space is where we do our printing, and then we have a club-house-feeling design loft upstairs, where we hang out, design stuff, come up with greeting card ideas, meet with clients, noodle on ideas, and accumulate flea market ephemera and other bits of inspiration.





What equipment/tools do you use?
Heidelberg Windmills, Challenge cutter, Heidelberg Cylinder press, Vandercook proofing press. Sketchbooks, Stylist pens, bone folders, craft knives, corner rounders, punches, Wacom tablets, Adobe Illustrator, glue sticks (lots of glue sticks!), double-stick tape, ribbon, calligraphy pens, screwdrivers, to name a few!


Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
(see inspiration board)



How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?
The music is going all the time - what we're listening to right now: Pet Shop Boys (Pop Art), Keane, the Beatles, She & Him, Arcade Fire, Old '97s, Hayes Carll, Def Leppard (it really depends on the mood of the moment!)



We do our best work when we brainstorm together. We sit down with members of our studio and throw ideas out there and riff off each other. Usually, it starts with a goal we're working towards - e.g. we need 4 Valentine's Day cards and 2 Father's Day cards - and some basic funny concepts or images, e.g. BBQ grilling tools and foods - hamburgers, buns, ears of corn - with
big personalities; flying squirrels (squirrels are always funny! always.); unicorns and rainbows; bowling; milk maids, etc. This usually ends up in: 1) tears from laughing so hard, 2) WAY more ideas than we could possibly produce, 3) lots of ideas that have no commercial value whatsoever, but that we (and maybe only we!) find charming, amusing, etc.

Once we've narrowed it down to the strongest ideas, we sketch ideas out and do a couple rounds of quick revisions to refine the illustrations, bring out the concept and accentuate funny details (we love adding surprising, humorous details to the backs of our cards!). Finally, we have a silent review with the entire staff (about 10 of us) - we lay all the designs out on a table, and everyone takes turn writing comments about each one. Once everyone is done writing their point of view, we talk about the feedback and decide what final changes to make.



Hello!Lucky (www.hellolucky.com)
Website: (www.hellolucky.com/)
Blog: (www.hellolucky.com/wordpress)

Editors note: Thank you Eunice and Sabrina!

lisa solomon studio space on dsponge guest blog

my next studio space interview at design sponge guest blog this week is with lisa solomon. her work is so thoughtful and makes you think. it was fun to see inside her place of work and hear what inspires her. click here to read.

helen dardik studio space at dsponge guest blog

i was interested in seeing helen dardik's studio space because her illustrations are so happy and cheery and i was wondering how her work reflected into her workspace and livingspace. everything about this girl seems so happy-go-lucky and i get a real pick-me-up everytime i visit her blog. click here to read her interview and see more pics.