What Do Artists Love About Their Creative Spaces?

Artists have very special relationships with their creative spaces. An artist’s studio is often considered their sacred place or inner sanctum. This is where the magic happens. In this article member artists show us where they create their art and tell us what they love about their creative spaces. They graciously invited us into their private worlds so we could learn more about them. The artists’ names will take you to their pages.

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“To have a sacred place is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room or a certain hour of the day or so… This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation.” ~ Joseph Campbell

Barbara Rachko

“I moved to New York in 1997. Initially my West 29th Street studio was a sublet. The lease-holder was a painter heading to northern California to work temporarily for George Lucas. After several years she decided to stay so I took over the lease. My studio is an oasis in a chaotic city, a place to make art, to read, and to think. I love walking in the door in the morning. It’s my favorite place in New York City!”

Bren Sibilsky

“My studio is an old Belgian homestead farm about one 1/2 mile from the shore of Lake Michigan. The barn buildings have been converted into various workshops. My favorite is the large barn my husband has been converting to classroom/studio. The cathedral ceilings and upper lofts give a spiritual feeling of freedom I never had before. I once sculpted in a 3ft. x 3ft. floor space. Slowly we are creating a magical artfarm.” (The photo above was taken of Bren presenting a sculpture demonstration in her studio.)

Peter N. Van Giesen

“Doing art, for me, is a mystical process, a spiritual work, and an exercise of creativity. When I paint it is if the veil of the common life is momentarily lifted allowing me to be embraced by the underlying essence of the universe. I consider my artistic expression a gift to be shared.” Peter enjoys creating art in his studio; however his “creative space” is being outdoors. He states, “I feel more spiritually alive when outside. Sporadic surges of energy percolate past my consciousness.”

Mary Chaplin

Mary is shown here in her studio; however it is in her garden where she is truly inspired. “Creating it, observing it and taking care of it gives me immense pleasure.” She feels compelled to express her love of flowers and other forms of nature in her art. She states, “Fleeting moments captured in the instant, free and energetic brushstrokes, vivid colors, the wind blowing through the flowers, the storm brewing in the distance, the morning sun shining through the mist… life, joy and ever changing living beauty…”

Frantisek Strouhal

“Being the brightest room in our house with its skylights, it is in my studio that I feel in perfect harmony with myself, totally in the moment. There is no time. My creativity just flowers. I enjoy the process of bringing the light out of the darkness in the artwork by erasing, clapping, and rubbing some of the inked layers off. The piece all of a sudden has a life of its own and is guiding my next move.”

Elliot Appel

“I have a very short commute to my studio. My workspace is actually my daughter’s old bedroom upstairs in my house. It’s a small space but I tend to work on a small scale so I don’t really need too much space. I usually listen to music while I paint. I work on one painting at a time and then go on to the next one. Everything I need is within arms length — palette, paint, water, brushes, lamp, chair and easel. I have additional storage space in the house for my completed paintings so my studio is used strictly as a work station. I really do feel at home in my studio.”