Being an Artist in a Studio
Originally written for Repository Magazine in 2021
Rosalia and I spent the Month of October, 2013 in Paris, France. We actually stayed in a little apartment down the street from Matthew Rose, an urban hunter/gatherer and master of collage art. We visited him on several occasions over the course of the month. His small, one bedroom apartment is, in its entirety a studio and not only a studio but a kind of installation piece. In the photo above, Matthew is having a glass of wine in his living room which gives you the idea of where his priorities are.
Watch a conversation with Matthew Rose
The studio of a collage artist who works incessantly, like Matthew does, is usually over run with collage materials of every sort, not to mention many other collected objects that might serve as inspiration or become assemblages or just arranged as collections of things. Collagists are consummate collectors of the flotsam and jetsam of the surrounding environment to amass the materials needed for their work. Each is attracted to certain things according to his or her own unique sensibilities and the interests that drive them.
You don’t need to be a full time professional artist which is to say: someone who has sold a piece of their work to someone else who was willing to pay for it. It is a low bar. OK?
For one to make art or be artistic, it is perfectly acceptable just to enjoy the process and the result. When people ask you; ‘What are you doing?’ you can simply say you are a neophyte, an amateur, an abecedarian, an adherent, a dilettante, an enthusiast, a devotee, a fan and yes, an artiste.
We are all getting from one end of life to the other some how or other so why not be artful about it? Ask and answer you own questions. Create your own problems and then set about solving them. Harvest your own sense of beauty and fulfillment. That is all artists are doing. You can too.
So if you want to make some art set up something of a studio for yourself. If you look around you might have a room or a corner of a room and a desk or a kitchen table where you can work. If you don’t have a lot of room, work small. If you have no room at all, do stuff with your smart phone or in a sketchbook. There is always a way. Ultimately, an artist’s studio is his or her mind.
I had predetermined that while on our visit to Paris, I would attempt to make collages with whatever I could forage from the streets, flea markets, 2nd hand and antique shops and rip paper from the walls. I then set up a little work space using the dining room table and set about making collages in the mornings over coffee. In the afternoons and evenings we would go out exploring, visit museums and parks, do some window shopping, eat things, and along the way keep an eye out for potential collage materials which I would stuff into a shopping bag.
In the end, I made 80+ collages in 30 days and when I got home I scanned them, went through my photos from the trip and made the The Paris Papers Blog. Since I do happen to be a professional artist I then sent works off to some of my gallery dealers who are willing to sell collages (not all are) who, in turn, have sold some of them. Over time I have also made a number of larger paintings based on some of the compositions from this set of collages.
Then recently, I pulled all of this material together along with some asemic drawings made on book pages from Paris into the book: The Paris Papers — ISBN 9780359977642. It would be nice if you bought a copy. I am sure you will enjoy having it.
There is something wonderful about having an ongoing artistic quest. It helps to give one’s life an overarching purpose. All you really need is time, intention and some form of dedicated space even if the space is a ‘pop up’ erected for the moment and then torn down and packed away — in my circumstance, into a suitcase and toted by plane back to my home.
“Time lost is never found again.” Benjamin Franklin
TAKE A MOMENT: Get up now and go out and walk around the block once.
My secret plan is to eventually make the posts in the Touchonian a book about the Creative Lifestyle for Artists. You, my favorite readers, are privy to the book in it’s formation. I would really appreciate your help by making comments, asking questions and suggesting topics I should explore and write about. It is hard for me to dream up what artists need and want to know to keep going and keep creating. I have fifty years of figuring out all of the details I needed to keep going and become self-sustaining as an artist and want to share enough insight to smooth the path for others facing this complicated, daunting task of being a self-sustaining artist. I know from experience it can feel overwhelming, unreachable and even depressing. So feel free to say or ask something! Thanks in advance.
Your description of the studio you visited in Paris sounds like you’re describing my own. And I also tried making little collages on a trip to the UK in 2022. It got too hectic to keep it up but I got a couple completed in my sketchbook. I’ll be out of the country this summer again and hope to at least collect materials, even if I don’t do much making as I travel. Thank you for all the inspiration! ✂️
Making art is so essential to an Artists lifeblood. Dramatic, yes, but it’s true.
I didn’t discover this until I was 62. I took a welding class. My instructor gave me the title of “ Your an Artist.” When I finally gave in and submitted my work to a few galleries it was accepted and sold! To my amazement!
I’m now 75 and am able to say those words...I’m an Artist.
Keep repeating and affirming yourself.
Art comes in all forms, decorating your home, dressing yourself, arranging food, painting, collages, metal art, ect.
Working with your hands to create. Never diminish your gift, play, cultivate and create.
For me it’s a placeholder in my life.
Thank you for your art, this space, and sharing.