Studio Crawl

A couple of my friends and I went on an art tour in our area last Saturday. I always enjoy seeing the work areas of artists. I know this is busy but...

I'd like your opinions.

My opinion:

I am looking at an artist's work space. I see the residue of clay all over the place, along with a wheel, so I assume this artist creates ceramics.

The space isn't very pretty, and does not invite me in. I'm not attracted to this work space. It speaks to me of goop and dirty hands and little chunks of clay in my hair.

The light coming into the space is cold and uninviting. Looks like a northern exposure, which would depress me.


I find myself commenting on what I see IN the picture, rather than the picture itself. What are you looking for?

Chunk.. I love this picture. It speaks volumes to me of a life totally dedicated to art. So much so that decor is out the window and instead a warm, live space takes over. I personally have had such a space when I was in college. It was full of huge canvases taped to the wall. drawings everywhere, the floor was covered with sheets and it just felt great to make any kind of mess I wanted. If I needed to try out something before putting it on canvas, i just painted on the wall. lol That room was so free! The studio in your shot shows what I call "organized chaos"...open storage for easy access, earthy shades of clay, paints, blue shadows and glowing light. It's extremely inviting to me. A place where you can express all your thoughts without being hindered with trying to be neat. If the finished product is that big blue jug in the window, then that is a huge undertaking! I like it, it feels warm and cozy to me. It also feels non-pretentious...real!
Kit

This is a cool picture, it totally shows what it is to be an artitist

o.k. so can I have this one for my photo at the swap in Chicago?...there's so many different parts to this image that I really love...the crops are the part of the photo I am the most nfatuated with...something about the spoons and how shiny and clean they are in the midst of the clay and dustiness...mmm

I love the lighting and I love the colors and I love it in BW even better. although it has A LOT of competing elements...I find the textures just interesting enough to keep me focused each time I look at it...just my 2 cents

See, this is why I never took a ceramics or pottery class. I really don't like working with clay.

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Originally Posted by natatbeach

.the crops are the part of the photo I am the most nfatuated with...something about the spoons and how shiny and clean they are in the midst of the clay and dustiness...mmm

I love the lighting and I love the colors and I love it in BW even better. although it has A LOT of competing elements...I find the textures just interesting enough to keep me focused each time I look at it...just my 2 cents

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Chunk, this photo makes me wish I had a room I could just dedicate to art ! ( I used to, but now that rooms been taken over..) I too like the light coming in, reminds me of Saturday Mornings when I don't HAVE to be anywhere, and I can just splash paint on a canvas, or get out the old arts and crafts stuff, spread it on the floor and let my creative mind go! I *love* the crops that Nat did, especially the black and white ( while I love the colors, the black and white just makes the photo less cluttered, even though the space is)

I also find photos of the interior of peoples house to be interesting, Now, i'm not talking photos like you see in a magazine, where people have gone in and cleaned and placed their little knick knacks just "so".... this one, Like Kit said is real.

:D

Chunk,
When I first looked at this, my impression was that this was not my "type" of shot but that I would put that aside and tell you about the technicals and whatever i thought may improve it some. But the more I look at it, and just " relax" and take the time to explore the many interesting things to take in, I feel I like this. I would not crop this at all , and although b&w looks great as well ( usually does for most any image) I prefer to see the many warm tones, earthy tones and shadows. The exposure is excellent, really captured the soft lighting and the feel of the area. I really like the cabinet in the bg to the right side of the frame with all the little pots and bowls of different colors and other various little things. Glad it was included. I had many a work area in my time, between woodworking, model building, fixing cars, so I too can relate to the scene. It would be a place like no other, where I would start off very early in the quiet of morning, with a hot cup of black coffee,and feel at peace with myself and my passions. . . .huh? Oh yeah sorry ( starting to drift off . . . . )
I like this image. I would not change a thing.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to tell me what you thought of this.

Kelly - Thanks for your opinion, it's important. I didn't think this would be appealing to everyone and I can see why this antithesis of your elegant piano would be uninviting. I think its interesting that both are places that different people go for calmness and creation of beauty.

Kit- Thanks. That realness is part of what I was after. I wish I could have seen your old studio. You know there's nothing preventing you from doing that with your livingroom now.:D

Shooter- I think you put what I was trying to do as succinctly as possible. Thanks.

Nat - You bet - which version do you want? Thanks for reminding me that I had better get that stuff all figured out tonight (only a week now). I like the crop and B/W. One of the things I liked when taking this was the mix of the two light sources. I think it's stronger than I thought it would be.

Rachel - I know the feeling you are talking about - voyeurism of a sort. The potter had told me to go ahead and take whatever shots I wanted and was outside explaining his woodfired kiln to people as I was working in his shop. I felt like I was intruding a bit as I stepped into this very private seeming space to see what he sees while he's working.

Gary - I'm gla...Gary... Hey Gary- I'm glad you stuck around and took the time to explore. Thank you. Tonoght I'll post a couple followup shots of that fueltank with the temperature cones in the background and the cabinet on the far wall with the glazed ware awaiting firing.

Perhaps I'm just jealous ... jealous that no one ever let ME have a workspace "all my own" like that. This shot only conjures up images of my middle-and-high-school art teacher, and her heavy smothering of me with expectations that I've not yet lived up to.



Interesting how you contrasted your shot to my piano, I hadn't made the connection. I'm suddenly taken back to my childhood, where it was the old upright piano on the porch that was my own "space" in the house, the place I would escape to for hours at a time.


Ya know, this thread depresses me. How I could have let so much childhood potential just go flying out the window like that. It's mostly all gone.


:::crawling off to cry:::

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Originally Posted by kellybean

Ya know, this thread depresses me.

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Sorry about that. Maybe you could spend some time in that Nature's Bodyparts thread.:D

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Originally Posted by Chunk

Nat - You bet - which version do you want? .

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I always prefer BW but I'll take it full size version in color...whatever you decide will make me content
:D

Here are those followup pics I said I'd post including a couple of the potter and his wood fired kiln.

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Originally Posted by Chunk

Here are those followup pics I said I'd post including a couple of the potter and his wood fired kiln.

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the last one feels like you could touch the smoothness of the clay...

I feel left out, i feel like i should be taking pictures of pottery also. ahah its very cool. yall's pics are very cool looking

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Originally Posted by Chunk

Here are those followup pics I said I'd post including a couple of the potter and his wood fired kiln.

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Chunk, I love the third one down, with the colorful little spikey things...lol, have no idea what they are, but love the shapes and colors, love how they pop out from the earth- tone background.

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Originally Posted by Clicker

Chunk, I love the third one down, with the colorful little spikey things...lol, have no idea what they are, but love the shapes and colors, love how they pop out from the earth- tone background.

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Thanks Clicker. Those cones will be used to monitor temperatures within the kiln during firing. They start to slump when a certain amount of heat's been absorbed. The different colors are for different temperature ranges. In this shot you can see a set of lower temperature cones that has been through a firing. Here's more info about pyrometric cones than you ever knew you wanted.
http://www.miniworlddolls.com/evenheat/ConeInfo.htm