Artists' Studios

In an editorial for Art on Paper, publisher Peter Nesbett commented on visiting "artists' studios." He loves to visit the working spaces not just to see the art but to see the clippings, postcards, and reproductions taped to the walls, the works in progress, the collections of books, the abandoned projects on the shelves, the unusual found objects, etc.. It is a multi-sensory landscape in which to immerse oneself, although Nesbett always feels himself a tourist in a foreign land.

Recently he has noticed some of his visits with artists in their "studios" involve meeting at a coffee shop or an office, looking at images on a laptop. The research and evidence of process is hidden on virtual files on the computer. He states that he has always felt uninspired and unsatisfied by these meetings.

I just moved from a large house to a small home, and had to take apart my studio. The easy part was the computers and books, which have a nice loft/office area. The hard part has been all the collections: artists' postcards, torn magazine bits, old photographs, masks, animal bones, rocks, shells, seed pods, old pastels and watercolors, etc. etc. etc. These are the treasures that stimulate and excite me, and influence my art. How can these be found on a computer? They say so much about us as artists.

I agree with Peter Nesbet that a "studio visit" with a computer does not allow an entrance into the mind and personality of the artist. How do you feel?