Work Space

Oliver Jeffer's workspace [via the Guardian]

Today I straightened up my work area. Sometimes the space gets really messy with piles of papers, clothing, random books and DVDs laying about, half-done artworks, pages and notes from plays I'm working on... all just kind of dumped and strewn about. This is okay when I'm in the middle of a big project (like making puppets or building set pieces for a show or actively creating a play, etc.). After all, art is a messy business. But when I'm not in the "belly of the whale" the mess just starts to make me feel ill-at-ease and slobbish. I find it harder to focus when things are in general disarray. To some degree, like an empty stage, a desk or drafting tables comes off as a sacred space in my world. Without getting too far out about it, I believe that outside or one's own body and brain, the work space is the closest you can get to the epicenter of where magic can happen... where novel new things are forged into creation out of the nothingness... 

I'm also interested in the way a work space is used in that the thinking about something may or may not take place in the same place as the actual making of the something. I often make simmer over something during my day-to-day activities, making little notes and such, and then bring all this preliminary stuff to the table and actually work on the thing I'm making. Can a work area encompass both, as place to think and a place to work?

I did a quick web search on others works spaces and was delighted to come across a bunch of inspiring ideas. I love to study these photos and imagine what kinds of art and new ideas are invented in these spaces.  Sometimes, looking at the space is like a small glimpse inside the creator's mind.

Sirima Sataman's studio. on DesignSponge.com

From Geninne's Art Blog

Office studio on Pinterest