Setting Up Shop

Some artists work from studios within their homes while others own or lease off-site studios. There are benefits and drawbacks to each, although some people may not have as many options depending on what they do and how they work. Many artists need specifically-designated spaces, equipment and tools that they cannot make room for in their home; some artists require a more communal means of working where several artists work together, share a space and support one another; and still other artists prefer to work large and need someplace to store all of their work where it will be safe. Those artists in particular benefit from having off-site spaces where they can work, foster camaraderie and/or store their pieces. But a lot of artists are uncertain whether they would be better off working from home or from an off-site studio space. This really depends on your needs as an artist, and I will examine this from my own personal experience. Please feel free to post comments regarding what works for you and what you have learned from your own art practice.

I work from home. Everything I need is conveniently located in one place and I can work on my art anytime of day when I am feeling productive, even at 2:00 AM when I have insomnia. However, I have to be really self-motivated because there are a lot of distractions here. For one, all of this technology and computer usage can consume a lot more time than I am aware of while I am logged on. And it is even easier to get distracted from the art management and networking that I need to do on the computer than it is for me to be distracted from making art because a lot of that process (submitting, organizing, putting together packets, tracking artworks and shows, updating my resume...) is really really dull. But sometimes life itself is distracting. For example, one day the cat fur tumbleweeds may get to me and I'll decide that I absolutely positively need to dust right then. Or another day I may decide that the garden needs to be weeded so that I can get the yard waste out before I leave town (at the expense of working on my art). And with my husband also working from home, we can distract one another all too easily.

There are bonuses and drawbacks to working at an off-site studio as well. The biggest drawback is cost - you are likely looking at rent or mortgage payments, electricity, heat, water and other costs (like deposits and the need for multiple purchases of things you otherwise may not need duplicates of such as paper towels or rags, cleaning supplies, storage units, some art supplies, power tools, etc.). All of those costs can really add up, causing a greater necessity to sell your work to help cover your expenses. One of the biggest bonuses to having an off-site space is that it is more professional to invite people over to look at your art so you can sell your artwork right from where you created it. Thus you are likely to sell more art to cover said costs, but you may find yourself catering to that to an extent. Much of my work is geared towards increasing exposure and awareness and not selling in and of itself, so this is not as great a loss as it otherwise may be for myself.

The biggest problem that I have found in working from home is that there is no easily defined period of time when I am "at work" versus "at play" and so my art tends to be more consuming that it probably should. It is much easier to designate a time to be in your studio working when you have to go there, and for all that you can still be unproductive or become distracted you are more likely to feel a need to accomplish something to make going worthwhile. But designating such a time to work in one's studio is both good and bad because you cannot completely control when inspiration will strike. Even in my own studio out of my home, I find myself doing an awful lot of cleaning and cataloging materials when I am uninspired, but I am also far more likely to be able to act when I am hyped up to work on something or when an idea strikes.

Above all, this depends on your needs as an artist. What do you want from a studio space? Are you too easily distracted when trying to work from home? Do you have any other time constraints or such that would prevent you from working in one context or the other? Can you afford an off-site space and do you know what you're looking for in one? Can you make or designate a studio space in your house and will others (family members, roommates, friends) respect that space? Figure out your needs first and foremost, and then work to accommodate yourself and to provide an ideal working environment for you to be as productive as possible.