Studio Tour
All artists work out of a studio. Weather that be a corner of the living room, a garage, or a large rented space, artists always find room to make their art. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, Chris and I tried to work our of our small one bedroom apartment. I had my huge easel in the bedroom and he had all of his paintings in the living room. It had awful lighting for painting and it always smelled of mineral spirits, which is terrible for you to breath in. Having a studio crammed into our little home was not working for us. Even though our art was right there, we would get super distracted from our art work. We knew that we had to move the studio out of our home if we wanted to get any work done.
Pittsburgh noticed that there was a need for artists studios when landlords realized that artists were renting storage spaces to create. Over the last few years the city has been creating more spaces for artists. Now there are shared studio spaces popping up all over the city! Chris had been on the waiting list for one of theses spaces through Radiant Hall. It first started as one building in the Laweranceville neighborhood and is now up to three locations and two more on the way! It's mission is to create and preserve studio environments for working artists.
In January, we got an email about the new Radiant Hall Susquehanna location opening up . They were looking for artists to fill the new studio asap, but the spaces were first come first serve. You bet we made an appointment and got a studio right away! We moved in as soon as we signed the papers and have been there since. We love it! Even though we have another bill to pay, it really motivates you go to the studio more!
Our studio is located in the Homewood neighborhood in Pittsburgh. It's not one of the best areas in town but the building is super secure, gate and locks included. The building use to be an old factory and has been in the process of renovation since 2014. So far the inside is almost done the outside is still on the sketchy part but that will get fixed soon. Radiant Hall is only one little part of the building. The factory is four stories tall and has a lot of room to be rented out still. What I think is cool is that most of the building that has already been rented out has been to artists. There are all different collaborative studios and private studios being rented out. If you are interested in see all the different studios and learning more about the building and how you can rent a space look at there website here http://www.7800susquehanna.com/#top
Our studio is located on the second floor of the building. It's hard to miss with this sign on the side of the door. There is also a private studio and a shared ceramic studio next door to us.
We share the space with 17 other artists but we all have our own separate "Space". Chris and I's studio space is located near the lobby. Artists can hang up work on the lobby walks to display when we have visitors or tours. There is also storage for large pieces.
The lobby also includes a slop sink, lockers, cleaning supplies and a kitchen-ett. Our rent includes all of this and utilities and internet.
Our front door of our studio. Chris and I have business and show cards up. I also have my bio from a pass show and my artists statement. I also have an information card about Painting with a Twist, which is were I work. I'll blog about that later.
Chris and I split our studio. As you can probably tell this is my side. We also have a cozy chair for guest to chill in.
Here is a close up of my main work space. I like to keep things neat and organized as much as a painter can be. The best part of my studio is my easel. My Grandpa Heitzenrater made it for me as a graduation gift. The shelf moves up and down for different sized works and there are two swinging shelves that I can set my laptop on one side and my palette on the other. You can't see it in this picture but there is a little copper cat he made on it, since cats are one of my favorite animals.
This is prob the messy corner. We store everything here, Mylar, wood, prints, canvas, books, snacks and anything else an artist might need. Yes every artist should have balloons in their studio. We have a wall were we like to post show cards. Most of them are from friends shows or just some shows we really liked.
This is Chris's side of the studio. Visitors always get confused when they see our studio. They think all the work is by the same person even though our work is vastly different. We have to explain that we share the space. I don't have a picture of it because its just a plain wall, but on the other side of the door is were I set up mylar for my models when I have a photo shoot.
If you have any more questions or if you would like to set up a studio visit please send me an email or leave a comment. If you are interested in Radiant Hall or want to check out all the awesome other artists check out the studios site at http://www.radianthall.com/
