Welcome to the 312th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists run laboratories of light and speak to the glass sculptures surrounding them.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Joan Danziger, Washington, DC
How long have you been working in this space?
I have been creating art for more than 60 years and have been working in my present studio since 1988. It’s the perfect studio for me, which is attached to my home. I love to be able to just walk through my house into my studio, night or day. If I wake up at 3am with a great idea, I just go down the stairs, and there I am, in front of my worktable filled with wire, metal, glass, paint, and many tools. What could be better?
Describe an average day in your studio.
It depends on my schedule with possible art exhibitions, writing essays, or other art activities. If I am planning a major exhibition, I will work seven days a week. Otherwise, I work about five days. I try to work during the day as I like natural light, but working at night can also be beautiful. The darkness surrounding my studio has its own magic. It’s fitting since my art deals with a fantasy world. As I work, I listen to fiction and non-fiction books on tape which I find stimulating.
How does the space affect your work?
When you walk into my studio, it is filled with ravens, scarab beetles, flying butterflies, horses, trees — all symbols of animals and nature in the world around us. My studio has 40 windows and high-beamed ceilings and is very large. I designed the studio space, and it was important to me to have many windows with natural light that reflects on my sculptures. I can open my door to a terrace and feel the natural world. The space is so airy and filled with light that it makes you want to create art that is tied to the earth. Through my work, I try to show the fragility of the natural world and the chaos due to human activity and the importance of nature and animals in the ecosystem.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
I am not near an art community but close enough to visit my artist friends around the city. There’s an active sculptors’ group in the city, and we meet often to discuss material, exhibitions, and art openings.
What do you love about your studio?
My 1902 arts and crafts home is part of my studio, and I am inspired by its architecture and unique design. Walking into my studio each day makes me want to begin working on my sculptures. It makes me glad to be there. The studio sings to me and says, “Hello.” I am now working on glass raven sculptures and they say, “Good morning, Joan, we are happy to see you.”
My artwork is filled with fantasy and magical imagery, and my art studio is like a dream world where anything can be created. I love welcoming visitors to my studio and hope my sculptures and drawings give them a brief escape into another world.
What do you wish were different?
I love my art studio. It is a perfect place to make art. When I look out my windows, I see trees, sometimes deer, and other animals. It is a peaceful environment with no distractions which helps me create my art. It is very quiet as noise would distract me. I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful place to work.
What is your favorite local museum?
My favorite museum is the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
I love working with wire and colored glass. Color, scale, surface — these are essential elements. I am continually exploring how glass, wire, and colored shards can catch light, shadow, and movement. I make art that invites viewers into spaces of ambiguity. The scale of many of my sculptures is larger than life, intending to give force and presence to forms that might otherwise be overlooked.
Christina Kent, San Francisco, California
How long have you been working in this space?
I’ve been in my studio building for two years now and have been in this particular studio for one year.
Describe an average day in your studio.
My practice is rooted in attentive, meditative observation of the world around me, often cultivated during my daily walks to the studio. On these walks, I immerse myself in my breath, the physical sensations of my body, and the poetic interplay of light, color, and shadow in my surroundings. These moments quietly shift my mindset, allowing inspiration to surface naturally. I usually arrive at the studio around 10am and begin with 30 minutes of exploratory sketching in oil or acrylic gouache, reflecting on the impressions from my walk. After this, I dive into several hours on a larger-scale oil painting, typically dedicating each day to a single canvas. Music, podcasts, or a captivating audiobook often accompany my work, creating a rhythm that deepens my focus and silences my inner critic.
How does the space affect your work?
Working in a spacious, light-filled studio has given me the freedom to create immersive, large-scale paintings, some reaching four by eight feet. Focusing on the city and landscapes of the Bay Area, the scale allows me to convey not just scenes, but the emotional resonance of the places I paint, inviting viewers to step into the work itself.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
The Dogpatch neighborhood has a vibrant, intimate art community, and I love visiting nearby studios or attending local gallery openings. Each year, I participate in San Francisco Open Studios, a great opportunity to connect with neighbors, collectors, and other artists.
What do you love about your studio?
I love that my studio functions as a laboratory for light: Large south-facing windows pour in warm summer sunlight and long, cool winter beams, dancing across walls and canvases and shifting the atmosphere with each season. Each day the space feels different, offering subtle lessons in the quality of light that I carry into every painting.
What do you wish were different?
The studio’s location on a busy industrial street means green spaces are sparse, and the urban hum is constant. Nature is a profound source of inspiration for me, so when I need to reconnect, I often drive to a nearby hiking trail to immerse myself in the wilderness, bringing that vitality back into my work.
What is your favorite local museum?
It’s so hard to decide, there are a lot of amazing museums in the Bay Area. One of my favorites is the Legion of Honor, which recently hosted an incredible exhibition of Wayne Thiebaud’s work, including selections from his personal collection and insights into his inspirations. The experience was deeply inspiring, offering a glimpse into the mind of a master and his relationship to color, form, and everyday life.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
I am utterly obsessed with oil paint. After 15 years of working with it, I feel a certain mastery, yet it continues to surprise me with its richness, texture, and the endless possibilities it offers. Each painting is an exploration that feels both familiar but also challenging.
