"I Like My Studio To Be A Disaster"

Spring has sprung and as Lauren shares "spring is a time of rejuvination and my cup is overflowing with ideas". Stay tuned for the addition of original paintings and some prints as well in her wonderful Etsy shop

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurenSatlowski

 where you are sure to find something you love.

by Lauren Satlowski

My name is Lauren Satlowski and I'm a lifelong artist from Detroit. About 5 months ago I moved to a rural area of Northern Michigan and am experiencing a major shift in my work triggered by this dramatic change of scenery, for example my experimentation with abstract compositions. I have explored a wide array of subject matter and techniques throughout my education but I would best describe my work as surreal, figurative, colorful and contemporary. I am a drawer first but have mainly been working with paint for the last five years. I also love working with my hands and crafting items out of things I have lying around my studio.

For as long as I can remember I have been a collector. I collect everything I find that has some visual or sentimental interest to me and have a difficult time throwing anything away. My studio is full of boxes filled with folders full of magazine scraps, photos, old drawings, boxes of tiny plastic animals, beads, glitter, tiny disco balls and marbles, doll parts etc. This library of source material is vast so organization is vital. My organizational methods are unexpected, however, because I don't group items into categories. I group items intuitively based on their relevancy to me in that moment. I group and regroup them through an elimination process based on my reaction to them. With a project in mind, or even just a group of keywords describing my feelings, I sort through the items intuitively and the categories end up ranging from "things I'm not interested in at all right now" to "things that will become part of my next project". Sometimes a project idea defines the elimination process and sometimes the elimination process defines what will become the project. It's a process I have developed and adjusted for myself over the years and I find it makes creative blocks almost nonexistent.

In short my studio can become a huge mess fast. For the most part I really like my studio to be a disaster. I need that reckless abandon. In between projects I'll clean up and regroup my supplies and image library and start from the beginning with a clean slate, but as I'm working things quickly become chaotic. I like to wallow in the clutter and sit on the floor with it spread out all around me. I have an easel, a drafting table and a large flat worktable but I often find that my favorite way to work is sprawled out on the floor like when I was a kid laying on the carpet with a coloring book and crayons all around.