Women in the Arts – Where They Create.

     In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf elaborates on the importance of women having an autonomous space to create, a place where they can be and think independently. Alluding to that same piece Sandra Cisneros, writer of The House on Mango Street recounts her life in A House of My Own: Stories From My Life through the various places she has written from as she moved around throughout her career.

 This got me thinking about Where Women Create a magazine I’d stumbled upon not too long ago. It featured the world of desks, rooms, cottages, and tiny studios made whimsical and unique by women who use them as creative refuges from whence to innovate enveloped by their own objects, choices, thoughts…

With this in mind, I asked the female artists that surround my life to show me their own sovereign piece on the planet where they summon the muses. The following is what they shared with me:

Molly Adams mayhemmolly/mayhemart.tumblr.com/

“My workplace is my room. That’s partly due to the fact I live in downtown Atlanta and have very limited funds and space. But it’s also due to the fact that I nest in my room. It is my place that is solely and uniquely mine. For my larger paintings, I lean them against my small couch, paint on the floor, and hang them to dry over my bed. I mostly paint with oils so this means my belongings, and me, are always covered in paint. For my smaller paintings, I clear out my desk primarily used for makeup.I’ve had dozens of women on social media comment and tell me things people have told them that made them uncomfortable. Things such as  “smile more, pretty girl,” “you’re pretty for a dark girl,” or “you wouldn’t have been raped if you weren’t so pretty.” Each of these phrases will be incorporated on the canvas. So maybe being in a space of discomfort is beneficial for this particular painting. However, my room, my floor, is my safe space where I search for freedom through my brushes. The only problem I have with painting in my room is that I’m limited on the size. I have a new painting in the works that is 70×80 inches so I am taking over my friends garage. I have to push myself in this space more than I do in my room because it doesn’t feel like mine. This huge painting is a piece for women empowerment and it’s almost ironic I’m doing it in a space where I don’t feel very comfortable.”

Stephanie Barro |stephanie.barrophotos

“Whether I’m drawing or editing photos for my photography, being in my space allows the whole world to be silent. There’s just me and the world inside my head. My inspiration comes from the media that’s displayed all around. The lush of color around me helps me dive into what I’m working on without worry or fear of messing up. I can allow myself to feel or think freely as I wish and follow the fantasies I get to put on paper.”

     

Moira Macedo | 638moira

As an artist I enjoy working on the floor, I’m less constricted. I base myself in my living room with my Bose system always playing the jam that best feeds my mood. I draw to release thoughts and emotions that are scrambled in my mind. I can relax and enjoy what I will create. I don’t care if it’s not going to be pleasing to others. I am inspired by life, existing, what humans go through, what life means to us—from my perspective. I look at everything that makes me feel something as art. Art brings me closer to the woman that I am, it reminds me to live.