Two artists from vastly different environments have opened their studio doors to share how their workspaces shape their creative processes. The 309th installment of "A View From the Easel," a series featuring artists reflecting on their studios, showcases Karen Mainenti's light-filled Manhattan space and Ric Dragon's forest-adjacent Colombian retreat.
Karen Mainenti has been working in her Hudson Square studio since January, after making the difficult decision to leave her beloved Gowanus, Brooklyn location. Her typical day begins around 10am with flavored decaf coffee and a carefully planned list of three priorities plus additional "nice-to-have" tasks. As a freelance designer who alternates between creating, researching, and taking Zoom calls, Mainenti works in focused chunks, shifting between collage, painting, and research to keep herself engaged and allow ideas to cross-pollinate between projects.
The transition to her current space proved transformative for Mainenti's work. After longing for windows and natural light, she discovered the Hudson Square location and painted the floors white, creating what she describes as a glowing "jewel box." She affectionately calls it "Candyland" because it's where she plays and feels most herself, surrounded by her art and the pastel palette that runs through much of her work. The larger space provides dedicated areas for painting, collaging, and thinking, offering more room than her previous studios.
While Mainenti misses the community of her old studio building, she has grown to appreciate the independence of her current space. Her building houses musicians, engineers, and nonprofits rather than artists, but this separation provides focus. She maintains close connections with her Brooklyn art circle and enjoys attending friends' openings in nearby Tribeca, Chelsea, and the Lower East Side, all easily accessible by bike.
The studio's windows remain Mainenti's favorite feature, particularly how the light shifts throughout the day, bouncing off the adjacent building. The space stays quiet and peaceful, except for the hum of traffic heading into the Holland Tunnel on Friday afternoons. Growing up in New Jersey, she had always dreamed of living in the city, and that familiar urban sound reminds her how fortunate she is to work there. However, she wishes she could somehow own the space, noting that affordable studios in New York can be fleeting, requiring relocations every few years as buildings change hands.
Thousands of miles away in San Bernardo, Colombia, Ric Dragon has been working in his studio for just three months after recently moving in. His daily routine begins much earlier, arriving at the studio around 6am each morning to fill pages with ink drawings. From there, he might work on paintings, take breaks to carve wood, or create more drawings. Unlike artists who make marks constantly, Dragon spends considerable time simply looking, considering both his sofa and book-covered table as critical studio tools that also make the space comfortable for visitors during deep drawing sessions.
Dragon's expansive workspace reflects his belief that large spaces allow the mind to expand, directly affecting his paintings. Interestingly, his studio wasn't designed for perfect northern light but instead shifts throughout the day, which he finds visually stimulating rather than problematic. The space was designed by Dragon himself specifically for the daily practice of breathing and making art, and he feels it fulfills that purpose perfectly.
The Colombian artist's studio sits next to the ArteSumapaz artist residency campus within an intentional community, creating what he describes as an ecosystem of communities. Local residents interact with visiting international artists alongside longtime intentional community members. Immediately outside his front doors lies an Andean forest filled with diverse plants and birds, accompanied by the constant sound of a nearby river.
Both artists maintain connections to established art institutions while working in their unique environments. Mainenti considers the Museum of Modern Art her favorite local museum, having grown up nearby and worked as a library assistant there after college. Dragon favors Fragmentos, the space created by Doris Salcedo, questioning whether it counts as a museum, or alternatively the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia.
Regarding materials, Mainenti prefers collage for its experimental qualities, allowing her to test color and shape before committing in what she describes as a meditative process. Dragon works primarily with oil paint, including a custom medium combining stand oil, Venice turpentine, damar, and clove oil that provides what he calls a "Proustian rush-inducing" experience. While Mainenti hopes for studio ownership stability, Dragon looks forward to installing track lights and constructing an annexed storage space next year.
