PERSONAL SPACE

Robert Bean in his studio.
Robert Bean in his studio.

Robert Bean

Where I live: West Little Rock, near Bowman Curve

Occupation: Artist and chairman of painting and drawing at the Museum School, Arkansas Arts Center

My favorite space is: my studio in the Terry House

Why? As a visual artist, natural light can be incredibly important, and this studio has, essentially, three walls of windows. It floods with natural light. It has this cool vibe of being this incredibly old and historic mansion in the heart of downtown, so it feels like you're a part of something bigger when you're working there. The floors creak, the walls have exposed brick, it seems aged and organic. The space has this great built-in bookshelf in one of the walls that allows me to have my art library and writing library on hand. So the space works both as a working studio for my visual art and also a space for research, my office for my duties at the Arts Center, and a space for my creative writing endeavors. It's a rare space to be able to work in, you don't often get that kind of environment to pull inspiration from.

If I could make one change to improve this space, I would: Have more works in progress sitting around! It's a fairly new space to me. So I'm working hard to have more drawings, paintings, sketches, and other works taped to the walls, sitting on the easel, stacked against the wall, whatever and wherever, so that it feels very used and lived in as a studio.

HomeStyle on 05/26/2018

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