With his wife, artist Sue Cotter, Spike Ress has built a life immersed in art. Their home in the small Utah town of Parowan is a bedroom, kitchen and living room flanked by a studio for each artist. But with art and artifacts adorning walls and nooks throughout the house, it’s hard to tell where the living quarters end and the working quarters begin. Ress’s studio (look for Cotter’s in a future edition) features tall north windows, which flood the space with light, multiple working stations, for watercolors, oil painting, framing and storage, and is festooned with paraphernalia picked up on the couple’s many travels.
The proximity of Ress’s studio to the front door — walk in the house and you’re essentially in his studio — is appropriate since the artist is frequently on the road painting en plein air. His “Art Spirit” van has been transformed into a mobile studio, the envy of many plein air painters throughout the state, who suffer under the rain or from the wind and cold while Ress is comfortably painting ensconced in his warm, dry environment.
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Categories: Studio Space | Visual Arts
Two incredibly talented artists have built a life around the landscape and the stories unique to them. It is true that Spike’s van is the perfect “Art Spirit” location for creating in all weather conditions. Their home and studios are the perfect destination in Southern Utah!