STUDIO SPACE: TEGAN IVERSEN

It's been a while but Studio Space is back, this time featuring the super cute workspace of Tegan Iversen, a Melbourne-based artist and illustrator. Tegan shares her light filled studio with another creative, Lara from label Eat Me Do. There are contrasting white and pink walls, with the space above Tegan's desk featuring her own colourful hand-drawn illustrations of rainbows, lips, hearts and lightning bolts. There's also a feature wall hand painted by textile designer Abbey Rich. The east-facing window looks over Brunswick St, Fitzroy, where you can do lots of people watching (and also see Adam Bandt of The Greens' office).

Tegan studied fine arts (drawing) at the Victorian College of the Arts and since graduating in 2014 has been super prolific, exhibiting her work in a number of solo and group shows and co-running F*EMS Zine. She's also done lots of freelance work, for clients including AHD Paper & Co, Voiceworks Magazine, Filmme Fatales and The Big Issue.

Most of Tegan's work starts out as a pencil sketch on paper, which is then drawn over with pen, scanned and digitally coloured. She's also working on a project where she's replicating music and film tickets, hand painting the lettering directly onto small blocks of wood using a super fine brush. Interestingly, Tegan doesn't have a computer in her studio, which means she can devote her work time to painting and drawing without too many distractions. She then does all the scanning and computer-based work in batches, when she gets home. What a great idea!

TEGAN IVERSEN: Q&A

How long have you been in your current workspace and where did you work from previously? I've only been in the space for a couple of weeks! I have a desk in my bedroom at home that I used to work from, as well as drawing in the lounge room on the couch sometimes.

Yours is a shared space. How many other people work in the space? Do you prefer working alone or with/near others? I share a space with Lara from Eat Me Do. It's really great as we both love colour and making quirky & cute work. It's fun sharing a space as you can get feedback whilst working & can bounce ideas and thoughts off one another & we also get time in the studio by ourselves which is nice too. Sometimes I'll work there late by myself. I find I'm most creative towards the end of a day.

How many hours a week do you spend there? Probably around 20 hours or so. I have two full days to spend in the studio every week and other times, mornings & nights, when I can just pop in. I have other work commitments at the moment on top of my art stuff, otherwise I would spend more time in there.

What's your favourite thing about the space? Having a place solely for art making is super awesome & I love that I'm able to decorate the space to make it feel like me. One of my favourite aesthetic things about the studio is actually the floor - I've always wanted checkerboard flooring, omg I love it!

How, if at all, has a workspace (this or previous) influenced the way you work? Having a place to make art outside of my home has definitely encouraged me to experiment a lot more with my art making - to take more risks, try different techniques & make larger scale work. It's given me the time to try painting, which I've always wanted to do.

What does your dream space look like? Probably very similar to what this space looks like, but just more physical space, which of course I would then fill with lots more stuff!

What inspires your work? Definitely colour, patterns, movies I see, things I do, places I go. Also my friends, family & all the amazing artists I follow on Insta, as well as visiting galleries & reading cute zines.

Do you have any tips for great things to do in your work hood? Omg there are so many great things around here, I am forever tempted to go buy tasty food & go shopping & go out for dranks every time I'm in the studio! There is the very delicious Vegie Bar & Attaboy Roy who has an amazing halloumi burger, Naked for Satan for drinks, Brunswick Street Gallery is just down the road & not too far away on Smith St is In.cube8r & Junior Space that both have beaut art & lots of sweet handmade things!

Finally, music or no music when you're working. Or podcasts? I love listening to something while I work. If Lara is in we'll listen to music otherwise if I'm in there solo I usually listen to podcasts. At the moment I've been enjoying listening to podcasts about art whilst I make art, such as Starving Artist and Wowee! podcast.