S T E P H E N WAT K I N S
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTHONY SCARL ATI
Staring Out & Staring In
by Jesse Mathison
PHOTOGRAPH BY GRAHAM GERDEMAN
A
couple of years ago I shared a studio with a few other artists in the Chestnut Square Building. Entering through the front entrance I was always met with the sight of large portraits done in charcoal, which sat outside the studio of Stephen Watkins. Inside, his space was always full of these large figures, and rarely did I ever see any that were less than four feet tall. We would often walk into one another’s studio and talk about what we were currently working on or a piece recently completed. On the occasion of this interview, we sat on my back porch and talked of Basquiat, consistency, and trusting your own artistic impulse.
Mother’s Sorrow, Sinnerman...Freedom Found?, Wigman, and Lil’ Jack at Outside the Studio at the Viridian
80 | December 2014 NashvilleArts.com