Creative ignition in the artist's studio

A visit to the workplace of a local sculptor inspires my latest collaboration on Katharine Cornell.

My favorite “art thing” to do is to visit a Vineyard artist in their studio.

Which is a bit curious, given that my own art involves research and writing. Nothing thrills me more than digging into dusty archives and crafting the nuggets of information unearthed into words on a page. But for some reason, the energy needed to do that soars after submersing myself in the creative space of a visual artist.

And that’s why I spent a recent afternoon with Barney Zeitz, a self-taught artist who works in pen & ink, glass, steel, and more. His home-studio itself is a work of art. Built from the foundation up, he’s crafted nearly everything in it: light fixtures, bannisters, windows, even the floors.

But it’s when we pass from the house, through a latched door, into his studio is when things got really exciting. I had to pause for a minute, to take in the central nervous system of this artist. In a sprawling space with soaring ceilings and dark, dusty corners artistic cogitation occurs, creative synapses fire.

At the home-studio of Barney Zeitz. [Photos: B. Horrigan]

On the wall ahead, a collection of small, forged-metal shapes hang. (How I’d love to have that bevy of angels and ospreys over my writing desk.) Along a full wall of windows, the late-June sun sets stained-glass artworks aglow.

I came to Barney’s studio with another mission, besides sheer inspiration. I’m starting work on the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s Katharine Cornell Legacy Project. Tony-winning Broadway actress Katharine Cornell was from 1937 until her death in 1974 an active citizen of my Island town, Tisbury.

Katharine Cornell in costume for the show “Will Shakespeare,” in 1923.

Her resting place, in fact, lays directly behind town hall (which she helped restore in the early 1970s). The site is, frankly, a bit of an embarrassment right now:

The Katharine Cornell Legacy Project, funded by the Tisbury Community Preservation Committee, the MV Museum, and others will include improvements to the acting legend's final resting place. [Photos: B. Horrigan]

But with funding from Tisbury’s Community Preservation Committee, the bench shown in the photo will be power-washed, the flowers refreshed, the trees trimmed. And Barney Zeitz will create a commemorative plaque too, to tell visitors who Cornell was and why her ashes were laid in this place of honor.

At his studio, Barney and I chat about his process and our collaboration. “How many lines should my text be?” I ask. He says there will be space enough on the 27-inch wide plaque to write “a real portrait of her” and then reassures me he can work with whatever I come up with. He’s done this before:

Zeitz's recently installed memorial for the legendary Vineyard naturalist Gus Ben David. [Photos courtesy of Barney Zeitz]

I leave admiring Barney’s creative confidence, his ability to take on so many projects in multiple mediums. I leave inspired and ready to work, to craft words worth of Cornell and worthy of the permanence that comes with being engraved in steel.

Need a dose of creative inspiration? Look for artists who have open-studios in your town. Or come to the Vineyard! This year, Barney Zeitz open studios take place Wednesdays in July and August, 4 to 6 pm.