If Belmont’s Douglas Avenue were a family, Joan Schatzman would be the matriarch. The native Chicagoan moved here in 1978 and bought four houses on the avenue because, she says, "I wanted to shape my neighborhood." Decades later, the result of her efforts is a diverse and tight-knit community that gets together at holidays and has a couple of garden parties every year.
Having worked for years running her own construction business, Schatzman is now reveling in retirement. Her 1880 house seems largely of her making, both in its eclectic mix of images and objects, and in the remodeling she’s done. (One room, just off the screened porch, is completely empty by design, painted an oceanlike blue. "I use it to be empty," she says simply.)
"I’ve always been an artist my whole life," says Joan Schatzman, in the studio that now nurtures her desire.
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It’s another room, her second-floor art studio, that occupies her time. She’s now taking her seventh art course at PVCC, and tries to work here for two hours every day. A flexible setup lets her work in different media as the mood strikes. It’s an extremely welcoming room, painted a warm yellow-orange and liberally festooned with artworks—mostly Schatzman’s—and other stuff: a bottle of dried leaves, ceramic bowls, a turtle shell. There’s a couch in one corner for naps.
The view from the studio has changed since the Belmont Lofts were finished in 2003. One might expect a longtime resident like Schatzman to grumble about such a large development. But she says—true to form—"I do have some good friends who live there."
"Chica Tenney was my first [art] teacher. She said, ‘Create a space where you don’t have to move your art.’ I took that to heart, and had this extra room. …There’s loads of room which is good because I’m going between painting and printmaking. I can move stuff around. I did this painting on [the work table] and then poured liquid glass to make a surface. I like houses that have nooks and crannies. …Orange is the color of hospitality, and people respond to it.
"This is from Chica’s class, where she told us to get fast food containers and draw them. Now I’m working in oils. Painting is really hard; I set myself challenges. How can I draw this skull from this angle? Then I use my photos as inspiration. This [photo] is a spring in New Zealand, and this is a construction material—OSB with bas-relief. To me it looks like water. I find bones; I found this duck floating in the water, and it had just died.
"I treat this like a job. Morning is my best time, but in the afternoon the light is more consistent.
"I always wanted to be an artist, from the age of 6. Being a carpenter was the same; I have sketchbooks of [building] projects. I’ve always been an artist my whole life, except I called myself a carpenter."
What’s your favorite spot at home? Tell us about it at abode@c-ville.com.