Artists Share Space – and Ideas – at Turtle Studios

If it was a store, it would have a tag like "super," "mega," or "big-box." But there aren't many 4,000-square-foot artists' studios anywhere, so it's just Turtle Studios.

This unusual cooperative studio in Watertown has been accommodating artists since 1986, when it first moved from Somerville to Morse Street, then to the corner of Arlington and Mt. Auburn streets, where it now occupies the entire second floor of the Watertown Elks Lodge building.

"It was great for both of us," said one of its original members, Roz Grunmann, referring to the move 12 years ago to Arlington Street. "The Elks needed the rent money and we needed a new studio space."

And what a space it is: a vast, rectangular room, almost 40 feet by 100 feet (it's the former function room), with three storage rooms, a full-size kitchen, and high ceilings that are now lined with wires for hanging art.

One artist might be sculpting with clay near the giant windows facing Mt. Auburn Street, while another works on a painting taped to one of the huge walls, and yet another is playing with branches and twigs in a far corner.

Currently, Turtle Studio's has 28 members (called "affiliates"), ranging from recent college graduates to older working adults to retirees. And their art experience also runs the gamut, from affiliates with art degrees to those just starting to explore art-making.

All members share some art equipment and materials, such as drawing paper, paints, inks, charcoal, clay, sprays, drop cloths, and glue guns. And one end of the room has large shelves and drawers, where members can store personal projects and materials. But even that area has a communal feel to it, with several rolling carts loaded with supplies.

"The carts were a brilliant idea," Grunmann said.

But how does it work with so many artists – and occasional "friends," who can come with an affiliate – sharing a single space?

"It's never crowded," said Lisa Fast, a retired attorney who joined eight years ago. "Sometimes you even have it to yourself."

When it does get busier, she says, some people will wear headphones.

For the most part, though, artists who join Turtle Studios do so because they want to support and nurture each other – the sharing of space and materials isn't just for economic reasons.

Since its inception in an artist's attic-studio in Cambridge 24 years ago, Turtle Studios has had a different philosophy about art-making than the traditional image of the solo artist working alone. That's why the space isn't partitioned into smaller studios, as in other artists' buildings in the area, such as Brickbottom in Somerville and the Mill Studios in Waltham, where huge, post-industrial buildings are partitioned into dozens of private studios.

"Nothing is off-base (in Turtle Studios)," said Grunmann, who teaches a sculpture workshop in the space.

In the middle of the room, for instance, there's a "play" area, with a couch, two round tables, a half-dozen chairs, and shelves stocked with everything from stones, beads, seeds, and yarns, to colored pencils, magnets, and "found" objects, such as a basket of old piano keys.

"Or someone might just want to read," Grunmann adds. One of the side rooms houses a library of art books.

Camille Musser, originally from Jamaica and now living in Cambridge, has been an affiliate since 1997. She uses the studio about four times a week. It's only a five-minute drive from her home.

"I'm grateful to have it," she said. "When you say you're a painter, people always ask: 'Where's your studio?'"

Musser now also teaches a monthly quilting workshop there. Turtle Studios offers about a dozen weekly, drop-in, and three-day intensive workshops, at modest tuitions and on a sliding tuition scale.

A steering committee of at least five members meets every four or five weeks to suggest proposals to the membership about budgeting, workshop schedules, and other policies. Although it's supposed to be a rotating position, and any member can attend, in reality "there are 10 or 12 very regular affiliates," Grunmann said. "It's like any group – some people are more committed than others."

One of the studio's few rules is no oil paints, because they can create odors and require solvents. "Fumy" cements and adhesives are also discouraged, according to Fast. It can be a drawback for prospective members who want to use oil paints.

And there's another kind of rule, which embodies the studio's long-standing philosophy of both supportiveness and non-competitiveness. Called "no comment," it means that members avoid offering judgments about each other's work. Instead, they try to encourage each other to examine what they're trying to express and how to achieve it.

One recent fall afternoon, several artists attending a sculpture workshop began talking casually about the idea of a group show in the spring. Turtle Studios used to do more of them, but the event has lapsed. Nowadays there's the occasional artists evening, which members like to call "a hum."

"There's something that happens when six or eight or ten people are working at the same time," says Fast. "Everyone is into their own thing and also supporting each other .... It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does there's an energy – a hum – to the place."

This is the first in a series of occasional articles on artist's studios and galleries in Watertown.