Photo by Gordon Fitch

If you are someone who seeks out quiet spaces to draw in NYC, Spring Studio is a unique environment to escape the pace of the city. The drawing studio, founded in 1992 by the artist Minerva Durham, has offered year round figure drawing classes for twenty-five years, with studio hours to sketch from live, professional models every day in addition to workshops on portraiture, anatomy, and gesture drawing.

I first visited Spring Studio at its original location off Spring Street near Lafayette, an unassuming basement space accessed through a steep stairwell behind a barely marked door. I was struck by how the studio occupied its own sense of time, untouched by the chaos of the street above. Every inch of the space was covered with student drawings, art materials, and stacks of old artist books. Because the space was underground, the regular vibrations of the subway provided an appropriately grounding soundtrack to the steadily measured time of each pose.

Exterior of 293 Broome. Photo by Gordon Fitch.

In January of this year the studio relocated from its long-time SoHo location to its current space in Chinatown at 293 Broome St. This new location has a similarly unassuming façade, but its new atmosphere includes windows and natural light. The quiet, focused environment attracts artists and students from all levels and backgrounds, from beginners to recently-graduated MFA students, illustrators, painters, or professional artists maintaining their figurative drawing practice. Many of the artists are regulars and have been drawing at the studio for as long as twenty-five years. I look forward to spending some winter days brushing up my life drawing practice in the coming months.

• Laina Terpstra, Visitor Services Associate