Three successful Canberra artists allowed The Canberra Times into their studios to see where the magic happens.

For ceramicist Avi Amesbury's the scenic setting of Strathnairn Arts in Holt is an escape from her full-time job as chief executive officer of Craft ACT.

Installation artist Samantha Small and printmaker John Loane beaver away behind the industrial facades of Fyshwick and Mitchell.

Alongside his plumbing and plasterboard business neighbours, Loane has quietly carved out a name for himself working with some of the biggest names in the Australian art world including Imants Tillers and performance artist Mike Parr.

Now Loane is busily collating 28-years of material from his work with Parr for the artists' upcoming retrospective at the National Gallery.

"I usually get in here early especially in summer, [but] there's no schedule at all unless there's an artist is here," he says of his studio practice.

Conversely, Small is more likely to be found hidden behind the pink curtains of her Fyshwick shopfront studio, where she has been based since rebuilding her work for Sculpture by the Sea last year, at a much later hour.

"I work eight to four but that tends to be 8pm to four in the morning so getting up for the job at 9am is complex and I have a very understanding team at the National Portrait Gallery where I've worked for eight years," she says.

Meanwhile Amesbury aims for at least two days a week in her studio, juggling it with her full-time job in Civic.

"When you come out to a place like this you really do leave the world behind," she says.