“The early stuff was sited underground,” says Alice Aycock of the sweep of her storied career as an artist making site-specific installations, sculptures, and drawings. “It was very phenomenological — architectural spaces that made you feel claustrophobic. The later work is all about levitation, trying to make things fly.”

Next month two exhibitions will celebrate her oeuvre: One opening on April 23 at New York University’s Grey Art Gallery will focus on drawings from the first 20 years of her work, and another, opening April 21 at the Parrish Art Museum, in Water Mill, New York, will explore drawings and small objects from the past two decades.

When we visit Aycock at her studio in New York’s SoHo district, she and two assistants are attending to designs for a series of large commissioned sculptures that will be unveiled uptown on the Park Avenue Mall in Spring 2014. Maquettes and small works populate tabletops; digital renderings are tacked to walls; and odd inspirational items — a flour sifter, toys, and implements — perch on crowded shelves. One enters the cluttered studio through an immaculate living area. Aycock has occupied this comely live-work space since 1976 and currently shares it with a cat, a dog, and a lovebird that, appropriately enough, builds elaborate architectural structures in his cage using only spit and food. “He built a Roman arch; he built a self-portrait,” Aycock says. “I admire him immensely because he makes good use of his time and is a real workaholic.” Given the range of projects, commissions, and drawings the artist is producing, we could easily say the same of her.

To see images from the artist's studio, click on the slideshow.

For an exclusive first look at the artist's new "Park Avenue Paper Chase," see our blog.

This article was published in the March issue of Modern Painters.