Spring is in the air, and I feel myself wanting to change things around, and get rid of superfluous art garbage that I’ve collected. Klee and I are not pack-rats with our personal belongings, in fact we are pretty minimal. The art studio is a different story…
I have all kinds of things taking up room in the studio that I may never use. I’ve been collecting plastic egg cartons for almost half a year, thinking that I may use them. I became so dedicated to collecting them, that my friends started saving their plastic egg cartons for me. I’m sure they thought I would use them for an amazing art project or something, but honestly I think I just have a problem. Even now, I’m looking at a pile of them and wondering if I should keep them.
The thing is, the studio is a chaotic, harmonious and creative balance of awesomeness. If I don’t purge unnecessary items from its environment, It can easily become cluttered and overbearing. I’ve always believed that a cluttered environment equals a cluttered mind, and in the studio’s case, a killer of creativity. Unfortunately, as an artist there is a plethora of art projects that you can work on with just about any item, thus the collection of junk.
Here are two questions I ask myself when spring cleaning my art studio, hopefully this helps you if you have the same problem.
Have I used it in a year? If it is something I haven’t used in a full year, then chances are I’m not going to use it. If it’s something I’m on the fence about, I will pack it in a box with other items and write an expiration date of one year on it. Next year, if I haven’t gone in the box for anything then it’s time to get rid of it.
Will I use this next week? This question applies to things like plastic egg cartons or other knickknacks that just take up room because you are planning on using them someday. If you are actively using them, then you can determine if they will work in a project. If you are not actively working with the stuff, it is just taking up room, both in your environment and your brain. So either get rid of it, or plan to use it next week.
Have fun cleaning out your space and remember, it’s just stuff… You can always buy more plastic egg cartons if you really need to.
Do you have any weird things that you find yourself collecting? Or am I the only one?
Klee Angelie
Artist Rafi Perez