The sewing machine has been out on the table for a couple of weeks now, and I've used it to start some journal quilts. Having the laptop on the ironing board is working well -
Solution: simply consolidate the heaps -
Which dawned sunny and energising. I started sorting the papers -
Since doing the foundation art course (2009-10!) I've been saving all the explanatory bits of paper collected at exhibitions. Often they are useful in writing a blog post about the show ... but really, they serve no purpose beyond that. Why would I look at them again, unless to sort through and throw out?
Throwing them out can't be done wholesale. I'm in the habit of recording things, and have become lazy in not writing in my notebook, and not blogging every show I've seen. Some of these need to be pinned down. (Or ... do they ...)
Does it matter? Does all one's history need to be retrievable? something to ponder... At the moment it seems better to say less about more, eg one image and a link per exhibition, "for the record" - some, let's face it, are amusing for a moment but leave no other trace. Others, you tell yourself you'll visit them again and have a closer look and deeper think ... but you never do, somehow.
Lack of focus? Trying to do too much? Losing my way? Not sure ...
I love a clear desk and will be tackling those papers again today. Perhaps by sweeping them all into the bin, after all. Because I'd like to get the sewing machine back onto the table - this has caught my eye, or rather I've suddenly looked at it afresh ... it's been sitting right there beside the screen all the while -
It's time to clear off not just the table, but that design board. If not now, when?
I'm glad that is isn't just me wanting to document events / life stages / minor milestones but struggling with how best to do it and whether it is worthwhile for me (or my descendants - what horrors am I storing for someone else to sort through?)!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you won't cut back on the photos in your blog postings, Margaret. Seeing a few images makes me feel like I am sharing a gallery outing with you. That said...
ReplyDeleteif you are anything like me, you will sometimes question how much of your energy is given over to being a consumer (of art, books, films, etc.) and how much is devoted to production (of art, blog posts, book reviews, and such.) Energy and time seem to be in ever-diminishing supply, and sometimes a little fine tuning is in order as to how they are allocated.
By coincidence I've just been going through a box of exhibition leaflets and most have gone into the recycling.My current practice is to cut out bits and stick them in my exhibition sketchbook along with a photo or 2 of my favourites.But then I don't go to as many exhibitions as you....
ReplyDeleteI collect ideas, thoughts, images, recipes, etc and the piles of paper I have accumulated it mind boggling! Once in a while I "clean up" and put them all in a pile and leave it for tomorrow just like you said! Every once in a while I work on sorting, but I never seem to get a handle on the piles of paper.
ReplyDeleteI feel like you crawled inside my brain, looked around & recorded what you found there. This could easily be a post I'd written for my blog. I've been pondering some of the same issues about saving & recording. I too go a bit blind to what has been up on the design wall & elsewhere for way too long. We really do need to freshen up our spaces more often than we do, become realistic about our masses of resource & reference materials. Does this sense of need to clear out have anything to do with advancing age? In my case, I do think so. And yet I still resist.
ReplyDeleteThis what to save and what to chuck is a perennial dilemma for me. I like to save booklets from exhibitions, postcards, newspaper clippings of images that have caught my eye (In do use them from time to time) so I too have heaps (a filing system of sorts perhaps?) They get combined from time to time and even less frequently culled. My husband on the other hand clears his desk every day and files or throws out as he receives. Why the difference I ask myself?
ReplyDelete