Creative process Archives

Pursuing My Life’s Work

March 16, 2020 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Creative process, Inspiration & Education, Uncategorized 3 Comments

In pursuing my MA, I’ve come to understand that the work I am doing is my life’s work! It’s exciting to be in a place and time when you realize that all paths have led you to this moment, with the perfect experiences and guidance that will help you pursue your vision and dream. That is genuinely how I feel about this process, and I want to share the blurb that was included in a recent school newsletter, highlighting myself and one of my cohorts. Since I am only 1 1/2 semesters into my master’s, I don’t yet have my thesis declared, but think of it like this diagram: a three-legged stool, with my research focused on each of the ‘legs’.

My research stems from observing and interacting with artists as they craft a space known as the studio. In this space, the work of making crafted objects takes place through a universal and personal creative cycle of order and chaos. History and contemporary culture have much to say about the mess and order of the creative process. Having spent nearly ten years evaluating and co-producing these spaces to identify and construct systems that support organization of material culture and productivity, my curiosity led me to interview over fifty artists about how they construct these spaces, their habitus, their process of setting up their studio and their interaction with objects and materials in their space.

I am curious to learn more about the legacy of objects and spaces left behind by artists. How can individuals and institutions support craftspeople in establishing helpful working guidelines for maintaining legacies of material knowledge and material culture? By drawing upon research in the domestic and workspace design fields, I hope to gain a better understanding of how our identities are defined by the spaces we craft, in both domestic and public artists’ studios.

All lanes have converged, leading me to this moment, of understanding my life’s work through space, materials, people, memories, and craft making.

Try Everything Organizing

June 4, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Creative process, Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

There are a lot of people who feel like they LIVE the try everything organizing approach and there are others who feel that the latest trends or books about organizing SHOULD work for them, but they don’t. That can be extremely frustrating and lead a lot of people to think they are doing something wrong or that they just can’t get organized! That makes me so very sad!

I like to take the ‘Try Everything Organizing approach” when working with creative clients who feel overwhelmed or like organizing is impossible for them. What do I mean by this? Well, we might mix systems for example and use the Kondo technique for books and clothing but try something very different for anything that is sentimental and harder to part with. When I say I use the Try Everything Organizing approach, I literally am going back and drawing on all the systems and techniques I’ve learned from books and classes on organizing and productivity.

I believe that when we are learning something new, we need to explore different techniques, experiment and practice. A dogmatic approach might work for some disciplined personalities but it might be more frustrating than helpful for artists, collectors, free thinkers and less conventional creative individuals. I work with a lot of clients who fall into one of the above categories…not putting anyone into a box, just sharing a description of some of my favorite client! Sometimes some of these individuals are ADD/HD and are so creative in their approach to problem solving, we come up with (invent/discover) some really amazing solutions. Mistakes lead to invention! There might be obstacles along the way…

you might be frustrated
you might be overwhelmed
you might be-feel laziness
you might be un-interest or un-motivation
there might be other people involved
you might feel shame
you might experiment
you might take an unorthodox approach
you might fail and try again!

Give yourself some “Try Everything Organizing” prompts such as, “What would happen if”? Respond by writing about it, or acting it out. What would happen if I…

I got rid of clothes that don’t fit?
I let go of books I have read and won’t re-read?
I gave someone who needed __________ more than I do?
I got rid of the magazine articles I tore out but never reference?
If I tried storing __________ here instead of there?
I let go of a few of my less favorite items in my collection?
If I tried folding my ________ instead of hanging them?
I tried living with less ________?

Your turn…what have you tried that hasn’t worked for you? What has worked? Are you already using the Try Anything Organizing approach? If not and you want to give it a try, I’d love to hear from you, Here.

How to kill your creative darlings

May 29, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Creative process, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Let’s start by asking ourselves what creative darlings are.

Darling is synonymous with precious, adored, favorite, beloved, loved, cherished, treasured, prized, esteemed, worshipped, idolized, etc. You get the picture. Sometimes people think of creative darlings as things that are too precious. We are so attached to them that we might not be objective. I like to think of them as the unnecessary “fluff” that we use to embellish, and in fact, those darlings can detract from the essence of what you are trying to create. The term “kill your darlings” has been attributed to a 1914 writing lecture, “On Style”:

If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.
Writer Arthur Quiller-Couch

Creative darlings can be the outcome of overthinking, overworking, and exertion to try to MAKE something incredible. They can also be the outcome of decision fatigue, where we become tired of editing and leave things as they are. We become a little lazy and attached. It’s a scary prospect to decide to “kill” something we have created (curated, collected, or envisioned), but when we become overly attached, we fail to see what’s best for the big picture. It can be liberating to trust and believe that letting go might lead to something better emerging.

Don’t get so blinded by what you’ve invested (time, $, emotions) that you lose sight of the big picture. That’s why we must kill those creative darlings; otherwise, we can get so caught up in our thoughts and ideas that we may not realize when they are failing to pay off for us. Be willing to let go of your grip, trust the creative process, and know that by severely pruning out the “dead wood,” we will see the most vigorous and healthy lush new growth!

Kill your creative darlings early and late in your creative process, kill your darlings when your editing your wardrobe, kill your darlings when you are looking around your home and decluttering.

How to kill your creative darlings…

Edit what doesn’t serve a purpose & leave a more meaningful creation.

My argument for keeping stuff…

May 22, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Creative process, In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

Lately I’ve been in the midst of decluttering my art studio and I’ve got a heap of stuff to get rid of! I’ve certainly waxed on and on here about letting stuff go but today I want to share my argument for keeping stuff. This argument is not necessarily one that can be applied to all categories of “stuff” in our homes or work life but it’s certainly relevant for “artists” who work a process.

As both an artist and an organizer, I often have partially (un) finished works in progress (WIP’s) laying around my studio. Unlike partially made food, most art projects don’t have an expiration date and reviewing older work can spark both joy and inspiration to grow and work in a new direction! Some of the artist I work with invite me to participate in the process of reviewing work they have made. Together we sort into the Keep or Toss piles just like we might do with anything else (clothes, books etc). A lot can be said for tossing some of our badly made, “UGLY” art! Seriously, sometimes I look at some things I made and it just makes me cringe. I don’t want to keep those things, in most cases, not even to re-purpose into something else or give away.

Then there’s the argument for keeping stuff that is worth exploring further. Maybe it’s a certain technique, a color combination, something striking about composition or something nostalgic that evokes a personal response. All of these are great reasons to hold onto some of our art that might not be “best work” or finished. One of the most challenging aspects of making works of any type of art is knowing when to say it’s done. If something is undercooked or we leave it on the burner too long, it’s no longer edible. Art can be like that too, if it’s under developed or overworked it might just have to go (into the trash). But we learn from our creative mistakes! Part of the process of developing our skills is to review our mistakes and our successes. Looking back at work we made that helps us to grow argues a strong case for keeping some things that might not have been finished or “successful”.

I once read an article on creative process where the artist Robbi Joy Eklow suggested a “Time Out Box” for works of this nature. We do this with kids and with kids toys, why not our art? Setting something that you are unsure of aside so that you can come back later, review it again to see if it “Sparks Joy” is a great way to learn from your creative process. I’ve gone back to sketchbooks from 20+ years ago and found ideas that I’ve revisited and been overjoyed with. I don’t think there’s any time limit on creative incubation, do you?