Your Art Studio Organization Style

One of my obsessions is seeing the work spaces of artists I admire.  It’s so interesting to get a behind-the- scenes look at how they organize their spaces and supplies.  Do they have their own studio or do they work from home?  Are they a Clean Queen or a Messy Bessie?  (Yes, I just came up with that one! Clever…)

Over the years of crafting I’ve discovered that I’m definitely a mix of both.  Generally I like to keep all my supplies and projects displayed on my desk around me.  That way I have my materials available at a glance to inspire me.  I call it organized chaos.  My loved ones call it a disaster area.  And they may have a point – the downside to this system is that I often end up with a desk cluttered with clay, beads, pliers, tools, you name it.   I’ve also perfected the art of sweeping things off to the side of my desk to clear a workable (yet tiny) space for current crafting.  After awhile the clutter will bring me to my knees and I do a giant clean sweep, ending up with a clear pristine desk.  Only to accumulate again, and the cycle begins anew.

What’s your creative space style?  Clean Queen, Messy Bessie, or a hybrid somewhere in-between?

This was my previous workspace.  As you can imagine, I loved all the windows and light streaming in!  Perfect for picture-taking.  The plants were a nice touch too, adding life and green to my space.  My awesome boyfriend installed the shelves for me.  What a relief to have my supplies at arm’s reach, and not crammed in a kitchen cabinet like they were before.  Pretty much everything you see is Ikea – table, chair, side-table (actually a bedroom end table), and shelves.  The dress form was rescued from a neighbor’s garage sale for super cheap; I used to take photos of my necklaces on it to illustrate scale.

My current art space is not so bright and open, but it gets the job done.  Since our square footage is limited I’m really working on maximizing space.  I have this wooden drawer box from Ikea which is a godsend.  I organize all of my beads in here, a drawer for each color of the rainbow.  It’s mounted on the wall in front of my desk.  Need more of these!

Here I’m working on a custom order of my Corpse Bride Necklaces. Creating in batches is always good; you can avoid getting bored and tired by creating production-line style.  The ribbon bulletin board adds color and interest and I can easily move things around.

Again with the assembly-line approach, this time for making some mushrooms and leaves for my Woodland Collection.  You can tell that caffeine fuels my creative urges – I have a coffee cup in a couple of these pictures!

Finished leaves ready for baking.

Finally, an amazing resource for de-cluttering ideas is http://unclutterer.com.  Not only does this blog feature inspiring pictures of peoples’ irresistibly uncluttered spaces for your voyeuristic pleasure, it highlights some cool articles on topics like the psychology of clutter.

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3 Responses to “Your Art Studio Organization Style”

1. emily says:

   May 18, 2010 at 8:02 pm

   Aw, this post just came across my Google Reader!

   It’s very cool to see your workspace, and despite you thinking it’s somewhat chaotic, I think it’s very photogenic! The behind-the-scenes look is fun, and you photograph your in-progress work as beautifully as your finished pieces. <3

   • allison says:

     May 18, 2010 at 8:34 pm

     Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! You’ll probably see more posts in the future about art spaces because there’s always more that I’m learning 🙂

2. Sarah says:

   October 7, 2010 at 10:28 am

   You should see my Pandora jewelry station. It is…interesting. Ha ha. I feel the same way you do about how interesting people’s workspaces are.

   Great article and pics,

   Thanks!

   -Sarah