I was going to post photos of my tidy studio this week but it's been a particularly daunting task and I'm not quite finished yet. Lack of space being the main problem. I seem to be rotating art supplies and books round and round the room because there's nowhere to put them once I've tidied up.
I bought Rice Freeman-Zachery's book Creative Time and Space a few months ago and I received Lynne Perrellas latest book, Art Making and Studio Space for christmas so I am feeling inspired to make space, both physical and mental, for new beginnings in 2010.
My dilemma is that I can't bring myself to clear out old books to make space for the sparkly new Christmas books. I love them all! They are like old friends and were my main source of inspiration before I succumbed to the lure of the internet.
Our book collections live in every room of the house .....
"It is instantly apparent, as soon as you enter, that this studio is all about the books, from the display cases to the bulging library shelves." - Pam Sussman in Art Making and Studio Spaces by Lynne Perrella
Another quote from Lynne Perrella's book, Art Making and Studio Spaces ......
"Books have the most powerful and subtle connotations. They are never only objects, they have a voice with which they speak across time and across lives, a voice contingent only in part on their material nature and expressed forcefully in their text." - Philipp Blom
And then there are the notebooks ..... dozens of them! I really find it difficult to throw them out. They are filled with copious notes and even if they're only shopping lists, telephone numbers ..... or website links....what if I need this information one day? I also have journals (who hasn't?) and sketchbooks of ideas as well as my beloved quote books where I've been scribbling favourite quotations since the year dot.
Jackie mentioned Randi Parkhurst's extraordinary assemblage of books she discovered here or here, which led me to Judy Wilkenfeld's delightful little handmade books here, as well as heartstopping images taken while making artists books with some of the treasures that Judy found at an Asian antique store. Scroll down to the 23rd December and watch a video clip about Judy's art.
