Porch, Skjermo School, Divide County, North Dakota
One of the things about being an artist is this: you need to have a lot of room to store your “stuff.” It used to be that if you had a darkroom, then you had a very convenient place to store your photographic paraphernalia as well as a work place. Now, if you have a completely digital work flow (Now wait – I used to have a darkroom and now I have a “workflow.” Is that progress?) you don’t have as much “stuff” to make your photographs. With a digital workflow I am more prolific and can create a lot more art. While creating more art is better, what to do with the increased artistic output?
If you produce art (a) people will give you money to own your artwork. (b) You will give some away to dear friends and family members. (c) You can throw away the art you don’t like. Or (d) you will hang on to the work you have created. As you get older, or you produce more work, you will need more room to store what work you want to keep. If you are very conscientious, you will have a system to keep track of all the work you have finished as well as what you are working on and all the images you have made. Then when you have end of career potlatch, a la Brett Weston, you will know what you have destroyed.
Most folks don’t think about this part of creating their art until after they created the work. I actually had the forethought to consider this when I was preparing for the Light on China show. When I bought the mat board, I also purchased the drop front storage boxes for the prints after the show. Now, all I have to do is find some room around the house to store the boxes.
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