Creative Chaos

Calder's studio Photo courtesy of Herbert Matter

I recently bought a book as a gift for my mother about living artfully with clutter and it spurred a conversation about our studio spaces. Some amazing work comes from cluttered studios (see Calder's studio above).

I grew up in a house where the dining room table served as a workspace for my mother's projects.  She was a crafts person then, making 3-dimensional quilts and soft sculpture.  Her actual work room was filled from top to bottom with scraps of fabric, beads, zippers, you name it.  I went to sleep every night listening to the hum of her sewing machine (accessed by climbing over the piles of stuff).  She now has two levels of workspace filled with house paint and various furniture projects.

I work in a spare bedroom at home. If I am in the middle of a lot of work (as I am now), my studio is stacked with paintings and reference material and frames and boxes.  It is slightly neater than my mother's workroom (the mess is regulated to the outer reaches of the room). I do a thorough cleaning about once a year. Rest assured, the remainder of the house is neat and clean!

I am envious of those who have ample space and no clutter to work in. Those glossy pictures in the monthly magazines that show pristine and organized spaces(certainly scrubbed for the camera crew) make me yearn for a place to relax in my studio without having to move something out of the way.

Do you do your best work surrounded by chaos?

My mother's studio circa 1980