Start with the Art: Collections

Like many people, I’ve been sorting, organizing and clearing during the pandemic. In particular, I have been going through old work binders, years of contracts, and my file drawers. I decided to approach this daunting task creatively, thinking of it as an artistic archival project rather than just sorting and organizing. If I followed the artistic thread in each of my contracts, then perhaps I could preserve the essence of it in an electronic portfolio and recycle the rest.

Through this process, I found several boxes of old business cards – decades old. Why was I keeping these? I found myself making a collage of my old cards and once they were recorded in this way, I was able to recycle the remainder. The business card incident, led me to other “collections”. I realized that I was a “collector”. Some of the items, like my large set of garden T-shirts, hold special memories of a time in my life. Others are more functional – like my containers of twist ties. I am an environmentalist after all, and reluctant to throw anything away. I thought perhaps if I found a way to archive these items, then it would be easier for me to part with them. And so, I have decided to blog about my process – to archive, to reuse/recycle, and clear out my life. I’m calling this series: Collections.