celebrate the clutter

I hope that you can see from this photo that some progress has been made in unpacking my studio. I now know generally where things will be, but have come to the conclusion that what I need to do is just put everything away with the idea that I will move it around later as I figure out the space.

There is no 'hidden storage' in this space, unlike my last studio. I keep thinking about Norm Abram on his old PBS show about furniture making. He would always say 'celebrate the joint' as opposed to working away trying to hide the joint between two pieces of wood--when in all likelihood it would show anyway. So the fact that everything in my basement is hodge-podge and out in the open--that's intentional.

One driving force is money. But another, about as strong, is the desire to tread lightly on the earth--use what I have, repurpose it where necessary, make do.

One of my goals when I do start to make art again is to use what I have, to minimize any purchases. In this economy, with the price of gas high, that only seems like the right thing to do.