Organizing Paper
Like every artist, I have spent many hours trying to figure out how to organize my materials. I’ll get frustrated about how I can’t find something or see someone's gorgeous studio online and I’ll take a deep dive into online searches for ideas. I’ll consider buying more bins, think that rearranging my studio will solve the problem or, when it’s really out of hand, consider some Swedish Death Cleaning. The truth is, a working studio is never going to be a clean organized place. If I’m spending that much time cleaning and keeping things gorgeous then I’m not making art.
What you have is good enough for now. When your needs change, the organization will change to suit the purpose.
File cabinet
I bought a tall file cabinet at a thrift store for twenty-five dollars and filled it with paper. This drawer stores handmade paper and painted papers sorted by color in the hanging files that came with the cabinet. I also have a plastic bin that’s filled with more paper that I haven’t sorted into this drawer yet.
Another file cabinet drawer
These are color-sorted hardback book covers that I haven’t taken apart yet.
My mobile fleet
How many Ikea RASKOG utility cart do you have? I have three of these and two are filled with loose papers I’ve taken from books. I love these carts.
Archival paper boxes
Years ago, when I had far less paper, I invested in a tall stack of clamshell boxes from Blick. I now use them to sort special papers: sheet music, magazines, maps, tissue-thin book pages, endpapers, and large paper book covers. I keep them stacked in my third utility cart.
Shoe boxes
I have twelve heavy-duty plastic bins filled with color-sorted book parts. These are always out on a table and I think of them as my candy store.
Bookcases
The first bookcase stores oversized paper, pads of paper, and more book covers. The Ikea MOPPE drawers are stuffed with vintage envelopes and letters. My second bookcase is filled with the books and magazines I resell in my vintage paper boxes.
The cardboard box
Truly, a studio isn’t always a pretty space. This is a box stuffed with papers I’ve recently removed from books and haven’t sorted yet. In the background, you can just make out the massive shelf that houses bins and bins of supplies from my former classroom and art supplies I may use again someday by can’t seem to get rid of.
Special vintage books
This wooden crate stores stamp albums and ledgers that I’m slowly using up in my collages. Please note how I blurred out the background so you can’t see the total chaos, but know that it’s there.
I also have two 22” x 30” clamshell archival boxes under my bed, both stuffed with full-size sheets of paper. There’s another bookcase with books and magazines that I still think are too nice to use in collage. I have drawers filled with stamps, player piano rolls, and interesting bits of ephemera in random places all over the house.
I hope I’ve managed to convince you that there is no good way to keep your materials organized. Use what you have, buy new storage only when you’ve filled everything else, and don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty. Before I had turned my basement into my studio, I used a corner of our living room and it was always overflowing with paper and materials. I’m learning to embrace the functional mess of being an artist.
