Organizing Your Creative Work Space

If I can’t see it, it must not exist. For one who loves ideas, that sounds like an unlikely statement. But when it comes to organizing my studio and office space, it is true. To place something in a closed drawer, file cabinet or closet is to sound the death knell for that research, idea or project. So I don’t file away anything active any more. As you might suspect, this poses a challenge when it comes to keeping a neat workspace. And I need a neat workspace in order to create. Otherwise, I feel hopelessly unorganized and unable to focus. (Sometimes I feel that way anyhow.) My compromise is to place everything in stacks. 
 
I’m not alone in this. A few years ago, I read an article about the way people organize their belongings (which, of course, assumes they organize it at all). It said that some people file things away where they won’t be distracting, while others need to keep everything within sight. Stacking paper, books, supplies, research materials, project notes and such is a common strategy for those who need both a sense of organization and to have everything in sight. Until I read that, I’d never given it much thought.
 
Choreographer Twyla Tharp has her own idea of how to organize. In her book, The Creative Habit, she shares her box system. As soon as she has an idea for a new creative project, she writes her first thoughts and impressions on a piece of paper and places it in a box. Then everything related to that project — notes, clippings, sketches, whatever — goes into the box. That way, she always knows where things are and then the box can be archived when the project is finished. I love that concept and even gave it a try. I love the boxes themselves (stackable, black boxes with labels), but soon found myself inundated with boxes — some nearly empty, others overflowing. Apparently, one size box does not fit all. And I still had stacks, too. 
 
Since I converted my office to a studio (without actually tossing anything from the office) and began participating in art festivals, my stacks and boxes expanded down the hallway and into both guest bedrooms. This was not a good thing. I had too little separation between work and home already. This reminded me of The Blob, a 1958 horror film in which an alien amoeba crashed to Earth in a meteor and began consuming a town.
 
So I did the only thing I could do: I moved out. I now commute 40 minutes each morning to an art studio where I have more more space, higher ceilings, bigger windows, larger tables, and storage that allows me to see my supplies, my work in progress and my finished pieces — all at the same time, but without feeling cluttered or cramped. It’s not fancy. We’re talking about an old metal building in a light industrial area. But it’s just what I need.
 
I left most of the file cabinets at home and have carted many loads to the recycle center. It feels like a fresh start — something I should have done 10 years ago. Although my creative work space is now out of sight, it’s not entirely out of mind. And that’s good, because I enjoy thinking about my projects whenever I like. Now I can do that without feeling compelled to dart upstairs and get back to work. 
 
How do you manage the “things” that collect in your creative workspace? Do you need to see them? Do you need them filed away, leaving a clean workspace? Do you thrive in the middle of it all? Or do you manage to generate/collect little that needs to be organized to begin with? Does your system hinder or enhance your ability to create?