A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place (for now) by Barbara Schneider

 It's spring and I just got back to Illinois from Arizona and I am into getting everything where it belongs, including artwork. That is a never-ending task. This year I created new work in Arizona that was coming back to Illinois and work I was bringing back for shows and work I had had shipped back and picked up from my sister and work that spent a few months at Kathleen Cunningham's house and who knows what else. Also work that I needed to find and organize to go to some new venues.  I decided it was time to sort and organize!

Two years ago when I moved my studio home from a very large space to a much smaller space I got a unit at the U-Haul Storage area that is only a few minutes away.  It has been one of the best decisions I have made. All units are inside a temperature controlled building that is well lit, stable temperature, very secure, and easy to access.  They have inside parking bays for unloading and carts you can use to take things back and forth from your car to your unit.

My unit is 10x15 feet. I got 3 stack up plastic shelving units which I turn perpendicular to the long wall and space about 18 inches apart.  I put all the rolled up art on the shelves in categories. I use the space on top to stack up all the boxed dimensional art. In the back corner I put all the miscellaneous boxes and stands that I don't need very often.  I have 2 folding tables that I stacked one on top of the other and use to hold Ikea fabric boxes that I put framed art in. I have one more table that I use as the staging area to load, unload, wrap art, etc.  Below the tables are boxes of dimensional art or other odd pieces. I keep a ladder in my unit so I can reach things more easily.  None of the storage equipment has been expensive and all of it is something I can move or adjust on my own. I checked with my home insurance and I am covered if there is ever any problem at the unit.

I spent a few hours pulling everything out a bit at a time, relabeling where necessary, adding big notes to things that I  will need sooner rather then later.  

For my work in Tucson I have gotten the same shelves and put them in the back of the garage and they are working well for the work I have stored there. 

I have an Excel list that has all the info on all my art (supposedly) and also a list of current and upcoming shows that has new columns that list where is the art stored, where am I shipping it from and where am I having it returned to.  Because things are sometimes gone for a long time that has become a necessity.  

Using the storage unit has been a really good solution for me.  I weigh the cost of the studio space rent that I was paying against the cost of this and it comes down on the right side. If I didn't have it I would have no place to actually work at home. I hope this post suggests some ways to deal with the issue of what to do with your growing art collection.