Too much stuff… or abundance for the sake of creativity?
Seems to come with the spring, this urge to clean up for a new beginning.
Time to pull up the weeds in the garden and plant salad. Getting rid of unnecessary stuff in the studio making room for some fresh ideas.
Not sure if I will go so far as the minimalists, but I like the idea of “less is more”. Since I’ve always lived in small spaces it comes natural. In fact, living for years out of an open suitcase has made me feel comfortable with the idea of being able to see in one look what’s there. Too bad though that stuff just seems to settle like dust as soon as one stands still long enough. And then there is the “stuff” for inspiration…
So how much stuff do we need for the sake of creative abundance and with how little can we still be creatively abundant?
Or does having less create more abundance… at least creatively?
When I was an apprentice (embroidery) the motto was curiously enough: “less is more” and it stuck in my head since. As a textile designer I worked best with restricting techniques. While my paintings nowadays seem to start with abundance and everything-is-possible, until an image emerges that narrows it down to a particular form out of the many possible (aka chaos?).
Sarah Zoutewelle writes about de-cluttering her studio in her blog: “It takes time, a sort of inner focus and energy, but it needs to be done if you are really serious about preserving Space rather than Things.” Michael Nobbs has some very practical advice as he is going about living (and creating) with less on his blog.
For those who want to go even further Zen Habits has a great collection of ideas to simplify your whole life. And perhaps has an answer in his article the creativity of constraints
Would like to hear your experience with less or more, (more or less :-))
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japanese art is about the harmony with emptiness, japanese conversation is about including pause/silence …
as I have moved around in those past few months … I still live in the mess, and I have not reached the creative mode although I have been wanting to …
Thank you for your comment, Eco, reminding me, I had been thinking about the japanese way of keeping everything simple, I guess partly because of space restrictions such as I experience, which makes me very fond of the way they solve the problem and the way they live in quite and uncluttered spaces.
Well in reality I am still a long way from that, but it helped to get rid of a lot of stuff, clothes etc. that wasn’t needed and make space for the mind to expand (and cope with what is still there :-)) it does seem to quieten my mind a lot.
I seem to be more creative in an uncluttered surrounding and then let the creative mess unfold 😉