Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Undone


Projects, that is, not me; not yet, anyway.


I'm going to leave the framing project for when I've finished. I made a small effort at beginning when I saw Zooza's picture arrangement, but I'm going to need some 8x10 frames--and I don't know what kind of real space I'm dealing with: that would involve actually measuring the space and graphing it. It may have taken Zooza a pleasant hour to arrange her photos, but I work differently and it would be too much of a rabbit trail to go off in that direction at the moment. I want to keep the momentum going.


Besides, this is the reason I am cleaning the basement: I want it set up just so I can grab the materials I need for a project like this and set it out and go to work.


I've moved on to the memorabilia section. I'm not going to do a lot of tossing, really. I've been through this before and it can be horribly depressing. There is one project I now know I'll never complete: so getting rid of all the supplies I set aside for it will give me some room.


But, I've already run into a couple of things, though, that I no longer want, but feel I ought to keep. They are two "circle journals." A circle journal was very popular in scrapping circles a few years ago. One is incomplete and will never be completed. The circle of friends was broken. There's one entry in it, besides my own, and I don't want to trash the other woman's work. Still, it reminds me of a sad, sad time. The other is a bunch of pages all dealing with one theme. But, because it was compiled by strangers (we formed our "circle" from an on-line scrapping community), it doesn't "do" anything for me.


It's another "disposal dilemna."

What would you do?

Oh and hey, while we're at it: what would you do with children's artwork?
Imagine a stack of banker's boxes, five feet high.
Plus a suitcase.
Do you wish your parents had saved yours?
Would you really want it?

7 comments :

zooza said...

Re: children's artwork, my personal view is that it's good to keep just a few pieces, but to choose ones that have a story attached if possible (i.e. "you made this when x happened"). Keep too many and the specialness gets lost. I can imagine just flicking through a huge pile of artwork and not dwelling on any single piece, but if I had just a few pieces to look at, I would look and remember more carefully. Does that make sense?

The circle scrapbook is a tough one, too. If in your heart you really don't want to keep it, could you perhaps give it a little private burial ceremony in which you honour the past friendship? That might feel less harsh than simply tossing it in the rubbish bin.

Colleen said...

If the circle books have no meaning or create bad feelings, I would let them go so you never again have to unearth them during a Cure. Once they are gone, you'll probably never think of them again.

My mom kept a selection of artwork and I love flipping through when I come across that box. The pieces are either attached to a story as Zooza said or are extremely representative of something I loved at the time. Everything fits in one not so big box so she did a lot of culling (which saves me the trouble).

Mella DP said...

Circle book 1: Are circumstances such that you can return the other woman's work to her? You could do that if you think it appropriate; otherwise, toss it all. If it "reminds you of a sad, sad time," you don't want it in your house!

Circle book 2: CQ is right: "Once they are gone, you'll probably never think of them again." That applies to an awful lot.

Kid art: I do see advice on this a lot in the decluttering context - speaking as a very not parent myself, it's always seemed to me that the most sensible advice is to put firm bounds on it - one box per kid, or X pieces per year, or whatever. Special stuff, and/or your favorites and theirs. I think that's basically what my folks did, and they tend to the pack-ratty in most things

scb said...

There are very few of my childhood "art" projects that I'd like to see again -- the candle made out of a toilet roll I made in Grade 1, the clay cat I made in Grade 6. I cherish an old coloring book that my cousin Greg and I used to color in at Grandma's, and I wish I had one of the shopping bag people I used to make at Grandma's (made out of the old paper shopping bags you used to get at Eaton's, with handles -- cut them open at the sides, cut one handle off, draw a person on the length of the bag, and then carry the person around by the head handle.) Other than that-- nothing tugs at my memory. That's very few pieces out of all I likely created in my childhood.

If it were me, I would definitely glean, to the ones that are particularly meaningful to the kids, that have stories, that are particularly meaningful to you. The best of the best.

Alana in Canada said...

It's going to be a tough task going through all that artwork. I'll most definitely keep your advice in mind, and I appreciate it very much. Ideally, of course, I'd have the kids go through it with me...and perhaps I can do that with my son. My daughter, though is a pack-rat. Everything is special to her.

Laura said...

My parents (much to my high school chagrin) framed a "painting" I did in first grade. I think my mom has one other folder of artwork. (Please take the following suggestion from a very non-parent with a grain of salt!) Maybe you can help your daughter with culling things by telling her you'd like to keep less of it, but you'd like her to help you pick out the most important pieces so that you can hang them in the house somewhere as a rotating gallery - framing them would make them that much more special.

thefarmersdaughter said...

I keep a lot of my sons art- but the "art" not the scribbles or random pieces. I have an archival box that is about 5 inches deep and about 16 x 20 inches and I plan keeping something about that size per year.
I just got a couple boxes of my past from my parents a few months back. I wish that they had saved a few more pieces of my art and that everything they saved for me had some sort of tag attached to it. I remember some stuff, but others I don't (especially some of the stuff from middle and high school) just dating some of it would have helped me out!
As for the circle books- get rid of them- they seem to be a negative energy thing for you- and who needs that?

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