Organize Your Art Studio Once and for All

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krawczyk art studio
Lynn's studio as seen in Studios magazine.

When it comes to organizing her art studio, Lynn Krawcyzk has the right idea. She knows it's going to get messy, but she has it arranged in such a way that she can restore order in half an hour.

How does she do this? By acknowledging her priorities and arranging her studio and her supplies accordingly.

Lynn revealed the secrets to her organizational style on her blog after a reader who had seen Lynn's studio in the fall issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios asked her, "How do you keep your studio so clean and organized?"

After falling off her chair laughing, Lynn revealed a photo of the current state of her studio, then shared her tips for maintaining her "organized chaos."

1. Little-used items are stored off-site. As a fiber and mixed-media artist, Lynn needs space to spread out. That means items she doesn't use regularly get stored somewhere else in her house until needed.

2. Everything has a home. All the supplies and fabrics are welcome to come out to play, but they go back to their assigned place when clean-up time comes.

krawczyk art studio reality
Lynn's studio as it is most days.

3. Clean-up time is wheneveror never. Art is messy and it isn't always finished at the end of the day.

Lynn says that last point is the one that helped her put studio organization in perspective. "I make artwork in this studio. I write here, I create projects for magazine articles, I dream, I plotnone of these are neat. And I don't expect them to be. They have a life of their own and I am simply their medium, so they need to have free rein, which often translates to tossing fabric and paint about."

Your priorities may be different from Lynn's. But I think what's useful about her approach is that she figured out what was best for her and her art, and she embraced it.

You can see more of Lynn's studio, plus get tons of organization and storage tips, inspiration, and eye candy, in the Fall issue of Studios, available now.

P.S. Do you prefer working in a neat-and-tidy studio or a messy one?

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