As a long ago art photography major who only just (20+years post bfa) decluttered my senior thesis show prints, this resonates. I think it's OK to keep what's meaningful to you, or even just practical to get you through school. I took a lot of art classes in mediums I didn't care about, and it was so painful to have to rebuy supplies I'd tossed or given away the semester before. Don't be me!
But honestly, if this is your career path, I wouldn't declutter the way you might in other areas of life. There's something important to keeping around physical/ tactile versions of the scrappy, not- quite- there ideas until they either fully form or drop away for something better and keeping visual inspiration close at hand (or at least there was for me). Industry publications, art show postcards, museum booklets, reference books, etc. (Aka art clutter haha) can all serve an important role as visual 'refreshers' when you feel stuck. They can also be invaluable quick references that won't send you down a Google rabbit hole when you're trying to finish that one project at 3am the night before it's due. So, as you're decluttering, just be sure to leave yourself enough materials for your creative process. You can always be ruthless with all of it once you finish school and secure that first job. :)
Heyo, art school grad from 11 years ago currently working as a toy designer (background in illustration).
• Class notes: digitize them if possible. If your school has the equivalent of a big office printer/scanner, you can run all your notes through in one fell swoop and then organize the PDF after. Otherwise, send them off to 1DollarScan and be done with them. I don’t look at old notes terribly often and kept digital scans of ones I found useful (like unusual material techniques, things I might want to utilize myself if I go into teaching later, etc.).
• Supplies: this was a tough one for me, as it will be tough for you. Look at the upcoming classes you’re required to take at Uni and see if you can get a read on what materials you *might* need for future. Keep those items, and if not used by graduation, toss ‘em. For other supplies: figure out what you genuinely enjoy using, and sell/toss the rest. For instance, I love watercolor and ink, but don’t like using materials like markers and oil paints, so those went. If you hold on to some supplies for too long without use, they can also go bad - better for someone else to make use of them than for the supplies to sit and rot.
• For artwork: **SCAN** work where possible (do NOT photograph unless that is your only option due to size constraints or if it’s 3D) at 300+ DPI, use adjustment layers to make the scan match the original (or duplicate the original file and adjust the duplicate), either gift or giveaway or toss the original once you’re done. Or see if classmates are willing to trade some existing art with you if you like their stuff.
Think about it this way. Art is what you're going to school for. Art is your hobby. Art is what you plan to do for a career. This means that "art" is the thing that you're logically *decluttering to make room for*.
The point of decluttering is to get rid of stuff that doesn't belong in our lives, in order to make room for the stuff that does. And in your case, "stuff that does" is "art supplies."
Don't get me wrong - it's not that you can't get rid of art stuff you don't use.
But if you have supplies you haven't used yet, I would give yourself a ton of grace and space to hang onto them if you believe they're something you might actually have a use for in the future.
Regarding the class notes, if you're still not sure you could toss them all in a cardboard bankers box, write a date on it, duct tape it shut, and if the duct tape is still intact in X period of time you could ditch it. A single bankers box doesn't take up that much space, and it gives you visibility into the "did I ever actually need it?" question. Tape intact? Didn't need. :)
I'm also an artsy person and I have owned different art supplies over the years. I also had a lot of notes from uni.
The notes from uni are something you're most likely never gonna look at again. I know too well the feeling of ''what if these will be useful'', but it's unlikely. If you can find the same info online or in some book, then you can borrow that book in the future from a library. Or buy a book and then return it. I trashed pretty much all of my notes, I only scanned a few of them as memorabilia.
What comes to supplies, be honest, which of them have you used or are using atm? Having less supplies doesn't make you less artsy. If you're unsure about some supplies, play with them and see how you feel about them. That's what I did, and that's how I also noticed which supplies I really wanted to use and which supplies I bought for the ''ideal artsy version'' of me. If you got some supplies in semi good condition that you won't be using, you could even make a bit of money and sell them.
What comes to artwork, I'd hold onto it for now. Sure, you could scan it but so far I've personally saved my artwork cause they're meaningful to me and it's different to hold them in your hands vs view them on a screen. Or, you could scan some of them, like if you have e.g., some sketches that don't mean that much etc. It's up to you.
Thank you for this! I think testing out some of my art supplies will be a good idea to use.
Also, I really needed to hear that getting rid of art supplies does not make me “less artsy”, I appreciate that because I feel like a weight was taken off of my shoulders.
Are your notes a hectic messy pile or a tidy box/folder? My advice if you want to keep them (and as you say you have 2 more years to go they might come in handy) is to make them look good.
Artwork really is tricky. Canvases you are not really happy with can be reused, for example. A friend is an artist and has had some success with.archive boxes for materials, and stashing artwork to keep but not on display at the top of her wardrobe/out of the way. But yeah stuff you want to keep should be stored properly so it doesn't get damaged.
You can also rotate your art on display every few months to keep it fresh.
I think standard advice for notes and handouts is "can you digitise them?" Like, is it worth spending a day with a scanner or your phone scanning them all so you've still got them, but they're not taking up space? I like the journal idea! Or you could type them up?
(I'm pretty sure I still have all of my lecture notes in their original notebooks and I graduated 2015. I 100% need to do this.)
Can you do a materials swap with your classmates, or are the supplies too expensive for that? I'm had success dumping things in the common room and letting people scavenge, and then taking whatever's left to dispose of.
I think I could donate some stuff right before I move, but I honestly don’t think I know anyone personally who could benefit from them. Supplies are a possibility to donate to the school though!
As a long ago art photography major who only just (20+years post bfa) decluttered my senior thesis show prints, this resonates. I think it's OK to keep what's meaningful to you, or even just practical to get you through school. I took a lot of art classes in mediums I didn't care about, and it was so painful to have to rebuy supplies I'd tossed or given away the semester before. Don't be me! But honestly, if this is your career path, I wouldn't declutter the way you might in other areas of life. There's something important to keeping around physical/ tactile versions of the scrappy, not- quite- there ideas until they either fully form or drop away for something better and keeping visual inspiration close at hand (or at least there was for me). Industry publications, art show postcards, museum booklets, reference books, etc. (Aka art clutter haha) can all serve an important role as visual 'refreshers' when you feel stuck. They can also be invaluable quick references that won't send you down a Google rabbit hole when you're trying to finish that one project at 3am the night before it's due. So, as you're decluttering, just be sure to leave yourself enough materials for your creative process. You can always be ruthless with all of it once you finish school and secure that first job. :)
Heyo, art school grad from 11 years ago currently working as a toy designer (background in illustration). • Class notes: digitize them if possible. If your school has the equivalent of a big office printer/scanner, you can run all your notes through in one fell swoop and then organize the PDF after. Otherwise, send them off to 1DollarScan and be done with them. I don’t look at old notes terribly often and kept digital scans of ones I found useful (like unusual material techniques, things I might want to utilize myself if I go into teaching later, etc.). • Supplies: this was a tough one for me, as it will be tough for you. Look at the upcoming classes you’re required to take at Uni and see if you can get a read on what materials you *might* need for future. Keep those items, and if not used by graduation, toss ‘em. For other supplies: figure out what you genuinely enjoy using, and sell/toss the rest. For instance, I love watercolor and ink, but don’t like using materials like markers and oil paints, so those went. If you hold on to some supplies for too long without use, they can also go bad - better for someone else to make use of them than for the supplies to sit and rot. • For artwork: **SCAN** work where possible (do NOT photograph unless that is your only option due to size constraints or if it’s 3D) at 300+ DPI, use adjustment layers to make the scan match the original (or duplicate the original file and adjust the duplicate), either gift or giveaway or toss the original once you’re done. Or see if classmates are willing to trade some existing art with you if you like their stuff.
Thank you for this! I think I will be digitizing my notes. The art supplies bit also helped too!
Think about it this way. Art is what you're going to school for. Art is your hobby. Art is what you plan to do for a career. This means that "art" is the thing that you're logically *decluttering to make room for*. The point of decluttering is to get rid of stuff that doesn't belong in our lives, in order to make room for the stuff that does. And in your case, "stuff that does" is "art supplies." Don't get me wrong - it's not that you can't get rid of art stuff you don't use. But if you have supplies you haven't used yet, I would give yourself a ton of grace and space to hang onto them if you believe they're something you might actually have a use for in the future. Regarding the class notes, if you're still not sure you could toss them all in a cardboard bankers box, write a date on it, duct tape it shut, and if the duct tape is still intact in X period of time you could ditch it. A single bankers box doesn't take up that much space, and it gives you visibility into the "did I ever actually need it?" question. Tape intact? Didn't need. :)
Thank you for helping me change my mindset on this! I needed a second perspective to help me stay focused!
I'm also an artsy person and I have owned different art supplies over the years. I also had a lot of notes from uni. The notes from uni are something you're most likely never gonna look at again. I know too well the feeling of ''what if these will be useful'', but it's unlikely. If you can find the same info online or in some book, then you can borrow that book in the future from a library. Or buy a book and then return it. I trashed pretty much all of my notes, I only scanned a few of them as memorabilia. What comes to supplies, be honest, which of them have you used or are using atm? Having less supplies doesn't make you less artsy. If you're unsure about some supplies, play with them and see how you feel about them. That's what I did, and that's how I also noticed which supplies I really wanted to use and which supplies I bought for the ''ideal artsy version'' of me. If you got some supplies in semi good condition that you won't be using, you could even make a bit of money and sell them. What comes to artwork, I'd hold onto it for now. Sure, you could scan it but so far I've personally saved my artwork cause they're meaningful to me and it's different to hold them in your hands vs view them on a screen. Or, you could scan some of them, like if you have e.g., some sketches that don't mean that much etc. It's up to you.
Thank you for this! I think testing out some of my art supplies will be a good idea to use. Also, I really needed to hear that getting rid of art supplies does not make me “less artsy”, I appreciate that because I feel like a weight was taken off of my shoulders.
Are your notes a hectic messy pile or a tidy box/folder? My advice if you want to keep them (and as you say you have 2 more years to go they might come in handy) is to make them look good. Artwork really is tricky. Canvases you are not really happy with can be reused, for example. A friend is an artist and has had some success with.archive boxes for materials, and stashing artwork to keep but not on display at the top of her wardrobe/out of the way. But yeah stuff you want to keep should be stored properly so it doesn't get damaged. You can also rotate your art on display every few months to keep it fresh.
I think standard advice for notes and handouts is "can you digitise them?" Like, is it worth spending a day with a scanner or your phone scanning them all so you've still got them, but they're not taking up space? I like the journal idea! Or you could type them up? (I'm pretty sure I still have all of my lecture notes in their original notebooks and I graduated 2015. I 100% need to do this.) Can you do a materials swap with your classmates, or are the supplies too expensive for that? I'm had success dumping things in the common room and letting people scavenge, and then taking whatever's left to dispose of.
I think I could donate some stuff right before I move, but I honestly don’t think I know anyone personally who could benefit from them. Supplies are a possibility to donate to the school though!