Tips on Organizing Materials
Organize/store your slides, reviews, invitations, support materials, etc.Unsuspecting Disasters:
One should think about how to protect their documentation and support
materials in case of a disaster (fire, flood, theft, etc.). We recommend
that you document all of your work and keep a master set of the documentation
and copies of your reviews, manuscripts, resumes, back up computer files
on diskette, etc. in another site other than your studio/home. One artist
told us that he keeps a set of his master slides in a fire and water proof
box (he is an installation artists and if he loses his slides he has nothing
to show anyone!!). We have also heard that some people keep their materials
in a bank safety deposit box. Photographers should always store their
negatives in a fireproof storage container.
For those who need visual support material:
slides and videos.
One should make as many master quality versions of their support
materials as possible. As was stated in the section of entitled, Documentation
and Support Materials, instead of taking one slide of an artwork take
five (or more) shots of that work. That way you have five originals/masters
to make dups from. It will also be cheaper in the long run than getting
all of those dups done. Clearly indicate which slides/videos/cds/dvds
are the masters. Our Executive Director's master slides are always plastic
mounted while her dups are always mounted in paper. Also remember to properly
and consistently label your materials (see Documentation and Support Materials)
The Binder approach to storing your work.
What you need:
Access to a computer & printer
At least two big 3 ring binders (the more materials you have the more binders you will need).
Plenty of plastic slide sheets
Plenty of plastic sleeves to store 8 1/2 x 11" documents
Plenty of plastic sleeves for your photos/press photos (only if you have photos)
(If you are a photographer, as you know that you will also need plenty of negative sheets)
In one binder you will chronologically organize your entire career (you might need more binders depending on your career). This process will take time, maybe up to a week, but it is really worth it.
For example, each show/event that you are cataloging in you binder, you would gather all of the extra invites/programs you have left over from the show/event and you would put them into a plastic shelve. You also would put copies of the show's press release in another sleeve, copies of any reviews/press, your artist statement for that particular show, thank you letters, photographs, etc.. in their own individual shelves. You should always have at least five extra copies of "print materials" on hand in each of the sleeves (ie five copies of a review of your work, etc.). This will save you time when you are putting together packages to send out. You won't have to waste time copying at the last minute.
If you are in a discipline that requires such visual support materials
The master set of slides (or photographs)
A master set of all your slides should also be in this binder. These slides should all be originals and of the best quality. Again, arrange the slides chronologically. HOWEVER, unlike your support materials, arrange the slides so your oldest work comes first. (this will be explained as to why latter).
What we mean by a master set of slides is
the following:
Example one:
Let's say you have slide documentation of a painting. You have one shot
of the entire painting and you have two different detail shots of the
painting. PUT one copy all of the images of the painting in this master
set of all your slides (ie all 3 slides).
Example two:
Let's say that you are an installation artist and you recently shot slide
documentation one of your large scale installations. You will put one
copy of all of the slides that you shot of this installation in this master
set of all your slides.
Arrange your slides the following way in the slide sheets (or if you
have photos do it the same way):
On the master set of slides, put your oldest work first, and your
most recent work last in the sheet (So your oldest piece would be number
#1 on the corresponding slides sheet).
The Corresponding master slide sheet:
Now make a master slide sheet for the master set of slides.
Number the slides in pencil. Your oldest work will be number #1 on the
corresponding master slide sheet. SO when you need to add slides
to the master set of slides, it will be easier to add the slides
and it will also be easier to add the new slides to your master slide
sheet (ie you will only have to add numbers and new slide sheets instead
of renumbering and rearranging every slide!!!).
At the very front of the binder, after you have arranged all of your shows chronologically with the most recent at the front of the binder, you should have several copies of an up to date resume (in its own sleeve) as well as copies of all the versions of your up to date artist statements (please see the section on how to write an artist statement!), a brief biography on your self (no longer than one page) and if you have made them, copies of your annotated/descriptive slide sheets (see the section on Documentation and Support Materials). Your master set of slides and corresponding master slide sheets should come after this section.
What to do with the other binders:
All of the dups or extra slides you have of
your work should also put into slide sheets and into binders. HOWEVER,
they should be arranged the following way: Each piece/work should have
its own slide sheet(s). Multiples of an image should be grouped together
(ie let's say you have a bed sculpture. You group all the details of one
shot together , etc.. in total you have 18 slides of this one bed sculpture
on all one slide sheet). The slides of your most recent work should
be at the front of the binder.
Why do this?
You will now have one big binder of your most
recent shows and all of your slides in both an easy to transport format
and in very easy format to show to interested people (and if there is
a fire you can easily grab it). This format will also make it that much
easier for you to put packets together to send out.
How you ask?
By having the master slide sheet, the master set of slides
and your dups arranged this way it will be so much easier to select
slides of your work to send out. You can just go through your master
set of slides and select the slides you want to send out. You would
then go to the binders that have the extra slides and make the slide sheet
from this inventory of slides. And your slide sheet is already typed/done.
All you need to do is to cut and paste from your master slide sheet!
