I am one of those people who always has to have some sort of creative project. For the most part, my creative projects are built into the way I make my living: preparing for art shows, collaborating with other artists, working on illustration projects for clients. This year, I decided to motivate myself even further to be creative every day by inventing for myself a daily project for 2010. On January 1, I launched A Collection a Day, 2010 .
A Collection a Day, 2010 is a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint.
Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. (You can see a profile here on Poppytalk about my just a few of my collections from 2008). This project is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. Some of my collections are so large that I will need to photograph them separately over several days. I will likely not attempt to photograph collections in which the individual pieces are large in size or awkward in shape (i.e. my art collection or vintage enamel dishware collection). The only rule is that I must photograph or draw a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days and post the result here on this blog.
The practice of collecting and documenting collections is as old as the hills. I want onlookers to know that I do not profess to be doing anything new or unique or ingenious. I am embarking on this project because I love my collections, and I want to document them in a way that makes sense to me, and share them with whoever might be interested in looking at them.
Yearly projects that folks share via the internet are also not a new concept. Countless creative people have been individually and collaboratively launching year-long, 365 day, or 52 week projects and sharing them through Flickr and through blogs over the past several years. Yearly projects help us to stay focused, tell our story in a structured way, and keep us motivated to live a creative life.
Will I run out of stuff to photograph or draw over time? Will it remain inspiring and enjoyable? Only time will tell. I hope if you are interested you will come along with me on A Collection a Day, 2010 . What project(s) have you started this year?
20 comments:
LOVE the paintbrushes!!
xoxo
I love this idea! I didn't start a new project, I just started to document it: reading 100 novels and watching 200 movies.
Collections are amazing. I love them to bits. One of my favorite things is visiting estate sales and getting a glimpse of who the person is/was by seeing what it was that they collected. I often think when I see a collection of gardening books or eclectic odds and ends that we most certainly could have been friends.
ooooh, I can't wait to follow the collections. Mine is of vintage dog figurines.
Great post - looking forward to more!
What a good idea, I love the erasers and scissors.I have a collection of cookie cutters all hidden and dusty in a drawer.New project....lots of drawing!x
http://witchmountain.wordpress.com
I am going to do 52 weeks of portraits of myself. To say I am nervous is an understatement!
great collections:) Love them!
That's one heck of a commitment, but I look forward to seeing them !
Best Wishes & Happy New Year.
Thank you for this post! I'll be following "a collection a day, 2010" daily :) --Suzanna
I LOVE this idea - how creative and cool and a huge undertaking! I'm with you though - I love the new year and having a project.
I started a project on January 1st to be more spontaneous and creative in my life. So every week for 52 weeks I'm going to pull a random activity out of a hat and do it and then blog about it! I just did my first one this weekend and it was really fun to do!! Here's to 51 more weeks...
Looking forward to your posts!!
Since we live in Guatemala, I have started trying to collect as many Guatemalan recipes as I can and document how they are made with pictures. I just learned the process used to make "masa" from scratch (the dough used to make tamales, corn tortillas etc) I just posted step by step instructions with pictures here:
http://www.all-about-guatemala.com/how-to-make-masa.html
It was really fun to do and really tasty to eat. Think one of my favorite things about being here is learning my way around the kitchen.
I really love the scissors and paintbrushes pictures!
Happy New Year, Jan & Lisa!
love your collection of scissors, Lisa. Right now, I owe some book reading. :) Not sure if I'd start a new project this year, but I totally agree with what you said, yearly projects keep us motivated to live a creative life. One good piece of advise to start the year, Lisa. I'll keep that in mind. :)
wow, i love love love the collection idea. i would join you, but am currently living in europe, and all of my worldly possessions had to fit in 2 suitcases. maybe i can figure something else out. in the meantime i look forward to seeing yours!
Wow! I would love to be able to commit myself to a project like this but I know myself too well, I would probably give up after a few weeks :)
Rosey
cool idea! I will definitely follow the new blog. My 2010 project will be to take a photography of my everyday life every day. Not very original but fun to have in the future
new or not, a fantastic project. can't wait to follow along!
i'm so excited about this! collections are amazing!
I'm doing a daily shoe picture project! :) I'm taking a picture of my shoes everyday (on my iPhone), and I always look for interesting tiles or flooring! :)
I am in *awe* of a project of this magnitude. I only signed up for 100 photos because a 365 is too much for me. I will definitely be following your project! It's gorgeous already.
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