Studio Purge

My work has gone through several cycles from graduate school, to my waffling years after graduate school to more recent years when it has started to find a focus. I feel the lense turning again now, and sharpening my view further. Mediums that I once only experimented with (meaning, I created a few wonderful pieces but didn't quite find a groove with it) are now being rekindled in my mind.

I've been teaching a class on artist books at Framingham State College. I've made books in the past and have been more interested in studying books and book culture. But teaching this class has sparked my creativity! This fall I am teaching a class at Tufts Experimental College on the transformation of visual culture from the perspective of the book. Should be fun.

But what does all this mean for the my archive of work? The good, the bad, the ugly... Does anyone throw out art work that they feel was just not right? No, that's not for me. I think I am more interested in reclaiming art work; reconfiguring it into new work.

And with open studios coming up, is is valid to have a "bargin bin" to readily releive myself of older work? Has the monetary value lowered OR has my emotional value of the work lessened? And what does that say about the work in the first place, if I no longer have an emotional connection to it? How can I lose an emotional connection to something I created?... Maybe I was never inspired in the first place...