Some of you might be thinking, why keep records? It is tedious, boring, dull work and will interfere with my painting/creating time. Records are irrelevant, I just paint them and sell them, who needs to know? Who’s business is it anyway? Believe me, if you don’t figure out an efficient method for keeping track of your work you will loose out in the long run. Think big, and think about your future.
In the beginning most artists don’t realize the importance of listing their paintings and drawings, let alone keep a photographic chronicle of each one. But before long, if you are serious about being a professional, the need will arise. One good reason is this information is needed to submit when registering with the US Copyright Office, and it is important to do this particularly if you plan to duplicate, or make copies of your work.
Another good reason to keep a archive of each painting is that it will provide a history or provenience of your career, and will be useful in the future if you plan to write a book, give a slide show or power point showing your past and the development of your style, or showing a client what you can do. You can read other reasons for photographic memoirs that I’ve listed in previous blog entries.
There are many ways to manage a written document. One, is to just simply list each work in a notebook by title, date, size and medium. In the beginning I created a small 4×5 index card for each painting and filed them in a metal box (similar to a recipe file box) by alphabet. Soon I had a bunch of boxes and began labeling them on the outside by which the part of the alphabet they contained. That didn’t help much when I needed to know how many paintings I produced during a certain year. So, I transferred this information into a notebook and arranged them by order of the year executed and assigning each a number.
Soon the notebook grew too small and there was a demand for more information. It was helpful to know if the art was sold, or out somewhere on consignment, or had been submitted and shown in a juried show. A three ring binder was procured and each painting was designated a portion of a page for additional information. With use these paper sheets became dog-eared and some of the punch holes ripped, so I purchased a box of clear plastic page protectors for the worn, hand-written documents.
After awhile other information was necessary and with the advent of computers I forwarded the facts to a Data Base where my registry became manageable, efficient, and productive. Who knows what will happen next? In the meanwhile I’m very fortunate to have records from the very beginning of my career, and encourage other artists to do the same.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist
