Maximalism: Collecting Inspiration

As an artist, one of the most important things you could ever do is gather information. Whether it’s for future reference, a current project, or to remind yourself of where your work came from and how it was built, it doesn’t matter. Surrounding yourself with what makes you, you, and your work, your work, will continue building on who you are as a person, and what your work is to not only you, but also your audience.

Most artists, me included, have an inspiration folder, Pinterest, or both. We’re constantly looking for places to be inspired by, which allows us to continually work and consistently build on who we are and what we do. What many of us have learned, is to surround ourselves with creativity, whether it’s with our friends’s group, the playlists we play on repeat, or, with our homes themselves.

The best thing to ever do, in order to be continually inspired, is to create a world around you that echoes what your work feels like. Chances are, if your home echoes your work, that means it’s filled with what you love. As a horror writer, I have a pen cup on my desk that looks like Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. I also have a ceramic unicorn bust hanging over the outlet my computer charger is plugged into. 

When I decorate, I try to complete myself by completing a room. Who I am is my work. Who I am is also my surroundings. If I’m working in my surroundings, then what that place looks like should also echo my work. It’ll allow my mind to wander when I look up from a page, and allow me to take in a fresh look at where I am and what I’m doing.

Creating a space will not only help you focus, but when you have other artists over, your place will echo who you are on the inside. If your work is who you are, and your surroundings are a place of work, then people will know what your work is about before even engaging in it. Who you are is incomplete without a place filled with what you love. The more you love it, the more who you are is enmeshed in where you exist.

As an artist, we each need to be allowed to exist, no matter how strange and no matter how different we are. Existing can sometimes feel like a struggle, which means that collecting inspiration may help us feel more fulfilled. The more we have what we love, the more we can express who we are on the insides. The more we can express who we are on the insides, the more of ourselves will leak into our work. The more of ourselves that leak into our work, the more our work will be who we are as people, and the more it’ll inspire those out there who are just like us… looking for inspiration to grow and to exist.

Other than that, collecting what to put in your space, whether a tea kettle or a sofa, is only a small piece of collecting who you are. For me, I’m obsessed with sunglasses, purses, and drinking vessels, whether water bottles or mugs. Collecting water vessels is also excellent if you’re too lazy to get up and get water. When you’re in the middle of a chapter, a painting, or demoing a song, drinking water is more like an afterthought. Having a different one for each mood allows me to express myself while I’m expressing myself. 

I’m also obsessed with pens… or, any other office supply.

The more I have extensions of myself, the more I feel like I exist. That’s what’s so wonderful about capitalism: you’re allowed to purchase who you are and have what signifies parts of you — everything from a pair of jeans to a pen cup that looks like Frankenstein’s Monster.

I hope you decorate the way your heart feels, and soul feels, fulfilling who you are in order to continue to fulfill your work. I also hope you’ll find objects you love to collect so that you can feel more fulfilled by expressing who you are through your favorite things. Every part of loving what you have is a part of inspiration, and allowing yourself to have inspiration will fulfill more and more creativity, as you fight to continue to work on what you love.