Digital Corkboard: Pinterest

I have to admit I have been dying for my own dedicated studio space. No more eating dinner at my coffee table while my kitchen table is filled with creative projects. I’ve imagined that room in many incarnations… one with paint that allows you to write directly on the wall, like this, or covering an entire wall in corkboard, so I can pin as many visuals and ideas as I can think of up in one space. I am a fan of organization, if you couldn’t already tell from this blog. And obviously, when I discovered Pinterest, I was hooked.

If you haven’t yet heard of Pinterest, it is a virtual corkboard, allowing you to pin images, and now videos, to a space you choose to categorize. Some people use it entirely for fun, but I find it an amazing way to compile ideas and inspiration in my creative life. When you find an image you like, you hit Pin It, and the image, with its original link, is stored away for you to access at a later date. Pinterest offers and suggests different categories, but I also completely appreciate that you can design your own categories.  Currently I’m focusing on 3 projects: my wedding, organizational ideas, and artwork that inspires.

My wedding: One of the first bits of advice one can read from the thousands of books and websites on wedding planning is to compile and collage images of weddings you like. Now I can do this in a green way! I can also look through what other people have “pinned” for weddings and select any to include on my board. I already found a really cool way to set up the procession:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organizational ideas: If you hadn’t sorted this out already, most people might describe me as an A-type personality. People I work with (who don’t even work with my closely!) readily identify me as an organized person. I honestly relish organization, it brings me a HUGE sense of satisfaction. This assortment can help me so I don’t reinvent the wheel and can keep my life better sorted so I have more time for my art!

This is one that helps me organize my studio space… I can think of things other than shoes this would work for!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but not least is my Artworks that Inspire:

This is a great space to compile all of the artists students find to share with me in my classroom. Not only is this helpful as an IB Visual Arts teacher, it is helpful to my own research and artistic inspiration. What I especially like about this is I can select one image from an artist and link it directly to pertinent articles or their artist website so I can continue to investigate specific artists as my needs require. This is also great for my students. In IB they have to research artists all of the time and reflect on how their work can impact their artistic endeavor. When they are stuck or need inspiration, I no longer have to find the artists all over again, I can just refer them to this page! And now I can compile all of those artists that inspire me over years and never lose them or links to more information about them. If you can’t tell, I LOVE this! I have lists all over my file cabinets and in sketchbooks of artists as I discover them, and often I forget about some of them as each school year passes. Now it will be sooo much easier to find artists that are pertinent to my students’ respective interests. Not to mention I have a compiled source of inspiration for myself and others!!

One of the artists I have pinned:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I hope if you haven’t joined Pinterest that you consider doing it for your own artistic and organizational inspiration and investigation. Feel free to follow me on my pinning journey as well!

BE COURAGEOUSLY CREATIVE: How can you compile your inspirational resources so that they are easily accessible to you?