Storage Space

Denise Racine · 01-12-2003, 03:05 PM

Do you have a good system for storing your paintings? If so, I would love to hear about it, or, even better, see it...

Everytime I find an article regarding artist's studios the focus is on the lighting and model stand. The pictures depict beautiful studios with hard wood floors and antique furniture and mostly, tons of space!

In my world, I have a 12 x 12 bedroom converted into a studio. The walls are hardly big enough for all my completed paintings and I especially need place for paintings in progress that need to dry...

If you have any ideas for some kind of a drying/storing rack I would really appreciate it!

Denise Racine · 01-12-2003, 03:06 PM

Here's the second photo of my studio...

Denise Racine · 01-12-2003, 03:07 PM

And here's the last picture...Thanks!

Michele Rushworth · 01-27-2003, 10:34 AM

Denise, I have a similarly small studio so I hang wet paintings all over the walls. I have rows of nails that I can use to hang paintings up to the ceiling.

I'd be interested in anyone else's solution, too, because this system still only allows me to hang a few large canvases and I am running out of wall space.

I can't leave the wet paintings anywhere near the floor or my desk because I have nosy kids and cats!

Patt Legg · 01-27-2003, 09:33 PM

Michele and Denise,i

I can relate to your problems of space. I recently lucked out and renovated an old feed grainery on my property to my new studio.(24' x 24') But, beforehand, I searched and searched for a way to store my wet paintings and also my students' wet paintings, as I try to keep them for the students due to the transporting in their cars, etc..

We have a business just up the way from me and he sells used refrigeration racks, parts, etc. from huge markets like Kroger etc. He resells them and has acres of them. You have to walk through it (rather we drove a sort of golf cart) through. I knew what I wanted.

End result: A tall bakers rack, about 6 ft tall and maybe 24 in. wide. It has wire slots running up and down the 6 ft. span and these slots are about 3-4 inches apart. Remember the racks in restaurants , the kind that are buffet style and one would place their trays within those racks? Or in a hospital, the food trays will fit in layers? Well, mine was in that yard , all rusted and a little twisted (a little) so he just gave that to me (felt sorry that it was in bad shape, I guess) and then he had very nice hard plastic trays that would fit and slide into all of those slots. ($3 each) The trays are only 1 inch deep. So I can store up to a 24" painting in it. And I have about 20-25 slots into which I can store paintings.

I know that is a long shot but I knew what I wanted and tried to build a wooden one (with my hubby) but found it too heavy and all sort of problems. I should also mention that the bakers rack is also on wheels and I can move it with ease. I spray painted it 3 coats of black paint and now it looks like wrought iron instead of a mess.

I also use it to store my panels which I have cut to size and ready for gesso.

Good luck - if you do not find this it may give you other ideas to that effect.

One more hint. I put everything in my studio on casters or rollers so I can move easily. I bought an inexpensive unfinshed cabinet about 5 and 1/2 foot tall with shelves for storage and I set it too on a board as wide and deep as the cabinet and added 4 rollers . Voila! I can move it with two fingers across the room.

Denise Racine · 01-27-2003, 11:30 PM

Thanks for the suggestions! But that very same day I went into "organization mode". I could stand the clutter no longer!

So, here it is... I built a storage area out of white "m

Mari DeRuntz · 01-27-2003, 11:46 PM

Denise, you solution is exactly what we encountered in museums, where you end up having to store many paintings, because unfortunately, they can't all be hung at the same time. At the Corcoran, the racks were large enough to hold huge paintings, as most abstract-expressionist work is quite large, but the general idea is the same.

Pat - the "speed rack" (restaurant lingo) is a great idea, but it limits your size to sheetpan-size (30" x 16", roughly).

Michele - I had to look twice at that image before I realized it is indeed a cat nose-to-nose with that painting. Yikes. And I though I had a problem with stray brush hairs!

Patt Legg · 01-28-2003, 09:22 AM

Thumbs up for you Denise, it looks great and takes up little room. That is similar to what we were going to do but didn't .

And Mari, you are so right. As with many of my ideas, they seem limited...and I love to paint large. So what does everyone else do for the large ones? Just set them against the wall? For instance at the moment, I am doing all 30" x 45" canvases for a solo show. I am finished with three (9 more to go) and I teach within my studio, too. So the room becomes smaller. I think I truly try to make mine too cozy, as was stated by someone here earlier. I had space, then I added a clunky 3-piece type sofa that fits side by side. Then a chair with a reading light beside of it and a small table for my books, etc. So much for space.

I use all of this as the reason for my clients or visitors who come to the studio to be comfortable. Frankly, they stand and watch or visit. It must be my "nesting" phase.