Finding Gold In "Junk Drawers"

Digital & Real-World Ephemera Can Unblock Creative Blocks

Feb 17, 2024

If you’re anything like me, creative blocks and detours are a fact of life.
They happen.

Realizing the blocks and detours are happening as soon as possible usually reduces their duration and severity. So does having some playlists and art-adjacent projects at the ready when I’m not feeling myself or my creativity.

“Possessing a creative mind, after all, is something like having a border collie for a pet: It needs work, or else it will cause you an outrageous amount of trouble. Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job to do, and you might not like the job it invents (eating the couch, digging a hole through the living room floor, biting the mailman, etc.). It has taken me years to learn this, but it does seem to be the case that if I am not actively creating something, then I am probably actively destroying something (myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind).”
Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

One technique that helps me get myself sorted out issorting through digital and real-life “junk drawers.” I never know what I might find. It not only keeps me moving, it helps me find a few lost items, remember where I left my keys, and tidy up a mess I left for a rainy day.

Today’s one of those days. So I’ll be making my sanctuary in the realms of ephemera, both digital and physical, as a means to recharge my creative batteries and inspire my next projects.

Like most artists, I often navigate the delicate balance between innovation and nostalgia. Abandoned projects, old photographs, ticket stubs, and other ephemera are more than mere remnants of the past; they are pieces of a puzzle that can often unblock creativity.

The forgotten corners, be they in digital archives or the physical forgotten drawers, serve as a reminder of where I’ve been and where I might go next.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

When my mental border collie needs a break from sorting through the junk drawers, I have several curatorial projects going on that are art-related but don’t require me to make anything new. At least not directly.

One of my personal favorites is Project Public Domain. It’s a curated collection of “Queer-ish” public domain art and photography. The collection currently includes 60+ works, available as a variety of products, including apparel, art prints, home decor, and more.

Researching art and artists is never a bad time in my book. Finding examples of LGBTQ depictions in art history (often little-seen works that are rarely on public view) is an even better time. It captures my imagination, refills my creative well, and teaches me that art history can be very personal too.

My other go-to project is Making History, a gallery of LGBTQ+ historical heroes and queer pioneers. It’s 300+ strong now and may get stronger if my creative block frenemy doesn’t find a new host soon.

Whether you’re facing a creative block or a messy studio, consider taking your border collie mind for a walk…and opening a junk drawer and sorting through the things you forgot about. Or never knew about.

Out-of-sight-out-of-mind no more.
Time to go looking for gold (in all the right places.

Thanks for reading!
Clint