Documentation

Kevin and I sat down and watched the Talking Heads program on ABC tonight. The guest was Stephanie Alexander, for whom I have great admiration. When she brought out the second edition of The Cook's Companion I passed the old one on to Helen, so I could justify buying the new. It is my basic reference book for ingredients and cooking techniques.

An interesting aspect of the program was the amount of home movie footage that the producers were able to draw upon. Stephanie has documented in film, photographs or on paper a major part of her life.

If we were in the same situation we could produce very little. We have hundreds? thousands? of photos, though, and Kevin said tonight that it is time we put some effort into organising them.

The program made me think about recording/documenting the textile work I have done and the exhibitions I have been in. At the Ozquilt Network conference in Canberra last year Alison Muir made a presentation that covered the importance of documenting one's work. I was most impressed and decided that I should follow her guidelines. Six months later I have done nothing to implement them.

Tonight I made a quick list. Since 2001 I have had work in 17 different exhibitions. That's amazing! I have sent pieces on consignment to 3 different places. I still have work at one of them, but my record keeping is so erratic that I have no idea what has sold and what is still there. The venue is in the country so I think I need to make a trip there to check it out. I have done at least 9 workshops for which I have been paid. I have records (class notes or samples) for only 6 of these.

Stephanie would be horrified. So would Alison.