I’ve been wearing my arts management hat this week. An assistant to deal with the field that concerns business operations around my art world would be nice. Even on the road, one has to facilitate the day-to-day operations of one’s own organization — the finances, the sales, the invoices, the inventory, the databases, the acquisition of materials, the marketing...

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Heads 2014 by Jun Kaneko at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona — © 2018 Louise Levergneux, Heads 2014 by Jun Kaneko at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona

I deal with administration and create policies. But, who fulfills the mission? Most artists work on their own since finances do not allow us to hire staff. We need to understand all business units of a working organization. I've often felt I should fire one of my hats and hire another, better equipped to do the job. But reality presents itself at every turn, and I must deal with the whole shebang!

The teamwork, the creative leadership, and the dynamic process of reflection all lie on my shoulders. Oh! What fun when Income Tax returns are due in 21 days.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a bird making its nest in a Saguaro, San Xavier Mission, Tucson, Arizona

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a rabbit looking on in Congress, Arizona

I prefer to produce than execute administrivia, I’m adept at it, but that is not my labor of love in life.

At the moment, I am constrained by the living space and suffering from a sprained ankle. These create disquietness, and I can only dream of hiking and photographing cacti in the Sonoran Desert or standing at a workstation swearing at glue that is running amuck. But for the next week, Income Tax and database reorganization are my future.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a Geico resting at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend, Arizona

In the meantime, the early mornings are where I dream of new artists’ books. I would welcome the opportunity to visit another studio — I’m in Phoenix, where are you?

What strategies do you pursue to maintain your creative process through the many hats you must wear in a day?

How do you implement these strategies?

What gets your mojo motived?

Still searching for a handmade gift for Christmas?

These decorative boxes are a great gift idea for keeping a thumb drive full of memories. They are also a great gift for anyone who loves to store small items, special trinkets, keepsakes, or jewelry.

To buy a handmade box, visit my website or email me at louiselevergneux(at)gmail(dot)com

The closer it gets to the New Year the more I examine simplicity, minimalism, and time spent on different activities as an artist.

How do artists keep records of contacts, invoices, detailed information on artists’ books/artwork and inventory?

FileMaker Pro has been my software of choice for years and years. I store important information in four files that cross over depending on the information needed for an invoice or inventory.

© 2016 Louise Levergneux, layout of my contact database

The future has come. I will need to upgrade my computer’s OS soon or buy a new Mac Book Pro. In the long run, some software will become useless unless I upgrade. A new system and new upgrades mean more expenses. Cash is low!

Keeping in mind; I don’t want to spend too much time learning new software which defeats the purpose, ARRRGH!

After emailing the Book Arts ListServ to see what other artists are doing, I recognized the cost for the upgrade would be less when considering the time spent exporting or recreating. It might be better to continue working with FileMaker Pro by simplifying my layouts and the number of fields.

© 2016 Louise Levergneux, metadata of my book Finding Home. Each book created has a record with this information.

A huge amount of data requires many hours to recreate a database. It is unthinkable to lose any details on my artists’ books even with a back-up system like Time Machine”. This data was compiled following the digital repository of the Artists' Books Online in which I participated.

ABsOnline is an online repository project of facsimiles, metadata, and criticism founded in 2004 under the direction of Johanna Drucker hosted at the University of Virginia.

Artists' Books Online was designed to promote critical engagement with artists’ books and to provide access to a digital repository of metadata, scans, and commentary. The project serves several communities: artists, scholars and critics, librarians and curators, and interested readers.

After a visit to the Apple store and all the comments and suggestions received. I’m going towards the Apple’s suggestion of a split hard drive/dual operating system on a new computer. This decision is, of course, depending on a grant for new equipment. I find having two computers is not a good fit for me and I’m very concerned with security on my old OS!