While doing the arduous task of cutting around 60 matboards for my limited edition prints and original works, I thought about little tweaks to make it slightly less taxing on the body.

Putting items at waist height so I wouldn’t be bending over, or being mindful of where I was putting my clamps every time I cut a matboard so I wouldn’t reach over were just some little things I thought of that made it slightly easier. It’s easier when you’re not doing repetitive and labour intensive work to not think about how your body is moving. But do it 100 times over and you start becoming painfully aware of how you really should have thought about where to stack a bunch of heavy papers.

When I marked each board, I also learned of ways to improve. Rather than measure each one separately, I thought about how I was moving my ruler and measuring out every matboard on the same edge. This made it a bit faster and easier.

Now, as I started to have to cut labels for every art description, I realized I should pick scissors that were larger, rather than the one that was closest by. This is yet another decision that will make a huge difference in the end.

It reminds me of how at the Toronto School of Art, the teacher recommended doing warm up exercises drawing huge circles on 18×24 newsprint and setting up our boards behind the print at a 45 degree angle against the edge of tables. She said it saved us tremendous back pain and I believe her.

As a visual artist, I don’t usually

Anyway wish me luck and little pain!