Arts and the Internet

The internet has taken over. This has been clear for at the very least a few years now. I just never expected it to take on a huge roll in Art. It makes a lot of sense, marketing yourself to make money, and the social and business aspect of the internet these days can make it easy.

Peter Hanley provided our first presentation of the semester for the 2D lecture. Peter started with what appeared to be a shade of nervousness but soon caught all our attention with his humorous personality leaping off to personal stories or possibly art world gossip relevant to his slides. The basic gist was how to get your work as an artist out there and reachable, but he touched on the process of using the internet and networking to create art as well.

Social networking seemed to jump out at me more than anything else. It makes a lot of sense being able to reach out to scores of people with Facebook, blogging and things of the like. Peter also stressed the importance of finding support in a online gallery, especially one with a large online presence. Of course if that doesn't work out at first it is a good idea to send a sample of your work out to artistic blogs and things of the like. Things like that could help get your name out there in the first place, be talked about, and maybe give some incentive for galleries, online or not, to receive you in a better manner.

Then there is the whole issue of actually making money. There are some solutions found in cyberspace and it all seems easy enough to figure out. Cafe Press is a more well known one. If affiliated with an online gallery they may sell online that way.

There were many helpful hints within the presentation although I have been slightly aware of what is out there. Here are a few links to what I know pretty well;

Etsy

cafepress

deviantart

I want to make it clear that I do not have an account on any of these websites, however I have used them to buy works or simply see what the artists are up to.

Until next time,

~Jess