Tag: artists

Impermanence

I’ve been thinking a lot about how nothing we share online is guaranteed.

We take it for granted that our Instagram posts will be there to refer back to years later, or that the connections we make on Twitter will last no matter how many times the company changes hands. But really, like everything else in life, change is a constant and nothing is promised.

Over more than a decade, I’ve built a little community of online friends through social media who are kind, generous, and talented artists. There’s Jana Clinard-Harris and Tammy Garcia and Hanna Andersson, who have inspired me and challenged me and encouraged me for years and years. I’ve bought art from Aydin Hamami, Pamela Bates, Emma Howell, Courtney White, and Reneesha Wolfe. I’ve exchanged materials and art with Erin Knepp and Anna Okrasinski Maddox. I did a collaboration with Max Devereaux and joined Under the Influence Art Journaling thanks to a social media introduction.

In short: the connections we make online are real and meaningful and wonderful, and also, due to the nature of social media itself, vulnerable.

I carved out this corner of the world, this website and my newsletter, in part to “own” a little bit of land on the internet. No matter what happens with my accounts elsewhere, this is my home. I’ve also dipped my toes into Mastodon in hopes that a decentralized system may allow for online connections for a longer period of time.

With all that’s going on in the digital world right now, I encourage you to preemptively seek out and save the names and websites of those whose art or virtual company you enjoy. Join their mailing lists. Share yours, too.

(Now, there’s always a chance that everything online will disintegrate at some point, but that’s why I have a paper journal, too.)

Edit: “What happens when the world’s knowledge is held in a quasi-public square owned by a private company that could soon go out of business?“

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Joan Mitchell

Sans Pierre, 1969
Sans Pierre (side view)

In May, I went to see the Joan Mitchell exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art; this weekend, I went for the second time. Most of Mitchells’ paintings are huge and full of energy, big strokes, and drips.

My favorite works feel deeply exploratory and focused on the process, not the outcome, and are a reminder for me to do the same.

When I am working, I am only aware of the canvas and what it tells me to do… I am certainly not aware of myself. Painting is a way of forgetting oneself.”

When I go to see artwork in person, I crouch and squint and look at it from the side, wanting to see the artist’s process. How did they use their brushes? Which layer did they add first? What is the balance of looser, watery elements and marks made with dry bristles? I took so many photos of details and texture.

I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me — and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with.

I also loved looking at and comparing the two diptychs below. Both were painted in the same year, and I’m so curious if she created them around the same time. See how the top left both have vertical, solid colors, and the paintings move into smaller and more energetic strokes as she moves right and downwards?

No Rain, 1976
Weeds, 1976
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How to Credit Artists Online

As an artist myself, I care deeply about ensuring that other artists — painters, writers, dancers, musicians, etc. — get the proper credit they deserve.

In the digital era, it’s become incredibly easy to share artwork without credit. But either by good intentions or by passing it off as your own, you are stealing away the recognition an artist deserves for hours and hours of hard work.

Some may not actually know how to do the research needed to find the source of artwork or what artwork-sharing etiquette looks like. But lucky for you, it’s easy!

Tips for finding and crediting artists (every single time)

  1. Any time you share art, credit the creator. Always. Saying “Let me know if you know who the artist is” or “If you are the artist and want this removed, DM me.” Do due diligence to find the artist, and if you can’t, don’t post the image. No matter how much you appreciate the work.
  2. Again, in all cases, on all media, credit and tag the artist. On Instagram, tag them both in the image and include their handle in the comments; on Twitter, tag them or share their website — and the same on Facebook, etc. Don’t guess at their social media handles: find and confirm them. If need be, google the artist, check out their website, and see what social media they list. If you can’t find social media accounts for them, link to their website. If they don’t have a website, share their full name. If you need help finding the original artist, see the next step.
  3. If you spot an image you like and need to find the original source, use Google image search. Google has a reverse image search that easily helps identify photo sources. Go to images.google.com and upload or drag and drop an image to search.
  4. Pinterest is not a source! Pinterest unfortunately allows users to upload photos or to save images that are linked to a site from another site from another site. Often, Pinterest will also flood Google searches and make it difficult to find the original source of an image. To eliminate Pinterest results from a Google search, use the phrase “-Pinterest”. This also works in Google image search (and the minus sign can be used before any word you want to eliminate in a google search, incidentally).
  5. If in doubt, err on the side of overcrediting.
  6. I said it before but it warrants repeating: do not post artists’ work if you can’t find and credit the original artist. Period.
  7. Lastly, if you follow me and I see that you are reposting artists without any credit, I will block you. #SorryNotSorry
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Passing the Mic

  • Lily Uoka
  • Lawrence Terry
  • Amira Rahim
  • Quincy Harding
  • Hadil Mohamed
  • Nikki Cade
  • Gavin Benjamin
  • Kemi
  • Ernest Shaw, Jr.

This is a time of intense internal reflection. In addition to condemning police violence against Black men and women, I’ve been thinking hard about my own role in upholding the status quo and racist institutions.

One of my personal goals to that end is to use my little platform to lift up amazing artists who happen to have brown skin.

This week, I am not posting any of my own art online; instead, I’m being intentional about exploring and sharing work by Black and brown artists. I have come across so many new-to-me artists — and the list continues to grow. Check out some of my favorites pieces (so far) above!

And this won’t be a temporary thing. I am committed to changing my behaviors in the long-term; it’s only through sustained efforts that personal and societal change is possible. While I am lifting up Black artists in my Instastories, I’m also saving the stories to my highlights so that they can be found in the future. I’ll also be more intentional moving forward about the artist voices I share here.

If you have suggestions — artists to check out and/or how I can better support marginalized groups — I’d love to hear.

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Art Journal Inspiration: Mixed Media

I have a deep love of mixed media in art journaling. Check out these fabulous artists and their incredibly rich pages. You can click on any image to be taken to their Instagram page and see more of their work.

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