Monthly Archives: March 2011

Art Newsletters Worth Signing Up For

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Canadian Art e-weekly

Aside from its monthly print periodical, Canadian Art Magazine publishes rich online content focusing on contemporary Canadian artists and exhibitions. On their website they post previews and reviews of exhibitions, slide shows, recommendations (“See it”), and also offer audio and video features. Their weekly email lists events and openings for the week Canada-wide, plus links to their online-exclusives not printed in the magazine.
To sign-up, visit here

Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee is a weekly email list produced by a group that calls themselves a “service oriented artist collective.” Galleries, artists, or any individual can email Continue reading →

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WordPress vs. Blogger vs. Tumblr: Free Artist Websites

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Free blog hosts are a great resource for artists who want to create their own portfolio or website online. Below I have provided a short summary of three of the most popular free blogging hosts: Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr.

Blogger / Blogspot

Blogger by Google hosts free blogs using the format www.(yourname).blogspot.com. Blogger is useful for setting up a working journal or studio blog about your practice, updated as you add new images or news to it. It is more suited to a journal or conventional blog format where you can post news, pictures of work, the progression of works in progress—rather than a formal portfolio.

The disadvantage of Blogger and the reason it is not good for a “formal” portfolio or artist’s website is that by default, you cannot have a static landing page. It is technically possible to alter the code to change your Blogger blog to a static page, but you need to edit the template in HTML. If you are up for the challenge, Blog Help gives a good explanation here.

Blogger allows you to “monetize” your blog, should you choose to put advertisements on it.

Here is an example of an artist’s blog on Blogger, works by Claudio Rodriguez Valdes, using a non-static landing page.

WordPress

WordPress hosts free blogs using the format http://(yourname).wordpress.com. Like Blogger, the templates to choose from are non-static, although the process involved in creating a static landing page is much simpler, Continue reading →

Should you Include Prices on your Art Website?

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There is thought to be a stigma around including prices on an artist’s website. But whether or not you should include prices on your website depends on what exactly you use your website for. There are of course no clear-cut rules; below are my suggestions for deciding what works best for your artistic career goals.

If you are a self-marketing artist, there are advantages to including prices on your website. If you are interested in selling your work directly to clients, art consultants, designers, etc, then clearly listing the availability and prices of your work makes it easier for potential buyers to decide whether they would be interested in investing in your work. This simply saves them emailing you to ask. I have heard of many self-marketing artists hesitating to list their prices, but if you are truly interested in selling your own work through your website, consider that many high-end commercial galleries clearly list prices on their labels. It does not diminish the artistic value of your work.

If you are setting up your website as an online portfolio with the intention of acquiring gallery representation, I would suggest that you not include prices on your website. A professional gallery will not necessarily care what you charge for your artwork, because Continue reading →

Upcoming deadline: the Canada Council Art Bank Purchase Program

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The Canada Council Art Bank is the largest contemporary art collection in the country. Each year, their purchase program accepts submissions from Canadian artists. The collection, made up of over 18,000 works, is rented out to corporations, institutions, government departments and agencies for display in their offices. Though quite competitive, the Art Bank holds open submissions for potential purchase. The main guidelines are that you must be a Canadian artist who:

  • has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions)
  • is recognized as such by his or her peers through a history of public presentation of work in a professional context (artists working in the same artistic tradition)

source: Canada Council Art Bank Website

Along with your Art Bank application, you need to submit an artist CV. To read my post “How to Write an Artist’s CV in 10 Steps”, visit here.


Remember, the submission deadline is April 15th. Good luck!

(Image source here)