How to run a website

A website is just a folder of codes. This is way website require you to pay for their monthly packages since someone is doing the codes for you and makes the process of posting much easier. The packages also makes the website more advance and have more features.

The best website that university recomends students to use is Word Press. It even lasts one year after graduating. The second best option Ionos since it’s more affordable. Other sites include Wix, Square Space, Tumblr, and Etsy Journal.

 

 

Professional development workshop: taking better photos

• When taking pictures of your work, make sure the camera is in high resolution so when you zoom in you can see the details.
• It is better to back up your work and pictures in your computer either by coping them or uploading them to the cloud so that you have more storage in your phone and your files are safe in case you damage or loose your phone. There is an app called “We Transfer” to transfer files for free. Also, make sure to take aadvantage of the university’s unlimited One Drive storage from your email account.
• If working with artificial lights, make sure they are all the same. Get daylight bulbs to correct lighthing. You can also get a reflector to point to bulb to the wall of the ceiling.
• Don’t have different colored background when taking pictures of your paintings. Have a white or grey background so it doesn’t mess up with the white balance of the image.
• Put a white sheet on the floor to reduce darkness coming from the floor. You can also get a lamp so the light bounces off a sheet.
• Try to take pictures outside if you have no studio space e.g. garden. Put a white sheet or ideally have two people holding the sheet to simulate a wall.

Social media started in 1974 with the Berkley community memory. It is used to built up an online community. There are different regulations in each country in terms of what is being published or share.

What are the ideals of the internet?

• Being part of a community
• For sharing
• Having a voice
• Contributing
• Creating value
• User generated
• Enhaving our experience of the world (physical and virtual)
• Digital citizenship

New media is an on-demand access to content anytime and anywhere on any digital device. It is an interactive user feeback that creates creative participation. New and unrelagullated content is generated in real-time.

The functional building blocks of social meadia (according to Ketzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy and Silvestre):

• Presence: identfying whether members are accessible and/or available.
• Relationships: conversing, sharing, meeting up, listing contacts, friends or followers.
• Reputation: identifying who members are.
• Identity: revealing identities and personal information.
• Groups: forming communities.
• Conversation: commnunicating with other members.
• Sharing: receiving, exchanging and distributing content.

Creating content

Writing for social media should generally follow the style poihnts outlined in the tone of voice and house style guide. Some social media platforms have a character limit (e.g. Twitter. Facebook and Instagram have no limit but one sentence or a short phrase is preferred).

• Encourage user interaction.
• Use hashtags.
• Don’t oversude capitalisation or exclamation marks.
• When you share links, make sure you explain what it is about and focus on why it is relevant to your audience.
• Don’t use link shorteners generally as they have a lower click through rate.

Questions to ask when you are compiting in social media:

• Who do you think their audience are?
• What platforms are they using?
• Do they have more than one channel per platform?
• How often are they sending these messsages out?
• Are they using the different platforms differetly?
• What is the level of engagement?
• What is the sentiment of the engagement?
• Do people engage with them?
• Like/favourite/love or reply/leave comments?
• Who is engaging witht the message?

The social platforms that I use are Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, Whatsapp, Pinterest, Soundcloud and Spotify. I use them quite a lot, some more than others. The social media platforms that I have used in the past that I now no longer use are Skype, Wattpad, Behance, Flickr, and Flipboard. I admire Pinterest and Tumblr because that’s where I can get most photographs of anything that can help me grow up my art archive.

Theoretical, critical and cultural contexts

• Definition of context: background, content, information, thing in question, ot historical event in time.

Art is some type of documentation, like Guernica by Pablo Picasso, who documented the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Context is a means of situating and developing an artist’s work.

• Defination of theory: what something is, techniques, practice, common sense (cause and effect), experience (empirical knowledge), research, communicating with others, and reflection. Theory is a shortcut for your practice, an ingredient that puts context in what you are doing.

Going to an art gallery is a way of acquiring knowledge, pleasure and entertainment. Theories inform the artist. If you are interested in a book that you finsih reading, look at the bibliography

Personal theories in my work: feminist art theory, historical art theory, latin american art theory, 20th century art theory, symbolic art theory, and hauntology theory.

• Definition of critical: how something that is in the future could be different, alternative thinking, flexible, expand, critique, opinions from both ways (demolition and constructive criticism), from the inside and outside (understand how does the thing doesn’t recognize its own values e.g. politics, manifestos, doing the opposite of what they say they were going to do, value, non-coherente, and set of values that are not identify with the thing e.g. feminist critiques of male respresentations)

Critique is part of part theory. They can both come before, during or after, the making.

There was a virtual visit to Phoenix studios and had a chance to have a talk with some of the artists who are currently working in there, including two graduate students of University of Brighton who had a studio space for one year. The artsist who stood up for me the most was David Blandy since my practice focuses on performance art and video at the moment.

Here are some relevant professional practice points from the visit:

• It’s helpful to meet people in private views to built up networking
• After graduating from university, is good to keep doing your art practice and documenting it
• In order to get noticed, an artist needs to be able to organize and curate their own shows

Essentials for holding an exhibition

• Should an artist stament narrate the evolution of an artist’s work or should it narrate who is the artist?
• Provide meta-data; all information supplied about the artwork (e.g. title, dimensions, materials, name, year). This is an abstract term.
• Inform people about the show.
• When talking about organizing an exhibition, don’t make it too personal.
• Timing needs to be good. Missing deadline can be calamitous.
• Even if organazing an exhbition, it is important to hold a private viewing.
• Never close before actual closing time. You never know if someone comes at the last minute. Don’t feel down/underestimate.
• When approaching an exhibition of multiple people, you can either based it off a theme or use the existing work as a starting point.
• It is simportant the esxhibition will be available for a limited amount of time because in that people feel limited and feel rush to show up to the exhibition.
• Exhibition looks unfinished if there is missing work.
• If work is being sold, the artist needs to consider the selling price, transport, delivery, and frames prices.

Introduction to the module:

For one to develop their professional practice, there are a list of habits that an artist needs to do. Some examples include:

• Know the importance of Instagram and/or having to show artwork. In the 21st century, it is important to have a social media presence sinc it it harder to get noticed in the art world and technnology has become very important in our day to day lives.
• Multitasking. An artist most do something several things at a time: not only for income but to also move faster in their studio practice. For example, an artist can also be a curator, tutor or writer.
• Use Signal as an alternative to Whatsapp.
• Be aware of contemporary artists. It is a great way to get inspiration source. Activities involve going to art galleries often.
• Document art process.
• When being interviewed or given criticism, don’t get defensive. It makes the artist narrow down and give a lazy justification for the lack of substance in their artwork.
• Be aware of the issues in the art world. Look at fairs, what is happening in the industry. The arts are a big income in the UK, and it is important to look at the government policies to know about money and funding.
• Have a business card of hard copy of who you are and your contact details. 
• Be confident in your practice and how you verbally talk about it without overdoing it. 
• Don’t plan or think about a piece for too long. Just doing it will get you somewhere.
• Follow the news so you are not naive. A gret way to start is by looking at simple politics on Instagram, putting the radio on e.g. In Our Time on Radio 4, read the art’s newspaper in libraries, look at the entertainment tab on news e.g. The Guardian and BBC,  and listen to podcasts e.g. A Brush With and Talk Art.
• Have different social media accounts. Personal life and art work should ideally be separeted unless it is part of the practice. This is so an artist can look more professional.

How does an artist survive?

Time management is key. This is going to be essential on year 3 since it is going to be more intense. Even if artists are bohemian, it is good to have a timetable and have a part time job. 

Networking is important. Keep updated people you met before with the new things you make. This is called back networking. Don’t neglect your classmates, but also be tactical and a bit secretive on what you say so people don’t steal your ideas.

In order to progress in the module, I have to ask myself what are the next steps in my studio practice, say what I am doing, what I am reading and what artists I am looking at for evidence.