Creating a Free Web Presence

Today, we are going back to the art career basics and building blocks. I want to talk about the importance of creating a web presence. Hopefully, many of you already have one. A web presence is crucial for exposure and networking for your art. This article is for those who think it costs a lot of money, time, or energy to maintain a website. I have some free and simple solutions to get you and your work online in no time.

First, of course is the very popular social networking site MySpace. I have to admit I wasn't much of a fan at first, I was under the impression that the sites were always ugly and glaring and that MySpace was primarily a place for teenagers. Well, I stand corrected. I have seen some beautiful MySpace sites run by emerging artists and professionals. You control your space, and can easily upload your art into a slide show or other format, choose some music and set the scene for showing off your art to the world. You even pick a URL that you can share with others and not just other myspacers. You can share your links to other sites/galleries you might be affiliated with to direct visitors to your "real" website or galleries if you have one. Before you know it you will be finding friends that you had forgotten about as well as letting everyone know you are an artist, and all for free.

Also, it is a great way to make the larger art community feel smaller and become friends with other artists you admire. If you are not already on MySpace check it out, I highly recommend it. Just watch your time on the site- it can become addicting! Now with this being said, I wouldn't only use MySpace to promote your work. Most of the time, MySpace pages tend to be a little more personal in nature, and might not be professional enough to submit to a potential gallery or client as your "website."

Here are some examples of some artists myspace pages that I like: http://www.myspace.com/studio545
http://www.myspace.com/bloodle
http://www.myspace.com/thomaspetillo
http://www.myspace.com/flowersinspace

There is also Facebook which is becoming more popular, as the layout is clean and simple. You don't get you own URL though so only other Facebook friends in your network can see your work. Again, you can display all your links to various other websites where your work is hosted, which is nice. I enjoy the MySpace application more for promoting your art, as it seems a bit more dynamic. Yet, I do currently have both.

If you don't have a website for your art and only do one thing towards setting up a web presence, I highly recommend setting up an online portfolio on a site called carbonmade. This is a great application, and the closest thing I have seen to a FREE classy website. This site is very easy to use and update and allows you to create a beautiful and did I say a FREE web presence. With this site you get your own URL so this is something that can be professional enough to print up on some business cards when you are just starting out. It has little fluff or frills, but it looks sharp and does the trick. It doesn't take long to make a site that will fit your needs here. I also have a carbonmade site, where I keep a virtual studio sale for my older work that is in a different style and no longer represented by galleries.

Some carbonmade sites that I like are.
http://henryturner.carbonmade.com/
http://benstrawn.carbonmade.com/


If you are really trying to make a go of it as an artist without a web presence in this day and age you are just shooting yourself in the foot. There are many opportunities to be had out there and the web really allows you to reach clients and galleries from all over the world. You do not need a web designer, or your own domain name to play in this game, nor do you need money. So, stop with these excuses. It is up to you to put yourself and your work out there. You can do this!

If you have created a great looking MySpace page that promotes your art or a carbonmade portfolio, or a portfolio on another free site that I need to know about, please post it in the comments section.

See " Desire Suspended" by Megan Chapman at the Blue Moon gallery
located at 718 Central Ave.
Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs Gallery Walk

Well, I am off to Hot Springs gallery walk.
I am looking forward to being with the wonderful folks at the Blue Moon gallery, talking to people about my art, and enjoying the sights and sounds of Hot Springs.

Unnamed and Mysterious

Yesterday was cold and foggy almost. It looked like it could rain at any moment. The leaves in my back yard have turned a bit golden, and they look heavy and ready to drop. I felt very inspired yet, I didn't exactly want to paint. I looked at other people's art, and felt in awe of all the unique and individual voices that are working out in the world, simply creating. The artists that capture the magic and mystery that is seldom seen. I was aching to do something, and then it hit me. Why must I always paint in order to create something, in order to feel productive?

I don't- and with that I got out my camera and melted into the hours that followed. I wasn't a painter with clients or obligations, or projects on the back burner.

I was simply being free to express something
unnamed and mysterious.

When was the last time you were just free and let yourself experiment with something other than your medium?

Talking Heads This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) Live

Talking Heads under Jonathan Demme's direction in "Stop Making Sense" This is so wonderful. One of my favorites.

The Fall

The fall is here, and I love it. It is the perfect time to listen to music and feel the wind and dream about the past and the future. The fall makes things seem too important and deep. I easily get caught up in the romantic versions of my life. Everything feels better, maybe a bit more melancholy, but I am comfortable in this place.

A wistful passion sets in. I long for things I don't have, things I can't even put my finger on. It is a beautiful longing, that I enjoy. It is a type of hope, of leaves falling, poetry, love, and passion. Music in the air and in my mind. My music can't get loud enough for me now. The warm fading light in the tops of trees in the evening. I walk through my childhood streets with my headphones on loud, as the leaves blow across the street. Something growing within me, frustration and intensity. It is a good thing.

When I was a child, I really wanted to let people inside my brain for a while, and that feeling has returned. I really wish you could experience the fall with me. I am returning to myself somehow. I lost my way for a bit, and at least for now, I am walking back home into myself. I have my own priorities and agendas, and they might not make sense or be reasonable and I love that.

The studio is clean, new painting supplies are ordered, a new body of work is waiting to be released. I am ready.

Pictured above, Megan Chapman's "Restore my Grasp"
Mixed Media on Canvas
20x16" 2007
Coming soon to a gallery near you

Art Road Trip!

I am back from an overnight visit to Kansas City and I am filled to the brim with great art, music, architecture, and a kind of lust that comes from visiting somewhere new and then returning home. Kansas City is only 3.5 hours away from Fayetteville, and I plan to visit much more often now that I have become acquainted.

This summer I have been to Dallas twice, St. Louis and now Kansas City. My inspiration for these travels was simply to see my favorite band, Interpol, as much as I could. I was richly rewarded each time, not only by Interpol but by making sure to check out the galleries, and museums in these areas as well.

When I first arrived in Kansas City, I went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. The museum has free admission(donations are appreciated) and parking is only $5.00. I knew that I wouldn't be able to absorb the whole museum, so I hit the modern painters wing, and again I saw the usual suspects- funny how the summer of Interpol also turned into the summer of Rothko, Kline, Motherwell, and Diebenkorn. I am not complaining! I enjoyed some Warhol as well as other important painters. I then saw a Kiki Smith installation that was pretty dreamy entitled Constellation, and was made of cast glass animals and stars on the floor atop vibrant blue paper.

I stumbled into an amazing Photography exhibit, the museum's collection is spectacular. They have many of the heavy hitters of early 20th century American photography. Weston, Adams, Cunningham, Stieglitz, Steichen, Evans, Avedon, Lange, and more. They also have the more modern work of Arbus, Woodman, Probst, as well as others and currently a feature exhibit of Harry Callahan. It was stunning to see such a selection.

I thoroughly enjoyed the indoor Noguchi sculpture garden. I then ran back into the older part of the Museum with its impressive columns and marble to make sure to see the Caravaggio. Oh, that was amazing! I was walking to find it and then caught it out of the corner of my eye and was drawn to it like a magnet. Just magnificent. I will be back soon to take a more in depth tour of the museum, but for the amount of time I had, I saw a lot of jewels of the art world.

Interpol played at a wonderful old restored theatre called The Uptown. If you ever have a chance to see some music at this venue, I highly recommend it. It is an intimate venue of about 3,500 with theatre seating in the back and balcony, and then an open floor for the fans (like me that have to be near the stage). Needless to say the concert was great, I was in the second row and I am now ready to translate all the energy, poetry, and beauty that I find in Interpol's music into my next body of paintings. The Uptown is a beautiful theatre palace, restored with vivid colors, and to quote the Uptown's website it "resembles a venetian courtyard," there are sculptures up high along the balcony. It really has a unique and majestic feeling and is a work of art in itself.

The next day, I went to check out the Crossroads Arts district. I enjoyed walking along the streets and alley's of this vibrant and hopeful area. Tall old warehouses, and brick industrial buildings are being reclaimed as galleries, studios, cafes, and live/work spaces. Very inspiring, and the old brick architecture is lovely. Had a great decaf soy latte (yeah I am one of those people) at Coffee Girls, a charming place with art on the walls that played good music and had a nice laid back atmosphere. Then I wandered around, taking pictures of these colorful buildings, some forgotten and some being reborn. Walked over to HammerPress, and completely fell in love. The space was glorious, and the amazing designs were like a beacon. I dropped some cash in this design and letterpress studio, and it was money well spent. This is a destination spot, so don't miss it if you go to Kansas City. HammerPress has an easy friendly vibe and they let me take pictures of the place, I am telling you it is a slice of heaven. I then went to check out Blue Gallery, another lovely space, featuring some great art. Then I was off to some other galleries in the area. I went to the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, and entered another great large light filled space, with great art of all styles and mediums. There were artists present having a business meeting and sharing tips with each other about taking care of the business side of the art world. I was especially impressed by the photogravure work of Deborah Riley. The art center also rents live/work studio spaces. Seemed like an energetic place. Last but not least, I headed to an impressive and expansive gallery, the Sherry Leedy Contemporary, they were exhibiting the impressive ceramic works of Jun Kaneko and I enjoyed the photography of Misha Gordin and saw several pieces of Michael Eastman's work through the modern glass doors of the gallery storage section that was off limits to the public.

I really enjoyed walking around the Crossroad's Art district, I would love to live in an area like that, modern and electric yet still charming and friendly all the while celebrating the past through rehabilitating the old structures and providing support and affordable options for the emerging artists in their city.

I returned to my car and headed to Kemper Contemporary Museum, again free admission(donations appreciated). I really enjoyed their collection. I was thrilled to be able to get up close and personal with Michael Eastman's work in the museum's collection since I had been tempted by it in the last gallery. I saw the Michael Vasquez: Authority Figures exhibit, and an exhibit entitled Backstage pass: Collecting art in Kansas City. These were important pieces of art that were borrowed from corporate and private collections in Kansas City. I really got the feeling that this city takes its art pretty seriously. This museum had an impressive collection of modern paintings, mixed media, and photography as well as what looked like a lovely restaurant to dine in.

The Kansas City Art Institute is right by the Kemper Contemporary (it is actually sandwhiched between the two museums) so I walked through the campus, talked to an art student, and looked in the painting building and studios just to get a quick feeling for the place.

That was it, my trip to Kansas City. I got there around 1:30 on Wednesday and left at 1:00 on Thursday and was back home in time to support my local art scene by attending the opening for Photographic at the DDP gallery. Photographic is a stellar show. Gallerist Dede Peters created an elegant exhibit that really celebrates the medium of photography and the impressive local talent we have right here. Don't miss this show, it will up until November 24.

Art is everywhere, in old buildings, fields of down-turned sunflowers along the highway, museums, galleries, chain link fences, falling down shacks, and of course in the music that loudly enters my soul. I can tell this is going to be a great fall.

Pictured above, Henry Turner's "Patiently She Waits"
The DDP gallery
7 East Mountain St. Fayetteville.
Open: W-F 12-7 and Sat. 10-5
and by appointment.

"Photographic"
October 10- November 24, 2007

I can't stand the quiet!

A brilliant scene from my favorite director Hal Hartley.
Another form of inspiration.