Quite a few artists I know are still very resistant to social networking. I have tried to convince them that it is an excellent way to engage with other artists and to discover new ones. It is two years since I was able to begin seriously engaging with art making again and social networking has been one of my tools, part of my practice. Since starting this blog I have had contact with interesting, informed and friendly artists within the Artists Talking community who are encouraging and generous with invitations and information.
Because I live in a very rural part of the world, social networking is vital for keeping me informed. It is also much easier to have work displayed in a blog/web site than to have to lug it miles to studios and gallery spaces to show people. Entry to various open opportunities is now made so much easier with the transitting of digital images across the ether, using the internet. I have actually got to the point of resenting it when organisations expect me to take the work in for selection; it is such a drain on my time and physical energy! (And I don’t even enter that many open submissions – I am still feeling my way in this part of the art world, and am by instinct quite choosy, which, I am finding is a good thing.)
I found one opportunity a good few months ago, to become a featured artist on the Access Art web site and duly entered. Access Art provide resources for anyone using art to teach (or for self development) and they have some very good exercises and lessons that members can download to use. I have always felt passionately about the quality of art teaching in schools and colleges and when I graduated in Fine Art (and by accident, but I really needed to earn some money to pay off my debts and help put three kids through uni) became a teacher in a very large and busy FE college I put my heart and soul into it, helping the department to develop its excellent programme. So the Access Art opportunity was a fit, as they say. I duly sent off all the info they required and was delighted when they informed me that I had been selected. It took them some months to actually get the pages sorted, during which time I pathetically assumed they’d changed their minds about me but I can now say that the two pages featuring my work and an exercise I devised for them have gone live. I don’t know if this is going to result in any opportunities for me; it is always difficult to tell, but it does at least mean that some of my work is being seen by more people than if I had not applied for the opportunity and as far as I am concerned that is a positive thing. Once the pages are no longer the main feature of the “I Am Access Art” section, they will be stored in their archive, so access to them will remain possible. I am pleased about this and it’s another plus to add to my achievements since the end of 2011. http://www.accessart.org.uk/i-am-accessart-sue-gough/
