‘all or nothing’ was how I was once aptly described by my friend’s mum. It then became the title of my first solo exhibition. Contemplating a title for this blog, it was the first title to spring to mind and, as it also describes where I am now, I will stick with it. I am finally attempting to embrace the world of social media and dive in headfirst. It has taken some time for me to be convinced that it might enhance my practice rather than detracting from it (lack of time, already have people to discuss art with, it will take away from making time, overcoming private into public…). The shift from seeing social media updates and blogging as a chore, to embracing them as an opportunity for reflection and dialogue, has been a big leap. Having now followed or dipped into many blogs, I have enjoyed their insights and can see how I could potentially use them.
So, I have joined Twitter @Ruth_HBroadbent and am surprised by how much I like it. I’ve tried a few tweets to set the tone for the kind of content that I might include, ranging from info on and insights into my own work and ways of thinking, exhibitions and books, to links to things that interest me or might be of interest to others reading… It feels strange to be tweeting to the unknown and is still quite formal and lacks spontaneity (I still think about and draft tweets before posting), but no doubt that will change as time goes on. I’ve also set up an Instagram account ruth_broadbent for images, although at the moment I seem to be more drawn to Twitter and am also putting images on there. I’ve updated my LinkedIn profile which will probably be more of a link to my website than a platform that I use. A lot of people have also said to join Facebook but for the time being I feel overwhelmed enough trying to work out how Twitter and Instagram work.
The next thing to overhaul is my website www.ruthbroadbent.com to be responsive to the different ways that people view websites now. I would also like to include a blog on it. Having previously used Dreamweaver, I am now looking into using WordPress. Every stage is taking ages and a lot of googling for info. It is taking up a huge amount of my time, mostly because I’m not an expert at web design and want to include a portfolio of my work as well as a blog. I wonder if the time that I’m investing in redesigning my website is worth taking so much time away from being in the studio. Hopefully it will all be worth it once it is up and running. So, ‘all or nothing’, I’m diving in and look forward to seeing where it leads me.
Image: Identity Cube (detail, ‘all or nothing’), 2005
