Today, I applied for the Ipswich Print Week 2023 exhibition with one of each print editions I have been making. Prints must be framed, but I have already identified some suitable ones which I hope will enhance my work. It costs £15 to enter but only if I am accepted and any sales are commission free.
I found details on the Print Week website which is very comprehensive and up to date, with links to reviews, mentions, reels, photos and videos. I saw it had links to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, showing its varied presence on social media. As an artist, a professional and up to date website, showing Bio, Artist statement and portfolio looks professional and gives a good impression to anyone interested in the artist, although social media has, in many ways, bypassed the need for one. Social media can include links to an artist/art organisation website too.
Facebook has 2.94 billion monthly users and has 59% of all social media, and is linked to Instagram. As an artist I can post to both platforms to simultaneously and efficiently promote myself. As Facebook is free and easy to use, many artists use the platform like a website.
Hashtags essentially group together conversations or content around a certain topic, making it easy for people to find content that interests them.
Hashtags can be used on just about any social media platform, but they’re most popular on Twitter and Instagram. There are many helpful guides on line regarding there effective use such as theartsdevelopmentcompany.org.uk
I have discovered there are online generator tools where you can describe your art work and hashtags are produced for you to copy and paste!
As well as being an excellent marketing tool, hashtags can in themselves be an artistic tool to convey meaning but could also highlight irony and humour, as well as political messages.
(https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8d97/on-instagram-artists-are-creating-a-shareable-language-of-protest)
Social media can prompt emerging artists such as myself to apply for art prizes, and I did this for the first time recently. I follow the The John Moores Painting Prize (jmpaintingprize on Instagram) so I saw the posts which have been put up in the last few months. They posted about entries for this year’s prize 16th November 2022, 6th February, 23rd March 2023, and the 14th April. Using eye catching photographs, bold graphics and colours designed to attract attention, I was prompted to apply with a painting I recently showed at our art degree interim exhibition. John Moores openly advertised who were the jurors for the prize. Does this make artists adapt their entries to fit in with what they think those jurors are looking for?
Matthew Burrows MBE established the Artists Support Pledge using Instagram in 2020, in response to the Covid pandemic. Artists were very concerned that their income stream would dry up, so he developed ASP allowing makers to post images using the hashtag #artistsupportpledge, giving details of their works and price (no more than £200 or equivelent). If people are interested in buying, they directly message the artist. Artists don’t need permission to join. Every time an artist reaches £1,000 of sales, they pledge to buy £200 of work from another artist.
ASP has 100k followers on Instagram and have posted 1,109 times.
However, ASP has recently posted against the platform and questioning its tactics, advising artists how to try to influence Instagram in their favour, considering algorithms which are now in place.
