Understanding Professional Practice

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWmIwbS7elE&ab_channel=M3lart

When using Instagram, hashtags can help get your artwork out there for others to see. When you use generic hashtags for example #art, there will be lots of other posts that have used that hashtag, this mans your post will become a needle in a haystack, and your post won’t be seen by many people.

Step 1

Look at an artwork that you want to share on social media and write down some words to describe it. This could include the medium(s), subject matter and what/who inspired you. These words might not be the hashtags used in the post but jumping off points.

Step 2

Look at different hashtags, type in the words you have written down and type one in. on Instagram you will be able to see what hashtags other people are using that incorporate the word you searched. The aim of this exercise is to find hashtags that aren’t used as much and are more specific, this means you need to look at how many posts each hashtag has. The woman in the video aims to use hashtags that have between 5 thousand and 50 thousand posts. Although lower number of posts is good, make sure the number isn’t too low, otherwise people won’t see it.

Step 3

Make a list of hashtags that you like and use. Make sure you have a bunch of different hashtags so that you can change up and use different hashtags for different posts.

 

This was an interesting video as I had no idea how to use hashtags and I learnt some tips on how to find hashtags that are not used as frequently which can help in terms of reaching a larger audience on Instagram. This video is from 2019, but from what I have seen on Instagram and the recent comments under the video saying that this video was really useful and helped them, so from this I can infer that the information is still relevant.

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Both Dia Art and Holt/Smithson Foundation use their brand logo as their profile picture.

Dia Art Foundation is verified on Instagram whereas Holt/Smithson Foundation is not. To have an account verified on Instagram, the account needs to have a sizeable following, for example few thousand followers, it needs to be a real person or business, unique, for example the only legitimate Instagram account representing the person or business. The account also needs to have a completed profile and have an established brand that is searched for and/or mentioned in multiple news sources. Any Instagram account can apply to become verified.

Both follow each other on Instagram – supporting one another, this is probably a good idea as they are both connected with Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt, they can stay connected and up to date with what the other is doing.

Dia Art’s bio on Instagram has a link to their website whereas Holt/Smithson foundation has a link that takes you to a page where there are multiple links to choose from, you can visit the Holt/Smithson website or click on a post which will take you to the link that post relates to.

Holt/Smithson Foundation – focuses on Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt’s artwork and news relating to these artists, whereas Dia Art has a larger range of artists. Both have positives and negatives the Holt/Smithson Foundation account is more focused and in depth, if all you want to see is information about Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson, then this is an amazing Instagram account to follow. however if you want a larger variety but less information and not as in depth then the Dia Art account is better. I personally follow both and find both to be really useful and interesting.

Both have posts talking about current exhibitions and opportunities.

Holt/Smithson Foundation will have a lot more text in the description informing their followers about the artwork in the image, for example the title, the year(s), what materials are used and some background information as well as crediting the photo; this does mean that there tends to be a lot of text which for me can be too much and I end up not reading it unless I’m specifically interested in that post. On the other hand, Dia Art’s Instagram photos of artists’ work often just has a quote from the artist in the description, Although, this gives a bit of insight into the artist and how they think, there is not any context other than what is provided in the photo, which can be quite limiting. Overall, I think a short but informative description would be better and adding a quote from the artist if it provides context or an interesting perspective.

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These are my notes from visiting artist Steve Mcleod

As a working artist it’s important to stay connected to groups of different kinds of people.

Engage with the industry – be present and participate in what is going on around you. There is never a right or wrong time to reach out and get involved.

Ways to get involved:

• Membership groups i.e. Metro
• Museums
• Galleries
• Public art spaces
• Clients
• Collaborators

Look at networking like teamwork – you may be driving towards different things, but you can all help each other along the way. We shouldn’t feel isolated even though our work can be isolating as we are often alone with our thoughts. As artists we need people to input, critique, support, challenge and suggest opportunities, all of these things will help along the way and should be embraced. Look around for people to support you in the ways that you need to progress as an artist.

The Gibbs’ reflective cycle, this is a method which takes you through six stages exploring an experience: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. This can help with reflecting on your practice as well as your performance.

The people who make up your network is a moving wheel, it’s something that is collaborative and free flowing.

All these avenues that provide networking opportunities in the circle should and will be people you will interact with over the course of your career but not at the same time and not in the same way.

Don’t feel like you have to do this all at once, set small goals.

Peers: not friends but people who make similar work or in a similar genre, marketplace and finding your place among them.

Galleries can help with looking at curators, collectors, involving your peers, publishers, museums. Galleries can be a really good champion of your artwork.

Curators will look at social media as one port of call to see who is active and who is doing what, they are also really useful with getting funding as they are often applying for funding and they might take you along with them.

Social media

• Look at who is following you – they are following you for a reason.
• Your followers are invested in what you do.
• Identify what your followers do, can you collaborate with them?
• Approach it tactfully and tacitly
• Think about what is your aim and what is it for?

Regularly step back and look at this information.

Identify with your peers, what galleries they are in/have been in. Look at what curators are they working with and find commonality as peers can support you in networking.

Taking an avid interest in my peers, share ideas – incidental learning, look at what others are doing.

Look around and research the people involved; what artwork are they involved with. Look at who the art advocates are at art fairs, who is doing the funding.

Peers are one of the most important areas for networking, don’t be afraid to get involved and join in with the conversation.

Identify skills, transferable skills that you can transfer between your peers (skills that you can give and skills that you can utilize in others).

It takes time to build a network and relationships with people – so start slow.

We are not solely an artist, we have other roles that we need to take on. Artist, advocate, and ambassador, I need to be all of these things at all times, and it is my job to identify what role is needed at any given time.

Artist – the creator, the one that makes the work.

Advocate – the facilitator, the person who makes things happen. The one that does admin, filling out documents, replying to messages, manages the social media account, the engine, the driver of the artist’s work.

Ambassador – the marketer, the person who champions and sells ideas. The role where you sell yourself, have good communication skills, negotiation skills, the one that talks through a portfolio.

This tactic helps as you develop an understanding of your target audience, what you can gain from that target audience and how to implement it.

Identify your target and your audience and your place within the realm of that target to see how you can benefit from this? Where can it take you? And enlisting ambassadors, get other people to do the shouting for you. Have confidence in what you do but also be able to communicate to other people what it is you do, why you do it and get them on board with it.

Manage the voice that you have appropriately, have professional social media accounts, think about yourself as a brand.

Have an Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and include a link tree that takes people to not only your website but your other social media platforms. Have live clickable links.

Think about your profile and get involved.

Have consistency of voice – language – how it looks on all platforms, make sure that what is seen on your website matches the voice on your social media.

Website is a more in-depth dissection into what you do, how you do it and why you do it and the outcome whereas social media has to have same kind of voice, the vocabulary, the way it’s set out, make sure it’s consistent.

The same imagery can be found on both the website and social media. However, on social media you can post the coming together of the work that you wouldn’t see on a website of an exhibition.

If you are struggling – look at how other people do it, take notes.

Make sure you don’t waist peoples time, take things seriously.

If you have a meeting go and go prepared – If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Do your research: Who are they working with? What are they up to? What have they recently done? Understand and value your network and connections.

Be kind to one another if you have skills or advice then help out.

Don’t abuse trust – be professional in all that you do.

Give as well as take, what you give out you will get back in return. So, the more you give and help out the more help and support you will receive. This process isn’t about favors, it’s about the development of process and practice.  Make sure you know when to lead and when to be lead.

It is a very fluid industry to work in, people change and the industry changes.

Teamwork = network

 

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Twitter has a set layout, so the two twitter accounts feel very similar in terms of proportions.

Bruce Gilden’s profile picture shows more personality as he is posing in a fun position however Mark Power has a profile picture where his head fills the majority of the space with him looking off into the distance. Power’s profile picture seems more professional than Gilden’s however I am more intrigued and drawn in by Gilden’s profile picture; I wonder if that is one of the reasons why more people follow Gilden. Both provide a banner photo that is one of their own photographs, giving people an insight into the type of photography they do and therefore lets the viewer have a quick idea as to whether or not they are interested in this artist’s work. As the world tends to have a short attention span when it comes to social media, a lot of people will judge this photo before they scroll down to see any more, Gilden’s banner photo is more striking as the black and white image stands out, there is also a sense of contrast with the banner photo and the profile photo, the profile photo is far away and in colour and the banner photo is in greyscale and is close up of two men. However, Power’s banner photograph makes me curious, I want to learn more as to why this photo is here, why is this important? The profile picture and the banner photo also seem to work better together than Gilden’s I believe this is because of the similar colour pallet and saturation.

They both have their location of where they are based, this provides some cultural context. They both also provide a link to their own websites, giving people an option to find out more about them as photographers as well as view their work. Power has “Photographer.” As his biography whereas Gilden’s written biography says: “I joined Magnum Photos in 1998 and became a full member in 2002. IG: http://instagram.com/bruce_gilden | Print sales/inquiries: [email protected]” Gilden has used this section to his advantage by sharing the agency he is a part of, Magnum Photos, even though Power is also a member of Magnum Photos, he has not used his twitter platform to inform his followers and potential followers. Gilden is also promoting his Instagram and an email for people to use if they are interested in purchasing prints or any other enquiries. Even though Power has an Instagram he hasn’t used this opportunity to promote it as Gilden has. Overall, Gildens written biography reads more professional and utilizes the opportunity to have more people follow his other social media account as well as selling his prints, while Power’s feels very limited in comparison.

Gilden has used the pinned tweet function, so that when you visit his twitter account, this is the first tweet you see, making it more prominent as more people are likely to see it. This tweet is promoting his book with Gucci and provides a link to an article about this book. A great use of the platform to help spread information of projects. Power does not have a pinned tweet.

Both Power and Gilden don’t post frequently on twitter, less than once a month on average, however if I just look at from now to 2019, Power has a lot more tweets than Gilden. Gilden’s tweets are mostly retweets (sharing another accounts tweet) rather than posting an original tweet, he tweeted two original tweets in 2020 and two in 2019 whereas most of Power’s posts are his own original tweet, making his account feel more personalized so that when you follow him, it feels as though there is a closer connection to him as an artist as we learn about his thought and opinions. Gilden’s tweets on the over hand, are mostly updates and links to articles, this is informative but doesn’t have that personal element found in Power’s. This is interesting as if I just looked at the profile picture, banner photo and biography I would have guessed that the more personal tweets would come from Gilden instead of Power.

In 2019 Power used twitter like Instagram where he had tweets that showed a photo and included text to inform us of the location and date of the photograph. This asks the question why not just use Instagram where people are more likely to want to see photographs? At first I thought, maybe he didn’t have Instagram, however I found out that he did, and I then realized it might have been a tactic to try and get more followers on twitter as he currently has 81.2k followers on Instagram and 8,702 followers on twitter, if this is the case then it clearly did not have the desired effect and Power has stopped taking this approach on his twitter account for the time being.

Overall, I believe Twitter is a good platform to share links related to professional work, for example if an article is written about an exhibition, I am involved in. I also think twitter is a good platform to let people know of upcoming exhibitions and other opportunities to view and support my work. Due to twitter being a limited platform, there is only so much to do with it, and there is a limit to how many characters you can use in one post, so tweets have to be concise and to the point, furthering my opinion that twitter is good for announcements and sharing links, giving the followers a chance to learn and find out more. However, twitter is seen as a negative social media platform. People tend to be more negative online, as it is easier to be mean and spiteful behind an anonymous identity, people will vent their anger and frustrations on social media, this seems to be more prominent on Twitter. Therefore, if I were to get a twitter account to build my social media presence, I would keep it very professional and use it as an aid to keep people informed and updated of where and when they can see my artwork and any links related to my practice, similar to how Gilden uses his twitter account.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXTs4XPChcE&list=WL&index=35&t=528s&ab_channel=ArtProf%3ACreate%26Critique

These are my notes and what I took away from the video link above.

In this video Professor Clara Lieu and Art Prof Teaching Artist Alex Rowe look at how Instagram, an excellent platform for artists, can have negative effects on artists. They discuss how these things have affected them and give advice on how to deal and/or avoid these struggles.

#1 Everyone’s life seems better than mine

Everyone seems to have a really full and vibrant social life, going to museums and galleries, and I’m not. These feelings seem to be more noticeable on bad days.

Tip – try and not take it personally, realise when you’re having a bad day or a good day and decide if you are in the right head space for going on social media.

Instagram can make you feel like you have to post daily to get your artwork out there. Regularly posting is good, it helps with the algorithm which will push your content out to others who might not have seen it otherwise and helps to keep and build a following base. However, you don’t have to post every day, find a schedule that works for you.

Tip – assign days, only post on certain days and for the rest of the week don’t think about it.

#2 Every artwork on Instagram is so perfect and #3 Even other artists’ workspaces are beautiful.

Everyone else’s artwork seems to be finished and perfect. Pretty and neat sketchbooks and workspaces/studio.

Tip – find your working style

Embrace what your sketchbook tells you.

What can I say? What can I do? What can I bring to the table? You are unique and will have something that makes you stand out, there is always going to be someone with better technique, so focus on what makes you different.

Tip – instead of thinking “I will never be as good as this” think about how you would tell it, what is your perspective?

Some artworks doesn’t photograph well, and so it doesn’t look as good on Instagram as it does in person – keep this in mind when thinking about what you post.

Some people see Instagram as a competition, competing for likes, followers, attention rather than a social media platform, try and stay away from this way of thinking, Instagram does not have to be a competition.

Tip – on Instagram have 2 sketch posts and then a final if you wish to use your Instagram to be like a sketchbook/portfolio it doesn’t have to be that rhythm, but try and keep to a 2:1 ratio.

Only posting finished artwork can be too linear and it’s not as interesting for the viewer, so sketches and work in progress photos can help keep your Instagram followers engaged in your work.

Other social media and blogs can help but Instagram dominates within the visual arts and is currently where a lot of attention is.

#4 Everyone else is winning awards and I got rejected 3 times this week

Don’t reduce your artwork to numbers.

A number is concrete its like a grade after taking a test, and it’s normal to look around to see what “grade” (how many likes and comments) others got.

Instagram got really close to sorting this issue out, they should have provided an option where you can choose whether you want to see your numbers or not.

Choose to be happy for those who achieve and don’t let the jealous feelings take over.

It’s so much easier in the long run to feel happy for those people instead of thinking when are they going to happen to you.

Think about if you want your Instagram to be a mix of personal and your artwork or just your artwork? If it is just your art, not your face, dog, life around your art it can help with making sure that it is just the artwork being judged instead of the attention being on the artist.

#5 Likes, Followers, Comments

You have to take initiative and work to get high numbers on social media.

If you don’t know where you want your art to go, it might not be a great time to post on Instagram as the focus becomes more about posting it rather than making it.

Don’t feel like your art and your Instagram following have to grow at the same time.

The artwork that gets a big reaction on Instagram isn’t always good artwork.

Stay true to who you are as an artist and your goals, don’t make artwork to please the masses on social media.

Tip – make your own place on Instagram, you don’t have to fit in to what everyone else wants.

You don’t want Instagram to dictate your creative choices, it should be a separate thing.

As someone who does not post on Instagram, this was really interesting to watch, and I found myself relating to some of the things mentioned in this video. The reason why I don’t post my artwork on social media is because in the past social media put me in a bad head space where I compared myself to everyone else and attached my self-worth to my social media, so I deleted everything. I now have an Instagram account; however, I have not posted anything as I am afraid that I will slip into that head space again where I will focus on numbers and engagement and equate that to my success or lack thereof. This is something that I have been working on for a while, where I am trying to not compare myself or care too much about what other people say. Although I have come a long way from where I once was, I still struggle.