- excellence in blogging about art and artists; and
- the art blogs which set high standards and are the most influential.
YOU can nominate which art blogs YOU think are excellent and which art blogs influence YOU. For the last three years I've asked all the readers of Making A Mark and the wider community of art bloggers to nominate the art blogs that they think are the best - in different categories
I've been keeping a note of the art blogs which have "made a mark" on me during the course of 2012 but I also really want to hear from all of you as to the blogs have had an impact on you.
This post and the next three posts on Making A Mark invite nominations relating to the categories which you can see at the top of the right hand column.
First how to nominate - and then the three awards in the category of Generating Art.
Nominate an art blog for a Making A Mark Award
It's very simple! Basically all you need to do is leave a comment on the relevant post.
- WHICH AWARD:
- Identify the title of the Making A Mark Award that you want your nominee to be considered for
- Leave a comment on the post on this blog which invite nominations for that award - BEFORE 29th December 2012
- WHICH BLOG: Identify
- the name of the blog, its URL (eg "The Art Blog" http://theartblog.blogspot.com) and
- the name of the blogger
- (Note: art bloggers are not eligible for any award that they have won in the last three years)
- WHY: Say WHY you think this blog should be considered for a Making A Mark Award.
I'll collate all your nominations and comments in relation to each award and consider alongside those blogs which I have in mind as being worthy of consideration. I'll then share the shortlist with you when the results are announced.
The Making A Mark Awards will be announced on the 29th and 30th December. Note: All nominees and nominators are linked to both from this blog and my main website page where all the past awards and nominees are listed
So over to you - who do you think merits being nominated for the three awards below? Answers as a comment on this post please.
GENERATING ART
Today I'm looking at nominations for three awards relating to generating art
- The Painting A Day Stickability Shield
- The Best Art Blog Project Virtual Challenge Cup
- The Best Art Society Blog Prize
The Painting a Day Stickability Shield
"What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way."
Winslow Homer
| The Painting A Day Stickability Shield for daily painters who maintain a consistently high output of consistently good quality paintings over the course of the year and set a good example to others. |
- 2011 Stephen Magsig - Postcards from Detroit Stephen's blog is accessible and demonstrates clearly that he has has produced between 322 and 355 paintings each year for the last four years. By any definition Stephen Magsig had produced a consistent and high quality output. He also provides something of a role model for the way in which you can convert the asset of regular daily paintings into other products for sale to those who want to collect artwork. Sometimes the "stickability" runs out before those conversions get made - but not with Stephen!
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| Blue Water Tank by Stephen Magsig |
- 2010 Lisa Daria(Lisa Daria) Significantly, Lisa Daria is the only nominee to have produced a painting every day this year. She has good reason - I'm a young adult cancer survivor so I have a persistence to make sure every day matters. Daily painting has become a reminder every day can bring with it reason. No more words are necessary - this is a lady whose 'stickability' we can all admire.
- 2009 Loriann Signori (Loriann Signori's painting-a-day) - This award is for stickability - Loriann's complete dedication to getting out and about whatever the weather and wherever she is. She created 344 posts in 2009.
- 2008 Edward Gordon (Edward B. Gordon) who started doing daily paintings back in November 2006. Edward has created a painting a day virtuallly every day in 2008 and did the same in 2007. He completed 700 daily paintings back in October. His blog is popular and it indicates that he sells most of the paintings he produces.
- 2007 Carol Marine (Carol Marine's Painting a Day) The person who, in my eyes, has been consistent, has posted most often during the year and who has also continued the tradition, started by Duane, of also sharing her talent and her approach with a wider public through the workshops she has been teaching this year.
- 2006 shared by:
- Duane Keiser (A Painting A Day)
- Julian Merrow Smith (Postcard from Provence)
- They both posted a new painting a day on their blogs for well over a year and, although they're not now posting a new painting absolutely every day, they're still managing a lot more than most 'painting a day' blogs
Art can be quite a lonely activity and it's noticeable that people often like to have some sort of involvement in groups and projects related to art!
| The Best Art Blog Project Virtual Challenge Cup This award is for
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| Spring in Kyoto, Japan IV by Keiko Tanabe Sold in aid of The Japanese Red Cross |
- 2011 The Help Japan Challenge Auction organised on the Daily Paintworks site. The challenge was created by Keiko Tanabe and David Marine of Daily Paintworks hosted it on the Daily Paintworks website. It involved a lot of art bloggers contributing artwork to raise funds via an auction to help those affected by the Tsunami in Japan.
- 2010 The Virtual Paintout by Bill Guffey has succeeded in attracting a large number of participants every month - and the benefit is that you can see all the pictures on the blog and that makes it very easy for non-participants to understand the project and see its results. I also like the way that it shows people that they can find places to go and paint plein air using Google Street View and consequently its impact is not just limited to this blog!
- 2009 Urban Sketchers - has developed and become a landmark art blog during the last 12 months.
- 2008 Different Strokes from Different Folks - a well thought out project which also involves Karin Jurick in providing tutorials and guidance to participants how to improve their art. Primarily this has been about encouraging people to see that using photos as references need not involve copying - that making choices, using your imagination and interpreting a photo are skills which are also important.
- 2007 the International Sketchcrawl drawing marathons - a project which I have participated in which is global and involves lots of people, a lot of whom are bloggers.
- 2006 shared by:
- the Crackskull Bob Self-Portrait Marathon - a new blogging project which generated 390 entries overall from those participating and a stunning level of creativity
- the Daily Painters Blog - a blog, website and mailing list providing contemporary original art for sale by painting a day artists and habitual painters.
| The Best Art Society Blog Prize This prize is for the Art Society Blog which demonstrates - in both text and images - how best to
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This was a new award in 2011. I'd wanted to introduce it earlier but Art Society blogs had been very slow to get off the ground - despite the scope they offer to market both the art society and members artists to a wider audience. Plus not all those that had started to post maintained their output. The corner now seems to have been turned with more and more blogs by art societies.
These are my criteria for the characteristics of a good art society blog:
- blog posts are timely eg post about the exhibition in good time for people to arrange to visit!
- blog posts are useful eg make sure you include enough information for people to find the society's activities (don't assume "everybody knows")
- images are very important - and should be included whenever possible and relevant. An art society blog without images says something about how important they really are! This was the main reason why art society blogs were NOT shortlisted.
- Art societies are about placing an emphasis on the visual and so should their blog
- blog posts can show people what the society does and what it has to offer through the use of photographs of activities and artwork
- members, their artwork and their exhibitions are profiled - it's a perk and a bit of extra marketing which is always welcome - plus it also provides the basis for regular updates throughout the year
There has been one previous winner:
- 2011 - The Denver Art Society has a combined website and blog. I strongly suspect it might be more accurate to call it a blog with static pages. This opened my eyes to what can be achieved in terms of dynamic content, design and the scope for a society to have a very strong connection with its local community. It combines the essential static information pages which most societies have with two separate streams of dynamic pages which update on (1) the latest news and (2) regular artwork on display or being produced by artist members. The Home Page constantly updates with a layout which places priority on the dynamic content and the twitterstream and a schedule of upcoming events.
Please also NOMINATE for other MAKING A MARK AWARDS
Links to the other posts seeking nominations can also now be found at the top of the right hand column
BEST PICTURE ON AN ART BLOG 2012
BEST ART BLOGS IN 2012
- The Making A Mark Art Blog Awards (static page at top of blog - references previous years)
- Best Pictures and Best Art Blogs 2012 - a review
- The Making A Mark Art Blog Awards 2006-2011
Click the link to NOMINATE Art Blogs for The 2011 Making A Mark Awards
Oh this is a hard one. I've been reading blogs for years now and almost every one is an art blog. I add a new one here and there, remove one here and there (if no posts in a long while)...And I'm glad I found your blog too. I enjoy your thoughts and the information you provide. Thank you, Katherine.
ReplyDeleteFor the Painting A Day Stickability Shield, I nominate Celeste Bergin, Celeste Bergin Painter is her blog. Located in Portland, Oregon, she posts everyday and paints every day reliably. She is one of the most art immersed artists that I have the pleasure to know and always an inspiration.
ReplyDeletehttp://celestebergin.blogspot.ca/
Thanks Jeanette
DeleteKatherine! thanks so much for placing me on the "short-list" for this award. Honestly, some days I have thought to myself "why am I blogging this? why am I blogging?" and to see this positive feedback, wellllllll, it helps me decide to keep blogging! You're the best! Thanks so much!
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