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Monday, March 11, 2013

11th March - Who's made a mark this week?

I'm finding Who's made a mark this week? more and more difficult to do.  It's my own fault because these posts have just grown and grown - and they now take hours and hours to compile....and I'm afraid procrastination sets in.

They started out as a way of highlighting things I read on other people's blogs and items which were interesting but weren't going to make it into a blog post.  Thus they were assembled over the course of the week.  However I now find I do more reading when writing the piece which in part accounts for why it takes so long to do.

I'm thinking along the lines of:
  • making them short and weekly OR longer and fortnightly
  • cutting the topics (but what to cut?)
So tell me which bits you like the best and what you would miss most if it went or were to be revised / reduced.

Art Blogs and Artists

Artists
  • This post is about Artists overcoming disabilities - it starts with a discussion of the challenges which many famous artists have overcome and concludes with an update on when and how I'm having surgery to get brand new eyes!  (In May!)
  • Videos: Bankside and Roy Lichtenstein provides you with three videos - two of which give give you an insight into Roy Lichenstein and the third shows you what it's like outside Tate Modern on a Sunday afternoon - on the way to see the RWS open exhibition!
Drawing and Sketching
Lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building by Patrick Vale
You can see a larger image here.
  • Do take a look at this video of Patrick Vale Empire State Of Pen - which is how the above drawing of lower Manhattan came into being and is described as follows
One week. Five pens. One pencil. A million cups of tea. One iPhone and one repetitive strain injury.
Patrick Vale gives you... lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building
and
His time lapse film“Empire State of Pen” captured five days of intensive drawing and brought critical acclaim across the design and architectural worlds, it clocked up 700,000 plays in a few weeks. 
    Celebrating all things graphite, Tiny Pencil is an anthology zine and forum devoted to the lead arts
    Figures and Portraiture

    Landscape
    What I found really interesting is how the lighting conditions I encountered exposed the secret of Mr. Harris's dramatic shadow in the canyon.
    Painting
    • I really like a lot of the paintings I can see on the blog of Amanda Spencer's blog Amanda Spencer.  It reminds me of Shirley Trevena's work - but I'm not sure if I don't like Amanda's more.  She also does watercolour batik paintings and conducts workshops on this technique.  I've got my very own batik set which I bought after a workshop on batik in Bali in 1997.  I think I might just have to check out those workshops!
    • Do take a look at Rob Pointon's Year of the Boat - it's very much a blog and a project with a difference.  It's not many artists who operate out of a narrow boat!  It certainly seems to have given him a new perspective on how to fit interiors into paintings.  Rob has some exhibitions coming up in the near future in Manchester and Birmingham
    Pastels and Pencils
    The "Who painted this?" Challenge
    Art Competitions
    Art Education
    • The Pratt Institute in New York had a major fire in February in its main building which took nearly 170 firefighters to extinguish.  It destroyed the studios of the Fine Art Seniors and their artwork for their senior projects which many will have spent months on.  You can see pictures of the blaze on their Facebook page.  Lots of people have rallied to the support of the students who lost their art supplies as well as their artwork.
    Art supplies including brushes, canvases and other tools have been donated by a range of art supply stores, including Utrecht and Daler-Rowney, Pratt spokeswoman Jolene Travis said. More than 3,000 brushes have come in. The selection also includes personal contributions from faculty, Travis said, including some “used, very well-cared for and loved brushes tied in ribbons.”
    Art Exhibitions

    National Galleries
    Artists
    • I don't often go to the exhibitions of individual artists.  However I think I might well go to one coming up in April by Patrick Vale.  Indeed I recommend all Urban Sketchers take a look at his artwork - and you can review a video of him drawing above.  You can also see a preview of City Lines - his drawings in pen and ink - at the Coningsby Gallery 4 - 12 April 2013.
    Art Bloggers
    Art Societies
    I also note they've got a much improved new website.

    Two sets I created in Rijksstudio (by makingamark)
    Art Galleries and Museums
    • Pinterest meets the Rijksmuseum is my take on the redevelopment of the accessibility to the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  They have a new website and a new way of allowing people to access the artwork and reinterpret it using downloads and print on demand websites.  It's quite something and unlike anything I've seen elsewhere when roaming the internet looking at museum websites (which is something I do a lot!).  You can see what I did at makingamark
    • The Telegraph has published an article Brilliant, beautiful and British: the art you aren't allowed to see.  I think the curators of publicly funded art museums and galleries who think curation is about the development of the body of knowledge about art history and their own career development should be made responsible for being accountable to the public for just how much art in public ownership is never ever seen. 
    What is so wrong with the idea of museums and galleries celebrating the diversity of British painting?
    Art Supplies
    Art on Film and TV
    The interesting thing is that none of these are listed under the Factual / Arts Culture and the Media part of iPlayer which seems to have become as bad as Amazon at categorisation!

    Opinion Polls
    Techies

    Computers
    • I've now had my Apple iMac for three years - and I gather a few of you have had iMacs for nearly that long! ;)  This is post asking Which is the best computer for artists? and it's had some excellent and long comments
    Blogging
    • The next instalment in the series of posts about blogging for Art Societies is Art Society Blog #3 - Recruit a Blog Editor.  This highlights that a Blog Editor is much more like a Newsletter Editor rather than a webmaster.  In other words it's about communication and  marketing rather than techie stuff!
    and finally

    This is the view you can get of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence on the Google Art project - so even if you can't get to Italy you can have a virtual tour of the Uffizi.



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    12 comments:

    1. Yeah, if it's too much give yourself a break Katherine.
      I can not imagine what you could possibly trim to continue weekly.
      I would prefer fortnightly with the same substance over a thinned down weekly post.

      ReplyDelete
    2. How about a once a month synopsis? Once a week is onerous and very time consuming for you.

      I don't know what you could trim as all sections are relevant to the arts.

      ReplyDelete
    3. Who made a mark is my favorite feature on your site.
      I would rather see you thin out a few articles and reduce your monthly number of posts than trim this one out.
      What ever you do decide it would not change my readership.
      Thank you for all of your efforts and your time.

      ReplyDelete
    4. Hi Katherine,

      I mainly follow Making a mark because of the weekly Who's made a mark this week. Although it has become so long that I tend to skip/eye scan this parts:

      - Art education
      - Art exhibitions
      - Art Galleries and Museums
      - Art on Film and TV
      - Opinion polls
      - Techies

      The reasons:

      - I am not interested in the topic
      - The content is not available in my country
      - I get that information somewhere else

      My favourite part is Art Blogs and Artists. I would be perfectly happy if Who's made a mark this week would be reduced to this section. I find it long and broad enought by itself.

      ReplyDelete
    5. I don't know how you could possibly cut any of it (it's all awesome!)...maybe just post this feature once a month? Just don't get rid of the drawing section...it's my favorite!!

      ReplyDelete
    6. I think you need to pick _your_ favorite _few_sections and just do those. You are so thorough when you look at something. What are the sections you most enjoy doing? We all appreciate your thoroughness, research and experience...they should be employed in a way that brings you pleasure.

      ReplyDelete
    7. The blog is wonderful, but you are having to cover off too many topics and we are all selective about we each prefer. the main thing is "what do you like the most?"

      ReplyDelete
    8. Hello Katherine,
      thank you for your incredible commitment and generosity in publishing your posts. As an educator myself, I have been aware of the increase in your offerings, and am glad that you have acknowledged the gigantitude of your self-set task. It is very good to notice it, and decide what is right for you - it is good for everyone in all aspects of life to do this periodically, to stop and take stock of Wow, where is this going? Looking at the other comments so far, I am sure that you will appreciate that your question will never be answered ny asking your readers!! My suggestion, seeing you asked, is to have a couple of weeks off and allow yourself to discover, without searching for them, what things interest you the most, now. Perhaps make more time for the You-things. Take care of Katherine and then everything else will fall naturally into place. Regarding my opinions (!) I'm not at all interested in polls, it makes no difference to the individual what the pack is up to (I mean that in the best way, not as a criticism). Yes, I think you are doing too many posts, and I say that because I don't have time to read them all. Your most valuable posts are when you have visited exhibitions, and when you highlight competitions etc that people may enter. In sympathy to your 'problem', after having a little break, I suggest you do a once a week blog, and vary the subject according to what you are interested in, resisting the temptation to make it longer just because it's less frequent. Give yourself a word-limit, it'll change your way of thinking. Whatever you decide, thank you again for your wonderful contribution, you are an amazing and valued creature. X

      ReplyDelete
    9. What everyone else says . . . also, my favourite bit is the reviews of shows and notification of what shows are coming up - as this is the most useful bit to me. However, you could easily cut all that out and have that in a different day every week - or fortnightly.

      It's like The Lord of the Rings, isn't it? everybody skim reads different bits, but all of it needs it to be in there to be great.

      ReplyDelete
    10. Keep them coming - the comments are all really helpful!

      Tp those asking me what i like the most - therein lies the problem - I like it all!

      I'm think I prefer a fortnightly frequency over once a month. The latter would mean too many decisions as to what to leave out!

      I really do appreciate that this is everybody's favourite post of all the ones I do on the blog.

      Maybe I could split out the exhibitions into once a month?

      Other than that:
      * I am good at taking regular breaks - I learned that one back in Year 2 of blogging!
      * I used to do a blog post every day. I now try to only do five posts a week but often it's 6 and I maybe need to try harder to do only 5

      ReplyDelete
    11. Hi Katherine,

      Well I like:

      -links to watercolour painting blogs
      -lists of upcoming exhibitions
      -lists of upcoming competitions
      -links to videos and interviews
      -discussions on new materials
      -botanical art section is my fav

      Not surprised these posts are becoming so tricky and time consuming to do. I have always admired how you managed to get it all in! Amazing.

      ReplyDelete
    12. Just seen your latest comment Katherine and I quite like the sound of the 'upcoming exhibitions/current exhibitions and last chance to see' being done monthly. You could make a real thing of it.

      Thanks so much for all your work. I adore your posts and think you are the kindest person in the world to supply this service to all of us in your time.

      ReplyDelete

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