Thursday, December 31, 2020

Looking back at what worked in the art world in 2020

This has to have been one of the most stressful years for artists ever - and yet within that we have seen some remarkable achievements by artists.

In this post I'm going to try and highlight some of what I saw and heard about in 2020 which helped artists keep going....

  • Artists Support Pledge
  • Portraits for NHS Heroes
  • The Art Teachers who learned fast how to deliver art lessons online
  • Art Marketing and Website Makeovers
  • The Virtual Online Art Exhibitions and Tours
  • The Virtual / Online Conferences for Artists
  • Online Resources
  • My Contribution

Let's all remember going forward that we are not at the end - even with approved vaccines - and it's going to be a long time before things get back to normal. 

So we need even more innovation and endeavour and hard work in 2021 - but if what I've seen in 2020 is anything to go by, there's lots of artists who are up for that!


Artist Support Pledge #artistsupportpledge


Artist Support Pledge - the gifted keep giving
Artist Support Pledge - the gifted keep giving


Matthew Burrows started the Artist Support Pledge on on the 16th March 2020 in response to the COVID19 pandemic.

I wrote about it in The Artist Support Pledge in May 2020.  Some artists have been regularly selling small works online all through the pandemic. More than a few professional artists have told me they've had more sales and generated more income this year than in some 'normal' years in the past.

Matthew Burrows was awarded with 

The online selling platform helping artists make a living now has more than 69,000 followers, has produced 447,000 posts and generated around £70m in sales. Burrows, Apollo’s Personality of the Year, was subsequently made an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours – and his no-frills initiative has been hailed as a lifeline for artists struggling in the wake of Covid-19. Personality of the Year | Apollo Magazine (19 November 2020)
In 2021 I'm going to pledge to do one post a week which will highlight the artwork of at least five artists whose work is posted for sale for £200 or less with the #artistsupportpledge.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all used other platforms to highlight the works of art that we liked - and continue to help those whose incomes have been decimated due to the lack of exhibitions.

Portraits for NHS Heroes #portraitsfornhsheroes


Tom Croft ( @tomcroftartist ) is a portrait painter who initiated the Portraits of NHS Heroes Initiative.

This is how it started with a post which has now had 11,374 views

I opened the magazine my old school send me this week and found that it had an inordinate number of portraits of NHS Heroes in it. (My old school has a lot of students who go on to medical school). In fact the whole magazine had a theme of recognising those within its alumni - and its students - who had made a difference in terms of supporting those responding to the covid-19 pandemic.

I wrote about the Portraits for NHS Heroes in the following:
You can follow #portraitsfornhsheroes on Instagram - and see more portraits of NHS Heroes. The hashtag now has 14,969 posts.

Here's some more images from the project



The Art Teachers who learned fast how to deliver art lessons online


I'm full of admiration for all those art teachers who very quickly realised that 
  • the Pandemic had the potential to wipe out all their income from teaching in 2020 
  • they needed to move VERY fast to reconfigure their course offerings.
I saw a number who quickly mastered how to teach via Zoom and how to develop videos and online websites which allowed them to sell art courses which could be accessed online.

Indeed I kept track of all the changes in the field of Botanical Art Education and have to completely revamp my Online Art Education page on my Botanical Art and Artists website to keep track of all their endeavours via
  • video tutorials
  • Live Interface via Skype / Zoom / Facebook
  • providing feedback and critiques via online means
  • using Corporate Platforms for teaching eg some of the most popular are Patreon, Teachable, Udemy and Zoom.
  • setting up online communities for students 

"what students need to know" when assessing online education options

For those interested in accessing online art education I've also developed a page focusing on a FAQS CHECKLIST about Online Learning Options based on 
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) by prospective students. I recommend students use this as a basis for evaluating alternative options .
  • identifying the sort of standards students ought to be able to expect - particularly if the financial outlay and time commitment is large.

In 2021......

I now need to 
  • update my Online Botanical Art Education page again for all their new online courses being delivered in 2021!
  • do the same thing for Online Art Business Education on my Art Business info for Artists website.
  • develop a page on the latter website for all those who teach art - in terms of pulling together all the things they need to know relating to laws, guidelines and good professional practice.

Art Marketing and Website Makeovers

Both Artists and Art Galleries have FINALLY realised that to survive in the current context they need
  • an excellent contemporary responsive website with safe and secure ecommerce!
  • an Instagram account
  • knowledge about how best to use social media marketing
It's taken a very long time but I think the message has finally got through. Not a lot of action to date though - although I think the recognition is there that a lot more needs doing in terms of online marketing. Indeed I think some art galleries will be bankrupt before they get round to sorting it out....

Certainly those that developed a website more than a decade ago - but have done little to it since still need to think very hard about best to manage an upgrade in terms of presentation and marketing their art. 

By way of contrast, those artists who have been very smart in other respects have often redesigned and upgraded their own websites to take account of the changing environment and the fact that nobody knows when this pandemic will end

In 2021......

I will be on the lookout for excellent websites (and Instagram accounts) by both artists and art galleries - and will be sharing via my Facebook Page.

Artists will need to keep a very close eye on whether the art galleries they are with are now getting up to speed with all they need to do. If not, they should start looking around for those that are.

You never know I might develop an FAQs checklist and grading profile for the websites of artists and art galleries!

The Online Art Exhibitions

Virtual exhibitions became the only option for many art galleries as the various lockdowns and constraints kept art galleries closed for part/most of 2020 (depending on where you lived).

Virtual tour also became one of the biggest search enquiries for art galleries and museums.
I've started listing those which are providing virtual tours and art exhibitions in A List of Virtual Art Galleries & Museums #1 - in the UK - which has been updated since first published 

In 2021......


To my mind this is an aspect of the artwork which still needs a LOT of work. 
Art Galleries and Museums need to get much better at 
  • developing their portfolio of online resources - and 
  • making them much more accessible from their home page
  • making them much more interactive (how many clicks from viewing an artwork on a virtual wall to being able to buy it.
Very often they're attached but not signposted - and a lot of people don't know what's there.

The Online Art Conferences

In 2020, some regular annual initiatives managed to transform their annual conferences / get togethers for members and those buying tickets into virtual online conferences.

Well done to those who organised virtual conferences and events for artists

Examples included:
No plane tickets, no hotel, no travel.
- Enjoy 4+ days of immersion in all things "botanical art" from the comfort of your own home.
- Connect with botanical art enthusiasts from across the country (and around the world).
- Share your passion, be inspired by the art and artistic journeys of your fellow ASBA members as you engage in the rich content being offered. 
Interestingly the first I saw was the Glass Art Society’s 2020 Virtual Conference (May 2020) - which was also free and open to the public

I don't think I saw many of these on the UK / European side of the pond - but I'd be pleased to be told otherwise. Meanwhile why not take a look at how the Americans delivered their conferences?

In 2021......


It appears this method of keeping in contact with artists around the world will continue. For example

The Online Resources


Many, many arts organisations got their act together to provide excellent resources to help artists who were having a tough time and/or also needed guidance about what they could and could not claim.

I'm not going to list them all here - but would certainly like to list them on my coronavirus web page. Contact me via my public FB Page if you know of a very useful resource.


In 2021......

Those art organisations / societies that provided very little practical help in 2020 might start thinking about why and whether members will continue to pay their subscriptions in 2021 if you didn't back them up with practical resources and advice in 2020.

and finally - my contribution


I've tried to do my bit. I've had a lot of feedback from some artists that some of the posts I wrote really helped them when they were floundering and wondering what to do.... 


This covered:
  • Art in Lockdown and Beyond: 6 Months On
  • The Coronavirus Posts - I'd written 24 in total by September. Plus listed other online resources
  • Six months on: "When life is hard - you learn to adapt"
  • The next six months
As, yet again, we face the prospect of rising numbers of infections and hospital cases/deaths, It's maybe a good time to pause and look back. 
However don't just focus on another six months of tightened constraints on what we could do before the Pandemic - and the prospect of even more constraints to come.  
Think about the fact that MOST of us got through the first six months - because of what MOST of us gave up in terms of "doing our bit".
Then think about how we can all best adapt to "the new normal" - because those that do are doing much better than those who just yearn for what they've lost.
Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, December 31, 2020
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