Changing Perspectives on Privacy

Privacy - totally relaxed or head in your hands?

12" x 16", pencil on Daler heavyweight paper 135lb
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Earlier this week I commented on privacy and data protection law in the UK and the rest of Europe (see Art societies and art galleries - data protection, privacy and you). It's very apparent to me that levels of data protection awareness are much lower in the art world and art economy than they need to be. Maybe this is because it's something we don't tend to talk about too much?

On Thursday Google announced (A privacy link on Google.com) that it had changed its home page - to include a link to its privacy policy - which, in fact, leads to its Privacy Centre. This provides an overview of its approach to privacy practices, the complete privacy policy in detail and then highlights specifics in relation to different Google products and services such as Blogger, Google Desktop and gmail. For example...........

The Google Desktop application indexes and stores versions of your files and other computer activity, such as email, chats, and web history. These versions may also be mixed with your Web search results to produce results pages for you that integrate relevant content from your computer and information from the Web. Your computer's content is not sent to Google without your explicit permission.
Google Desktop Privacy Policy

It also has videos which explain different aspects. The privacy pages had also been revised earlier to make them rather more accessible with rather less "legalese".

According to the New York Times, Google apparently made this change in response to questions and queries.

Some users, bloggers, and regulatory bodies have asked us why we didn’t have a link, and, after evaluating, we decided that it was the right time to add one.
Steve Langdon, Google spokesperson
- quoted in NY Times article Google Changes Home Page, Adding Link to Privacy Policy

Note, in particular, the reference to regulatory bodies. Google doesn't refer to California by name but apparently California has served or was about to serve a compliance order.

So I took a closer look at the regulatory requirements in the USA.

• California has data protection and privacy law which is nearly as tough as the European requirements - see the California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003. This requires people who operate a commercial Web site that collects personal information to link to the privacy policy for that website on its home page. However NOTE that this is the first time that I've come across this important piece of legislation which is being more or less ignored by Wikipedia where it does not even have a page (and that's a first!) No wonder people aren't aware of it! ;)
• The other important requirement relates to Safe Harbor. The U.S. Department of Commerce's safe harbor program is a certification program for commercial traders which has principles relating to Notice, Choice, Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity, Access and Enforcement.

A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that reduces or eliminates a party's liability under the law, on the condition that the party performed its actions in good faith.
The United States Department of Commerce runs a certification program which it calls Safe Harbor and which aims to harmonize data privacy practices in trading between the United States of America and the stricter privacy controls of the European Union Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data. For more information, see Safe Harbor Principles.
Wikipedia - safe harbor

Again Wikipedia has a notable absence of information about the safe harbor program - that quote and a separate page - an extract from which is quoted below - more or less sums up the information available on wikipedia!

US companies can opt into the program as long as they adhere to the 7 principles outlined in the Directive. These principles must provide:

• Notice - Individuals must be informed that their data is being collected and about how it will be used.
• Choice - Individuals must have the ability to opt out of the collection and forward transfer of the data to third parties.
• Onward Transfer - Transfers of data to third parties may only occur to other organizations that follow adequate data protection principles.
• Security - Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent loss of collected information.
• Data Integrity - Data must be relevant and reliable for the purpose it was collected for.
• Access - Individuals must be able to access information held about them, and correct or delete it if it is inaccurate.
• Enforcement - There must be effective means of enforcing these rules.

Companies must also recertify every 12 months. They can either perform a self-assessment to verify they comply with these principles, or hire a third-party to perform the assessement. There are also requirements for ensuring that appropriate employee training and an effective disupute mechanism is in place.
Wikipedia - Safe Harbor Principles

The government website (see the link at the end) is very long on detail and very short on accessibility! This is the link to the page on the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.

I then read in another New York Times Bits Blog post Our Paradoxical Attitudes Toward Privacy (2nd July 2008). It covers some recent research work about by Carnegie Mellon behavioral economist George Loewenstein who is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Behavious is apparently paradoxical. This seems to suggest:

• personal guards are lowered and we're more likely to give personal data away when we're feeling relaxed. Consequently informal rather than official sites are likely to be more successful at extracting data from us.
• if we're assured that any data we provide will be treated confidentially we're less likely to be honest and provide accurate data
• unprofessional / informal sites are more likely to present a privacy risk
  

Our privacy principles are wobbly. We are more or less likely to open up depending on who is asking, how they ask and in what context.
New York Times - quoting research findings

It occurs to me that maybe the paradox also extends to level of attention given to privacy by sites which ought to be acting responsibly. The more there is a need for website owners to protect personal data, the more likely they are to remain ignorant of their responsibilities. Why on earth has it taken Google this long to put a link to its privacy policies on its front page?

Anyway, as a result of having read the two NY Times articles, the California requirement and the extremely limited information on wikipedia about safe harbor

• I have now changed both my websites so that there is an explicit link to the site privacy policy on the front page (rather than just on the pages where I have links to mailing lists).
  
• I'm now wondering whether all bloggers who are selling from their blogs also need a link to a privacy policy in their side column........and I think I'm leaning towards concluding 'why not?'.
  

I'll leave you with some questions:

• Do you think you know enough about privacy and what the law is in different places?
• How do people who buy your art know that you will protect their personal data?
  
• Are you making any changes to how you deal with privacy on your website and/or blog?
• Does anybody want to participate in a search for good practice examples of privacy policies?
  

If you know of a good example of a privacy policy - legal, honest and accessible - then leave a link in the comments section below.

Note: The drawing at the top is one done in the Free Drop In Life Class which is generally run on the first Thursday of each month during term time at the Prince's Drawing School in Shoreditch. The model is the same person. He swopped between poses about every 5-10 minutes for about 25 minutes. The challenge was to get the same person on the same page and to plan the drawing and relationships from the beginning. Try it at home! Life classes for a fee are also run in the evening during term time - and you can sign up for the Autumn Term now.

Links:

• Google Public Policy Blog - A privacy link on Google.com
• The Official Google Blog - What comes next in this series? 13, 33, 53, 61, 37, 28...
• California State Legislature - California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003
• Export.gov - welcome to the Safe Harbor (government website and guidelines - including the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles)
  
• Wikipedia - safe harbor and safe harbor principles
• Wikipedia - EU Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data,
• New York Times
  • Google Changes Home Page, Adding Link to Privacy Policy
  • Our Paradoxical Attitudes Toward Privacy
  • New York Times Bits Blog
    

I'm celebrating - I'm now a Giant Squid!

I'm committed to drawing and sketching AND writing AND sharing information about art. I'm passionate about providing information as a resource for both artists and art lovers - and, as of this week when the graduating class of June 2008 was announced - my passion has produced tentacles!

I've just become one of the latest set of Giant Squids on Squidoo! :D

"Giant" badge: Giant Squids are distinguished by their exceptional skill for making top-notch lenses, and lots of them. Whenever you land on a Giant Squid's lens, you know the person behind it is passionate about the topic and is hard at work making the lens worthy of your time and attention. Giant Squids have 50 or more really great lenses, and they get quite a few perks for all their hard work. This is just one. Learn more about what it takes to be a Giant.
Squidoo - squidbadges

From now on whenever any of you land on one of my information sites you'll see one of the Squidoo icons for a Giant squid. They're a little bit more discreet than this new and absolutely huge one on the left!

Becoming a Giant Squid means I've also been awarded a gold star for all my lenses..

Gold stars: This shows that a particular page is a certified gold star lens, which means it's the best of its kind on Squidoo (or shows some serious potential for getting there.) When your lens gets a gold star, it also automatically gets a little LensRank boost. Not bad. For now, only Giant Squids can get gold stars on their lenses. But turn that frown upside down: All lensmasters are welcome to join the Giant Squid challenge and earn their way in!
Squidoo - squidbadges

Pre Giant Squid status, my top 25 were all in the top 10,000 lenses and I had a small but consistent number in the overall top 1,000. To give that some context, there are now nearly 600,000 lenses on Squidoo featuring all manner of topics across a large number of topic categories.

Some artists are using the Arts & Literature category on Squidoo to help them market their work. I know I've found that squidoo sites can generate quite a bit of traffic for my blogs and websites - for example, these lenses are all particularly popular. I'm sure they have also contributed to people realising that there's a bit more to me than whatever it was that they first happened upon. I know I get some very nice comments in the feedback section of some of my sites.

As many of you know, my sites are very much oriented towards information, advice, tips and techniques for artists from a wide range of sources - either about art media/subjects (resources for artists) or famous artists (resources for art lovers) from the past or the present. I produce my sites because I love to create ways in which people can access information in an organised way that helps them to learn and develop either as an artist and/or as an art lover.

The positive comments I get are really rewarding..........but it still gives me a really great feeling when somebody gives one of my sites a 5* rating too!

I'd especially like to thank all the people who made such positive comments very early on - which kept me pushing forward after the first few lenses. Apparently, not only had I found a new way of organising my bookmarks - I'd apparently founded a new reference library for lots of other people too! :)

You can see all of my information sites - and groups of lenses - on either:

• Who is Making A Mark? - my lensography which sets out my information sites in themes which link back to my main websites and blogs
  
• Making a Mark on Squidoo - a listing of all my "Resources for Artists" and "Resources for Art Lovers" sites - plus the ones about the cats!
  

If you want to be a Giant squid too!

Below - for those people who are already making sites on Squidoo - are some links to sites which can help you if you want to become a Giant squid too.

• The Giant squids and how you can become one
• So you want to be a Giant squid?
• Giant Squid FAQs - Learning to swim with Giants
  
• How to create a quality lens
  

Here are a few of my tips a few tips for people wanting to produce good quality lenses:

• Create sites about what you know
  
• Create sites about topics that really interest you
  
• Stay very focused and 'on topic'
• If you've got a lot of information for one lens try splitting it in two (my Colour - resources for artists site spawned two more sites last month! Others are about to have babies!)
  
• Organise your information so it's really easy for people to see what's there - using the contents module and informative module headings really helps
  
• Make sure you have a feedback section - visitors and fans of a topic are always suggesting new sites to add in!
• Be persistent: Creating sites in a slow and steady way gets you there in the end and stops you from becoming frazzled or distracted from other things that also need doing.

If you want to join my group

I have a group "Resources for Artists" (see below) which hosts sites of relevance to visual artists who are interested in drawing and painting. If you've got a squidoo site which meets the criteria for entry to the group do let me know and I'll add it in.

Resources for Artists Headquarters

This group is about visual art - specifically drawing and painting only - and the business of being a fine artist in these particular fields. This group only features those lens which mainly provide links to advice, information and products for artists involved with drawing and painting and specific media

If you'd like to create a link on your blog or website to one or more of my information sites which is particularly relevant to you please do so! :)

and finally......

......to all my American readers who are also celebrating today - I hope the fireworks are great and the food is good! Have a great 4th July!

Fine artists in decline in the USA?

Artists are part of the workforce - but are they in decline?

It's recently been reported in parts of the arts press that nearly two million Americans are artists (1.4% of the US workforce) and they earn $70 billion annually.

Wow!!! That's a very large number of people......and it excludes all those who list being an artist as a secondary source of income - that's another 300,000 people!

Artists represent a larger group than the legal profession (lawyers, judges, and paralegals), medical doctors (physicians, surgeons, and dentists), or agricultural workers (farmers, ranchers, foresters, and fishers).

These headline figures come from a Research report by the National Endowment for the Arts - Artists in the Workforce 1990-2005 (see right - for front cover). The NEA asserts that is the first nationwide study of 21st century to look at working artist trends and to provide detailed information about specific artist occupations.

Now - the reality is not all the 2 million artists are fine artists - and not all the journals that have highlighted this report have actually looked beyond the press release or at the numbers! However I've taken a look at the full report and the Executive Summary (both available as pdf files - see the end of this post for links) plus I've also taken a look at the latest information available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Below I'm going to highlight the NEA's view and analysis of

• how many fine artists there are
  
• what they earn - on average
• what proportion are self-employed
• where they live
  
• which states have the highest proportion of fine artists as residents
  
• where you can find most fine artists

I'm then going to contrast this with data from the Department of Labor - plus I'm also going to be highlighting a key finding which is neglected in the NEA's Executive Summary.....

You can maybe tell by now that I'm very fond of digging below the surface and any 'hype' and crunching a few numbers!

Of the 2 million artists identified in the report, ONLY 216,996 are fine artists, animators and art directors - a number which has DECLINED by 23% since 1990.

Artists in the Workforce assembled data from primary sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) averages for 2003-2005. The NEA states that this is the first attempt to study artists by using ACS data and that the study focuses on Americans who named an artist occupation as their primary job. They do not refer to the US Department of Labor's Occupational Handbook - which I have done and which makes interesting reading - if you like numbers! ;)

Unfortunately, in their report, the NEA do not define figures for those who classify themselves just as fine artists (ie painters etc). However I have found that figure for 2006 - so keep reading!

The NEA summarises basic facts about this group as follows - it tends to suggest that fine art is a precarious career. A general observation made about all artists (ie the 2m) is that artists are underemployed – one-third of artists work for only part of the year.

• they have a median age of 44. Fine artists are typically older than artists in other occupations. Only 26% are under the age of 35.
• less than half the group (47.4%) are women
  
• 15% are from minority racial or ethnic groups - although diversity increases to 25% for fine artists under 35.
• 51% have a bachelor's degree or higher
  
• around 30% work part-time (less than 35 hours a week)
• slightly more than a third (37%) work part year only (less than 50 weeks)
  
• Median income is below the norm for artists and the $43,200 median income of all other professionals.
  • In 2005 median income for fine artists, art directors and animators was $30,600 - only slightly higher than the $30,100 median income for the total labor force.
    
  • Men earned $37,800 and women earned $22,600 - that's a differential of $15,200.
    
• 51.5% of fine artists are full year full-time workers and their annual income is $42,800
• 55.6% of this group are self-employed - while 39% work in private-for-profit set-ups, 2% in government and 3% in private-not-for-profit organisations.
  
• Only 6% were enrolled in school

Source: ACS 2003-2005

The single most important fact about this group is that the total of fine artists, art directors and animators is completely bucking the overall trend of growth and has been in overall and significant decline since 1990.

Table 1 in the main report details numbers across all the main categories of artists. Overall, numbers of artists have increased from 1.727m in 1990 to 2.05m in 2005 - an increase of nearly 19%. The report suggests that explosive growth of artists between 1970-1990 has slowed to an increase which now reflects national growth across the labour market (of 18.6%).

However, I could see that there were some very significant differences within and between specific occupational groups. For example, writers and authors have increased by nearly half in 15 years (from 133k to 199k).

All but two of the specific groups of occupational artists show an increase. Of the two groups that show a decrease one is fine artists, art directors and animators.

• In 1990, there were 278,516 and in 2005 there were only 213,687 - a decrease of 65k or 23%. Added to the national growth in the labour market, if the figures for 2005 were 'normalised', they should have shown an increase to 330,000. In this context, the decline is of the order of over 40%
• 47k were lost between 1990 and 2000 and a further 14k were lost between 2000 and 2005.
  
• I'm speculating but I assume this category includes illustrators and animators and others affected by the changeover to digital rather than hand drawn illustration and animation - and that the majority of the impact has been felt in this field.

I was curious - so I started searching on the internet - and came across the content referenced in the next section!

Statistics and information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has a page on its website for its Occupational Outlook Handbook devoted to Artists and Related Workers which makes the following significant points - which I guess will have a number of people nodding in agreement.

Significant Points

• About 62 percent of artists and related workers are self-employed.
• Keen competition is expected for both salaried jobs and freelance work because the arts attract many talented people with creative ability.
• Artists usually develop their skills through a bachelor’s degree program or other postsecondary training in art or design.
• Earnings for self-employed artists vary widely; some well-established artists earn more than salaried artists, while others find it difficult to rely solely on income earned from selling art.

It indicates that artists usually belong to one of four categories (with designers being excluded).

• Art directors formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual communications.
  
• Craft artists create or reproduce handmade objects for sale or exhibition.
  
• Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, create original artwork, using a variety of media and techniques.
  
• Multi-media artists and animators create special effects, animation, or other visual images on film, on video, or with computers or other electronic media.

These are essentially the same groups as those highlighted by the NEA's group of "Fine artists, art directors and animators".

They then go on to make observations of

• the nature of the work,
  
• the training and other qualifications required for advancement and
  
• the job outlook for people employed in those areas. This is the observation they make about fine artists (my bold)

Only the most successful fine artists are able to support themselves solely through the sale of their works. Most fine artists have at least one other job to support their art careers. Some work in museums or art galleries as fine-arts directors or as curators, planning and setting up art exhibits. A few artists work as art critics for newspapers or magazines or as consultants to foundations or institutional collectors. Other artists teach art classes or conduct workshops in schools or in their own studios. Some artists also hold full-time or part-time jobs unrelated to art and pursue fine art as a hobby or second career
Bureau of Labor Statistics - Artists and related workers

As one might expect, opportunties for those embracing digital technology is brighter than for those who don't and talent and skills are expected to determine who do well in the fine arts, commissions and work exhibited in museums (although I do believe this understates the importance of self-marketing to a fine artist).

The OOH also provides a better analysis of the workforce.

Artists held about 218,000 jobs in 2006. About 62 percent were self-employed.
Employment was distributed as follows:

• Multimedia artists and animators.......87,000
• Art directors...........................................78,000
• Fine artists, including painters,
  
• sculpters and illustrators.......................30,000
• Craft artists................................................8,800
• Artists and related workers, all other..14,000

Of the artists who were not self-employed, many worked for advertising and related services; newspaper, periodical, book, and software publishers; motion picture and video industries; specialized design services; and computer systems design and related services. Some self-employed artists offered their services to advertising agencies, design firms, publishing houses, and other businesses.
Bureau of Labour Statistics - Artists and related workers. Employment

So now - artists (in the fine art sense) are down from 2 million to 30,000! It just goes to show what happens when you start to unpick figures!

I'd suggest that the group used by the NEA is too diverse to be aggregated for the purposes of statistical analysis. Fine artists need to be able to see the level of analysis available from the statistics provided by the Bureau of Labour.

Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2007

Hourly rate wage profiles for fine artists in each state are available on the web here. These estimates are only for artists in employment and do not include self-employed artists. Bottom line - if you've been wondering how to ride out the recession and have been thinking about getting a job, this gives you an idea about which industries and states reward artists best - and worst.

Geographic distribution

Geographic distribution is interesting. The NEA reports suggests that artists tend to congregate in high numbers in the metropolitan areas - such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, and Boston.

On the other hand artists represent a high proportion of employed residents in certain states with New Mexico and Vermont having the highest share of fine artists (see right)

The most interesting figures of all are those from the Bureau of Labor which relate to the individual US State projections of growth for the numbers of fine artists by state between 2006 and 2016. If you're interested take a look here! Select Fine Artists as the group from the drop down menu - and then press the button.......

Downshifting....?

Given that population tends to grow over time, a growth in actual numbers of fine artists of only 10% overall in the next 10 years between 2006-2016 suggests to me that a continuing overall decline in the numbers of fine artists as a percentage of the workforce is expected - and a shift away from existing metropolitan hot spots to places like Utah and Wyoming appears on the cards!

Links:

• National Endowment for the Arts Research Report #48. Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005. June 2008. 148 pp.
• Full report - as pdf file
• Executive summary - as pdf file
  
• National Endowment for the Arts - an independent federal agency
  
• 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506-0001
  
• Telephone: 202-682-5400
• US Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics -
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2008-09 Edition
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook - Artists and Related Workers
    

Travels with a sketchbook in a Kentish Garden

The Garden Tower, Penhurst Place

8" x 11.5", coloured pencils in Daler Rowney Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are the images - if you want to read the text and the explanation for where I went yesterday afternoon you need to visit A hot summer's afternoon in a Kentish garden over on my other blog Travels with a Sketchbook in.....

Plus you get to see some photos too.

The Mistletoe Tree
11.5"x16", coloured pencils, double page spread in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Near Chiddingstone
8" x 11.5", coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Blogging art - two new competitions

Today is 1st July which means there's six months left until the end of the year - and The Making A Mark Awards 2008 (see the links at the end for previous awards and recipients.)

Last year I introduced a competition - in which blog readers voted for the winner of The MAMA Prize – for the best artwork completed and posted on an art/illustrated blog in 2007.

In 2008, I've decided to run two new competitions. Today, with six months left, I'm going to tell you a little bit about them both - how they will be run and how they will be judged. This blog post is also your opportunity to have an input to both process and criteria. This isn't a democratic process but I am very interested to hear your views - and there is going to be at least one poll!

The Making A Mark Art Society Blog of the Year

The title is fairly self-explanatory. More and more art societies are moving over to using a blog, as well as a website, to communicate with their members and potential members.

Art Society Blogs are being used as

• marketing tools for the activities of the art society
  
• a means of highlighting excellence within members' work
  
• highlighting exhibitions where members work can be seen.
  
• a means of communicating society information to members
  
• a means of communicating with those wanting to enter work in art society exhibitions.

Nominations: At the beginning of December I'm going to ask for nominations from readers - which can be the blog owners - for art society blogs which should go on the short list. I'll then post the short-list in a special blog post which anybody can comment on.

Judging: Judging is going to be down to me - although I may well seek views from others as well. The reality is that it isn't practical to make it a vote-based competition because, although you;d all want to be very fair, such an arrangement might inadevertently lead to the society with the most members getting the most votes!!! ;)

Criteria: Here's my first thoughts as to criteria as to what makes a successful art blog. Please let me know whether you think I should add any more criteria and also which of the suggested criteria you think are most important.

• Active communication: all nominated blogs should have an established track record. This means all nominated blogs need to be at least three months old and preferably older (so you still have three months left in which to start one!) and have a history of regular posting. Blogs will gain points for being active communicators.
  
• Quality of promotion: an art society blog should do an excellent job at promoting the art society - its members and activities - to a wider audience
  
• Green and efficient: The art society recognises that the blog can help it address two key concerns
• Green concerns: blogging as part of an art society's commitment to becoming more green e.g. reduce use of paper for newsletters and the carbon footprint associated with paper-based newsletter production and delivery
  
  
• Efficiency concerns: blogging as part of an art society's commitment to become more efficient, improve communication and reduce costs e.g. reduce costs associated with printing and postage and volunteer effort associated with stuffing envelopes
  

The Making A Mark Prize for Female Portrait Artist of the Year - on a Blog

This competition stems from my comments in relation to UK portraiture and the fact that this appears to be dominated by men at present.

• Only 6% of the members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters are women,
  
• Very few women have won the BP Portrait Prize and only about a third of the works displayed in the BP Portrait exhibition are by women.
• Very few of the portrait works commissioned by national galleries are by women.
  

Now I know that there are lots of simply stunning female artists out there - and that we need to see more of them! So my notion is that the profile of the female portrait artist should be encouraged by having a competition which celebrates their work. Hopefully over time this sort of award will become completely redundant as the wider art community realises just how many really great female portrait artists there are out there!

This competition needs a much snappier title. It sounds very literal and rather odd at the moment. Suggestions which hopefully find a way of working in the endorsement "Making A Mark" are most welcome.

Nominations:

• Readers of this blog can nominate work by any artist - so long as that work has appeared on a blog.
• Nominations for the short-list will be invited on 1st December and nominations will be open for a period of two weeks. Nominations must include a link to the blog posts where the work has appeared. (Note - if you see a work which you'd like to nominate between now and December - make a note of the title AND the URL of the blog post)
  
• A short list will be selected if more than 10 artists are nominated. Digital images of a predetermined size (pixels and kb) will be required of all short-listed work
  
• All nominations accepted for shortlisting must be with the agreement of the nominated artist (ie all artists need to agree to their work being put forward and for it to be displayed on this blog - or an alternative site - as part of the shortlist)
• The shortlist will be posted with a poll during December 2008 and blog readers will be invited to vote for the artist that they think has produced the best work. The results of the poll will influence the final decision which will be announced as part of the Making A Mark 2008 Awards at the end of December.
  

Criteria: Again, here are my first thoughts as to criteria - and, again, please feel free to comment and suggest revisions. I'll post the final version once you've had the opportunity to comment.

• Gender - Female Portrait Artist: This award is gender specific because of the perceived under-representation of women in portraiture (see above). It aims to (a) celebrate and highlight excellence in portraiture by female artists and (b) to become a completely redundant prize at the earliest opportunity!
  
• Eligible work:
  
• Media: Work in all hand-crafted media is eligible. Eligible media includes oils, acrylics, tempera, casein, watercolour, pastels, coloured pencils, charcoal, graphite, pen and ink and fine art hand-made prints. Photography, sculpture, and all digital art are NOT eligible.
• Size: The work can be any size - however size must be detailed on the nomination. In addition all digital images submitted for the shortlist must conform to a predetermined size and be with the agreement of the artist.
  
• Hand-made: The work of the winning artist may be a painting, drawing or a hand-made print.
  
• Age: All artwork should have been completed in the last two years.
  
• Displayed on a Blog: The work must have been displayed on a blog at some point during 2008 although the artist herself is not required to be a blogger (so, for example, it might be posted by an art society on their blog!). A link to the place where the portrait has been displayed is a requirement on entry.
  
• Gender: Only nominations of female artists will be accepted. This award aims to promote the work of female portrait artists rather than female artists who are bloggers (but see also the "The Mary Cassatt Special Mention" below).

Selection of Female Portrait Artist of the Year:

• The award is to an artist on the basis of a single work. Accordingly, the selection will be made on the basis of a single portrait, although more than one portrait by the same artist can be nominated and can be part of the short list.
• Selection will be based on a single digital image of a single portrait. Those nominating the artist should seek the best possible digital image within the predetermined size (pixels/kb - to be determined).
  
• Selection will be based on the results of a poll (of blog readers) AND deliberations by a panel - more details to be announced.

The Mary Cassatt Special Mention: There will be a special mention as part of The Making A Mark Awards for the artist with a blog who displays the best portfolio of portrait drawings or prints on a blog in 2008. Nominations will also be invited at the beginning of December.

As always, I'm very happy for readers to comment and to let me know what you think about my proposals and suggested criteria.

Prizes and Sponsors
My view is that competitions should be about recognition rather than prizes. However if some organisation would like to sponsor and offer a stunning prize for either of these competition please contact me in the normal way (see right hand column).

I don't feel in any way bound to accept any offers - but if it's a really stunning one from a prestigious organisation I guess I'd have to think very hard about it!

___________________________

Over to you - what do you think of the new Making A Mark Awards? Do you have any comments on the proposals? Do you have any suggestions? Maybe you have some early thoughts as to suitable nominations?

Links:

• Blogging Art in 2007 - The Making A Mark Awards (Part 1)
• Blogging Art in 2007 - The Making A Mark Awards (Part 2) - this included the award for the best artwork on a blog in 2007
  
• the Making A Mark Awards 2006 - for excellence in blogging art and about art - which also came in two posts (Part 1 and Part 2) - this focused on individual blogs and was developed by me with absolutely no consultation with others!