Why did I choose to use WordPress, which was developed as a blogging platform, for my website platform? Why not use one of the myriad packages designed specifically for artists? There is a lot of great software out there now for artist websites. Everything you need to have a professional online “gallery”. And the designers of these sites have done their jobs well. You get something that feels a lot like walking into a beautiful gallery. Everything is cool and slick and clean—and rather removed from the messy business of actually making artwork.
But, it turned out for me that all the fun was happening on my Facebook fan page. I could talk about and show pictures of work in progress, share links to interesting resources and other artists’ work, post photos of workshops, and share little snippets of news. People leave feedback on the work, other artists commiserate when the work is a struggle, celebrate when things are going well, make suggestions and offer tips. It was like inviting people to come hang out in my studio.
I don’t want to try to make my website into my own little personal version of Facebook, but my experience with my fan page convinced me I didn’t want a typical, “professional” artist website/gallery. Oh, sure, I want a place for you to see my finished work. And I want one central location where you can easily find information about shows, classes and events. But, I want it to still feel like coming to hang out in my studio. The people who visit my site are my friends, students and collectors. I want to invite you into my studio, to share the everyday life of an artist. I want to create special areas with extras that only students or collectors can see. I want my site to be more fluid, more easily changed and updated to reflect what’s going on in my studio.
And so, I chose to build my site with WordPress, and I chose to retain the default “blog on the home page” format. I’ll still be posting on Facebook, but Facebook is suited to short announcements and comments. My blog—and the rest of my site—will give me a place to go into more depth. I’m not sure yet how frequently I’ll post to my blog, but I hope it will evolve as an ongoing conversation with students, fellow artists, art lovers and collectors.
I’m looking forward to having more of you hanging out in my studio from time to time.
p.s. If you’re one of my students, artist friends or collectors there will be special parts of the site just for you. As I build those, I’ll let you know. All you’ll have to do is register (and let me know which category or categories you belong to), and you’ll get a password that gives you access to the special areas. You can also sign up on my email list to get announcements of upcoming classes & workshops, shows, events, new work posted online and special discounts on artwork.
