OurcolumnistLAURA BOSWELLonwhyno one
wantsto seeafilteredversion ofanartist’slifeS
ocialmediais a powerfultool
forprofessionalartists,but,
commerceaside,it canbe
beneficialforallcreativesasa place
toshareideasandbuilda community.
Mystudentsregularlytellmethey
usesocialmedia,butfearposting
theirartworkbecausetheyworryno
onewillbeinterested.I nevergave
muchthoughttoanaudiencewhen
I beganusingsocialmedia,I simply
postedartworkbecauseit mademe
feelaccountabletoseeit onscreen.
HadI beendwellingoneverypost’s
reception,ratherthanpattingmyself
onthebackforposting,I thinkI too
wouldhavebeendiscouragedatfirst.
Usingsocialmediatoshareyourart
practiceis foryourbenefit,sofocus
oncelebratingyourproductivityand
don’tworryabouttheaudience.The
benefittothemis a bonus.If nothing
else,socialmediacanhelpyoulookatyourworkina differentway.I often
editandimprovemyprintsafter
lookingattheimageofthemonline.
I havealwayshada passionforthe
technicalsideofmyprintmakingand
socialmediais theperfectplaceto
sharethatloveofprocess.Likemost
artists,mystudiois a solitaryspot
andsoI enjoytalkingaboutmy
techniquesandmaterialsfreely
online.Sharingis greatforengaging
anaudience,butI’vealsofoundit has
beenofhugebenefittomeinterms
ofconnectionandsatisfaction.Focus on celebrating your
productivity and don’t worry
about the audience
ABOVE Laura
Boswell, Rain and
Light, West Coast,
linocut, 81x50cm
I would urge you to be generous:
no need to reveal all your secrets,
but enough to benefit from the
positivity of sharing.
The final tip is to simply enjoy being
yourself and don’t feel that you have
to aspire to any kind of perfection.
I have long since realised that people
don’t care about how I look, all they
want to see is me, the artist, and the
work that I do. The same is true for
you. Social media should be an
enjoyable sideshow to your creativity,
not a time waster. It is an absolute
win-win that sharing a vision of your
own time-effective reality is much
more attractive to your audience than
seeing filtered perfection. Besides,
we want people to see the real effort,
skill and time that goes into making
our art. There are enough people out
there thinking that art is easy without
us encouraging that illusion.
Laura’s new book, Making Japanese
Woodblock Prints, is published by
Crowood Press. http://www.lauraboswell.co.uk