You may notice a few differences in the appearance of the Art and Perception web pages. For the most part, the changes should be minor, but please comment here if there’s anything amiss or that you’d like to see altered, and especially if there are display problems. We are now running on the latest version of WordPress, version 2.6.1. This has improved features for authors (including easy adding of video and audio content), as well as better security and maintainability. But the upgrades to the core software and to the theme (Basic2Col) that the A&P theme is based on mean that some things will remain different, even as I continue to tweak towards our standard look and feel.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have about creating posts. Hopefully the new Write Post console will make sense with a little experimentation. I recommend enlarging your set of functional icons to two rows by clicking on the rightmost “Show kitchen sink,” and availing yourselves of the new Preview button. I also recommend limiting images to 450 pixels in width, though it appears larger ones will not break the display as in the past. However, depending on the browser, oversize images may look distorted in some way, as well as taking longer to load. If you save a post to come back to later, you’ll find it in the Drafts section of the Posts console.

We have collectively written nearly 600 posts and over 9,000 comments in about two years of operation. Carry on!

Part of my motivation was to learn about blog design by working with my own WordPress site. That’s been fun so far, and I may not be done yet. But I think it’s stable enough to present in public, and I welcome any comments you might have.

But my main question is whether you know of good examples of blogs devoted to specific projects. I enjoy reading quite a few blogs–must post on that sometime–but none have such a degree of focus. One can, in principle, achieve a similar effect by creating a blog category for the project and choosing to view only posts in that category, but that still doesn’t allow the freedom of a separate design for the project. True, such personal project blogs may often be password restricted or unlinked to, so there might be many I’d be interested in if I knew of them.

Here, I am comparing some of Steve’s responses yesterday here on A&P to Arthur’s responses on ‘Thinking eye’.

My summary (hopefully, lacking misinterpretation) may serves as an illustration of the different virtues of (1) a team blog and (2) a blog of one individual.

What’s the purpose of your blog?
(1) Enhancing my understanding of art and evolving my own art through interactions with others.
(2) Personal diary.

What are the boundaries of your blog?
(1) None specified. Issues arising are resolved my majority vote.
(2) Personal Diary.

Why can’t blogs go further, to the point where there’s hardly any discernible difference between artist and critic/commentator, blog and work of art?
(1) I don’t see anything preventing it.
(2) I find the differences useful.

What scope and degree of editorial control do you exercise over your blog?
(1) Every team member has full control over her/his own post. Guest posts are encouraged. (My addition: Anyone displaying a discerning interest in the evolving theme of the blog can expect an invitation to join).
(2) Full control over the entire blog.

What about posting comments from readers, and what about anonymity?
(1) All comments are welcomed, and anonymous comments allowed.
(2) I would welcome it. Anonymity is acceptable.

What’s “trolling,” and why don’t some of you allow it?

Wikipedia:
# Troll (Internet), a person who is deliberately inflammatory on the Internet in order to provoke a vehement response from other users.

(1) Not a problem here, so we haven’t bothered to define it.
(2) It hasn’t been a problem for me, since I get very few comments anyway.

Is trolling really so easily identified and universally bad? Is having posters register a solution?
(1) Judging trolls is not so easy; mistaken labeling occurred here once and was rectified. Registration inhibits.
(2) Yes to the first two questions and a probable no to the third one. I

What about liability coverage?
(1) Answer: a joke on Jay
(2) no

What’s the economic model of your blog?
(1) We have no aversion to earning money, but neither have we made any attempt.
(2) It costs me basically no money and I make none in return.

How do you see your blog’s relation to the established print art media?
(1) We sometimes follow up on stories appearing elsewhere if it piques our fancy.
(2) There is a marked conflict between my original and enduring impulse to write as an amateur and my newfound sense that I should be respectable and write as a representative of an organization.

How do you attract readers/posters other than by word of mouth?
(1) We were Google-ranked #2 for “NeoIntegrity manifesto,” the post being a commentary following a NY Times article about the show (now we’re at #4).
(2) Posting smart comments to other people’s blogs is a typical way of getting attention.

In general, is blog art criticism more open and liberal, and print criticism more closed and conservative?
(1) Neither, but it is more diverse — though not always on our blog.
(2) There is a wider range of positions and writing styles online than in print. This isn’t necessarily a good thing; it takes some work filtering the relevant from the irrelevant.

Some people say that there’s a dearth of art criticism at length on blogs. Is this true? If so, does it have more to do with reading on a computer in general, or with art criticism in particular?
(1) True for our blog. It has almost entirely to do with access to artworks and writing time available.
(2) It appears to be true, although there are no doubt exceptions out there.

Do blogs help correct the geographical bias in print art criticism, i.e., the tendency to think that most of the important stuff happens in New York or Los Angeles, and the difficulty of art outside those places to get national attention?
(1) Geography does not seem too relevant.
(2) If you have never seen an artist’s work it person, that limits the relevance of writing on that work.

One index of a city’s gravity as an art center is young artists—perhaps recent MFAs—from elsewhere coming to set up shop. Is that happening in Philadelphia and Portland?
(1) It’s happening in Bozeman, …
(2) In Ithaca? No, not it any significant numbers, although I do know some people.

Is there any constructively negative edge to your blogging and, if so, what is it?
(1) Among ourselves, negative comments are not to common, though welcomed by some, at least. Some outside artists we have discussed (positively and negatively) have responded on the blog.
(2) Not as much as I’d like.

Let’s throw something back into the mix: naked human ambition. Unknown bloggers want to be little bloggers; little bloggers want to be bigger bloggers; and bigger bloggers want to be called, as is Tyler’s Modern Art Notes, “the most influential of all the visual-arts blogs” by the Wall Street Journal.
(1) We’re not striving for influence, but larger membership and participation might be nice.
(2) Yes, of course. Vanity does play a major role, especially since most of us are doing this for free

Where will your blog be in three to five years?
(1) I’m amazed at any blog that lasts so long. We’re about one year old, in our current form, and I have no idea whether the blog will exist in two more.
(2) If I’m still doing it—which I’d like to be—I imagine that it would still have the same basic character. I hope for change in terms of numbers: more frequent posting, longer posts, more readers and more comments.

1. What’s the purpose of your blog?
I think of it as a replacement for the local cafe, a place where there are mostly regulars, but also any interested newcomers, and the order of the day is discussion of art topics. Since we propose these ourselves, they typically come out of some issue we’re grappling with, whether in our own art-making, or in our understanding of other artists, the workings of the art world, etc. Speaking for myself, I think I’ve learned a lot about my own photography and about art in general.

2. What are the boundaries of your blog?
There are none specified. Any problems arising, major proposals, or applications for membership are voted on by the group. Comments are wide open, though we do delete irrelevant spam.

3. Tyler has cited Joy Garnett’s NewsGrist blog as doing a great job of “placing art within a sociocultural and political context.” What I see on NewsGrist is a magazinelike interspersing of short profiles, exhibition reviews, op-ed pieces on how other people are covering things, and Village Voice–like political takes. But what does Tyler’s comment mean to you, and why are blogs in general better positioned than print to do what he describes?
“Placing art within a sociocultural and political context” means, for us, placing it in the context of our conversation — what we’ve discussed before, or what we assume we know in common. We don’t claim that this is or should be anyone else’s context. Print media can go part way, but they are not necessarily addressing our concerns, and they are not conversations.

4. Why can’t blogs go further, to the point where there’s hardly any discernible difference between artist and critic/commentator, blog and work of art?
I don’t see anything preventing it, if that’s the kind of art the artist/critic/commentator wants to make.

5. What scope and degree of editorial control do you exercise over your blog?
It’s a group blog. Control is full over my own posts, none over other members’. If someone wants to do a guest post through me, I may offer suggestions, and retain the right of refusal. A guest can post via any member.

6. What about posting comments from readers, and what about anonymity?
All comments are welcomed, and anonymous comments allowed.

7. What’s “trolling,” and why don’t some of you allow it?
Not a problem here, so we haven’t bothered to define it.

8. Is trolling really so easily identified and universally bad? Is having posters register a solution?
Judging trolls is not so easy; mistaken labeling occurred here once and was rectified. Registration inhibits.

9. What about liability coverage?
Referring to Jay’s ladders?

10. What’s the economic model of your blog?
None. There’s been talk of having an associated gallery for members’ art, but it’s never caught on. The blog may deliver some attention for participants, but that’s about it. We have no aversion to earning money, but neither have we made any attempt.

11. How do you see your blog’s relation to the established print art media?
We sometimes follow up on stories appearing elsewhere if it piques our fancy. It doesn’t seem to have gone the other direction yet.

12. Tyler and Regina, what’s the relationship between your blogging and your work in the print media?
Doesn’t apply.

13. How do you attract readers/posters other than by word of mouth?
We are linked to from other blogs, and we also turn up in search results. To cite a fairly recent example, we were Google-ranked #2 for “NeoIntegrity manifesto,” the post being a commentary following a NY Times article about the show (now we’re at #4).

14. In general, is blog art criticism more open and liberal, and print criticism more closed and conservative?
Neither, but it is more diverse — though not always on our blog.

15. Some people say that there’s a dearth of art criticism at length on blogs. Is this true? If so, does it have more to do with reading on a computer in general, or with art criticism in particular?
True for our blog. It has almost entirely to do with access to artworks and writing time available.

16. Art magazines come out once a month. Newspaper art reviews usually appear once a week. Blogs appear more or less daily, and sometimes have updates by the hour. Do you think that the faster pace of blogs will start to affect the pace of art-making?
Not significantly.

17. Tyler just said that there’s more good art being made by more artists in more places than at any time in history. Is this true? And if so, what’s the reason?
It’s what one would expect with the number of artists up, and barriers (e.g. availability of information and materials) down.

18. Do blogs help correct the geographical bias in print art criticism, i.e., the tendency to think that most of the important stuff happens in New York or Los Angeles, and the difficulty of art outside those places to get national attention?
Most of us live in the US, including New York and Los Angeles, but geography does not seem too relevant.

19. One index of a city’s gravity as an art center is young artists—perhaps recent MFAs—from elsewhere coming to set up shop. Is that happening in Philadelphia and Portland?
It’s happening in Bozeman, …

20. Is there any constructively negative edge to your blogging and, if so, what is it?
It may be constructive for the participants, in that negative comments can potentially further our understanding of the art as much as positive ones can. Only those on the receiving end can judge whether it’s useful to them. Among ourselves, negative comments are not to common, though welcomed by some, at least. Some outside artists we have discussed (positively and negatively) have responded on the blog.

21. Let’s throw something back into the mix: naked human ambition. Unknown bloggers want to be little bloggers; little bloggers want to be bigger bloggers; and bigger bloggers want to be called, as is Tyler’s Modern Art Notes, “the most influential of all the visual-arts blogs” by the Wall Street Journal.
We’re not striving for influence, but larger membership and participation might be nice…

22. Where will your blog be in three to five years?
I’m amazed at any blog that lasts so long. We’re about one year old, in our current form, and I have no idea whether the blog will exist in two more.

A blog like Art & Perception is, in some ways, a substitute for the local café. The ability to discuss art with people around the world compensates, at least in part, for the loss of the immediacy of face-to-face contact. But it’s not a complete substitute. Direct interaction is still important for many reasons, and consequently there is a need for ways to facilitate it by letting people know about opportunities to meet each other, to learn, and to see art.

Few of us are so plugged in to our local art scene that we are aware of everything that’s going on in terms of shows, openings, talks, social events, etc. The newspaper may list major events, typically those for which an ardent volunteer or a motivated gallery has written a press release. In the case of my hometown of Bozeman, Montana, there are several places on the web that have listings, but judging from what is there, I suspect they are little known or used. Most of what is happening is invisible to the public. Sometimes that’s desired, though certainly not always.

But more important than the events themselves is the community that could potentially form around them. The past quickly slips into oblivion, and there is no convenient forum for the remembering, discussing, reviewing, proposing that might be engendered.

So I’m wondering, naturally, whether some form of local art blog might improve the situation. A blog has certain advantages as a format. It could have — in fact would require — many authors to spread the task of creating entries. Perhaps the main item on the plus side is it’s interactivity, which could promote the community-building. I think communication and discussion of events is only a starting point. There are plenty of concerns artists have that might be addressed in a blog (or possibly several blogs).

To try out the idea on people here in Bozeman, I figured that it would be good to have something to look at, so I set up a free WordPress blog that I boldly called Art Bozeman. How does it look? Any suggestions?

Whether something like this will fly or not depends on many factors. Ultimately, most important will be the people who get involved. The technology also plays a role through how well it supports what the people want to do. A blog is fairly flexible, but it doesn’t have to be the final answer. I’m only trying to start a ball rolling.

What would you like to see in a local art blog in your town or city? Do you know of any good examples? What do you see as the pluses and pitfalls?

It happens that A&P had come to the C’s attention, and as a way of getting hirs feet wet, the C is considering buying perhaps half a dozen prints of images that have appeared in my posts. My prints are cheap; I’m sure I wouldn’t be writing this post if your paintings, linoleums, quilts, etc. were the same! (But maybe they’ll be next.) The C had good timing, in that just a few days ago I met with a local gallery owner who was enthusiastic about showing my work in her gallery. If that works out, my prices will have to go up, at least for work being sold by the gallery. (Also, the C didn’t know it, but I currently give an unadvertised 20% discount on purchases after the first.)

Now my posted images are a motley assortment, having been selected not necessarily for “quality” but to fit the subject of a post. It’s pretty clear my recent dirt piles bombed, and I won’t even mention the chocolate chip cookie fiasco. I suggested to the C that, if there’s wisdom in crowds, a good selection might be determined by the collective evaluation of you all (meaning ANY AND ALL readers, not only A&P contributors). The C was intrigued by this idea, and though not committed to abiding by your choices, I think s/he would be strongly swayed. S/he certainly hasn’t mentioned any favorites of hirs own yet.

So, for convenience, I’ve compiled below the leading possibilities from each post (which you can revisit by clicking on the title; click on the image to enlarge it). For completeness, I also included in the text above two other images (call them A and B, respectively) that appeared on Mark Hobson’s blog, the landscapist. Please vote for any and all images you care to. Score each that you vote on as a 1, 2, or 3 for top tier, middle tier, lowest tier. Unscored images will be considered to rank somewhat lower. You may find it easiest to cut and paste this template

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S

inserting a 1, 2, or 3 after the letter of each image you want to evaluate.

I’ll do the same myself. I’m very curious whether there will be any consensus picks, and whether my choices resemble yours. Thanks for your help, and I’ll let you know how it all turns out. And of course, I invite comments or suggestions on the whole concept.

C: 41 views

D: Still and falling water

E: Chirping among the birds

F: The mystery of things

G: Twice-Told Tales

H: Art and solitude

I: Steal this idea

J: To BW or not to BW?

K: Junkyard treasure

L: Four views of bare limbs

M: Photograffiti

N: Quark’s rabbit

O: Three more pears

P: Stylistic diversity

Q: Four categories of art

R: What else they might be

S: From the shadows

So it may be time to think about ways to make more of the most interesting content more easily accessible to everyone. That would require some change to the site, so everyone’s input is needed, including any readers who haven’t posted or even commented before. We do have a category system, which could use some work to improve its visibility and usefulness. But that seems to work better for narrow topic areas, whereas people coming to the site may be more interested in some diversity and serendipity potential within broad topic areas. Think of a well-honed medium like newspapers with sections for main news, local news, sports, classifieds, etc.

So to give us something specific to consider, I’m throwing out the following very tentative proposal. Possible broad topic areas might be:

Painting | Drawing | Photography | The Arts | Artist’s Life | Notable

They could be presented this way under the blog title, each being a link to a set of posts, presented like an archive list. Selecting posts to include under each heading could be done by a rotating editor who would receive suggestions from anyone. Or there could be such an editor for each topic. Or each “editor” could be a team of two or more. Other arrangements are possible and your ideas are invited.

I had fun looking over the posts in the last month or so, thinking of where they might be placed. Here’s what I came up with in a quick first pass as my recommendations:

Painting

Juxtaposition (art about art part II)
Purple grapes (continued)

Drawing

New pencil drawings
Figure Drawing from Imagination

Photography

Please Move On
To dance or to photograph?

The Arts

Chatting among the frames – art that talks to art
Isn’t Criticism a ridiculous stupidity?

Artist’s Life

Ambition

Notable

Visualization aids in the artistic process: an experiment
Words of Artists

Well, what think you on’t? Would something like this be a good addition to A&P? If so, are we ready for it? I would like to hear your comments, refinements, topic ideas (especially a better whatever topic than miscellaneous or notable) or counter-proposals.