The arts writers ‘strike’ against the Huffington Post is absurd!

The arts writers ‘strike’ against the Huffington Post is absurd!

On March 1st I read an article on The LA Times‘ Culture Monster blog titled, ‘Arts writers declare ‘strike‘ against Huffington Post‘. The article explored a ‘strike’ declared by writers for the websites ArtScene and Visual Art Source against the Huffington Post. Long story short-- the ArtScene and Visual Art Source writers agreed to be volunteer bloggers for the Huffington Post in 2010. They agreed with the understanding that the content they provided would not be paid for. Furthermore, they agreed knowing in advance that they would not be considered employed by the Huffington Post. Apparently this agreement is now in the wind. The volunteer art writers want paid-- and they are waving the banner of writers rights to position themselves as victims.

Update: Brian Sherwin Writing for FineArtViews

Update: Brian Sherwin Writing for FineArtViews

I’m pleased to announce that I’m officially a regular contributing writer for FineArtViews (FAV). FineArtViews is a free daily e-newsletter that focuses on art marketing, general art advice, and other art related information. FAV is known for having great art content that can be helpful to artists, art collectors, and gallery owners-- or anyone else interested in art.

FAV is maintained by Clint Watson-- a former gallery owner who is the driving force behind FineArtStudioOnline (FASO). FASO is a website creation tool that allows artists to create their own website in minutes. In other words, FASO artist websites make the tech side of art marketing easier for artists to manage so that they can focus more time on creating art instead of being bogged down by technicalities, so to speak. As for FineArtViews, Clint has done a great job of gathering contributors who are experts in art marketing online, aspects of e-Commerce, and gaining exposure for artwork online. I’m excited to be included in the team.

My most recent contribution to FineArtViews, titled Copyright Registration: Protecting Yourself as Well as Your Collectors, deals with the importance of copyright registration. I firmly believe that copyright registration protects artists as well as their art collectors. Excerpt below:

“The issue of copyright registration is always a hot topic among artists. Copyright registration can be an important aspect of marketing your art. The protection offered by copyright law is one of the best ways to secure the future growth of your art business. Copyright registration provides a strong foundation for future sales via means of prints and other merchandise-- and protects your creative investments if issues over who owns your images arise. Not only does copyright registration protect you-- it also protects art collectors who have invested in your artwork. It is something that all selling artists should do-- but I’m fully aware that most artists don’t.” -- Brian Sherwin

To read the article visit the FineArtViews blog. Be sure to subscribe to the FAV newsletter!

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

How to be a successful art writer online -- or -- how to put your best foot forward as an art blogger: Step 1 - Blog Presentation / Direction

Art blog tips and advice:

If you want to be a successful art writer online-- be it writing for a website or you own blog-- there are key steps that you can take toward that goal. Most are fairly straight forward-- unfortunately, many art writers-- specifically those working on solo endeavors-- fail to explore basic strategies that would help them to gain credibility and increase traffic to their content. Thus, I want to detail a few steps that I think are very helpful for art writers online-- especially for those starting their own art blog.

The first key step is to decide what kind of art blog you want to have. Is an art blog to you a way to gain exposure for your art? Or is it a way to give insight to your thoughts on art market trends and art news? True, you can mesh both directions with an art blog-- however, it helps to have a solid direction. Especially if you want to lure repeat visitors. My advice is geared more toward writers who want to add their voice to art criticism and dialogue of art as a whole online.

Step 1: Blog Presentation / Direction

It does not really matter if you have a personalized art blog or use a free service such as Blogger or Wordpress. Content is always King. If you have great content people will come regardless. However, when they do visit you don’t want to turn them off with a confusing mess of ads, links, and interests. Be careful not to distract blog visitors from the great content that you offer. In other words, avoid blog bling-- banner after banner, random links, or your mother‘s best recipe for fried chicken splashed on the side-- and try to stay focused on art in general. Don’t allow the presentation of your art blog to dictate how serious blog visitors take your writing.

The Artist Statement Part 3: What to Avoid when Writing your Artist Statement

The Artist Statement Part 3: What to Avoid when Writing your Artist Statement

There are good ways and bad ways to write an artist statement. The success of an artist statement, based on my experience, often depends on what the artist leaves out. I’m not going to claim to be an expert on the subject, but I will say that I’ve read thousands of statements as the senior editor for MYARTSPACE.com. Thus, I have a few suggestions that I think may help artists who are striving to write an effective artist statement.

The Artist Statement: (Part 1) Artists need to critique themselves

The Artist Statement Part 1: Artists need to critique themselves

It is not uncommon for me to receive questions concerning the need for having-- and the frustration of writing-- an artist statement. This is a topic of interest to me. I find the fact that there is debate over whether they are of importance or not to be fascinating. It amazes me that there are so many people with strong opinions involving the composition of a relatively brief text-- in some cases less than 100 words.

Artist Statements say Nothing when Plagiarism is Involved

Artist Statements say Nothing when Plagiarism is Involved:

After half a decade of writing about art and interviewing artists it is safe to say that I’ve viewed the artwork of thousands-- probably more in the hundreds of thousands-- online. I can remember days when it was not uncommon for me to view the work of at least 300 to 800 artists on a routine daily basis-- a constant search for potential interviews. Some days were devoted entirely to viewing art online. Needless to say, I've viewed a lot of artwork and have read many artist statements as Senior Editor of www.myartspace.com and as a contributing writer for other ventures. Thus, I have learned to key in on potential problems concerning the statements of artists and the manner in which they gain exposure online.

While 'hunting' for potential myartspace blog interviews I often notice basic problems artists face concerning exposure when placing their best foot forward via the Internet. In some cases the problem is in the form of poor website design-- others, poor image quality of photos that have been uploaded. These only serve as professional trip lines when one is trying to advance his or her exposure online. However, those errors can be corrected. Unfortunately, some of the problems I ’catch’ during my ’hunts’ are truly self-inflicted-- and can foster lasting damage to ones artistic ambition. The main issue-- individuals who plagiarize from the artist statements of others.