This blog post is an assignment for my web and social media class at NKU about trends on social media in relation to our work and art making practices. As an artist in the technology age, we have to embrace social media to exhibit our art. While I do think there are amazing things about social media, there are some things I wish would change.
Trends I like:
Information sharing! Social media is a great way to learn new techniques at the tap of a finger, without having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for schooling. There are online groups that exist specifically to share information, and as an artist who has A LOT to learn, I find these kinds of things really helpful. Some glazes I’ve made come from tinkering with glaze recipes I found on a website called Glazy, where people share their findings in glaze chemistry. Sharing is caring!
I personally really appreciate when brands interact with their product users and fans. I follow a brand account that has popular clay artists do brand takeovers where they essentially take over their social media posts and can post their art, their process and why they use this certain brand. This way of having brands accessible to real people means we can have input on products, they can see what artists are using and why, and so much more. Also to note, some brands do giveaways which are super nice when you’re a college student!
Hashtags! Okay this is a weird one, but I used to think hashtags were goofy and for fun, but lately they’ve been really useful! I can search a technique by the hashtag and find advice, tips and inspiration on Instagram!
Technique videos! As an artist, I am naturally a visual learner. There is nothing better than watching some technique videos and the problem in your head finally clicks when you see someone else do it. My “signature“ technique I like to use on a lot of my pots isn’t MY technique, I learned it watching a video on Pinterest. (:
Trends I’m not so big on:
When artists on Instagram have tons of people asking them about a tool or a technique they use, and they IGNORE the comments! They’ll respond to the ones telling them how great they are, but never the ones asking for help. We all need to put our egos aside and realize we learned everything from something or someone else along the way of our artistic journey.
Totally curated feeds. Now I may not have a popular opinion but I’m tired of seeing artists who post images that are virtually the same exact images, but slightly different. It may be satisfying to look at a feed that has the same exact lighting and filter and composition, but I want to see the raw stuff—the in progress work, the messy sketches, and the mistakes. That’s what reality is, and I feel sometimes Instagram puts pressure on people and artists to curate this version of themselves or their work that isn’t real life.
Pressure to be perfect. This goes along with the previous item. Sometimes, I feel pressured to post the perfect picture of my work to get a lot of likes which in turn could help me get more exposure. I find myself wording captions in a way that is weirdly like humble-bragging, like “wow so happy with this piece out of the kiln, can’t believe how nice it turned out” (but it’s like only amazing looking because of a glaze accident or something lame). It’s not how I talk in real life, it’s not me. Following this trend of trying to come up with the perfect caption and then feeling bad about not being genuine leads to self loathing and it isn’t healthy!
So all in all, social media has some really great positives to it, but we must recognize that there are some downsides to social media use. It is an amazing tool for marketing your work and networking with artists, but it must be done in such a way that it doesn’t cause you to self destruct. Things are good in moderation, and this saying definitely applies to social media.