Social Networking and Real Life
“The Gathering” – Digital Collage
I am new to my area and am accustomed to using Twitter, Facebook and blogging to find other artists and to network with anyone involved with or committed to the arts.
Since moving to my new town I have looked for artists on Twitter and Facebook who are located nearby. In my search I found an artist who looked at my website and blog, knew from my tweets and subsequent messages that I was new in town, and let me know that he was interested in talking further about art in general.
Our first in-person contact was a phone call in which I gained a wealth of interesting information and stories about local artists and art organizations. He then told me about a Yahoo group for local artists that he started a few years ago.
I immediately joined the Yahoo group, introduced myself, and provided my website and blog links. The group quickly put together a meet-up which happened this evening, where about a half dozen members showed up and we spent a couple of hours getting acquainted.
I love this kind of interface between the internet world and the real world. I’ve made some new friends, feel welcomed to the local art community, and am off and running.
An Artist's Journal 
Oh how wonderful for you Martha!
Very happy that you’ve made these ‘in person’ connections and it all started on the internet. 🙂 It used to be the other way around. LOL
Love this digital collage that you’ve posted! It looks very much like something you would have made by hand. Very nice. 🙂
Thank you Itaya — glad you like the collage. Just a silly whimsical thing, but fun to do nonetheless.
You know, I’ve found that artists tend to hide away in their studios (because that’s how we work and live) and in the past you might not have ever known they were all around you. So the internet is great in that regard. This was a fun and eye-opening experience.
The interface between life and cyber life is quite amazing. Glad you found the local crew!
Seth, gotta love it. This was done even without the help of meetup.com, which I also like. But in my experience, it hasn’t drawn a lot of artists into its fold. We met some very interesting people!
How blessed you are to make so many connections within the artist community. Not to mention just having an artists’ community at all. 🙂
I hope you continue to flourish in your art-making, and I know your colleagues will benefit from knowing you.
Thank you, DJ. The connections are a beginning. I’m hearing more and more about the huge number of artists in the area. There are monthly art walks downtown from spring through fall, so I hope to meet more of them when those start up again.
I have not jumped on board for twitter and facebook…I am not disciplined enough right now to add another element to my blog participation. I am feeling the pressure of getting work further along for my upcoming exhibit. I am so glad you actually got to meet up personally…face to face..with a new outgoing art community. You are courageous you know that? Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
Mary Helen, it really didn’t take too much courage. I took my handsome date with me! He can always keep a conversation going.
Hi – I just started following your blog and your work – your art is really lovely. This digital piece is great – love the birds and I like collage very much. Digitally and traditionally. Best wishes in your new location! J
Jennifer, thanks for commenting and introducing yourself! Glad you like the collage. In a way, digital collage is very environmentally friendly! And it’s created with snippets of other scanned collages.
I hope my readers will all visit your wonderful blog! I salute your recycling commitment.
wonderful news, Martha………
Thanks Cheryl! We both know how the internet works to get artists together.