I’ve recently enjoyed unexpected encounters with artists—both those
I have known for years and those I was meeting for the first time.
These encounters reminded me that we are all part of a community of
artists that is, at once, local and global.
The introductions to artists I’ve never met occurred during recent
conferences and a vacation to Italy. The people are some of the
hundreds of “friends” I’ve met through social networks such as
www.artistdaily.com, Facebook, and Twitter. As you probably
know, these free social networks allow members to post messages or
multimedia—such as workshop notices, gallery invitations, artwork, or
videos—that can be accessed by other members of the sites. I frequently
exchange messages, photographs, and videos with these individuals, but
in most cases they live in distant parts of the United States or in
foreign countries, and we are unlikely to ever meet fact-to-face.
I recognized several artists when I read their name tags during the
Portrait Society of America’s convention in Reston, Virginia, and I was
finally able to put faces with the images and words I have been
enjoying for months. What was even more remarkable, however, was that
Matthew Collins saw me painting along the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy,
and tracked me down after disembarking from a vaporetto water bus. I
was wearing an apron emblazoned with the American Artist logo,
but Matthew said it was a video of me painting in New Orleans that
helped him recognize me from the moving water bus. Matthew has been
researching the history of artists’ materials and making his own
charcoal, paints, and mediums, and we talked about developing articles
on his findings while we enjoyed a summer afternoon in Venice.
Another American artist I connected with in Venice was Tony Green, a
New Orleans resident who has been painting and exhibiting in Venice for
the past 27 years. I happened upon an art gallery where Tony was
mounting an exhibition of his oil paintings and etchings, and we spent
time catching up with each other’s activities.
As I’m sure you have
discovered, an artist’s work becomes more meaningful when we have some
sense of his or her personality, lifestyle, local community, or family.
We can see how artists’ images relate to the people, places, and events
that inspire their artwork. I certainly have a greater sense of Tony’s
and Matthew’s oil paintings now that I’ve visited them in Italy, and I
have stronger connections to the portraits created by my friends at the
Portrait Society of America.
I’m curious to know if you have been able to expand your
understanding of other artists’ drawings and paintings by getting to
know them through e-mail, social network websites, or on a personal
basis. Do you have a better understanding of what your artist friends
are creating, or does the message come through a work of art regardless
of whether you know anything about the person?