Posted on 18 Comments

Curator for the day

I have been asked to be a curator for Artfinder.com. This means I will put together an art collection for the online gallery http://www.artfinder.com. I am very excited and honoured by this chance. I have been represented by Artfinder since 2013 and I have sold 599 works through them. The site has grown and grown over the years and now represents over 10,000 artists.

It’s not the biggest site out there but for several years its been the best one for independent artists. I’ll explain why.

Each artist is given a lot of control over their own page or “store front”.  You can directly upload photos of your paintings to the site without waiting for an administrator to approve it. You can also directly contact collectors through their messaging system, rather than through the administrator. This makes customer care a whole lot easier.

There are many very talented artists on the site but the increase in the sheer number of artists has made it more and more difficult to be “seen”. So being a curator for the day is my chance to bring attention to the many excellent and talented artists on the site.

As a teenager I used to fantasizing about having the chance to do a supermarket sweep. I used to think about where I would direct my trolley and what to sweep into the trolley in less than three minutes. Funny, how that has no appeal to me these days although, I do like to get in and out of the supermarket in a short amount of time as possible! Twenty minutes, in and out and I am happy.

This is going to take a bit longer than that!

unnamed(10)
Andrew Reid Wildman

So I have my chance to “sweep” about 150 artworks into my basket or collection. I am very excited by this. Over the years I have book marked and pinned artworks that have caught my eye and here’s my chance to show them off to the world. I try not to think too much about it. There are some artists who spring to mind immediately like Jane Kell and Andrew Reid Wildman, whom I know I want to have in the collection and others I have to look in my bookmarked collection to remind myself of their names, and a few who present themselves to me as I look through the new art on the site.

 

unnamed(8)
Snehal Page
unnamed(3)
James Earley

I have largely gone with works that highlight colour and light such as Snehal Page’s vivid oil portraits and Sri Rao’s colorful landscapes.

There many artists’ who skill with the paint brush has me in awe especially people like James Earley and Abi Whitlock.

One hundred and fifty painting may seem like a lot but it isn’t. I want to include as many artists as I can with out the collection becoming too “bity”. So some artists get as many as 4 paintings but other only one. I am hoping that the choices I have made will tempt collectors to click on their names and take note and “follow” them or even better buy their work/s. I believe that art is about a conversation between the artists and the viewer.

fae70b93ca8c423da63e955e704ef6b6_opt
John Kerr

I say conversation, but I believe that good art provokes an emotional reaction in the viewer; whether it is joy at the remembrance of a summer’s day at the seaside, or empathy with the humanity in another’s face or posture.

fcc50839ce0e48bbaf6a519b6ae58d62_opt.jpg
James Henry Johnston

 

 

As viewers we invest a lot of energy in choosing our favourites, we follow their progress and want them to do well. I am only the 5th artist (I think) who has been asked to put together a collection but I am hoping this a successful collection and other artists are asked to do the same thing.

If you wish to view the whole collection, you can see it here

Capture
Part of my collection
Capture2.JPG
Another selection

 

 

 

18 thoughts on “Curator for the day

  1. Oh, this had to be so much fun! I’ve enjoyed the gallery very much. First time for me to visit Artfinder. 🙂 Just might be back!

    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Manja.

  2. Good job, Emma.
    Congrats —

    Neil S.

    1. Thank you, Neil.

  3. Great job on curating, Emma. I found a bunch of new artists to follow, and many individual paintings to heart. 🙂 I hope artfinder continues this series of featured artist curations. Congratulations.

    1. I do too – I am number 5 so far. I like to think that most artists have a pretty good eye for art.

  4. This is wonderful. Congratualtions!

    1. Thank you, Alexis

  5. This is so interesting! Totally relate to Supermarket Sweep! Fantasy shopping/ curating really appeals.

    1. It’s sort of like getting to take them all home to put on your walls (but not).

  6. Congrats, Emma! I really like your selections. Some really interesting still lifes in there – and I’m usually so picky about them.

    1. Thank you, Garbriela. I wanted to show that this site had many excellent artists.

  7. Prachtig en ook fijn voor U dat je op een z’on goede curator kan rekenen

  8. How wonderful Emma. So you should be honoured.

    1. Yes it was!

  9. Hi Emma, thanks for the support of the arts and for visiting my blog of images. – Sincerely, Gabriel (in California)

  10. Congrats on the honor of curator! I viewed them all and appreciated the vast variety. I could pick yours out right away. I would love to have “Key West Crib” on my wall!

    1. Thanks, Pam. I would too it’s a great painting.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.