S t u d i o   N o t e s
a monthly journal of sorts

December 1999

This month I've added a few new features to this site including one I've been wanting to do for some time now.  I now have a special exhibits section featuring one person shows for artists whose works I am especially fond of.  It takes a bit of work to put these together but for me it's worth it and I hope also for the visitors to this site.  

Once in a while I'll come across someone's work in a gallery, studio visit or on the internet and become elated whenever such works move me in a special way. I just want to share this experience with others and also to help provide a bit more exposure for some of these artists.

I'm also developing this site into more of a useful resource for others to use.  I now have a Chat Room which can be useful for real time discussions pertaining to our work or other matters. Then there is the Open Forum which is going to be permanently archived or at least some of the more interestings parts will be.  This is where issues about process and aesthetics will be explored, questions asked and answered and  so forth.

Of course there are three forums already in the Bramblebush section of the Artmetal.com site that I'm involved with and this one may seem redundent. I don't really think so though because here the issues can be wide ranging and not just relating to metalworking processes.  Technical matters are important to me but I don't eat, breathe and sleep that way and find other aspects of artmaking to be actually much more interesting.

Now recently I've been going over a question that is beginning to nag at me.  Since I've started up another new site which is intended to be a distance learning center for the arts ( ArtTeach ) I'm no longer certain that there is going to be a financial justification for this. The original intent for this site is to develop some training courses for teaching the arts including different forms of sculpture, perhaps painting, graphics, crafts and other related disciplines. No, I do not intend to be the teacher of all this but perhaps only for the metal working courses.  Other instructors will be recruited for the rest.

It's a very expensive endeavor to create each course, to have parts on digital video discs, parts in hard copy and parts on the internet, all inter-related and working together.  Over time I believe these ideas can be developed and worked out.  However, I do not believe there is a real market for these courses, one that is substantial enough to support the expense and provide income.  So I may just have to let go of this idea.  I can see a real value in this for a lot of folks, I don't doubt this for a minute, but unfortunately I'm not so sure there would be enough supporters who would agree.

So the question I'm now working on is can I, or even should I, continue on a limited basis to develop some of the ideas I have about offering a learning resource to the public. In this context, everything would be given away for free.  I'm doing some of this already on my personal site and through the Bramblebush but there is so much more that can be explored and developed in a substantial and meaningful way.

I have a real interest in continuing the traditions in the arts particularly on the level of process because much of this kind of training is being lost today.  You know that and so do I.  I'm not going to delve into the the policies and politics of teaching institutions here, nothing is going to change that right now.  But it does sadden me to see so many young artists groping with their works or worse yet not even realizing their potential because of the lack of skill or in depth training.

I've learned a lot over the past four years or so about the nature of communication over the internet and through the use of digital technology. This is a developing skill that I feel will allow me to offer a modest contribution to enhance the learning of emerging artists and add something to the community effort.  I don't mind at all putting out but it is a strain sometimes when I don't have the resources to do it properly.

So that's the issue that is nagging at me.  Should I just go ahead and develop the ArtTeach.com site as best I can and forget about the advanced features that can only be offered at a price? Would it be a productive effort in terms of genuine knowledge sharing or is it a fool's errand?  I strongly suspect it may be the latter but don't know for certain. Of course the more sensible among us would wonder why there's any question in the first place since there's materially nothing in any of this for my benefit.  They're certainly right about that.

Well.....I just haven't decided yet whether to drop the ArtTeach.com project or continue with it anyway.  Knowing myself as well as I do, chances are I'll say to hell with it and do this thing simply because it can be done.

Chris Ray

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