I am an amateur artist. A few weeks back I, and another member of an art class I attend, set up a website to enable artists to display their work and hopefully received help and advice - or just general comments. The site caters for amateur and professional adults and there's also a gallery for kids.
We've had loads of imput fron the kids and amateur adults but what a pain the professionals have proved to be. The only ones who have contributed so far are those we know personally, others ( without exception ) haven't even bothered to reply emails.

So what's it all about? You would think they'd be happy to have somewhere to advertise their work but then maybe they don't like mixing with us amateurs. Too elitist perhaps? I'm not talking here about top professionals but those who live locally and sell their work as a way of earning a living.

We also have a gallery near by which is run by volunteers and is supposed to be open for everyone and with equal opportunites for all. What a farce, there are rules for a select few of these professionals and another set for everyone else.
So what it amounts to is this, these few get loads of space to display their work and then what's left is divided between the majority. Our amateurs therefore have little or no chance of becoming professional.

Seems to me that it's a great pity that the professionals don't feel able to share their knowledge and experience. They must have been where we are at some time.

I wonder if it's the same the world over, this divide. Or is it just one set of people who perhaps see themselves as above all overs?

 

 

 

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Well I guess from my personal point of view as an amateur artist, if they are professionals already it may well be that they don't need to expose their work. If you work graphics for 8 to 10 hours a day and make a decent living off of that you might not need/want to spend the time to get your work further exposed. Even artists need a break sometime.

Can you post the website url? I'd be very interested in it.

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Why is not replying to emails being a pain? Maybe they're too busy.

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Exactly, also I can't see why a professional woul bother going through the trouble of having their work exposed on a as of now completely unknown site which creates virtually 0 exposure.

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I think you are being quite presumtious in assuming the site is completely unknown and creates virtually "0" exposure. How do you come to these incorrect conclusions. Just for your information, in the three weeks since the site has been running there have been over 750 hits and approx 150 paintings posted. It is also linked to a number of other similar sites. Surely if only one painting was sold it would be worth spending a couple of minutes answering an email.



Sure, the site address is http://uk.geocities.com/artfoliostaly@btinternet.com

 

 

 

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Don't take this the wrong way but your site itself doesn't look very 'professional'. Maybe these professional artists think it would actually be damaging to their reputation to be associated with something they don't view as being very professional. I'm not saying that's the reason why they're not contacting you but it has to be considered as a possibility.

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Drop this 'Catch Phrase' from the site.
Someone who considers themselves 'professional' would view this as an insult.

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Visited your site and would agree with jlhaslip on the phrase. I feel you might narrow the width of the table which is "1158" on your home/opening page. Perhaps using the 98% you have used on later pages would work better so that one doesn't have to scroll sideways to read your description of the site. Your links page has the same problem. I tried it and it looks much better. The font could be bold as well. It seems to fade some into the background. Just suggestions.

Would it be forward of me to try to collaborate with your artists for use of some of their art pieces in my web sets? I have done work with others that I feel has turned out well. Check out my work at My Graphics Webpage

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I'm new to web design, no training or anything - just straight from my head. Thought I'd done OK for a first attempt, didn't expect it to be professional looking but then I'm not a professional. But I tried my hardest.
As I'm learning, I'm changing things as I go on, in fact I'm working on the home page right now trying to correct the very things you suggest. The I'll look at the links page. I tell you I'm really green, I didn't think about screen resolutions. I'm also having problems with tables so please bear with me.
Your site is excellent, I hope I get to that level some day. I have no problems at all with you collaborating with the artists involved in the site - just send emails to the address on the site and I'll forward them on. Thanks for your constructive comments, I was a bit unhappy last night after reading last comments, I felt they were a bit harsh.

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Thanks for the compliment about my site. Hey, you did a better job at your first site attempt than I did on my first one. And my site was only one page. So don't let opinions get you down. Just you keep plugging along. If others can't bear with you, let them choose not to. I caught some harsh ones about my site just recently.

I find that using percentages works better with tables because not everybody is using the same resolution and the table will resize to fit whatever they are using. However, I have been told that tables are passe'. Oh well, they work for me. I am self taught, as well. I try to design things for the beginning site builder who probably doesn't understand all the sophisticated htmling on the net today.

I will be in touch with you in the future about using art from your site.

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