Rationale

In terms of making an artist website, I felt it was something I planned to create in the future however never felt I was ready to do so just yet. I wanted to make sure I had a clear idea what it is I do as an artist and what my practice involves. In doing so I could then reflect how to portray my work and practice in and as part of a website. This brief made me think about this a lot earlier than I would have thought about it, what I do realise now is that it takes time to develop a good working website through trial and error, by seeing what works, so it’s best to start as soon as possible in order to achieve a good website by the time you’re ready. It can seem to progress as you progress in your practice in doing so it may better to reflect you as an artist and your practice.

In doing this research I have realised the connection between artists practice and presentation of their website. The best ones connect with and reflect their practice as an extension to their work. Jenny Holzer and David Shrigley have done this well, especially Shrigley who continues to be playful in the presentation of his website like he does with his work.

Taking this into consideration for my own website, I wanted to keep the design of my website simple with the white background and black text, and then add very selected imagery that reflects my overall aim and themes of my work. I split it down into three projects that reflect and explore this notion of collecting words and questioning the link between art and literature. Words are very important in my work, so the words used in my website have to be important as well. Adding the interview I felt bridged the link between artist and writer a little more and added something a bit different to the website. It also helped bridge the link between a professional formal page, and also a personal touch that showed the audience I am human on this faceless internet.

Another way of doing this would be to add social networking in with this site allowing people to see the contrast between a professional cv and your working sketchbook. I have yet to figure out how I do my blog and have tried and failed several times, but once that is up and running it’s another thing to consider adding. As for twitter and instagram I didn’t add them to this site as I felt it would look too messy, however I have used the same user name throughout making finding me easy. Also there is no separate account for a personal and artist twitter as I felt a balance of the two in one account seems a lot more personal and people connect better to it.

Overall for my website, I felt wordpress.com isn’t the best way to do this website and if I was to create a website again I would seek the help of someone who knows what they are doing. But what this has done is give me an idea of how I can present myself online and what design I may want for this future website.