Nothing stays the same for long – especially now.
Suddenly, with world events such as the Pandemic, everything seems to be changing.
While we’re in control of our own narratives through our thoughts, life experiences, and feelings – we’re now confronted by so many new ideas and processes – many of which appear challenging.
What exactly does that mean for a textile artist?
Well for me, it’s meant grappling with technology.
Since the Pandemic, I’ve noticed a huge change – and I believe it’s for the better.
Quilt show entry and payment are now usually online – some exhibitions are also judged and juried online. This means images have to be attached and documentation carefully filed. We also have to have an online payment method.
Zoom has taken over the meeting arena making coming together with a team far more efficient.
Let’s not forget social media – if you don’t have a social media presence now, you’re already out of the loop. And that means you have to have a basic understanding of the different types of social media and what they’re geared to do.
A website is your window to the world – and that’s not easy to navigate, but just as we learned our craft, we can learn our way around maintaining that presence too.
That means we also have to have a fundamental understanding of graphic design, branding, marketing, and promotion.
YouTube is being used far more and more to showcase videos of artists’ work, exhibitions, talks, and lectures to the world – that means a grasp of the use of video, audio, editing, and lighting – plus all the equipment that goes with it.
And if you want to produce a Podcast, even that can be done in the comfort of your own home – and quite easily too, once you know the ropes.
This is all basic knowledge now for textile artists.
So we have choices here. We either bury our heads in the sand and give up; we shrug our shoulders and try to ignore it – or we go about acquiring the expertise to learn and do these things ourselves.
And this is a great time to learn. Everything is geared to teach us – we just need to reach out.
Because, really, the context of now means we have to.
