MyArtPlot Powerpoint

My Art Plot Presentation

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A few days a ago I discovered an UH-MAZING new tool for us art enthusiasts! MyArtPlot (myartplot.com) is "a global arts and crafts community and movement. Fighting elitism, it is an empowerment platform that offers functional tools to re-design the industry's archaic social, professional, and commercial dynamics. On MAP, any one participant is a crucial element of the global movement." (From MAP's 'about' page)

I think we can all agree that although there are infinite online resources for artists, art lovers, etc., there's really not ONE place to get it all. I often find that when I'm looking for something even remotely specific, I need to go to at least ten different websites to find something that's like what I want. And that's me being kind here...

MyArtPlot, as I understand it, aims to give us one place to go for all things art. Cool, huh? Yeah. I hardly trust that my explanation of MAP would do it all justice, so here it is in their own words:

The Identity

We are here because, as artists, artisans, and crafters, we've suffered for far too long the crushing blow of global isolation caused by technology deficiency. Being trapped in our respective localities, we are plagued by the elitist elements that prevent the global cohesiveness of our industry while severing the limited bonds within our isolated communities. These days, the focus deviates from the raw passion and genius of creation and rests too much upon simply knowing the right people. Elitism in social capital and other forms of resources has created an uneven playing field amongst us, causing inefficiencies in most of us to inspire, to produce, to connect, and to sell. MAP is our profession's singular honest attempt to combat the failures of our industry while actively incorporating the important partcipation of buyers. Together, we dare to fight against elitism and the absence of a globally centralized support and connectivity source. We boldly imagine a world in which we are no longer disconnected, low-resourced, and financially unstable. In our world, there exists a free flow of affordable original arts and crafts to all public and private spaces.

The Function

By providing functional social, professional and commercial tools, MAP allows disconnected artists, crafters, artisans and buyers worldwide to connect socially while interacting professionally and commercially. On MAP, you can showcase, critique, rate, review, favorite, buy, and sell original arts and crafts while interacting with people from around the world and across all experience levels.

The Mission

MAP attempts to solve a problem that has plagued artists and art buyers worldwide since the emergence of the artisan profession some millennia ago. The problem states that social, professional, and commercial interactions between artists, artisans, crafters and buyers are inefficient, caused by technology deficiency, with all parties suffering from (1) information asymmetry, lacking equal distribution of information about each other, and (2) isolation, having no easy centralized channel to connect and interact globally. Therefore, those who create original arts and crafts are notoriously known for earning substandard incomes simply because they, as independent operators, lack easy access to a global concentration of each other and of buyers. Similarly, buyers, lacking the same access to those who create goods, have trouble accessing original arts and crafts, which are thus only available to those who are well connected to the artistic communities and who can afford the high prices, driven up by the inability to sell in large quantities. This situation of inaccessibility from all sides and high prices results in a majority of the arts and crafts professions earning low incomes while original arts and crafts buyers become an extremely elitist group which excludes perhaps a majority potential buyers who, lacking social and financial resources, resolve to buying reprints. Facing this problem, MAP offers itself as a solution.

Now that it is pretty darn clear what MAP is supposed to do, let me tell ya how I'd review it so far. In a word, AWESOME. But there is still a lot of work to be done before it's absolutely perfect.

As a person with limited MAP membership, the only problems I have encountered with MAP so far have to do with the layout of the site. I believe that over time, the website needs to be modified in order to be more easily navigated. But the site is still, in a word, incredible!

As I've mentioned before, I can only wish to be a good artist. I usually throw away all of the artwork I make myself because I get embarrassed for myself just looking at them. So, it's safe to say I won't be checking the "artist" box on My Plot bio! But, in the "art enthusiast" area, I excel with flying colors! In just a few short hours of playing around on MyArtPlot, I've fallen in love with several artists' work! Let me show you one of my newest loves:

Supernova, by Elizabeth Klecker

Image on Klecker's Art Plot

I know we're all different, blah blah blah, but to me, this is a beautiful painting. I'm all about the abstract, the color, the texture. Not for you? Here's another work of art in a different style (obviously), that I'm loving:

P-Feathers, by Cate McQuiston
Image from McQuiston's Art Plot

I realize these two work of art may not be for you, but never fear! That's the beauty of MyArtPlot!!!! There is so so so much great art to find there! Here's what you can choose from:

Drawings
Mixed Media
New Media
Paintings
Photography
Prints
Sculptures
Typography
Miscellaneous Crafts

Signing up takes about, oh I don't know, 30 seconds? So instead of reading more blogs, become a member of MyArtPlot now! NOW! Becoming a member is totally, 100% free. But, in order to keep MAP alive, those who want more advanced membership may pay for it. Here's the breakdown of the more advanced membership fees and benefits:

Path Painter: $29.00. No ads for 12 months.
Plot Guard: $32.00. No sales commission for 12 months.
MAP Wolf: $39.00. No ads. No commission. 18 months.

In conclusion, MyArtPlot.com provides us with a completely unique experience. As far as I know, MyArtPlot.com is the only place online where those of us who just love art can find all things art and interact with others like us at the same time.

Two more cool "recycled" or "repurposed" art links!

So, I'm going to be putting up a pretty lengthy post in the future about "recycled" or "repurposed" art... But, I thought I'd give a little preview of what I'm going to be centering that post about with these two sweet links... Enjoy!

Repurposed: Art from Recycled Materials

Repurposed: From the Landfill to the Gallery

Repurposed: Art from Recycled Materials at Green Girls Global

Repurposed Art: Puffy Hearts