Blog / 2020 / How to Love Your Art #16: Celebrate It

In the world before COVID-19, there were lots of ways to celebrate art and many of them involved large groups of people gathering and gnoshing and chatting. It seemed so civilized at the time, but, in the pandemical present, the very idea of it gives me the creeps. Still, there are plenty of ways to celebrate your art without breaking stay-at-home orders.

Artists who love their art don’t finish a piece and then immediately hide it away; they share their work with their community.

With the newly intensified focus on online everything, it’s more important than ever that artists learn how to celebrate their art virtually. That means writing a bit about your art when you publish it on social media or on your website.

Since artists often report that talking about their art is difficult, here’s a list of interview questions you might use as prompts. You shouldn’t answer every single question every time you post, but instead choose a few to respond to:

• Why do you make art in general? Why did you make this piece in particular? What inspired this artwork? How did you get started on it?
• How did you make this artwork? What tools and materials did you use? How did you decide on the medium you would use for this piece? What made you opt for this size/format? How did you choose those colors? How did you decide on the title?
• Did you have any help making this piece? Where did you learn these techniques? How does this artwork fit in with movements that inspire you?
• How long did this piece take you? What were you listening to while you worked? Did you work on other pieces at the same time?
• Does it look how you planned it to look? How did the artwork evolve as you created it? What lessons did you learn making this piece?
• What detail of this artwork makes you happiest? What was you favorite part to make? What part of it is most “you” and why?
• How does this piece relate to the rest of your art? Does it remind you of any of your other art? How is it different from the rest of your work? What makes this piece unique?
• How do you recharge after making an artwork like this one? What do you want to create on next? Why?
• How would you describe the people who love this piece? What do they say about this artwork?

The upshot of working on the above questions on your own is that when the photographer and professional art lover Bill Horin asks to interview you for ArtC, it doesn’t stress you out! The conversation feels like the celebration it is meant to be.