Advice for the artist as activist and storyteller

The intersection of arts and activism is not new. But there is a new twist. It presents itself when the artist moves into the use of digital media to build a bridge between personal and technological perspectives. Here, human creativity and technological components can help focus a story and its larger narrative.

Advice for the artist as activist and storyteller.

Digital painting is a contemporary slant on a continuing theme of “creative activism.” The technique of digital manipulation has a number of monikers. Here are just a few: Paintography, photo-art, photopainting, digital mixed media. But can digital manipulation really take the artist one step further in the expression of an idea?

To answer that question I asked any number of artist-storytellers. It’s largely about context, they agreed, because visual commentary in our fast-paced reporting environment easily can lose its way. Their advice? First, create and develop your website. Make sure it includes a BLOG. Next, keep doing what you’ve always done in a three-dimensional format, but explain it through your website BLOG.

When a painting or a digital representation is headed for your website (your “online collection”) provide keywords to help people find your work. Support your efforts by utilizing your website BLOG. This is where you can regularly provide conceptual threads and tell a story. Use key phrases- (such as contemporary participatory art, artist storyteller, digital art for social narratives) - to draw attention to your message and reveal different aspects of your larger narrative