In This Issue:
N*des-of-the-Month - Sept/Oct 2009
Enhancements at BAREBRUSH
The Sad Tale of Videonomorefornow
FYI: I changed to a text-only newsletter because it is quicker and less hassle. In the archives, the email company posted the Blast-O-Gram with no carriage returns or line feeds and no spaces between words at the start and end of sentences. What are they thinking?
N*des-of-the-Month - Sept/Oct 2009
Guest curator for the September and October exhibitions is Ms. Mary Logan of Kim Foster Gallery in Chelsea, NYC. Logan is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art with a degree in Fine Arts.
When asked what she would like to see for the September and October calendars, she said, laughing:
"Capturing a sense of personal identity or expression in a birthday
suit display. What fun!"
See the complete call for entries here.
By the way, as her comment implies, Mary Logan has a sense of humor as well as an eye for art. Kim Foster, the gallery owner and founder, had the same approach back in 2007 -- "It made me laugh," Foster said about one piece, "That counts for something!"
Please note the entry deadline: Aug 14
Enhancements at BAREBRUSHSeveral major improvements are in the works at barebrush.
1. Curators select two months at a timeFor over a year, every curator has mentioned that there were just "not enough days in the month" and art they wanted to include had to be left out. The right ratio of selection seems to be about 12 to 1 so if there are over 400 entries for a contest, we can open it up to include the second month.
For the July contest, I asked Vaughn Lewis to curate August as well. Lewis chose 62 pieces. The rules were simple: an artist could have one piece in either or both calendars, but no duplicates. Lewis chose 62 pieces from 44 artists, 10 artists as Curators' Choice.
The July calendar is live to the public now and the August is in previews (to members only). August will go live on August 1st. Voting for the July Curators' Choice is underway and will start for August on July 29.
Happily, we have over 400 entries for the current contest, so Mary Logan will definitely be doing two months as well (Sept/Oct).
2. Enhanced Membership SystemOn June 2, our website host provider upgraded their system causing three critical barebrush components to fail. Needless to say this was a huge problem and strain of resources to find solutions. One of the solutions was to upgrade our membership system (which has been completed). It looks very much like it did before, but several new components are installed which will make the following improvements possible (to be completed by summer's end). Among the most welcome improvements will be:
A. A standard login form on the pages (goodbye pop-up window!)
B. Integration with e-commerce -- (you will see your account balances on your mybarebrush page)
C. Artist info database (your artist name exactly the way you want it, your contact info, location, etc.) The big benefit of this is that if you move or change your preferred contact, ALL of your detail pages on barebrush will change automatically, hooray!)
3. Enhanced Uploader/Lightbox SystemThere are fundamental structural improvements to the uploader system process. The lightbox will become integrated with the Uploader. Here are the changes you will notice and which will have the most impact on your use of the system:
A. Bigger image size, bigger upload file size, more file formats accepted.
B. Edit capability for your image text - if you notice that you need to make a change after the artwork is on the web.
C. Choice of image term and renewal status at uploader time. Display of expiration date, renewal status, etc. (to you, the artist only, not to the public).
D. Possible multiple image uploads -- upload up to 5 images and see the thumbnails as you enter your title and descriptive information. This is complex and may not be initially available.
E. "Next" capability -- when your viewers are looking at your lightbox,they will be able to click "Next/Previous" to the detail pages without having to go back to the lightbox each time. From the number of people who have asked about this, NEXT is the biggie!
4. Better Search Engine CapabilityIn the "new and improved" barebrush, art pages will be made dynamically from the mySQL database using css for formatting. The reformatting will result in better headline control and thus higher position in standard search engines.
5.
Ad for 2009-2010The ad for 2009-2010 will appear in the Gallery Guide beginning with the September issue. It is directed to the public and art buyers. I hope to run it in upscale general magazines like "The New Yorker" and others.
The aim of these enhancements is to make barebrush more user friendly, more artist friendly and capable of automatically supporting the BUY-NOW program which will allow you to sell your art directly from barebrush.
Although I can't make any promises because of constraints of technology and time, if you have a "wish-list" idea that you would like to see in barebrush, let me know, and if we can do it and it is consistent with our program, we'll make it happen.
Final question on this topic: the June 2 disruption was major. As a user and an artist on barebrush, you probably want to know "Will this happen again?" The answer is, I don't think so. The changes the website host made were legitimate and for security purposes. There are ways of implementing code which does not create vulnerabilities and the enhanced barebrush is taking advantage of these more sophisticated techniques.
The Sad Tale of VideonomorefornowWell, we did videos from November through May and we had no problems, but in June, I made the mistake of putting the band's name in my press release headline. Their management wanted $$ instead of publicity.
"Well," I said, "We're not making any money on it. What do you want?"
"You have to stop using it," was the answer.
"Okay," I said, "We'll take it down."
"How soon can you do this?" was the question.
"Immediately."
"Oh." He sounded disappointed.
Some savvy music management companies know how to put a buy-now button on a page featuring their music so that the user could buy the album then and there. Unfortunately this was not one of them.
Videos will come back when bands seek us instead of the other way around. Have to concentrate on the fundamentals of the site -- we're too small to get sidetracked right now.
Sept/Oct contest deadline Aug 14. Launch your 2009-2010 art season with a good display. Remember: new nudes are good news!Best regards,
Ilene
Note for Newbies: You can catch up on developments with back issues of recent BLAST-O-GRAMs at the website. Or just write me if you have a question:
iskeen@barebrush.com.
The BLAST-O-GRAM is produced by:
ILS Designs, LLC,
372 Fifth Avenue, Suite 7D,
New York, NY 10018
N*des-of-the-Month
Art calendar contest
On line since 2006
wwww. barebrush.com
Membership in barebrush.com is free, fees to post art, $1 per artwork for 60 days. Art judged by guest art professionals. Prizes.
We never sell or share your email address or info. We send one (1) general mailing per month, called the Barebrush Blast-O-Gram.
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