The assignment. For my convenience, I copy-paste the instructions below from the work OCA Laear course page.

Project 3: Project 2: Artist Support Structures

Research Task: Local ContextsSelf-Managed Art Practice (Keep Making)

Find and gather information about local opportunities, artist groups and networks. These might be venues, networks, learning organisations, community groups, individuals, galleries or anything else.

I must confess that this task has been challenging, and I procrastinated on it. For some reason, I always felt enthusiastic about doing my exhibition and posting my works on my Instagram account. Still, I have been reluctant to read to peer critics and search for professional art communities. This assignment makes me catch up with this motion and build a foundation for professional art networking. I started to research what professional art communities I should reach and put below the outcomes I found most potentially beneficial for me.

Professional Portfolio and Networking Platforms:

I have checked three popular platforms, DeviantArt, Behancehttps://www.behance.net and See.me

I decided to open an account on Behance since it has a much more user-friendly interface. It seamlessly connects my PayPal account, exposing myself as available for portrait and landscape painting and photography services. The DeviantArt was difficult to navigate, and it doesn’t connect you with potential clients at all.

This is an interesting platform that is uniting a large art professional community. It provides a broad spectrum of networking opportunities, connecting potential clients and artists. I have decided to open a Pro account with the following features: advanced tools to present my work on my own website and

• Advanced project permissions and publishing 
• Customized profile layout and sections
• Advanced analytics
• 0% platform fees for payment processing 
• Access to Pro-exclusive freelance jobs

I have created my page on the platform, which perfectly showcases my works for potential clients interested in my painting and design skills. I plan to arrange more projects on my page.

I opened my account today (2 days after I opened it) and found some first notifications.

I have also opened an account at See. Me platform because besides helping to promote and display the artworks, it hosts various competitions and exhibitions. https://www.see.me/exhibitions-1

For example, now there is an open call for the Spring 2025: https://www.see.me/past-perfect-present-tense-open-call Past, Perfect, Present Tense. The theme is about how rich cultural traditions and heritage challenge the present. I like how the contest theme information is crafted for the artists: “Possible Interpretations:

The Legacy of Masterpieces: The exhibition also explores how contemporary artists engage with, deconstruct, and even pay homage to past masterworks, giving new life to old ideas.

Reinterpretation of Genres or Styles: Artists draw from the visual language of the past, embracing and reimagining iconic art movements like Cubism, Surrealism, Minimalism, and others. Their works act as both homage and critique, asking what history means in the context of a rapidly changing world.

Material and Technique: Whether employing traditional methods such as oil painting, sculpture, or printmaking, or embracing digital technologies, these artists explore how materials and techniques can bridge time, creating something both timeless and timely.

Cultural Memory and Identity: Many of the works interrogate how past cultural movements shape contemporary identities. These artists grapple with history’s enduring influence on race, gender, and politics while exploring the ways art can act as a form of memory and collective consciousness.“

The exposure the winners get is the following:

“Prizes: One (1) Grand Prize: Capsule Show Five (5) Finalists : Group Exhibition

One (1) See|Me Member Winner: Group Exhibition

One (1) Student Prize Winner: Group Exhibition

All Winners Receive:

Invitation to the See|Me Digital Gallery: shop.see.me

Inclusion in the See|Me Artsy Collection

Custom Social Media promotion”

I think I should participate because I have some sketches from the Advanced Practice course that meet the theme requirement about cultural memory and identity. I can work on them further and apply. I have placed them below, for example. The submission deadline is June 29.

Mutual Art platform

I also opened an account on the Mutual Art Platform, which provides professional artists and collectors with insights about the market, interviews with and articles about various visual artists, help to find and sell the art.

My Practice Plan work: My Professional website.

I am working on my website, so I spend lots of time watching tutorials and advice on this topic made by art professionals. This particular video is very useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MfKKDw_WAA

I also keep this link below for myself and my recommendation since this is a professional overview of which website-building platforms are on the market for visual artists to build their websites.

https://www.contemporaryartissue.com/4-best-website-builders-for-contemporary-artists/

It took me a week to research and study which website-building platform I should use for my professional website. I chose WordPress, which I know very well, and Squarespace. I spent a good time checking the most expensive resource, ArtLogic, which is used by many art professionals, including large and most successful galleries and well-established, famous visual artists. It is a great, powerful platform, but super expensive; I would pay around 1600 euros annually. Eventually, I decided to buy two domains on WordPress and Squarespace and built two websites. I realised it would be the best decision for me since both platforms are suitable for creating portfolio websites, and in premium options, they would cost me less than 1.000 euros annually. I will build two websites simultaneously, exploring the power of both platforms, one website I can convert later to my photography website.

I checked the websites of two well-established visual artists Kathryn Macnaughton and Stan Van Steendam to understand the content of their websites and other details: http://kathrynmacnaughton.com and https://www.stanvansteendam.be These artists are brought as those visual artists who have exemplary profesional websites content and design.

I needed to understand their approach to the CV and art crit section. I noticed that in both cases, there are no artist statements but professionally written critical articles explaining their style. An interesting detail is that on Kathryn’s website there is no mentioning of author of the text placed in “about” section and on Stan Van Sttendam’s webiste there are three critical texts with authors’ names but no mentioning who are these people. Thus, I see that even though there is a pretty rigid approach in terms of overall style, colour palette and types of sections ( About, Paintings, CV and Contact) for the professional portfolio website, every artists place the texts about themselves as it comes feasible to them- it can be a personal artists statement as well as a texts written about their artworks by someone. The websites I am building are not published yet since they are in progress. I plan to activate them by the end of May.