Wednesday 19 March 2014

Re-imagining the artist's web-site

It is some nine years since I first launched my web-site, gordonaitcheson.com. Over the years it has evolved, of course, but it serves the much the same purpose as it did back in 2005. Essentially, it has been my own gallery space where visitors can browse work for sale and from time to time hopefully make a purchase. The aesthetic of my current web-site is intended to be simple, clean and minimalist, little text with the emphasis on the images of the work itself. And it has served its purpose.

But in recent years I have also made increasing use of social media, principally Twitter, Flickr and Blogger to also talk beyond the finished pieces, about my works in progress and share my wider artistic interests and influences with other artists and collectors alike. This has proved to be fertile territory, vibrant with the benefits of the interaction, while the web-site has steadily become more and more static.

So now I think it is time for a radical re-design, to re-invigorate my web-site by expanding the content  and incorporating the lessons of social media. I envisage a kind of gesamtkunstwerk with news of current projects, including sketchbook studies, working papers and other material which help explain my creative process, as well as other related information which I think might be of interest to visitors to the site. There will still be a gallery for potential purchasers to browse but the emphasis will be on what I am up to now! I want the visitors to my site to have a reason to keep coming back.

The re-design and build of the web-site is under way, but I would welcome any input from fellow artists or followers of my work, new and old.