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Praeterita 2010: the year in review

Collage of work by all 17 interview subjects
I started this blog a year ago after I read Alyson Stanfield's book "I'd Rather Be In The Studio: The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion." One of the things Ms. Stanfield recommends is that artists use a blog as self-promotion tool. I quickly decided that it would be just as interesting to talk to other artists and people involved in the arts, to try to find out what makes them tick. I ended up posting 17 interviews over the last 11 months, for which I've gathered together all the links:

Deborah Doering: conceptual art, gallery director.

Carrie Ohm: ceramics, performance.

Lisa Purdy: painter.

Judith Sutcliffe: artist, writer, director of Shake Rag Alley art center.

Julia Katz: painter.

Diane Huff: monoprints.

Allison Svoboda: collaged ink drawings.

John Hubbard: painter.

Janet Chenoweth & Roger Halligan: painter; sculptor.

Tom Robinson: Chicago art legend.

Kay Hartmann: graphic novel.

Chuck Gniech: painter.

Suzy Takacs: independent bookstore owner.

Rebecca Moy: painter.

Philip Hartigan: mixed media (this fulfils Ms. Stanfield's suggestion that I use a blog for self-promotion).

Ann Mazzanovich: jewelry maker.

I also set myself the goal of recording and uploading one web-talk each week about an individual artist or work of art. Sadly, I fell short of that goal -- I only managed 50 of them in the end. They are all available in one place on Vimeo, a high-def alternative to YouTube which also provides this smart widget to browse through all 50 at once:


The last time I checked, people were beginning to read this blog all over the world, and especially in the USA, the UK, Spain, Holland, France, Germany, Latvia (yes, indeed), Australia, and Indonesia. In the middle of the year, thanks to people who subscribed to it via Facebook, this blog was in the top 50 of Facebook's Networked Blogs. While it's since been overtaken by other art-related blogs, you can help change that by using one of the buttons on the right to subscribe. If you're reading this for the first time, and you like any of the links posted above, please join the current followers of Praeterita by subscribing via Facebook's Networked Blogs, or the feed service of your choice (all you need to do is click on one of the 'Subscribe' buttons to the right).

In addition to continuing with the interviews, the web-talks, and the opinions, I'll be trying out a few different things in 2011. Happy New Year and Feliz Año Nuevo a todo el mundo.

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