Twitter as a medium for art-making?

Three Rivers (California) Artists Join in a New Online “Art Talk”

The artists of Three Rivers are talking about the creative life, using Twitter as an artist’s medium. As they prepare for the Three Rivers Biennial Artists’ STUDIO TOUR 9, slated for March 19-20-21 in 2010, artists have begun to talk about their art-making process in an online inclusive conversation. The increasingly popular Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers.)

The Studio Tour organizer, Elsah Cort, has embedded a special Twitter search “widget” on the main Studio Tour website, where anyone can view the most recent comments by the artists. Within 10 seconds of an artist posting a “tweet” it appears in “Art Talk” on the website. The artists are using the special code that allows for all the updates to be gathered together in the twitter conversation. You can follow this collaborative art essay at www.threeriversartstudiotour.com, use the link for “Art Talk.”

“The potential of Twitter as a way for artists to share their ideas and creative process is continually evolving,” says Cort. “Many artists around the world have been using twitter since its launching in the summer of 2006. Artists can refer visitors to online blogs and websites that function as online galleries and commentaries.” As the local Three Rivers artists deepen into their twitter conversation with each other, the personal experience of artist contact, that the Three Rivers Artists’ Studio Tour has been well known for in the last 17 years, will be available to the many art enthusiasts who are looking forward to STUDIO TOUR 9.

During STUDIO TOUR 9 in March 2010, visitors will be invited to join the Twitter “Art Talk” conversation, as they visit the artists and studios, by posting twitter updates in real time using the special twitter search code.

The artists who have joined “Art Talk” (so far) are listed below.

Elsah Cort | www.twitter.com/Cort_art | www.elsahcort.com | www.thedeeperwell.com