Yankee

Best Art Blogs in New England

My limited experience with news blogs has given me the impression that they’re wild and lawless places where rampant rumors, unvetted and untrustworthy, and partisan opinions, unexamined and unedited, are passed along willy-nilly by pseudonymous correspondents who could be anyone and anywhere. Of course, that may just be the old ink-stained wretch in me. I’m […]

My limited experience with news blogs has given me the impression that they’re wild and lawless places where rampant rumors, unvetted and untrustworthy, and partisan opinions, unexamined and unedited, are passed along willy-nilly by pseudonymous correspondents who could be anyone and anywhere. Of course, that may just be the old ink-stained wretch in me.

I’m aware, however, of some very fine art blogs — idiosyncratic, yes, but also informative, insightful, and entertaining. I pass them along to you here, as I perceive blogging to be more a matter of conversation than competition.

Modern Art Notes is written by Washington, D.C., art critic and journalist Tyler Green and has been called “the most influential of all visual arts blogs” by the Wall St. Journal. That may be because Green is a professional print journalist who writes knowledgeably about art and artmaking, sharing his passion for contemporary art daily on his blog. MAN also features “Site Seeing,” one of the best link lists to arts blogs that I’ve run across in my Net surfing.

The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research is a regional arts blog written by Greg Cook, an underground cartoonist and journalist rumored to live in or around Gloucester, Massachusetts. Cook’s blog is an excellent source of art news and reviews and features a running list of free art exhibitions.

Megan and Murray is the blog of video and installation artists Megan and Murray McMillan, who live in Providence and comment as insiders on the art scenes of Providence and Boston.

Girl in the Green Dress is one of the most active arts blogs in New England. Written by Boston-based freelance interior designer Traci Roloff, Girl in the Green Dress is a feast of personal enthusiasms for architecture and art, furniture and fashion, photography and green design.

Blogs strike me as essentially high-tech diaries or journals, the frequent postings inviting a remote dialogue about art. It’s my hope that Just Looking will become a form of dialogue. Although blogs seem less about permanent records of artistic endeavors than about immediate responses, they are nonetheless, like essays and reviews, part of the second life of art.

 

Edgar Allen Beem

More by Edgar Allen Beem

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  1. Hi Ed,
    I’ve been blogging my art for over a year and it has literally opened up a new world for me.
    The cool thing about blogging is that well known artists and unknown artists
    from all over the world all are showing their work in a ‘virtual’ gallery.
    It creates camaraderie amongst artists from all walks of life. I wander the
    blogs and am amazed at the beautiful work in all media!
    The Art world can be kind of snobby and judgmental and this let’s everyone in.
    It’s great!
    Check out my blog at Just Painting http://marysheehanwinn.blogspot.com/

  2. From Just Looking to Just Painting. Very smooth. Love your brushy, painterly style and the simple humanity of your paintings. Where can folks see them for real, as opposed to hyper-real?

  3. Thanks Edgar for letting me feast my creative soul on some more great blog sites!

    As an artist who has just started testing the waters of freelancing AND blogging, I have found it a wonderful way to ease into this competitive world. It’s a rough place for a sensitive soul, but sometimes a supportive comment left by a stranger is just the boost you need to pick up that pencil again!
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for allowing us to just look!
    Kelly
    http://www.kellyschwark.blogspot.com/

  4. Greg Cook, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, was from Gloucester and still known for floating around here. He has moved but you can always find him through the journal. Another online blog art magazine that has recently launched covering arts and entertainment North of Boston is the art*throb magazine. Visit http://www.nsartthrob.com Artists, writers and journalists that have been involved in its making say it feels like art throb is a movement.

  5. My wife and I started Maine Art Scene Magazine – a Blog – (http://www.maineartscene.com) in 2009. Prior to 2009, there was no online venue that covered the variety of art activity in the state of Maine.

    In 2010 we went a step further by creating the first virtual juried art exhibit and collaborating with local museum curators and art collectors. The goal was to help local artists reach beyond their geographical reach. We have helped a few artists get nationwide attention.

    We just launched our 3rd annual Statewide multi-disciplinary showcase (2012) on http://www.maine-art-exhibits.com (click on Current Exhibit). Take a look and let us know what you think or help us spread the word about Maine Art and Maine Art Scene Magazine.

    Thank you! Thierry Bonneville, media director.