What I learned after 134 interviews
What have I learned after 134 interviews?
I learned that doing the interviews is still a blast! Which is good because publishing an interview every Monday (accept when I am on vacation outside the US) is intense for me. But this is a self-imposed pressure. It is not a job; it is a hobby and labor of love. Thankfully, I have never had to miss a scheduled Monday posting. All interviewees have been wonderfully cooperative and easy to work with.
I still enjoy the search for Arkansas artists that I did not know about. Looking at their work and asking them questions about it and about their life as an artist is super fun. So, get ready for the next 134…starting Monday January 16!
I tried to explain in my postings What I have learned after 40 interviews and the interview with Joe and me that the interviews started as a way to do my small part in helping to promote Arkansas artists during the pandemic. Of course, the blog started out with no readership. But with the help of Facebook and Instagram, readership started to grow and continues to grow. I also explained in those posts my process. That has not changed. I try to include a wide range of painters, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers with a variety of styles and media. The blog continues to be advertisement-free and, of course, there is no charge for the interviews – the intent of the blog has always been free publicity.
Faces of the 44 interviews in 2022.
In 2022, I interviewed 44 artists (or those closely associated with the visual arts). 25 were from central Arkansas and 19 from outside the Little Rock area. Of the 44 interviews, 3 were sculptors, 2 were ceramic artists, and 2 were photographers. I also included a mix of artists some who were just beginning their career and some who were more established. My plan is for the interviews to be even more diverse in 2023.
A little bit more about the blog itself. I use Squarespace and it provides in-depth analytics on traffic. I must admit I never really explored the analytics before. What I found was really shocking – and thrilling. The blog went online on March 1, 2020 and since then I have posted 134 interviews. The first interview was with Tessa Davidson on March 16, 2020.
Since then, until now, the blog has been visited 45,000 times!! 74,000 pages were viewed, meaning that the average visitor looked at 1.6 pages per visit. 32 interviews were viewed over 600 times and 8 interviews were viewed over 1,000 times!
What I am most happy about is that the readership continues to grow and more and more people – from all around the US, Canada and the UK, I might add – are learning about Arkansas artists. I have no way of knowing if the exposure artists are getting from the blog has translated into more sales, but that has always been my hope. My other hope is that the blog and its interviews will be used a reference source to learn about the lives and work of, at least some, Arkansas artists. I don’t know of another readily available resource where someone can view 10-15 works by an artist and read their story - 134 of them and counting. I think the List of Interviews can be very helpful resource for art educators and students at all levels.
I sincerely want to thank all the interviewees for making this all possible – and fun for me. Happy 2023 and check back each week to read about another terrific Arkansas artist!
