A Passion for Pinning – In the Studio and On-line

I have always been a pinner. The humble bulletin board. That’s right. Somewhere to pin up my favorite finds. Photos, studio dreams, favorite postcards, artwork, heroes and heroines, hearts and hands – some of my favorite visual things. I talk about this in my classes as a way to develop a visual dialogue and to really discover what it is we really like and love – a way to develop our voices as artists. We are bombarded by images in this media age and by selecting and choosing things to pin up, we are forming a personal aesthetic. A bulletin board, whether it's a big one like the one I have in my studio or an area on a blank wall marked off with tape, begins to inform us about who you are and what’s important to us. I don't see this as some kind of art “thing”; it’s a living dialogue and needs to be changed and refreshed from time to time. Just like my studio has evolved and changed over time, I evolve and so does my bulletin board.

And then I found… 

Oh my god…it's like my bulletin board, only on mega steroids. Really. 

Pinterest is an on-line pin board – "a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste. People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things — wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it."

You can create different boards for different areas of interest – the graphic above is a screen shot of 6 of my boards – Color Palettes I Love, Frannie Likes, Hidden View, Dining, My Idea of Camping and Inspiration. You create your own board topics. When I'm online and see an image that I like I can easliy "pin it" to one of my boards with a "Pin It" button I've installed on my Bookmarks Bar – super easy – they tell you step-by-step how to do it. I can access lots of other people's pin boards or just search by topic. It's really easy and really addictive. A totally wonderful time suck. I found a really great tutorial on how to get started on Pinterest – it's free – here. Pinterest is really simple and if you'd like an "Invitation" leave me a comment and I'll send you one. I don't understand why, but you have to be "invited", you can't just sign up. You can also request and invite from the Pinterest website. Once you get your invite, just set up an account – super easy and they don't ask for more than basic information. And start pinning. It's like the bulletin board in my studio, which I will of course keep pinning to, but with Pinterest I have the entire internet of images to choose from. I love seeing what really catches my eye, that wow moment when I'm really caught by a bit of beauty. Pin it. Keep it. Return to it. 

Pretty soon you'll have this tattoed on your forehead. I kid you not. 

p.s. To see my Pinterest boards go here, or click on the Pinterest button on my sidebar.