Welcome to Thinking About My Art

In the summer of 2004, I initiated a new art blog called Thinking About Art as a response to what I felt was a severe problem in the art world — too little honest writing about art.  Frustrated that art writing was becoming more and more just about regurgitating gallery/museum press releases, I sought to bring a small bit of life to art reviews, art thoughts, etc.  Before long, a fairly robust audience formed for my blog.  It quickly became apparent that others felt there was too little being said about contemporary art.  I wrote my honest, personal opinions about shows in the Washington, D.C. area, New York City, and elsewhere.  Before long, though, the consequences of starting an art blog that did more than just announce events became apparent.  Relationships with friends, artists, gallerists and curators became strained.  While my blog definitely opened some doors for me, it shut others. 

Within the past year I have grown weary of writing about other people’s art.  My interest in Thinkng About Art dwindled with more and more posts becoming self-promotional in nature.  I began to feel that I was neglecting my readership and that I was no longer remaining true to my initial mission.  I thought about retiring the blog and disappearing from public writing.

This summer, my beautiful wife and I bought a new house in Sterling, VA.  Our lives were consumed with selling our old place, finding the new one, moving, unpacking, renovating, and all the other fun things associated with buying a house.  Our new home, among many wonderful new features, has a full basement that we have been able to convert to a studio, woodshop, workout area and craft area.  In our old place, my studio was a converted spare bedroom measuring maybe 10′x12′.  When you work in wood, this is not a lot of space.  My new work area provides at least five times as much space and that doesn’t include storage areas.  Needless to say, after a fairly long hiatus my creative juices are flowing again.  I’m excited to get back to work.

As I considered the slow death of Thinkng About Art, a simple solution came to me.  With the addition of one two-letter word, I could permit myself to keep writing about art.  I could turn my attention to my own work.  I could prevent any further bridges from being burned in the art world.  I could be honest with my readership that what you would read on my site will be about me.  Self-promotion, among other things, would be expected.  You, dear reader, would know what you’re getting into.  As a result, welcome to Thinking About My Art!

My goals with this site are simple.  I will focus on my art practice; past, present and future.  I will share with you my process for making art, what I’m thinking about, what I think succeeds and what I think doesn’t.  I will eagerly await your feedback whenever you feel like sharing.  I will post images of sketches, completed works, installed works and other art that informs my practice.  I will share announcements about acceptances, rejections and other events.  This blog will be a window into my art.  I hope to learn about myself and my work, and I hope to grow as an artist.

With all that said, thank you for visiting Thinking About My Art.  I hope you’ll visit often and I look forward to this new endeavor.

- J.T. Kirkland