You, our users, use feedly for such a wide range of jobs. Today we’d like to showcase a member of the feedly community who uses it as a curator of digital art, a burgeoning sector. Ryan Cowdrey, of the young startup 23VIVI.com, shows us how you can use feedly to leverage content as an art curator. He provides a guest post for us today.
My name is Ryan Cowdrey and I’m the Director of Curation at 23VIVI.com, an online marketplace that offers rare and limited edition digital art. For your enjoyment, I pose the question:
“With so much digital media content at one’s fingertips at all times, how does a creative individual discover the latest trends amongst all the noise out there?”
Being an art curator in the digital age requires strategic tools for effectively treading through the massive amount of content that we can access. Curators are relying more and more on internet sources to get content updates that they need on a daily basis. (Blouin ArtInfo, ArtNet News, Design Collector, Fubiz, BOMB Magazine, Colossal, to name a few.)
Not to mention that if you curate digital art exclusively, you are now relying solely on internet sources to get your art fix. The tools that one uses to augment their curation efforts will set them apart from the rest.
As a digital art curator at 23VIVI.com, I follow upwards of 30 big-time art magazines to stay up to date on art creation and news. After implementing feedly into my daily routine, I can now consume double the amount of content in less time.
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Pre-feedly, I was literally using an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the magazines that I was visiting weekly. I would record what site I was visiting, the day I last checked it, and the title of the last article, so I could pick up where I left off. Sound like a hassle? IT WAS!!!
After being introduced to feedly, I honestly lost 10 pounds of stress. It was by far the easiest, most effective tool I use to augment my career. Not only do I follow those same magazines that I was already subscribing to, but I was exposed to countless other publications that feedly offers in my space… and now they are all in one place. Along with that, I did away with the email subscriptions, which were immensely cluttering my workflow. Not to mention, I don’t risk ever missing a single article or post, which is imperative to my profession.
The typical curator goes to school to study Art History and might apprentice under a known curator until they have the skills to put on their own exhibitions.
We are in a new era of digital art, though, that doesn’t require all the technical training. One has an Art History degree at their fingertips at most libraries. Many big-name curators can be followed on social media, where you can get a feel for their curation efforts.
So, it ultimately comes down to getting your hands on lots of content, so that you can begin noticing trends, formulating hypotheses, and putting together thought-provoking collections.
On my path to becoming a “curatorial expert,” I’m relying on feedly to feed my content needs—much like Indiana Jones relied on his whip—haha! To avoid limiting my hunger for creative ideas, I use feedly’s Collection feature to break up my content and feed into various categories: Photography, Physical Design, Graphic Design, Art News, Pop-Culture, and Visual Art. This allows me to not only keep things organized but also easily pull influences from various art mediums.
Because I swim through so much content on a daily basis, it is very easy to get lost in the immensity. To augment this problem I use the tag and “save for later” features to create collections of art that work well together. I can easily communicate with my team what my thoughts are on our newest curated collection and show what influences me.
With feedly, anyone with an aptitude for creativity, noticing patterns, and expressing their thoughts through creation can become a digital art curator.
Contributed by Ryan Cowdrey, Director of Curation at 23VIVI.com
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I love seeing the actual examples of how a curator organizes his feeds. The way Ryan categorizes his visual art feeds is making me reconsider how I organize mine. Thank you for sharing this.
Hi spudart – We’re so glad you enjoyed Ryan’s piece. We did, too! It’s great that it inspired you with new ways to organize your feedly. We’re definitely going to take that piece of feedback into consideration when we think about other stories to share. -Noelle
Absolutely spudart! I’m glad that it is inspiring creatives–that was the ultimate goal!!!
Great article Ryan I loved the Indianna Jones reference.
Thanks QuHarrison! One of my favorite movies of all time…and everyone should have their special “whip” to use in their profession
Reading Ryan’s use of Feedly has me intrigued as to how I can implement into my daily routine. Who does Ryan think is the GOAT of hip hop?
Jay Z no doubt about it…lol You should definitely use some of the sources in my photography category, especially Fubiz, to find some inspiration!!! Keep creating
Fantastic Article Ryan. What a wonderful resource to allow you more efficiency with your growing business. Best Wishes for Continued Success !!
I’m glad that you enjoyed the article Cindy! Stay Inspired
Very interesting and so well written. We all would love to lose 10 lbs of stress. Love it!
Lisa, he really captured that feeling of stress so well, didn’t he? :-) -Noelle
Awesome feedback Lisa!