The Web is just a big canvas

Karen Mobley is the city of Spokane’s arts director. She is represented by Art@Work at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and GoodWorks Gallery. She’s also an adjunct instructor at Whitworth College.

Despite my seven years of work on www.spokanearts.org, the arts information Web site for Spokane and its environs, I hardly think of the Web as “mine.” I use 33 pieces of software to do my work as city arts director, artist, poet and adjunct faculty at Whitworth.

I am being dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming.

“Job” site

The city arts commission volunteers and I spend 10 to 15 hours a week making sure that our citizens and visitors have access to current arts information ( www.spokanearts.org). There are about 80 events a day within driving distance of downtown Spokane. Not only are the events posted on www.spokanearts.org; we also post artist opportunities for public art projects, auditions, workshops and training.

I love the Web for its utility. It is like a really good hammer and anvil. I use it for fundraising research, to download grant applications, research words for poems and to study birding and cultural sites before I go on trips.

Arts and ends

My favorite site for arts information is www.artsjournal.com. I also enjoy the site for the Smithsonian ( www.si.edu). I use Americans for the Arts ( www.AmericansfortheArts.org), Washington State Arts Alliance ( www.wsartsalliance.com), the Washington State Arts Commission ( www.arts.wa.gov) and many individual artist sites for my work.

Wacky and wild

For fun, I go to the Museum of Bad Art ( www.museumofbadart.org), Cats That Look Like Hitler ( www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com) and often check out the films on animation sites. Now, if they could just give it smell and texture.

I like the serendipity of the Web. If I pick a word, but especially a word with multiple meanings, pica for example, the search engines don’t differentiate well, so I can learn things I don’t need to know and don’t have time to read. It is good fun. It isn’t as good as an art museum, but is it good in a pinch, especially if you have a broken leg and can’t get out. For example, starting with a Wikipedia search for “albatross” you might travel to www.wfu.edu/albatross, then to www.albatrosspub.com and over to www.livebands.net/albatross. I didn’t include the addresses for the cleaning service or the yacht club. You can only imagine what I was really trying to do.