Throughout my years of teaching, I was continually searching for artwork and sources to present to my students from which they could draw inspiration. Initially, this was mainly through buying high-quality art and design books for the college. Occasionally it was through taking them to exhibitions and sometimes through showing them films. In later years it increasingly centred on suggesting that they look at particular examples on curated websites. Frequently the purpose was to present them with completely new visual possibilities they had not previously considered. Often it was to validate the work a student was already developing by showing them that other artists had explored the same or similar things.
Through this research, my knowledge of contemporary art and artists became pretty extensive. Whilst I was doing it to help the young people I taught, searching for fresh inspiration was also something I really enjoyed doing and regularly took personal inspiration from.
So now that I am attempting to return to making my own art I am reassessing those artists who have inspired me in the past, This has involved revisiting many of my own art books. However, I also wanted a way to continue searching for and gathering examples of artwork that can inspire me as I go forward. It became pretty clear that Pinterest serves this purpose very well.
So I have started using Pinterest and to keep things organised I have set up a number of different boards. I am looking for many kinds of inspiration across artists, photographers and printmakers. Sometimes it is a technique or colour combination that grabs my attention, sometimes it is the composition that catches my eye, but it is nice that I can now just choose instinctively, rather than also having to consider the educational value of each find.
So, if you are interested, my Pinterest page is at https://www.pinterest.co.uk/colinaldredartist. I intend to add to my boards regularly. Additionally, I will post about some of the artists and artworks that have been particularly influential for me and that, I believe, deserve a wider audience!