PLN Portfolio

For my personal learning network (PLN) I decided to use Instagram. Out of all social media platforms, Instagram has a thriving community of artists. I knew I would be exposed to more content and it would be easier to interact with artists, both successful and well known, and beginners. Also, Instagram is a visual platform so it’s the most convenient for presenting my work. I knew that if I wanted my Applied Project to be effective it would be the most accessible if I posted photos there to lead followers to my blog. The key to being successful on Instagram as an artist is posting a lot of content consistently, which was difficult for me to do, considering while in school I don’t do create art all day long, this semester I only have one painting course. I think if I continued to post, I would continue to grow an audience. My account is much more art focused than psychology focused, so many of my followers are young or beginner artists.

A feature of my PLN that was helpful were Hashtags. Without them I would’ve had a much harder time accessing people in the mental health community of Instagram. Using hashtags, I learned how to find artists that I was interested in easily. I also used them to search a product I had heard of or was interested in to see how it preformed or how others used it differently. Most importantly, when I posted with hashtags, they pulled in both artists and those with accounts related to mental health. Below you can see an example of someone interacting with a post for my AP in a way I had hoped people would:

Another aspect that I believe made my account approachable were highlighting stories. It’s hard to make a post when you just want to send out a quick in progress photo or get people’s opinion on something. Through posting stories and interacting others stories it was easier to stay connected and put out content. This way I could also reference other artists, peer artists, or just suggest products or techniques to anyone watching. I really enjoyed being able to get a behind the scenes look of what artists I respect are doing using Instagram stories or Instagram live. On other platforms this kind of interaction isn’t really possible.

As far as what I learned about my disciplines through my PLN, I know there is valuable information there that I couldn’t get anywhere else. By posting online, I have the opportunity for a lot of people, many of which who don’t know my work to give me feedback. Sometimes, in critique, classmates may be hesitant to give honest criticism due to fear of being too harsh. Online, because it feels so much more distant, viewers are more likely to give genuine criticism. I can also see forms of less “traditional” art that I don’t see as often from my peers at Plymouth State, whether that be art journaling, sculpture, hand lettering, collage, etc. All of these different mediums work to inspire me and inform my own artwork, which is invaluable knowledge. I know that I will continue to use my account and build a following well after this semester ends.