In its 9th year, #artadventcalendar participants post an original piece of art from Dec 1-24. Paintings, drawings, sculpture, textiles, beading, photography. If it’s art and it beautifies the timeline, you’ll see it.
History
I started Art Advent Calendar with a tweet in 2015 with the idea that things were somewhat dark and bleak and it would be nice to improve everyone’s Twitter timelines by posting and retweeting a bunch of art.
In 2015, over 20 Edmonton area artists participated and the hashtag had over a million impressions. In 2016, 66 artists from around the world participated with over 6 million impressions. In 2017, 200 artists from around the world participated with over 2300 original works of art posted and over 25 million impressions. In 2018 we had 257 artists and so many works posted, I never got around to counting them all. 2019 was similar with 272 artists and then in 2020 we had 484 participants from around the globe!
The 2021 event was a huge success with 552 submitting participants sharing over 8,000 images; almost 12,000 people who shared almost 80,000 tweets; and almost 30,000,000 people who would have seen one of the over 200,000,000 impressions.
The 2022 version was impacted by the decline of Twitter but there were 438 participants on Twitter: and 335 on Mastodon/Fediverse for a total of 773. On Twitter we had 69,155 Tweets, 23,608 Contributors 220,358,435 Potential Impressions and 35,977,056 Potential Reach. It also ran on Mastodon and was quite successful but there’s no way to track view stats there but in any case, it was all a bit mind boggling.
There are so many great reasons to participate both as an artist and and art lover
And even if you’ve never posted your art anywhere before, Art Advent Calendar is for you.
The 2023 Edition: Times Change
I have made the choice to not run the event on Twitter in 2023. I can not support the direction the platform has taken in the last year and do not want to support it by providing content and clicks. (and frankly, the unverified user rate limit makes running it impossible) With that said, if you are still on Twitter and want to post to the hashtag and encourage others to do so, go right ahead. (I would gently suggest you that you check out Bluesky (ask me if you want an invite code..I have a few), Mastodon, Threads or Instagram and avoid Twitter entirely.)
So I will be running #ArtAdventCalendar on THREE platforms this year….Bluesky, Mastodon and Threads. I may also post to Instagram but the having only the ability to like a post works against the sharing & discovery principle that is core to the event.
For Art Lovers
If you’re an art lover and would like to follow along, just visit search for #ArtAdventCalendar in your app. Likes are great, but please consider sharing as that helps promote artists and their work and also beautifies the timeline of your followers! And FOLLOW the artists! They post beautiful things 365 days a year. While I share all posts, please be sure to follow the artists in the original post. I guarantee your timeline will be better year round.
The clickable list of 2023 participants can be found HERE. They are added as they participate.
For Artists, Photographers & Makers
Between December 1 and December 24, post a picture of an original piece of your own work. Those participating should also share the work of their fellow participants. All posts should use the hashtag #ArtAdventCalendar. (Please use CamelCase for the hashtag for accessibility.) That’s it! No registration. No fees. Just post.
Note that this isn’t a “create a new piece of art each day” event like Inktober. Unless you want it to be. You can post old work, new work, sold work…pretty much anything you want.
Almost all artists struggle finding an audience for their work. Social media can play a huge role in building a following and even driving sales. As the holiday season arrives, Art Advent Calendar can help build your following, increase your profile in the general community and maybe even lead to some sales.
A Note For Mastodon Users
Mastodon does not have “an algorithm” so likes do nothing to help creators spread their work. Boosts are critical to make the event a success on Mastodon. Please use them liberally. If you like something, let the Fediverse know by boosting.
A Note For Bluesky Users
Like Mastodon, Bluesky does not have an algorithm so reposting is critical. Also, hashtags as we are used to them, do not work on Bluesky. Bluesky uses Feeds and I have created one for the event. From your home, click the Feeds link and then Search for New Feeds and enter ArtAdventCalendar. Click the + sign to add it and then click Pin To Home. If you are posting on Bluesky, please use the hashtag as you would on any other platform as the custom feed needs it for your posts to be included.
Guidelines
- Art can be anything. Paintings, drawings, sculpture, textiles, beading, photography. If you think it’s art and it beautifies the timeline then post it.
- It’s a very good idea to post title, year, medium used & size
- The Beach, 2022, oil on canvas 30×20″ 50×76 cm
- If you’re a photographer, details like location & date taken will be appreciated. Feel free to add equipment used if that’s something you want to do.
- If you’re organized and have the time, it’s a good idea to create a document with all the image details, hashtags and ALT text so you can just copy & paste. This is especially useful if you are planning on posting to both Mastodon & Twitter and is great to help you remember to add the hashtags and ALT text. PLEASE USE ALT TEXT.
- It does not matter if you “posted it last year”. Social media is ephemeral. Post it again.
- You don’t need to be a “professional” artist, whatever that means. You don’t need to have sold art, been in a gallery or anything. If you make art at any experience level and want to show it off and make others happy, this is the event. You might be surprised at the feedback.
- Art must be original and it must be yours or from a family member… with permission. (except for sharing of course) We don’t want to see posts from Van Gogh, however nice they may be.
- No NFTs or AI art please.
- Art does NOT have to be seasonal. It can be pretty much any subject, but please keep it family friendly-ish
- Please don’t cross post with links to other platforms ie: post a link to your Facebook post on Twitter. Most links to other social media sites don’t show with images at all and if they do they are usually thumbnails.
- While it’s great if a sale comes from this, please do not post prices or use BUY NOW kinds of posts. We are bombarded with hard sell at this time of year and that’s not what this is about. This is not meant to be a sales pitch. However last year I know of at least 10 artists who sold work. You can post links to your website if you like.
- Please share posts and follow participating artists. This is both an exercise to build a following of art lovers and to build a supportive community of fellow artists. If you like someone else’s work, let them know!
- As “organizer” I do my best to share all art during the month but if I miss a post, please don’t take it as an insult or commentary on your work. There are -a lot- of posts and I may miss a few, especially with multiple platforms involved. Note that I won’t share posts that contain prices or buy now content.
- While this originates in Edmonton, artists can participate from anywhere. Here in Edmonton, we use the hashtag #yeg (our airport code) and #yegarts to localize our tweets. Using these greatly enhances the reach of your posts and I recommend using them. Feel free to use whatever localization hashtags your area uses. If there isn’t one, start your own. Maybe it will catch on!
- Post on your preferred platform daily with the hashtag #ArtAdventCalendar There is no specified time to post. It’s a world wide event so time you post isn’t that important.
- Don’t worry if you miss a day or two. Post even if you only have 1 thing to show off that makes the timeline brighter.
- While the event dates are the 1st to the 24th, feel free to continue to post until the end of the month if you like. Quite a few did last year.
- Please think about taking the time to add ALT text to your images. Mastodon & Bluesky in particular have cultures of accessibility and strongly request the use of ALT tags. Because I’m going to be posting to multiple platforms, I’m going to create a spreadsheet with all my post text (title, medium, links. hashtags) and ALT text for each days posts to save me time.
Most importantly? it’s CalendAR not Calender
Also remember. #artAdventCalendar is just a hashtag with me as head cheerleader. If it’s not on a platform you like, feel free to become part of the cheer team and run it yourself.