Unbound Creativity: Art Blogs on WordPress.com
From painting and photography to performance art, the art scene on WordPress.com is thriving. Practitioners of every imaginable art form are inspiring visitors with their creativity, using striking themes and neat features like custom galleries to showcase their work. Ready for infinite gallery hopping (no walking shoes necessary)? Here are a few places to start exploring.
rabirius
Straddling the line between photography, digital art, and collage, this collection of manipulated photos forces us to look at familiar objects and landscapes with a fresh eye. A swimming polar bear, a layered urban panorama: at once disorienting and fascinating, it’s hard to to resist these images.
Ryu, a minimalist theme with a generous, full-width image post format, is perfect for putting these large images center stage. It even automatically adjusts the background color on image posts to match the palette of the image itself: it’s like having a bespoke framer at your service.
On the hunt for more boundary-bending photography? You should check out Brandon Halley‘s work, featuring surreal, filtered images, or Adèle d’Alleray‘s gallery, which uses the Hatch theme’s sleek grid look to showcase her masterfully composed snapshots.
anitamillerart
Working in oil painting, artist Anita C. Miller breathes new life into a traditional medium, infusing her landscape and still life work with bold colors and even bolder textures. She occasionally invites her visitors to witness her work process, showing not only finished work but also the sketches and photos on which the paintings rely.
The Truly Minimal theme allows the artist to foreground the natural splendor of the prairie with little visual distraction. The ample white space lets her commentary and images coexist in harmony, without competing for the visitor’s attention.
If you’re thirsty for another behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, you should also visit Drawing the MotMot, the blog of an Oklahoma-based nature lover featuring sketches, photos, and commentary about her work, on top of the drawings themselves.
TOKIDOKI
Street art is notoriously difficult to curate and archive: you can’t take down a wall whenever you see a cutting-edge mural, after all. Enter TOKIDOKI, a globetrotting traveler and avid photographer, who documents the textures of urban landscapes from Mexico City to Beirut. Stencil art, stickers, tags, posters: the blog channels the raw energy of the city with loving attention to detail.
With an unfussy look, long streams of images, and an easy-to-navigate sidebar, TOKIDOKI uses Forever — a theme primarily geared toward wedding sites — to emulate a stroll through streets waiting to be discovered.
For another international take on street art blogging, don’t miss the aptly named graffiti, a blog by a Sweden-based graffiti photographer.
Subatomic Tourism
Veteran art lovers and novices alike will pause with wonder at the innovative, engaging work over at Subatomic Tourism. Here, the artist/blogger places small figurines in unexpected locations, from parks to museums, and takes their photograph, using our everyday world as if it were a theater set designed for inanimate miniatures. The result is at once humorous and unsettling.
The sparse Twenty Ten theme, with little more than a custom header and a lightly populated sidebar, amplifies the eerie effect: we start to question, after spending some time on this blog, whether it’s possible the figurines really have taken over.
Onward, Upwards, and Sideways
Envelope-pushing art projects are abundant on WordPress.com, with artists working in every imaginable medium (or several). A cross between performance art and photography, The Wet Shaving Conceptual Artist is a blog where animation artist and author Todd Van Buskirk posts a daily photo of his shaving paraphernalia, elevating a daily routine into aesthetic ritual.
Equally fascinated by the mystery hidden under the surface of the everyday, Art Macabre Drawing Salons documents the regular gatherings of a London drawing group that finds its inspiration in sources as varied as medical art, anatomy, burlesque, and taxidermy.
Environmental art is alive and well, too, with artists like Katie Jo Anderson and her phone booth projects, or Peter Ward and his adventures in and out of the wilderness, which he reconstructs in his blog, expressions of an intimate ecology.
Thinking outside the (display) box
While many art blogs are maintained by artists presenting their work, others dip their feet in the water, too, offering their own unique perspective on the question of artistic creation.
Educators and art historians will find numerous tips and leads in Art History Teaching Resources, from lecture ideas to sample assignments. Lovers of classical art flock to The Best Artists for reflections on works by Old Masters like Michelangelo and Bruegel. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a painter’s muse? Claudia, a professional artist’s model, shares her experiences on Museworthy, turning the tables on the usual direction of the artistic gaze.
Or, for another unorthodox take on art, why not spend some time with some of the world’s most noteworthy forgeries, in Lost in the Louvre, featuring Famous Fake Fridays? Check out the Reader and dig into the our endless vaults: whatever medium, period, or style you’re interested in, you’re bound to stumble on some incredible finds.
If you’re interested in keeping up with what’s abuzz in the community — from a collection of top reads to publishing news and bloggers in the spotlight — subscribe to WordPress.com Weekend Reads, which we’ll deliver right to your inbox.
You might also enjoy these posts:
- September 20, 2013
- Better Blogging, Community, Themes
Thank you for mentioning my site. I look forward to visiting the others you mentioned.
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Thank you sincerely for mentioning my site! A great article here, there are blogs I can’t wait to visit.
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Those are a really impressive selection.
Don’t forget the many musicians/composers who have sites here, though!
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Thanks – I’m glad you enjoyed this selection of art blogs.
We actually covered several musicians’ sites a few months ago (https://wordpress.com/blog/2012/12/19/music-vertical-highlights/), though there are clearly many, many more to discover – thanks for the suggestion.
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Great Read…thx….
Anita’s work is awesome.
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Very nice to see a variety of art blogs, many different kinds than I usually look at. Thanks!!
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Awesome work Anita! I’ve got an art blog of my own, mainly based on anime art and fanart from lots of different artists. Do check out my site. Thanks 🙂
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All great blogs! Tokidoki in particular is a true world class urban explorer and it’s great to see her getting some due! 🙂
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Thank you so much for mentioning my site!! Have been following rabirius since forever and will check out the others.
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Check out Art & Science blogs too – the happening thing right now. I follow WordPress blogger Adrein Lucca, and offer crossover themes on my own blog too.
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I’ve been following Museworthy for some time now because it’s always interesting, educational, and fun.
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Very nice and interesting article.
I have started a blog about video games seen from an artistic point of view (and what specific atrtistic elements it brings to the overall concept of art).
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Awesome! I have loved Simfo for my WordPress.com art blog. Perfect to allow followers to see past posts easily.
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Thanks so much for the feature! I was not expecting this at all! Cheers.
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Very nice, interesting and refreshing article.
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Thank you for mentioning my blog – and my phone boxes!
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This was a great article! It was so cool seeing all the art blogs wordpress has. I gotta check them out..
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There’s some really great art and art blogs – great to discover some more. Good post, thank you 🙂
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Thank you very much for mentioning me.
I also really like the other blogs you chose to present here.
Greetings,
rabirius.
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Excellent selection, I’ll enjoy perusing these, thanks!
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Thanks for the mention, Ben! I’m documenting NYC currently, and then will head to another street art Mecca…Miami. 🙂 You’re awesome and you’ve got me checking out the other blogs you mentioned. Thanks again – mucho appreciated.
btw…I’m… TOKIDOKI. 🙂
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Enjoy Miami! Looking forward to see your future photos.
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