Details about the event for artists, pdf file.

To sign up for HeartlandArts.Net membership, click here.

Dear Artists,

With the holidays closing in, we wanted to let everyone know about some upcoming opportunities for artists to get some exposure and hopefully SALES this holiday season. To get involved with HeartlandArts.Net events, please sign up now if you haven't already. Click here to learn more about member benefits.

We are keeping busy after the big Art Around the Square/Colorfest Art Trail weekend; in case you haven't seen pictures or heard about how it went, be sure to check the HeartlandArts.Net Artshows webpage.

Here's the current schedule:

Thursday, October 30 6-8pm: Artist Social at Rustle Hill Winery
Network with other artists, learn more about upcoming HeartlandArts.Net events, and get tips on selling in a downturn. If you have anything in particular you would like to suggest we talk about, any ideas for artists you think we should share, please let us know ahead of time! We will start the discussion portion of the evening around 6:30pm.

November 28-30, Holiday Art Bazaar
We are still in the planning stages but we are going to be attempting to work with select wineries and other venues along the wine trail to get art out in front of their visitors during their All Winery Open House event.

December 12, 2008
Art Around the Square in Carbondale

More information about these events in November and December to follow!

Regarding the call for art, we are looking for art not only for the events mentioned above, but also on an ongoing basis to place art in local wineries, rental lodging, businesses,etc. We have a lot of empty walls to fill so please let us know if you're interested!

Also, we are going to be doing a fundraiser with the Good Samaritan Ministries of Carbonale over the holidays. Their mission:

Good Samaritan Ministries is a tax-exempt organization, established in 1985 by Carbondale Interfaith Council, to provide services to the needy in the Carbondale area. We provide an emergency shelter, a transitional housing program, a soup kitchen, a food pantry, and an emergency assistance program. For safety reasons, persons using drugs and alcohol are not permitted to stay in the emergency shelter or transitional house.

We are most likely going to be auctioning off 2 or more items, one that will be on display at Art Lovers Trading Company, and one on display at one of the wineries, and we will also be running an online auction of the items, probably on Ebay. We are hoping to get a lot of people involved, so if you would like to participate or if you know anyone who would like to donate some art to be auctioned off for a good cause, please let us know or pass along this information.

Thanks! Again, if you haven't yet and would like to participate, please SIGN UP.

We enjoyed another artist social at the Red Ear in Alto Pass this past Thursday. A small group of artists sat together and got an interactive presentation and demonstration of Easy, Cheap and Dynamic Website options. Topics included:

• Setting up a Gmail account to get access to many excellent and free tools


• Setting up and updating your weblog on Blogger.com


• Easily updating and sharing your photos using Picasa


• Easily updating and sharing your Calendar in your Gmail account


• Pointers for sending commercial bulk email messages

To purchase a copy of the workshop materials, contact heartlandartsnet@gmail.com.

Here's a reminder about the second HeartlandArts.Net workshop and artist social coming up in Alto Pass on this Thursday, September 25. It's at the Red Ear, 65 N. Elm Street, 6-9pm. You can:

• Network with other artists.
• Get pointers for an inexpensive and easy-to-update website using blogs, online photo albums and calendars.
• Also hear about other website and online networking options.
• Browse the current exhibition: "image-makers and travel".

$10 fee includes refreshments and printed workshop materials. Please email back to heartlandartsnet@gmail.com or call (618) 713 2896 if you can to reserve a workshop space, otherwise hope to see you there!

Art Classes/Classes and Workshops:

Artist Social and Workshop at the Red Ear in Alto Pass, Thursday, September 25, 6-9pm. Network with other artists and get pointers for an inexpensive and easy-to-update website using blogs, online photo albums and calendars. $10 fee includes refreshments and printed workshop materials. Workshop space limited. More information on www.HeartlandArts.Net or call 713 2896.

Here's our theory. These days, you don't need a flashy, expensive website to get your point across. As long as it looks nice, is easy to navigate and provides all the information your fans need, it's doing its job.

You need something that's easily updatable without having to call a web designer and pay up every time you want to add some text. As an artist, you need something that's easy to integrate with a photo album and a calendar to keep your fans updated about your shows. Most of the tools you need to accomplish this and still look good are practically free. A domain and website hosting will cost you about $60 per year, and some basic design and setup work should not run more than a couple hundred dollars for a few informative pages.

Once your website is set up, as long as you know how to log in and check your email, you're going to be able to update your website yourself. We'll show you how! Just don't miss this workshop.

Space is limited so be sure to call or email and reserve a space today: 713 2896, heartlandartsnet@gmail.com.

It's been more than a week since the first artist social, and things are moving along quickly! About 20 artists showed up, and we enjoyed consuming a lovely spread of snacks and beverages and getting caught up with old friends and meeting new ones. We had a little Q&A session where we provided information about our plans we got a lot of great feedback and questions from everyone present.
I think artists were as interested by the space at the Red Ear as about HeartlandArts.Net! The Red Ear has a lot of potential to become a key gallery space. Thanks to everyone that attended!

Link to these photos on our web album, and check back for more pictures to come.

Hi, this is going to be the new artist social blog.