Provenance, History and Process

The Collaborative Art Group began on Facebook (FB) on February 22, 2009. It has sixteen members and is divided into three subgroups; Abas Nightingale, Barnum’s Animals, Dreamers Garden. Most members are new to FB and are learning the logistics and nuances of posting, using the bulletin board and making comments on images. The group has officers with titles like Chief Pretty Officer, Social Secretary and Random Chaos for All Officer.

Many of the artists know one another and more than half are based in the San Diego area. It’s an old-fashioned mail art group in that members work on each piece circulating in their group. The twist here is that we are also a FB digital community with enhanced communications that create a provenance for the project and the artworks.

Artists usually work alone so creating a community forum were they can see images and comment on artwork is very gratifying. The members are involved on different levels some are missing in action while others are posting pictures, messages and commenting on the images daily. It feels like we're taking part in a Dada game or experiment. The group is closed to keep the size manageable.

Several of the members have agreed to participate in an exhibition to be hosted by the Escondio Municipal Gallery in 2010.

Here is a sampling of the current work.

Comments and conversations are one of my favorite things about this project. Here is an example of how the comments and conversations go. "Dragon" was created by Stacie Greene and has been worked on by three out of the five artists in Abas Nightingales so far. Look at the comments and see how the excitement builds as the work gets closer to being finished. Double click on the images to get a closer look.

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