Artgrok Clarity and Objectivity in the Arts

Creating an ArtGrok Artwork Entry

**The Process in detail:**

Before actually starting a new ArtGrok Artwork entry (AA), you need to think about the artwork you want to share on the ArtGrok site.  (See "step-by-step" process below for the actual steps of the on-screen process once you have your thoughts in order.)  
 
There are three areas of thinking and information you need to be ready for, in order to create an AA entry:

1.  What **type** of art is it?   Does the artwork have a metaphysical emotional theme?  Is it a thematic artwork, or is it in one of the other categories displaying a pleasurable esthetic experience, but no theme?
1.  If it has a theme, identify in a sentence or two what that theme is as precisely as possible.
1.  General information about the work: creators names, dimensions, creation date, an image, a clip from a movie, an excerpt from a literary work, etc., and other features of the work that fit into the form provided for a new AA entry.

Regarding item 1, if your proposed AA entry is clearly a Product-design entry, or a Decorative work, the answer to simple.  Item 1 is settled, and you can proceed to item 3.

If your proposed entry belongs to one of the traditional ‘fine” art-categories – painting, sculpture, novel, poem, building, play, movie, opera, etc., you have to decide how to answer the fundamental question regarding any theme existing in an artwork.  This is not always easy, since it is not a common practice for most people to think about what the underlying meaning is of an artwork.   We are good at experiencing the meaning, and the emotions, but often have a hard time naming that meaning clearly.   For guidance on deciding whether a work is Thematic or Experiential, you can refer to three sources on ArtGrok and one outside source:  
  
- Look at ArtGrok Artworks (AA) that are already listed on ArtGrok and read some of the descriptions and reasons for each item being in either the Thematic or Experiential category.  
 
- The help file: "How Art is Organized on ArtGrok"

- When an AA entry is started there, if you scroll down to the "Theme" field, you will see a group of examples for specific artworks that may help you get the right approach to identifying the theme of the artwork you are working on.
 
- You can read two articles that do a great job of showing how this is done: *Getting More Enjoyment from Art You Love* by Dianne Durante in *The Objective Standard* Summer 2006, available at *www.theobjectivestandard.com* as a back issue for purchase.  Or in Ms. Durante’s *How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings* from the same journal.

Once you have reached some clarity about the theme, the next introspective effort is needed to name the actual overall emotion(s) that the artwork projects.  This is what is called the sense-of-life emotion, the all-encompassing emotion that is integral to the artwork and expresses what the creator thinks and feels about the world -- his worldview.  Examples of sense-of-life emotions can be seen either by looking at other entries in ArtGrok, or by looking at the examples on the AA entry form.  
 
 
**STEP-BY-STEP process on-screen:**

1.  After logging in, you will see on the left side of the home page "**Create New Entry**", select that.
1.  From the ArtGrok four-part screen that appears, make the initial **three** choices:

    1. Select which basic art-type the individual work belongs to (*Thematic, Experiential, Decorative, or Product-design*)

    1.  Within one of those four types, which art-category your proposed artwork belongs to (for example, choosing “*Thematic*”, you might then choose “*Musical Arts*”)

    1.  From the flyout menu of the category chosen, *click* on which subcategory it belongs to (for example, *Thematic > Musical Arts > Vocal-songs*).

1. That set of three choices takes you to a new screen: the *ArtGrok Artwork entry* **form**.  
1. Start filling out the form.  Though many of the fields are common to all artworks, there are special fields that are unique to the choice you made (since, for example, a movie or musical work will have a *duration*, but not *dimensions*, as a sculpture or building or automobile would have).  

    1. Click on the "TOGGLE HELP" button just above the "name of work" field to make sure all the help information is visible.   This help provides examples and guidance for the specific type of artwork you are entering.  
    1. Follow down the list of the form, answering each item as best as possible.  You don't have to answer them in order, and you can skip any you are not sure of yet, and come back either immediately, or at a later date, when you get more info or have thought about some aspect more.  
    1. Once you've entered some or all of the info, click SAVE at the bottom of the form.  This saves all your data in ArtGrok, and also returns you to a new page showing the tentative results of your new AA entry.  You can look it over and see what is missing, or whether you want to make changes.  If you've already added a cover image, that will show up as well.  By choosing the EDIT tab, that will take you back to the form, so you can continue any additions, deletions or changes.  You can do this process of saving, viewing the results, and going back into the Edit tab as many times as you wish during the process of making a new entry.

1.  Finalizing your AA entry:  
 When you are ready to send the entry to ArtGrok for review and publishing, you should locate the section called "Status of ArtGrok Artwork Entry".  It is about 2/3rds of the way down the form, above the "media" and "image" sections.   There you will find a "moderator review" button.   Choose that button, and if you have any comments or questions for the moderator, enter them in the field.  Choose save for one last time.
This will change your AA Entry into one that is now sent to the moderator.  An email will go to the moderator and usually within a day the entry will either be published or an email will come back to you with comments, questions, etc. before publication.

 If during your entry efforts, you can't figure out one or more items, but you have most of the form entered, you can always send the entry to the ArtGrok moderator and tell him/her that you are in doubt or stumped about some aspect of the entry.

 While you are waiting for any answers the moderator might have, you can always go back into the AA entry and add or modify items if you learn more, or think of further items relating to this artwork.  You will find on the home page an entry on the left "Manage Draft Entries" which will give you a list of any drafts you are working on, or have sent to the moderators.