The Medium is the Message

A few years ago I started making artwork with a gallery setting in mind (rather than Instagram.) That completely changed the kinds of things I was making.

I started the series My Brain on Motherhood and have been in over 10 fine art exhibitions. That never would have happened if I kept making art “for” the Internet.

The medium is the message.

The platform that we create for work for informs the work.

Earlier this year, I stopped writing paywalled posts for paying supporters and started sending letters in the mail.

Changing the medium of the message has made that work feel more personal and also more like human connection and less like work. So I’ve been wondering how to bring that energy to what I’m making here.

I’m contemplating the ways in which I might go analogue with my newsletter in the new year.

To test it out I’ve typed up I am not a brand. I’m a human. as a zine.

This will be going out to my paid supporters this month as an experiment. (You can sub for as little as $3 a month via Patreon.) I’ll might alternate letters and zines depending on what I have to say.

What’s interesting to me is how much this is about intention.

Once made the work with an art gallery in mind - I can then share it on Instagram. (My “I’m Fine” cross stitch actually went low key viral.)

But the frame in which I formulate ideas changes what I make.

So when I say I’m going “analogue” I’m thinking of creating physical zines on my typewriter. That’s the medium. I’ll send paper copies to paying supporters (a sliding scale starting at $3 a month.)

Once I’ve made that I can then archive digital versions of that zine on my website or Internet Archive (like this). I’ll send fewer emails (monthly or quarterly) that point directly to my website and / or compost heap. So the email newsletter becomes a channel to share my work and not the medium of the work itself.

(How does that sound Seth Werkheiser?)

I’m less and less comfortable having the work that I make live on someone else’s platform and this is an experiment I am excited to try.

I’ve been circling around this idea for months now and I finally discovered Mail Blog and it inspired me to give it a go.

If you’re considering how creating for the Internet in general is informing your work I’d really recommend the book The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan.

In the Studio ✂️

Meanwhile here are a few updates from my creative ecosystem.

First up, Entwined has gone to the editor!

I’m also taking a course on sensory regulation with my partner. David and I are painting these sensory regulation cards and I’m very excited about them. (I don’t have it handy, but let me know if you’d like an affiliate link.)

A lot of creative energy is also going into creating spaces for learning.

And I’m also using our new laser printer to design our own handwriting sheets. (We’re saving the paper for a recycled paper bookmark project I’ve been ideating for about 5 years.)

I also made this Wheel of Time inspired snowflake for WoTtober

In the Garden 🌱

Our garden is completely feral.

But these volunteer tomatoes are VERY happy.

Books 📖

Inspired by Hayley Dunlop I thought I might share more of the picture books we’re reading. This one has been a big hit. (No loose teeth yet, but we’re preparing to understand when it does happen.)

Bear’s Loose Tooth

Digital Foraging 🍁

You can see another example of The Medium is the Message by these flashbacks to the time I was a “YouTuber.” I’m exhausted just thinking about trying to mask as much as I did in 2016.

Seven years past.

How to Make Leaf Rubbings on YouTube

Eight years past.

October Favorites 2016 on YouTube

via Double Double Toil and Trouble an October roundup post on Substack from 2022.

The Compost Heap is free to all. Thanks for exchanging your time and energy. If you’re feeling particularly generous here are other ways you can lend your support.

The Internet is like a tin can telephone. It’s just a rusty can until someone talks back.

What are you making? What are you growing? What are you finding inspiring?

Hit reply and let me know.

This newsletter is a curated collection of tidbits from my overgrown Compost Heap (or digital garden.) Rummage around, turn the heap, and see what you can find for yourself. 🪱🐛🌱

Illustrations by Gracie Klumpp of Leave the Fingerprints. 🐞


Powered by beehiiv