Art and creativity have been an integral part of Scottish culture for far longer than records could ever show. From Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet, to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the renowned Scottish architect and designer, there has been no shortage of artistic ability in this country. Even those who do not showcase their creative abilities still enjoy art in other ways such as purchasing it or viewing it in galleries.
Market stalls, art displays, and workshops have often played a key role in keeping local art and artists’ communities alive. Sadly, due to the rise of social media platforms, buying art locally has slowly become less popular due to platforms like Etsy making it easier to find personalised art from places all over. Smaller artists now struggle to keep an audience for their work due to oversaturation on similar platforms.
An artist from Fife who has recently started trying to expand his work and audience, Marcus W Sneddon, believes that traditional stalls and showcases of local art need to have a comeback.
He believes that there should be a more reliant and active art community that supports inclusivity for all. He feels that, especially within his local art club, there is not enough flexibility in the clubs’ schedule for unretired people like himself.
“When I was working certain shifts there wasn’t enough time slots for me to go to the club and I would miss it every few weeks and go back not knowing what we had learned the week before,” he said.
Clubs and workshops are unable to run without interest from the public and part of the problem may be that many now turn to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to learn skills and grow as artists themselves.
Online platforms are an important tool for helping artists connect to local creative minds and build networks together to support each other. Although real-life community building is so important to keep local artists thriving, they should not be seeing social media as something to fear but more as an advantage to help them build and connect.
Local art is not a dying thing, but if we want to sustain art and culture in areas like Fife and Stirling then tools like social media must be embraced.
Featured Image Credit: Pexels
Writer at Brig Newspaper
2nd year Journalism and English student
