artists
advanced wix website design
Father and daughter painters were unhappy with their Wordpress site, which was very slow to load (see video in gallery) and had formatting issues on most pages. The Wordpress site also devoted very little space to the artwork, instead giving more than 1/3 of each page to oddly formatted blog posts.
The new site's content is centered on the artwork and the artist's process. The color palette was selected by the client.
This site took around 1 year to complete. It features their entire catalog of artwork - 170 different paintings made over a 40 year period.
One challenge was the artists wanted each artwork detail page to include cropped sections of the main artwork, so visitors could see the detail. They provided high resolution images of the main artwork and the cropped sections. I had to create a version of the main artwork with a brightly colored square showing where the cropped image came from. The system of creating the full image with crop mark was like piecing together a 1,000 piece puzzle because these paintings are so complex.
Another challenge was making sure each artwork detail page had all the necessary details, such as which artist created it, the year, the location, the season, the type of environment, the subject matter, the size, and if it was sold or available for purchase. I created a Wix CMS database to store all the details, which allowed us to had a search/filter function on the artwork catalog pages.
technical
elements
Transfer from Wordpress, Wix CMS, Wix Stores, Wix Galleries, Wix Forms
design elements
extensive photo editing, fonts, color palette chosen with artists
interactive elements
Art catalog has option to filter by multiple categories, Zoom for Detail
writing + editing
edited existing content, re-wrote artist bios, wrote new contentÂ
gallery
The deer has economic and spiritual significance in both Choctaw and Scottish cultures. It is the deer that provides sustenance, clothing, and a means of trade. For the Choctaw, the deer also signifies compassion. And both cultures see the deer as a reminder of cyclical patterns, regeneration, resilience, restoration, healing, growth, and guidance.
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And though both cultures hold these ideas of the deer, I chose the name Deer Heart specifically because the Choctaw people embody these ideas. They walked the Trail of Tears knowing they would face hardship and death but they had a vision of health, balance, and rejuvenation for the Choctaw people. They show us what is possible when you are resilient through dark times and develop an ability to quickly adapt to change. A mere 4,000 people survived the walk. But the Trail of Tears did not destroy them. It made them more compassionate and giving. And now they are the third largest tribe in the United States, with over 200,000 enrollees located around the world. Their resilience and adaptability, combined with compassion and love of fellow man, allowed the Choctaw Nation to thrive despite the great adversity they faced.
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I try to follow in my ancestors' footsteps by having my work begin from a place of compassion. My intent is to help small business owners find resiliency and develop strategy that allows them to adapt to change. I want to help members of my community overcome the struggles they face, restore their passion for their work, and develop the tools they need to not just survive dark times, but come out of it stronger.