Beginning a new chapter with the Collage Art Collective

Big news: I'm moving my collage-art Facebook group to a new community forum - the Collage Art Collective. This is the story of why.

It's time to get off Facebook – for good

Four years ago I joined Facebook for one reason: to participate in Groups. Facebook has many amazing art groups that I have been a part of and have enjoyed greatly. I myself, started my own art group, Vintage Gluebooks and Pages, in May of 2017. Three years later we have grown close to 7.5k members, I am proud to say, which has served as a place to share collage art and get inspiration from each other; to participate in group art projects and postcard swaps; and a place to do group lessons on improving our collage-art skills.

My intention was to keep my time on Facebook “strictly business”, but as more old friends discovered my presence, I wasn't able to avoid the lure of keeping up. After a while, I was spending more time (wasting my time, actually) on my personal feed, rather than participating in groups.

I don't like Facebook, and I really don't like Mark Zuckerberg. I object to:

• the business model of putting profits before the health of society.

• their hands-off approach to the publication of misinformation.

• users having to sacrifice their privacy so that Facebook can mine their personal data.

• the incredible amount of ads that are displayed

I wanted to close my Facebook account for years, but I couldn't because I had been running a successful Facebook group, and essentially, I would be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”. In the meantime, I looked. I looked for a group-platform replacement. I looked at forums but they were too dull and boring. I looked at competitors of Facebook, but the cost to run a site, plus a poor layout, and general “look and feel” didn't come close to what I was accustomed to. I couldn't find anything that would suit me and my group.

Finally, in the spring of 2020, I discovered a platform called Mighty Networks. The platform that is offered to users is easy to navigate, and just as importantly, it looks and runs great! Through flexible customization, I'm able to organize topics, courses, small groups, and events. I've signed up for my own site, and I'm in love with the network I've begun to build. I can't wait to launch it in a few short weeks.

So, what does that mean for my Facebook group? It means that I am archiving the group and it will no longer be active after July 1, 2020. If you are a member, you will no longer be able to post. No new members will be accepted. The group and the information will not be removed, however, so members may access older posts, if desired.

I wont disappear from social media entirely. I will continue to be around on Instagram, and even continue to keep my business page on Facebook, though I won't be maintaining it much. My goal is to get myself off of day-to-day usage, so that means spending as little time as possible there.

The new platform

My new art platform is called the Collage Art Collective. It's free to join and I will continue to do many of the things offered in the Facebook group:

• weekly collage assignments – every week use the 5 prompts, plus bonus to create a collage

• take3 – every month receive a downloadable page of vintage ephemera and create your custom collage that you share by photo. It's neat to see all the different collages that have been created with the same images.

• Sets of 3 – creating a set of 3 ATCs sharing a theme or collage elements.

In addition to that, I will continue to offer postcard swaps, though participation will now cost $5. This will pay for return postage to the participant, and for handling. I love doing the postcard swaps. They are a lot of fun to do, and I love to see all the wonderful pieces that come in.

This new platform is what I've been searching for all along because it brings people together though

• content

• community

• events

• paid memberships

• online courses

It's possible to have a single network that does all of this, under one roof. I also like that the layout is very user friendly, and flexible for our creative needs.

I'm super excited about this new place for sharing collage art and participating in projects that will help us learn and continue to develop art skills. I welcome you to join if you would like. Here's the link to the Collage Art Collective, which can also be found directly from my website homepage.