Tag: women in web3

Garden of Venus: A Women in Web3 Art Exhibit

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Here’s the press release for GARDEN OF VENUS! An exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio that combines digital art and music with traditional art-making.

NOVEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 3, @ MAHALL’S GALLERY

NFTs have become a way for women to yield more power in technology and creative arts. The goal of our exhibition is to challenge the perception of value. Is women’s art more valuable in the ether or the flesh? Women are extremely underrepresented in traditional art genres such as solo shows and the secondary market. 

The three exhibitors are Arabella Proffer, Tessa LeBaron, and Jenna Fournier (AKA The Super Psychedelic Sisters). Their artwork plays on themes of transformation, beauty, and unseen worlds. Art is often used to integrate psychedelic experiences, transcending language, culture, and experience. Unlike typical tech-art exhibits with screens in a white cube, we will create an immersive environment, displaying traditional paintings alongside crypto art.

Despite the ability to break stigmas, women only make up 16% of the NFT space. This trend is rapidly changing, women in the crypto art space do not want a repeat of the traditional art world, and even worse statistics. Resident engagement and education is our second major goal, and part of our mission is to teach the public that crypto art is approachable and here to stay.

Building on the educational aspects, a major component of our project is a free zine with a punk rock edge which will be distributed throughout Greater Cleveland during the run of the show. This “info zine” is an easy guide to NFTs and how to get involved as a creator at any level. It serves to also educate on a technology that will soon be coming for everyone. It is based on Arabella’s popular digital guide, which is free of jargon and techy talk.

This will be the first and only women-led NFT exhibition in the state of Ohio and this part of the country to date.

Mahall’s Art Gallery opening reception, Friday Nov. 4th, 6pm – 10pm, 2022 Specialty themed cocktails will be made for the evening.  The first 50 visitors will get a chance to receive a free NFT (no crypto needed) marking the occasion.

13200 Madison Ave, Lakewood, OH 44107 Contact arabellaproffer@gmail.com   

Part of this exhibition is made possible by The Ohio Arts Council.

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Becoming an NFT Collector

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People assume all NFT aesthetics are the same. Or at least, seemingly low-effort illustrations or what’s called PFP (profile picture) derivatives. Well, yes a lot really are low-effort — but, I’m here to tell you that the stereotype is untrue. An NFT in the Web3 space can be anything from a piece of fine art as a static image, to an animated GIF, or sound file.

There are whole genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres; Black and White photography NFT, Abstract NFT, Collage NFT, Minimalism, Female characters, Dark Art NFT, AI Generated, boobs (animated, pixelated, all colors, all types), Voxel NFT, Glitch NFT, TrashArt NFT, Erotic NFT, Short Film NFT, and Cats!

It isn’t just bro-ham dudes with Apes and dumb sneakers. There are groups for women’s mental health, LGBTQ animators, West African photographers, and crypto newcomers. Community is a huge aspect of the NFT space and considered a major selling point for a lot of collectors — especially when it comes to those PFP projects with hundreds of options.

As for what to buy? Well, buy what you like or seems interesting, and mainly what you can afford. I buy things I like by artists I follow on Twitter, artists I’ve known in the meat-world, and young new Ukrainian artists whose access to funds has been cut. I have also bought into several projects. One of them I am creating my own derivative of for my own purposes. Because yes, they gave IP rights for the particular image I own!

I know people selling erotic fiction on Objkt with Tezos. People will make a recording of themselves reading a poem as the hidden utility. Some pair art with a physical object, and most make their NFTs high-resolution so collectors can print them at home (I do print my collected works often). I give permission for printing rights with my work as the utility.

I got myself a razor thin 4K monitor from Samsung and installed it just for my motion NFTs that I have collected, along with my gallery wall. I love it, and play it on loop.

Some choose to part with their NFT in exchange for the physical version. Tristan Eaton and Damien Hirst are both experimenting with “burning” where the NFT is destroyed after the physical is received to control the supply and prevent fakes. I recently received my turned-in NFT in the form of a 24×24″ signed print!

But some choose to hold onto or, “hodl” their NFTs as a longer-term investment. You will see the term “utility” thrown around, and it is just another way of saying “perks” to buying the NFT.

And when it comes to overall performance, if you are intending to flip or trade, artist 1/1 NFTs tend to perform better than 90% of the PFP projects out there right now. I know some people get really into the numbers and study Etherscan.io like crazy, but as with physical art, buy what you like, not what you think will be worth more later.

In the end, what speaks to you, quality, and reputation should win out. Because as we know, the physical art market isn’t exactly a fair game.

What is A Crypto Wallet?

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Remember in the early and mid 90s when access to the internet took a while, made awful noises, and overall was a tad janky? Well, we are sort of in that space all over again in the age of blockchain. Accessing the blockchain and any way of creating, trading, or selling NFTs requires a crypto wallet, and I’m here to tell you it may take a few minutes — which adds to the suspense — but you will get the hang of it.

Now, it isn’t an actual wallet, but rather, your *bank account* so to speak. It lives on your browser, and gives you access to your assets and web3 websites that you want to interact with. I don’t recommend anyone doing any of this on their phone.

Now, you can get what is known as a cold wallet which is this fun thing. It’s an option if you have a lot of crypto or tokens and you don’t want to be hacked. As hot wallets connect to the Internet (browsers), they’re considered less safe compared to cold wallets that are always offline. However, hot wallets are still safer than storing crypto on centralized exchanges.

There are two wallets I use: MetaMask and Kukai. MetaMask is king, and Kukai is the duke, kind of. They each access a different blockchain (Etheruem/Polygon and Tezos). For the sake of playing around I recommend the Tezos blockchain and Kukai wallet if you are a total newbie. They are easy, you can sync with Google, and it is dirt cheap!

These crypto wallets provide self-custody, which means users can hold crypto in a way where they have access only to the assets. Every time you log in or make a transaction, it will go through your crypto wallet. No one can access it, aside to put money in! They cannot take money out unless you give them your “seed phrase” and DON’T EVER DO THAT! I did it once because someone pretended to be from OpenSea, and mirrored a whole help desk website. Do not ever give your logins out and do not store them on your computer — write them down.

Your wallet is where you can see your assets, whatever those may be.

This is unlike storing coins in accounts on centralized exchanges like Coinbase, Binance.US etc, where the exchange is holding their user’s assets. But, for the purposes of collecting NFTs, we don’t need to get ahead of ourselves and worry about exchanges, investing, staking etc.

Crypto wallets are very handy for charities, and for anyone who wants to send money to a relative whose country has been attacked, like Ukraine.

You can share your crypto address with anyone! I even made mine into vendettabella.eth to make things simple instead of the long numeric address. Speaking of which, always copy/paste addresses. Never type them manually, because one typo, and that NFT or crypto will go to another person’s wallet. Why would you provide your wallet address to the world? Well, presents! Airdrops, contests, and charity are all reasons.

More reading on airdrops.

More reading on wallets etc.

  • What is A Crypto Wallet?

    What is A Crypto Wallet?

    Your wallet is where you can see your assets, whatever those may be.

  • WTF are NFTs Zine

    WTF are NFTs Zine

    Our exhibition has ended, our zines were distributed around Cleveland, and it was such a wonderful time meeting people who are interested in blockchain and the future of art. The “WTF are NFTs” zine is now a PDF download here for $2 If you are curious about NFTs and don’t know where to start, this…

  • Garden of Venus: A Women in Web3 Art Exhibit

    Garden of Venus: A Women in Web3 Art Exhibit

    This will be the first and only women-led NFT exhibition in the state of Ohio and this part of the country to date.

  • Becoming an NFT Collector

    Becoming an NFT Collector

    There are whole genres and sub-genres; Black and White photography NFT, Abstract NFT, collage NFT, minimalism, female characters, Dark Art NFT, AI Generated, boobs (animated, pixelated, all colors, all types), and cats.

Women in Art Stats

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Fun Art World Facts:

Of the 3,050 galleries in the Artsy database, 10% represent not a single woman artist, while only 8% represent more women than men. Half represent 25% or fewer women.

  • Art created by women sells for almost 50% less than art made by men.
  • According to a recent report, only five to 15% of current NFT artist accounts are run by women.
  • Out of the top 10 most expensive NFT artworks sold to this date, only one belonged to a female creator: Grimes.
  • While only an estimated 5% of women own NFTs, and 12-16% are creators or founders of collections, the impact of female-led NFT projects is quite large and growing every day.