Okay, so yesterday I told you about how a little article on Creston’s wacky time zone gets my phone ringing every time someone, anywhere, does something with their own time zone. That’s fun. But the real highlight of the job is being at the top of the Google search when someone out there in cyberspace is looking for information about the people and stories of Creston itself.
Creating content for online audiences is pretty straightforward. Making sure they can find it when they want it…that’s a whole other ball of wax, especially for someone like me who grew up in the pre-digital age. So when we manage to get to the top of the search engines, we tend to notice it.
Here’s the best example:
These two paintings, and the one at the top of the page, are all by local artist Margaret Moore, and they all featured in an exhibit, called Art/History, that we presented at the library back in 2011. Then we put it online.
Margaret Moore sold or gave away many of her paintings, and they have wound up scattered all across the continent. Often, they’re in the houses or attics of older people, who are downsizing or moving or passing away, and their children or grandchildren find the paintings and want to know more about them.
Their Google seatch inevitably leads them to us. Every few months, I get an inquiry – What can I tell them about the artist? Do I know who the portrait might be of? What might be the value of the painting?
These are just a few of the paintings people have asked about:
None of these have made their way into the collection – most of the time, the inquirers just want to know more about a painting they intend to keep. We have added a couple to the collection though, over the years.
This is the most recent one. It turned up at an estate sale in Cary, South Carolina, and the purchaser donated it to us earlier this year. Like almost all of Margaret Moore’s subjects, this lady is unknown – Margaret travelled extensively to paint First Nations Elders, who were her favourite subjects, but if she documented who or where they were, that information seems to have rarely travelled with the paintings – but it is an excellent example of her work.
