What young artists and designers do: multi-purpose web site by graphic artist Shannon Palmer

ShannonPalmerSkipgoArtistwithDaughter
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Shannon Palmer, like most artists, is never far from framing the world and editing and reproducing it via a T-shirt or manipulated photo or painting. Recently she and her pals have been roaming downtown Shreveport with cameras; they're examining the historic cityscape for telling detail.

What young artists do, though, is reach out across boundaries via a web site. The offhand tone of Palmer's web site puts her on the young artists' global map. In the beginning, they don't need galleries as much as digital links to like-minded web sites.

Today, artist-designers like Palmer reach out via the way they Don't look. There's a do-it-yourself ethic, a low-key consciousness that is apparent and appealing to a universe of young consumers.

Shirts or graphics or web site designs that are slick or sexy or full of rage mean little to them. They want something with a non-commital, observational cool. Palmer and her ilk don't talk about it, write it or try to analyze it. They just feel their considerable distance from the mainstream. And they find their buds mainly online, through sites like hers.