art | curate1k

hey ladies! today i've asked norah fron curate1k to share her amazing online art project with you. read on because it's a truly awesome idea!

hello isavirtue readers! my name is norah and i’m the girl behind curate1k, a blog dedicated to showcasing $1000 of affordable art each and every week. i’m passionate about emerging artists and young/new collectors, so i was thrilled when kaitlyn invited me to share the concept behind my site with all of you. (in her honor, i’m ditching capital letters and loving it!)

so, here's how it works: each week, i collect as close to $1000 worth of artwork as possible from all over the web. i aim to bring an attractive group of 4 - 6 pieces together under a loose theme and showcase a piece per day, with the final tally appearing on friday afternoons. a typical week might consist of four $250 limited editions, or a $900 painting combined with five $20 prints. anything goes, so long as i don't surpass 1k. if something catches a reader's eye, all they have to do is click on the piece to be taken to the site where it's being sold. as fellow lovers of art blogs, i'm sure you know the feeling of coming across an image that takes your breath away, followed by the chest-aching yearning to put it on your wall immediately. well, now you can!

i love the challenge of curating these weekly groups under such strict parameters. i have a dizzying amount of art bookmarked and i get so excited when an off-the-wall theme (like the wallpaper pieces featured here) comes together. i truly believe the very best way to develop your "eye" is to look at huge quantities of art, and i hope the constant stream of artwork on curate1k allows readers to hone in on their own personal aesthetic.

the other goal of my site is to make art collecting accessible. the internet already does a tremendous job of this, connecting artists with buyers on sites like etsy every day. but beyond convenience in collecting, i want to stress that it is 100% okay to just love art. it can be that simple. you don't have to have some fancy pants, intellectual reasoning behind it. it doesn't need to be a well-known artist from an expensive, intimidating gallery. Dozens of repins on pinterest confirming your good taste are not required. in my non-blogging life, I work with people making significant investments in artwork on a daily basis and the most reveling question i ask is: you are going to wake up and see this on your wall every day… does it make you happy? if the answer is yes, then that's enough.

i still remember the night my husband and i hung my first big purchase on the wall. i was too excited to even go to bed. i couldn't stop looking at it. smiling at it. i wish the same for all of you, and hope you find some inspiration, new favorite artists, or potential purchases through the pieces gathered on curate1k and all of the other fantastic art blogs out there.

{the pieces featured here were part of a wallpaper-themed week on curate1k. they range in price from $15 to $850 and equal $996 all together. for the record, i am already extremely jealous of whoever buys the bat!}

*all of the above images can be found in this week of curate1k