User talk:ColinFine

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Articles for Creation backlog drive

Hello ColinFine:

WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive in August!
The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than a month of outstanding reviews from the current 3+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 August 2026 through 31 August 2026.

You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.

Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.
There is a backlog of over 5000 pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:37, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

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Galleries and museums

I read (here in the teahouse): Please note that publications from any body of which [the subject of a draft] is a member, or of any gallery or museum where she has exhibited, is not regarded as independent, and so will not contribute to establishing notability.

Where a "gallery" is primarily a (would-be) retailer, I agree; where it could be called an "art museum" (cf "national galleries"), I disagree. I wouldn't claim that museums are free from questionable efforts to boost (or conceal) this or that artist (or art trend); but this doesn't have me deprecate museums in general. (Similarly, I've encountered some terrible books from major university presses. I'm now well aware that their books can be poor, but I still start with the assumption that a UP book is worthwhile.)

I've only ever created a measly two GAs, and the more recent by far (2023) is Teikō Shiotani. At the time, there were 5⅔ books devoted to him or his works; I based the article on 3⅔. Of the latter, the "two-thirds" book was published in conjunction with a museum exhibition; the three are catalogues of museum exhibitions. This didn't worry me or, I think, the GA reviewer.

Recently I've been working on an article that's a long way short of any GAN. Secondary sources are sparse, aside from two catalogues of exhibitions at noncommercial galleries. I've been making much use of one of these catalogues. (I lack access to a copy of the other.) Is this ... very bad of me? -- Hoary (talk)^WWU 👍︎ 23:20, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Hmm. Yes, I guess I'm overstating it. The bulk of publications about an artist and their work from somewhere that exhibits them will not be independent, but will come from the artist or their associates; but there are sometimes independently-researched essays. It will be important to determine which category the cited material falls into.

Thanks for pointing that out, @Hoary. ColinFine (talk) 16:48, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

Well, a considerable percentage of publications about, say, a politician and their "work" (with or without those scare quotes) will come not from any authentically independent research but instead from the politician or their associates, via a more or less respected "independent" news source. But we'll usually accept what we get from, say, the Guardian, not merely because that source is plentiful, unhindered by a paywall and (often) the best that Google finds for us, but also because we start by assuming that the Guardian writer, sub-editor, etc will have applied a certain amount of their own scepticism to what they may have been fed by press secretaries, interns, spin doctors, etc. If a Guardian account is incompatible with some other, putatively credible account, then of course we can and should apply our own scepticism. Yes, the interwebs offer an awful lot of promotional and other twaddle about 20th/21st century art, and we shouldn't be too credulous; but neither, I think, need we be more demanding/cynical than about potential sources for other subject areas. -- Hoary (talk)^WWU 👍︎ 05:17, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Thanks!

	For helping a wikipedian!
	Thanks for your help! People like you make the web a better place This Name Isn't Available (talk) 21:43, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

WikiProject Yorkshire Newsletter - August 2026

Delivered August 2026 by MediaWiki message delivery.
If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, please add an N to the column against your username on the Project Mainpage.

20:33, 1 August 2026 (UTC)

Some baklava for you!

Have some baklava HelloImYourNeighbor (talk) 16:50, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Болшое спасибо! ColinFine (talk) 17:07, 10 August 2026 (UTC)