What is Vernacular Creativity

This chapter presents the unique case of deviantART.com – a popular social networking and image-sharing platform for artists. The chapter introduces and describes the platform, its history, and some of the features the platform offers. It forwards a brief summation of current research, outlines issues emerging from that research, explores the strength and weaknesses of that research, and discusses some of the many difficulties related to researching the platform and its members. The chapter includes a discussion of “creativity” and the economically centric rhetoric and misconceptions latent in hyped popular discourse surrounding the rise of a “creative economy.” A discussion of educational issues from an art education perspective is also included in the chapter, which concludes with a presentation of larger social and policy issues related to deviantART.com.