artspan contemporary art
ABOUT ARTSPAN
The mission of Artspan is to serve the entire visual arts community:
Both Producers and Consumers of Art
Founded in 1999, Artspan is a major contemporary art destination and the leading provider of premium artist, artisan and photographers websites. Individual Artspan member sites have their own domain names and can be reached by simply entering the domain name in the browser search window. They are also accessible with the Artspan keywords and categories searches, and can be found through the alphabetical, regional and category/subcategory Directories. Member work is also seen on the Portals pages, which serve as gateways to resources associated with distinct genres, media and regions.
Artspan members are professional artists and artisans, and their sites show only original work and prints.
Visitors find Artspan.com because of its visibility and high search engine rankings. They then go through to the Artspan member sites by clicking on the images showing in the search results pages or in the directories.
It is the ease of using the search functions combined with the quality of the Artspan.com offering that has made Artspan.com a preferred destination for collectors, consultants, designers and others with specific needs, as well as for anyone interested in the world of contemporary art.
The individual Artspan member websites are elegant, full-functioned, and make it easy to update the sites and market the work. Artspan serves its artist members with a low cost but complete solution to their Internet marketing needs. There is no other art website with as complete a package serving both producers and consumers of contemporary art.
The Prints-on-Demand and individual Shopping Carts features were the biggest developments of 2009. The year 2010 is seeing the continuing evolution of Artspan as we introduce the new Artspan.com design, new templates for full and associate members and continue our work on enhancements for the existing member sites.
artspan at a glance
Founded 1999- 3,700 member sites plus art gallery and association sites.
- #1 ranking for "contemporary art" by Yahoo and Google
- 171,000 visitors and 1mm page views per month* (and growing fast!)
- 6+ million "hits"
Meet The Team
Eric Sparre
Founder and Managing Director
Artspan.com grew out of Eric's experience (and difficulties) in setting up a website in 1995. He was an artist for many years, exhibited widely, and was reviewed in the major art magazines. He considers Artspan to be the most challenging experience of his life.
Caoimhin Barry
Chief Operating Officer
Caoimhin Barry - a descendant of Dublin with titanic skill. Despite being hampered by a distinctly un-american name has managed to successfully integrate into Artspan, bringing a much needed accent variation to the team. He's responsible for developing many great features but is not responsible for any bugs.
Joan K. Smith
Vice President, Marketing
A native of Minnesota who long ago relocated to the relative warmth of the great northeast, Joan brings her estimable knowledge of arts marketing and online media to Artspan after many years of working to promote artists in the nonprofit realm. An artist herself, she has channeled her obsession with correcting the grammar and punctuation of total strangers into updating the Twitter accounts of her terriers, Alvar and Chico.
Denise Glover
Manager, Administrative Services
Denise Glover started out as an Artspan member back in 2002, back when she still had time to make art. She lives in Point Pleasant PA and keeps member support and the Artspan office on track and running smoothly.
Kim Kraft
Tech Team
Kim Kraft (no relation to the Mac n Cheese folk) brings his own brand of "geekery" and over a decade of programming experience to the team. His primary tasks include fixing the bugs that Caoimhin didn't develop as well as generating new ones of his own, and he is single-handedly responsible for increasing the average hair length of the ArtSpan staff by 42%.
Lou Sparre
Video Content Editor
Louis Sparre applies his background in video and music to great effect in creating multimedia tools for Artspan including tutorial videos, advertising and member features. He also contributes his creative efforts towards new template designs and Artspan's ongoing series of Facebook events and competitions.
Mariana Sparre
Designer
An artist and designer, Mariana is intimately involved in the continued evolution of the Artspan site design,and in advertising and creating new member templates. Her free time is spent caring for her pet groundhog, Phillipe.
Ruth Bohlander
Content Editor
Ruth Ann Bohlander is an Art Historian who specializes in Byzantine visual culture. She has worked in several museums and galleries but is most happy digging in dirt for artifacts. Ruth brings a formidable knowledge of contemporary art to her work with Artspan members and creative marketing for the company.