WELCOME!
Fall, 2000

Welcome to our brand new, semi-annual, "Monhegan Art Journal On-Line" newsletter! We know, we know - you're saying to yourself, just what I need. Another newsletter. Well, we promise to keep it short and we're going to try to make it as informative and useful as possible. But we want to keep you abreast of what we are up to and how we are working to make your investment in the Art Journal as worthwhile to you as we can possibly make it. We thought that this would be the best vehicle to keep in touch. We hope you agree!

Julie and Peter

JOURNAL NEWS

The first year of the Monhegan Art Journal On-Line has been a shakedown period in a lot of ways. But we are proud to say that we currently carry 17 artists plus two galleries. We have also added our first collection of 20 "informational artist entries" to the site - known past artists who have had a Monhegan connection. We are happy to receive suggestions for more artists of the past that we can include in this fashion.

We spent the bulk of our first year just spreading the word with mailers and responses to inquiries - to let people know we were out there in the internet world. In 2000 (so far) we've sent out almost 200 mailers plus responding to numerous "on-line" inquiries. Based upon these inquiries and what we've learned about the internet in the process, we have fine-tuned our price list (see enclosed). On the back are some examples of how clients can take full advantage of what the Art Journal On-Line has to offer.

In addition to these activities, we've dabbled with a book section, working in conjunction with Amazon.com to bring books on both Monhegan and art to our internet visitors. We hope to develop this section more in 2001.

Also in 2001, we will be turning our focus to the internet itself. We will be devoting significant time to the inclusion of our site within the different "search engines" and reference sources available on the net. (See Internet article in this newsletter for more information.) We believe that, compared to mailers, this will be a more effective use of our time and funds in letting the world know of our existence.

Behind the scenes, we've been utilizing an internet service to track the number of "hits" or visits to the site from interested internet users. While we saw a significant increase in visitors in the early part of this year with a significant peak in June, the number of visitors leveled off as the year went along. We are hoping that our internet work will see an increase in visitors during 2001. We'll keep you posted!

ART ON THE INTERNET - SEARCH ENGINES

I went into "Yahoo" on the internet yesterday and asked for listings related to "Fine Art on the Internet". It found over 135,000 listings. I thought that was quite a lot.

Then I began reviewing the listings. Here are a few:

-Architecture and Fine Art
-Becky's Wildlife and Fantasy Art
-Christopher Clarke Dealers in Antiques
-Championship Moments
- "The Internet's Greatest Sports Art"

I share these with you because they illustrate a point. Just because someone is interested in art, maybe even Monhegan art, doesn't mean they will be able to find us. The internet is a very, very large collection of finite points of information. To find anything on the internet, a viewer is going to need some guidance.

There are basically two kinds of guidance available on the net. The first is called a "search engine". Think of this as a little robot that can quickly look through everything on the net to find what you asked it to find for you.

It will give you a list of all the sites (points of information) that might meet your needs. The two questions here to consider are, "how does it know what's out there" and "does it understand what I'm looking for?" Each internet search engine (and there are many) has different ways of answering these questions and some are better than others. The other basic method of guidance is by using what is the equivalent of the library card catalog. These internet catalogs are generally compiled by people working with search engines, but are presented in a subject catalog format. The searching and compiling is done behind the scenes. Yahoo is an example of this type of catalog.

Clearly, catalogs and search engines are only as good as their programming. So, the key to making them really useful is to be sure they (a) know what's out there and (b) understand what they know. Programmers continue to work on making smarter and savvier search engines and cataloguers continue to work on their lists to improve the interpretation of their content. Many of them take suggestions on what to include and how to include it. That is where we can make a difference. The better they represent us, the more visitors you should receive to your web page.

Next Issue: Yes, but is the internet a viable way to sell art?
SPOTLIGHT ON: THE SPANIERMAN GALLERY, LLC One of the galleries highlighted in the Monhegan Art Journal On-Line, Spanierman has been in the business for over fifty years. This New York City gallery deals primarily in nineteenth and early twentieth century American art. One of its featured artists is Abraham Bogdanove, a landscape painter who knew Monhegan well.

Currently the gallery is hosting a show entitled "Tranquil America: A Century of Painting, 1840-1940". The show carries over eighty works by artists including Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and Georgia O'Keeffe. This show runs through January 30, 2001. Look in the Monhegan Art Journal On-Line under Galleries for more information!

Q&A;

We're always anxious to hear feedback (of any sort) on the Art Journal. You can contact us via e-mail at: Stonejulie@aol.com or by mail at:

Monhegan Art Journal On-Line
28 Linebrook Road
Ipswich MA 01938

Send us questions about anything in this newsletter or about the Journal and we'll answer it here. (If you're wondering about it, chances are other people are too!)