Spring is finally here and I’ve noticed that this seems to be a busy time for artists gearing up for the summer season. The Monhegan Art Journal is doing the same. Currently the Monhegan Commons site is experiencing over 1400 unique visits PER DAY and history tells us that will increase substantially during the next few months.

Since our last newsletter the Art Journal has had eighteen new or renewing subscribers, including our two galleries. We are still looking for more galleries to sign up, so please encourage any of your favorites to consider joining. It is a great way to expand overall viewership which will benefit all of us.

Have you seen the other "artistic site" now in Monhegan Commons, called Monhegan Modernism? That site is managed by John Day and represents research done by himself and his students concerning Monhegan abstractionist artists during the period of 1940-1970. It is a young and growing section of the Commons and well worth a look!

or by mail to:

Monhegan Art Journal On-Line

28 Linebrook Road

Ipswich, MA 01938

Remember to spread the word that people can find you and your work at:

and thanks!

As we mentioned in our last issue, the internet is providing great exposure for art and artists to a much wider audience than could otherwise be reached. But artists are reporting few sales that arise directly out of an internet contact. Most art buyers still want to see, examine, smell, feel the art in person before they buy.

The key word when it comes to art on the internet is exposure. Before people can study your work and decide to buy it, they need to know it exists. Internet users who are also art shoppers will utilize the internet to target artists producing works they like. Then they will try to use the internet to determine where and when they can go to see the works in person – because they still want to see it before they buy. Most art buyers are not yet comfortable enough with computers (and computers are not yet sophisticated enough in their presentation) to make buying art on-line a reasonable expectation.

So, having your art listed in the Monhegan Art Journal On-Line (MAJOL) goes a long way toward achieving that exposure needed to attract interested art buyers. Most visitors to MAJOL are there because they are interested in Monhegan and in art. They will browse MAJOL and make a list of artists whose work they like.

To increase that initial contact, we are continuing to list MAJOL and its subscribers in various internet search engines. Thus, even art shoppers who do not know about Monhegan may find you and your work in MAJOL via such search engines. The more times, and the more categories, you are listed in these search engines, the higher the exposure. Let’s say that ten percent of all art shoppers who are exposed to your work will like it enough to want to buy it. Then the higher the exposure, the higher the number of prospective buyers you will have.

But exposure alone can’t make a sale. Once someone becomes interested in your work by seeing it on-line, they next want to know how they can see it in person. For those of you who have regular galleries that show your work (personal or professional) it is important in your MAJOL entry to state that. If it is a professional gallery, provide a gallery phone number and address. If the gallery has a website, list it in your artist page. Better still, get the gallery to become a MAJOL subscriber and link your page to it. That way anyone visiting the gallery website can hop over to your MAJOL entry to check your work out specifically.

For those of you who do not have a regular gallery that shows your work, be sure to make note in your MAJOL page of any shows or exhibits that are going to feature your work. Include dates, location, directions, and phone number. It is no problem to update your MAJOL entry as needed to carry this kind of information. You can update your webpage text anytime. If you wish, you can also request a separate webpage to be listed under shows and exhibits, to feature your work in that show. You can link your regular webpage to that show webpage so that anyone looking at one can hop over to the other for more information.

Also, remember that you can update the images of your artwork for free three times per year. It is important to keep your webpage looking fresh and exciting. Potential art buyers will soon learn to check back to see your new works, which will make you more interesting than other artists who may not be updating their information as often.

Remember, the internet provides the exposure, and MAJOL brings you a ready-made audience for Monhegan art, but it is up to you to make the most of the opportunity and your investment.

Next Issue…Internet Review and Update.

One of our very first subscribers, Ms. Carroll has been coming to Monhegan for over twenty years. She is primarily a gouache painter but has more recently begun a relationship with oils as well. When not on Monhegan, she spends her time in Albany New York, in the Adirondack Mountains, and in Europe. During July and August Corlis can be found on Monhegan. Here, in addition to painting, she hosts the Monhegan library’s story hour for children, reading to an enraptured group of little people on the library lawn during warm summer afternoons.

Ms. Carroll’s work is only available by contacting her directly. Her original work is rarely for sale but some of that work is available in limited edition print. You can see samples of her work in the Artists section of the Art Journal.