Welcome

Successful people don’t sit around waiting to be discovered. They’re constantly on the move, networking, looking for opportunities to promote themselves and their work. Artists and craftspeople need to have their work seen. There are over 130 galleries and shops in Vermont that showcase Vermont artisans, but few of us are fortunate enough to have our work chosen by them for display. Where do we go?

In looking at the web sites for the Vermont Arts Council, the Vermont Crafts Council and the Vermont Handcrafters we found only 229 people out of 859 (27%) listed who had their own web sites. Some people didn’t even have email addresses! 81% of Crafts Council members’ listings and 56% of the Vermont Handcrafters had no pictures of their work. They’re missing out on a valuable opportunity.

The internet is a powerful marketing tool, of which most of us are not taking full advantage. People can shop all over the world from the comfort of their homes and offices. Whether looking for a gift, an item to decorate their homes or unique one-of-a kind clothing, savvy shoppers are always looking for new and different products. Vermont artisans produce those items.

The other day I watched a friend go online to look for an Adirondack chair at L.L. Bean. When I asked her why she wasn’t buying locally, she told me she would but didn’t know where to look. This must happen all the time. Where do people go to find, view and purchase the work of Vermont artists and craftspeople? There is no one central place to see or buy the varied work of the hundreds of artisans who live and work in Vermont.

Vermont Art Network was created to be that destination. Our goal is to promote, encourage and support our artists and craftspeople, and give them an opportunity to earn a living doing what they love to do. The more people participating, the better. There truly is strength in numbers. By pooling our knowledge, experience, skills and resources we can accomplish more than we could individually to bring attention to our work.

We hope Vermont's creative community will use this web site to communicate with each other – to share ideas and resources. We welcome suggestions and constructive criticism. Please let us know how we can be of help.

How it Works - Member Page

This is a great way to have a presence on the internet without paying hundreds of dollars to set up your own web site.

We can create a link to your web site or, if you don't have a web site, we can create a page for you on our site. You just need to send us via Snail Mail (USPS) the information you'd like to have on your page. This can include up to five images, your artist statement, a biography or artist's resume. It's not necessary to be fluent in Artspeak. People just want to get a feel for the person whose work they enjoy.

Your images should be high quality to better represent your work. Your pictures must be in digital format and we'd prefer them to be no larger than 600 px x 600 px. We reserve the right to crop or edit.

In order to sell online, you'll need to send up to ten images of your work - either the same as above or different pictures. We'll need detailed descriptions, pricing and shipping costs. You can choose two catalog categories for each piece. We take a 20% commission on each sale and we pay you before you ship or deliver the item. For further information on how the online catalog works, see How It Works Catalog.

Our address:

Leslie Cherrington
Vermont Art Network
P.O. Box 274
Lyndon Center, VT 05850

To Potential Members:

This network is based on a similar one founded in the San Francisco Bay Area about ten years ago. It had over 350 members. This was before the internet however, so everything was printed and distributed the old-fashioned way. The group's monthly newsletter was picked up from the printer and delivered all over the Bay Area to coffee shops, art supply stores, book stores, frame shops, galleries, etc.