What industry are you in? What would happen to your industry if it suddenly became exponentially smaller and more densely populated?

A couple hundred years ago, when explorers first came to Canada they were captivated by its vastness. In all directions the country stretched out, huge and wild, hiding a myriad of treasures that would take hundreds of years to discover.

A year and a half ago, two women wondered what would happen to the art industry in Canada if the country became suddenly much smaller. Imagine someone karate-chopping bits of the country off until it was walkable, until it was so small that you could easily see from one end to the other?

The internet is in many ways like a nation—the inhabitants, the infrastructure, the food, the drink, the mating dances—everything originates and is reiterated in a myriad of ways. For every slice of culture there is a subculture, each broken into a most minute specimen so as to be both inclusive of every variable as to be exclusive to every other. The very nature of the internet is defined by it’s vastness, and while there is more to find, there is less ease in finding the thing you want.

Kate Barron begin_of_the_skype_highlightinend_of_the_skype_highlighting and Merete Kristiansen can’t karate-chop whole pieces of Canadian Shield (at least not with their bare hands) but that doesn’t mean they don’t have superpowers. Eighteen months of wine, sandwiches and late nights gave birth to the most important website any stakeholder in the Canadian art market can access. Merete and Kate took something as diverse, disparate and distanced as our nation’s art market, and they put it on the internet.

Introducing www.theartmarket.ca. It is a beast of a resource delivered in an attractive and user-friendly format. It will serve the gamut of art professionals and enthusiasts: artists, galleries, auction houses, museums, art schools, foundations, awards and publications. The blog you’re currently reading has a profile on theartmarket.ca!

“This site will allow conversations between people that previously may not have connected – linking emerging artists and established ones, art collectors and people who just love art.”

Hundreds of hours have gone into the creation of this visually pleasing and easy-to-use site and are continually invested in its maintenance; rich in content and invaluable in its practicality, using the site won’t cost you a thing. Kate and Merete’s vision for the artmarket.ca is to close the gap between the less-informed, but nonetheless interested art lover, and the art events, galleries and shows that struggle to communicate to this large, untapped market across Canada.

They have literally taken all of Canada’s art market, in its vastness and diversity, and reformatted it as an easily navigable and information-rich platform for art industry professionals and amateurs alike. I hope you’ll spend a few minutes reviewing this brilliant site and create your own profile!

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