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Listing Your Site at EC Gallery
Note: If you already have an existing listing at EC and simply need to update the information, please use our [UPDATE FORM]
Important! If you are a jeweler or a painter, please first see the note at the [bottom].
WELCOME ARTISTS...
Thank you for your interest in ElectronicCottage Art & Craft Gallery!
Becoming an EC Exhibitor...
If you are a professional artist or craftsperson with your own independent website & registered domain name, and you are doing high quality fine art or craft work, then we invite you to apply for a free hypertext listing in your chosen medium. All we ask in return is a single reciprocal link back to EC from any primary page at your own site.
Please carefully read these instructions if you wish to participate, as you'll need to know the information on this page -- the entire process will only take a few minutes. In order to add your studio listing here, certain guidelines must be met, the purpose of which is to keep the quality of this online art venue as strong as possible.
Here's the short summary...
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Review the criteria below for participation -- note especially that you must have your own registered domain name and independent website which is at your own hosting account;
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Then send your properly completed submission forms (the link to that page is below this info) -- there are 2 parts to that online form;
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After you receive notice from us saying that you are accepted as an EC exhibitor, then at that point add our reciprocal link logo to any primary page on your own site and notify us via reply email (not all submissions result in a listing, so it's best to wait until you hear from us before adding our link onto your own site);
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We will then add your listings to EC with direct links to your website.
If you have not yet done so, you can...
About Our Criteria...
As you'll see below, we have very clearly explained the kind of listings which can be included at EC. These standards are for everyone's benefit -- they allow the art/craft customer to experience a reasonably consistent level of artistic expertise as they go from site to site; and they also assure each exhibitor that they will be seen with other professional artists and craftspeople. We believe this to be a "win-win" approach, which the gallery visitors (your potential customers) especially appreciate.
About Our Categories...
As a general rule, all of the exhibitor listings are placed in the medium in which they work rather than the objects that are created (the only exceptions are "jewelry" and "handmade toys"). So if you make "hardwood furniture" for example, then you'd want to be listed under "Wood" as we have no "furniture" category; if you make "quilted jackets", then you'd be under "Fiber & Fabric", as we have no "clothing" category; etc.
So to begin, first make sure your website itself is suitable for a listing in the EC format...
(1) WEBSITE PREREQUISITES:
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Your web site must be ready to view (we cannot list incomplete sites which are "Under Construction").
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To help keep dead links under control, we can only list sites for artists who have their own unique registered domain name, and thus can NO LONGER list sites which are "sub-domains".
· ACCEPTABLE: An example of a registered domain name would be something like:
"http://www.yourstudio.com";
· NOT ACCEPTABLE: An example of an unacceptable sub-domain would be:
"http://www.geocities.com/yourstudio/" or "http://yourname.freeserver.com"
[It is very easy & inexpensive to get your own domain name - here are DETAILS].
Also please note: Many "re-direct" services, such as CJB, do not provide you with your own registered domain name, so we are unable to provide a listing in those cases either.
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Continuing from #2 above... You need to have your own hosting account. If you are not sure whether or not you have your own paid hosting, please read this [brief explanation] prior to filling out the submission forms.
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We do not include sites that require their visitors to login or become a "member" -- art / craft collectors do not expect to have to remember passwords when all they want to do is to look at (and possibly purchase) the exhibitor's work.
Your website should meet each of these 4 fundamental prerequisites -- if it does, then please continue; if however it does not, then there is no point in going any further, as we cannot make exceptions.
Next, determine if your art or craft work is appropriate for EC...
(2) ART / CRAFT CRITERIA FOR LISTING AT EC GALLERY:
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Whether your work is contemporary or traditional, it should ideally tend towards original fine art and/or handmade original fine craft.
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This is a service for professional artists & craftspeople only. Please -- no hobbyists or part time "crafters".
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EC Gallery is a site exclusively for art/craft studios, NOT mass-market commercial enterprises manufacturing products by hired employees.
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To be included in one of our mediums, all the work on your site must be originally created by your own studio. EC does NOT list sites with commercially available buy/sell items; does NOT include sites with imported goods (even if those imported items are handmade); and we cannot include sites that simply reproduce the work of other more recognized artists.
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Many of our visitors come to EC to look for original art & handmade craft to purchase for their home, office, or as a gift. Therefore, we cannot list a site if any one or more of these characteristics are true:
- it primarily offers only a service (such as photo retouching);
- or is simply an online portfolio (no work for sale);
- or displays work that is only created as a hobby;
- or sells items that are not original art / handmade craft related.
Therefore, to be listed at EC you must offer actual artwork for sale on your site that is prominently presented.
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We also cannot list sites for work that is created by stenciling, silk screening, placing decals, etc onto pre-purchased manufactured items, such as mugs, vases, plates, glasses, magnets, clothing, etc.
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Continuing from above... We must carefully scrutinize all submissions where the artist is hand painting onto purchased objects -- such as tables, chairs, clock faces, dishes, jackets, etc. In these cases, the painting and the website must be exceptional.
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We strongly discourage submissions from "Country Handicraft" type work unless it is truly unique, original, and impressive in every way. We DO welcome genuine folk or primitive art, however "country style crafts" are not included at EC.
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Regarding nudity: EC's primary purpose is to help professional artists and craftspeople make more sales, and as such, is a more "general interest" kind of presentation. It is not our mission to push the envelope as to what the public-at-large will or will not accept, and therefore, we must be careful how far we go down down the path of nudity and erotica.
Obviously artists have been painting, drawing, sculpting, and photographing nudes for much of art history, so we are certainly not saying that sites devoted to nudes are unacceptable by default.
We are saying however that it needs to be judged on a case by case basis, so if your site features nudity/erotica, our decision as to whether to list you at EC will be based on our sense of how well our visitors will respond to the presentation of your content. In other words, some sites must be declined even if the quality of the technique is exceptional.
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To be listed in one of our art/craft mediums, your site must be devoted to the work of a single studio. See exception below...
"Galleries" Section:
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You should use this category if your website is for a gallery that features the various original works of multiple professional artists (this is not applicable to partnerships or couples however). Again, please recall that we do not list sites that sell imports.
Finally, please briefly review the following prior to going to the application form -- scroll down to see if any apply to your own medium:
(3) CATEGORY SPECIFIC CRITERIA
Jewelry:
We are generally no longer including "assembled jewelry" -- that is to say, work that is constructed entirely out of purchased items. If a space becomes available and you wish to be listed in jewelry, then you should ideally be making (or fashioning from raw materials) a significant portion of each of your designs.
Important! Jewelers please see note at [bottom]
Clay / Ceramics:
EC is strictly for original designs only - we do not list work created from commercially available cast molds.
If you work with polymer clay, please indicate that in your 15 word description.
Fiber & Fabric:
We do not usually list sites for painted clothing if the clothing itself is a purchased manufactured item, as we prefer that all work be handmade. If however you are an original painter and you feel that your work can favorably compare with those artists who work on canvas, then send in your info and we'll check it out.
Fiber continued... We also do not wish to present work created from commercially available fabric patterns.
Glass:
We do not list sites where the person is buying pre-made manufactured glassware and then decorating it themselves.
Healing Arts & All Other Categories:
We are not including sites where the items that are presented -- and/or the text content -- is primarily devoted to magick, witchcraft, wicca, paganism, occultism, etc.
Miscellaneous:
We do not list anything created from assembled kits; dried or silk flowers; decoupage; candles poured into jars, etc.
Painting:
All paintings must be original in execution and in source material. Due to the sheer number of painters at EC, we are no longer able to list artists whose paintings are simply copies of photographs taken by other people, or who paint reproductions of other well known works.
Important! Painters please see note at [bottom].
Photography:
We only include fine art photographers that sell existing work for customers to purchase and hang. We do not list photographers that only offer services (such as family portraits), and we can not list your site if your objective is to graphically transform other people's pictures (using tools such as Photoshop for example).
Galleries:
To be in this section, you must be either a realworld or online original art / handmade fine craft gallery - we do NOT list sites that call themselves "galleries" but really only import products for resale to the public, or that exist to only sell reproductions of work created by others.
If you have made it this far... congratulations! Your work & your website are almost certainly what we would like to include at EC Gallery!
Return Link to EC:
In return for your free listing, our single request is that you add just one of our reciprocal link logos (or a text link) back to EC Gallery on one of your primary pages -- for example, either at the bottom of your home page; or on your "Links" page; or on your contact page, etc. We will provide full easy-to-follow instructions which will explain how to do this for any artist accepted as an exhibitor.
Please note: We are providing considerable exposure for professional artists & craftspeople -- most exhibitors say we are one of their top referrers -- so we cannot list any site that buries our reciprocal link on a "hidden" page.
That means that in a spirit of fairness the page that displays our return link must be accessible to the public as a primary link, located on or near the top level of your site. We have no choice except to permanently remove without notice any listings for exhibitors who fail to honor this very reasonable request.
Because we can not list every submission that we receive at EC, you should only add our return link to your own site after you receive a notification email from us.
Join Us!
If your work & your website are within EC's criteria and if you can add our small reciprocal link logo (or text link) to one of your primary pages, then please feel welcome to submit your site for consideration. Click the "Artist Information" button below to get the process started (note that there are 2 submission forms -- one very short & one more detailed)....
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** If the submission forms do not work for you, please **
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Important Notice:
Some of the categories at EC are now completely filled for free listings. In the case of Jewelry, that category is also currently filled at our sister site JOLAF.com.
· If you work in PAINTING and are doing professional level work, you can consider joining EC's sister site the "Juried OnLine Arts Festival" in that painting category. All painters that are accepted into JOLAF also receive a listing at EC Gallery, so essentially your annual JOLAF membership will provide prominent listings in two of the web's biggest online galleries.
Click for... [More Information]
· If you work in JEWELRY... As noted the category is filled, however you are welcome to make a submission now and we will save it for consideration when a current exhibitor drops off the web (which does in fact occasionally happen, though we can not make any guarantees). If interested, please complete the form application process, then we will notify you if/when a space is available.
· Qualified artists are still currently being listed at EC in all other mediums.
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