Online Artist Registries

Today many arts organizations are pursuing methods for supporting and promoting their members within the community. While approaches vary between disciplines, many visual arts organizations have developed artist registries or databases. The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is one such organization.

The WPA’s Artfile Online is an interactive, searchable registry that showcases the WPA’s artist members. Artfile gives artists the opportunity to present images of their work along their resume, artist statement and link to their website. Although Artfile is managed by the WPA, members manage their own portfolios. Having each artist handle his/her own portfolio simplifies the process for the organization and makes the tool more practical for the artists.

The registry, which is available for search by the public, allows viewers to explore artists by media, style, location and keyword. In addition, viewers can sort search results by last name, recent updates and recent adds. Once a list of search results has appeared, the viewer can choose to look at an artist’s entire portfolio, send the artist an e-mail or “add to lightbox”. The lightbox feature, though only available to members, allows the viewer to collect and keep track of artists they like.

Maintaining a large, searchable database of artists is a valuable asset for the organization, the artists, and the critics, curators and collectors of the art world. With the assistance of databases such as Artfile, thousands of artists and their exemplary works and contact information can be found at the touch of a button—simplifying the process a hundred times over.

However, with the rise of online artist databases comes the threat of reliability on them. There will always be artist’s who cringe at the thought of being thrown into the belly of the beast. Relying solely on a registry to find an artist, though convenient, might prove restricting.

Artist registries and databases like Artfile are a critical tool in the self-promotion of an artist. While they will only increase in relevancy, sophistication and quantity in the future, it is important to keep in mind these registries will never represent the entirety of the art world.

WPA's Artfile Online: http://artfile.wpadc.org/