Artsy

Jasmine Trabelsi and I created the original Artsy art platform in 1999. With the help of a small team of friend volunteers, we designed, curated, interviewed, and promoted the first platform to feature female artists + writers. We developed the name to be ironic. Female artists never had the respect that male artists achieved. A creative woman was never considered to be a Master. Women were usually referred to as being Artsy. Our platform was one of the first (aside from Mixed Greens) to experiment with selling art online as well. In 1999 (without any advertising and before social media) we grew our individual visitors to 60,000 per month. We interviewed Yoko Ono, De La Soul, Judy Chicago, and Nancy Spero. We created a large community focused on promoting women in the art world. We were often the subject of paintings but few received the same recognition as the men. Even publishing an issue in print. This was our college thesis project, funded by UMass Amherst. After graduation, we continued to grow the project. We stopped in 2001 due to 9/11. The world went on hiatus and art budgets in NYC disappeared. In 2008 two male founders took our idea, removed the feminist aspect, raised $280m, and launched Artsy.net. We still own the original rights to the Artsy name.