Technology meets art in cooperative sharing

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By LESLIE BREFELD
summit daily news
April 21, 2006

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CYBERSPACE — The internet’s information-sharing capabilities are getting artsier. Sites like BoundlessGallery.com offer artists a venue to share their work with other artists and buyers and lends the limitless amounts of cyberspace to displaying art.

Peter Gregory, president of BoundlessGallery.com, got the idea for his company through his pastime of furniture making. After the investor retired and moved back to his hometown in Illinois, he began meeting more and more people who made furniture. It wasn’t long before his business mind came back into play.

“These furniture makers were making phenomenal stuff, but they couldn’t find a market,” Gregory said. And in the small town of Carbondale, the closest major markets were not easily accessible.

Gregory knew of other similar sites, but wanted to create one which focused on representing individual artists, and so began the company.

BoundlessGallery.com allows artists to post their work for free, and are only charged if their work sells. Gregory, aware of the issues involved with ecommerce, said the company doesn’t pay the artist until the piece arrives safely at its destination.

The website’s rating system allows for visitors to share opinions or add commentary to the art featured on the site. The result is an opening of a dialogue in the art community.

“We’re serious about offering the best online art-buying experience, but beyond that, we want to create an art community,” said Gregory. “... A place for artists, galleries, and everyone else to see, talk about and buy art.”

The site has seen major expansion since its inception. It began in November of 2004 with 10-15 artists displaying their work, according to Gregory, and now has 1,200 artists showing 12,000 pieces of work. He said there is a wide price range on the site, from $10 pieces to works priced at thousands of dollars. The actual work runs the spectrum of art as well from sculptures and paintings to religious figures to drawings on a sketch pad.

“Instead of buying a poster, you can buy an original piece from an artist,” he said.

Leslie Brefeld can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 13622, or lbrefeld@summitdaily.com.