I’m Shelly Olmstead and I’m the creator and founder of The Anartist Collective. I’ve spent my whole life in the arts community. I come from a very artistic and musical family and I was raised within the arts community of Oneonta, NY. I know how hard it is to gain exposure as an independent artist within an art community, it’s even more difficult completely on your own. I know so many talented people and I see everyone’s work but there isn’t one single place to see it all and there came the idea for The Anartist Collective. I’ve had my own art websites in the past and as I was getting back into my own artwork I wanted a new place to show and sell my work but I wanted to include all the other talented people I’ve met along the way so we can all support and gain exposure for each other.
This website and concept has been a work in progress for almost two years, since I started helping out the best damn morning show on the interwebz AM Wakeup. It draws a lot of creative, talented people that think outside the box and I have been following links to art and other creative endeavors in the chat since the show began. I see creations that people I know in other aspects of my life and vice versa. This is first and foremost a hub for people to get their work out there to a wider audience. Everyone works at their own pace, and the creatives on this site are everything from amateurs and hobbyists to professionals. I want this to be a welcome environment for everyone to freely express themselves in their creative endeavors. Censorship is antithetical to creation and it’s difficult getting more controversial artwork and viewpoints out in the world on social media platforms and large community art sites. The only thing I ask for everyone is mutual respect. If you don’t like something, move along to the next artist. It really is that simple. Creatives are welcome to work at their own pace. They can either have an on-site gallery but if they have outside sites they’d rather use I’ll link to those as well. They can freely come and go as they want. They can sell wares through the site either on-site or through an outside vendor but all sales are direct through the artist. Nothing will go through me besides adding merchandise and links to the site.
The Anartist Collective is run on a totally-voluntary basis. I put up my own funds for the website, I’m not asking for any fees or commission from anyone. We have people who are donating their time and resources for the collective because they believe in the concept. I’m continuing the Value 4 Value model used by AM Wakeup. If you like what we do and want to help keep us running, you can donate time and other resources by emailing me at shelly@anartistcollective.com or you can directly donate to help keep this operation running using the donation links below. We will eventually also have an official collective store with The Anartist Collective-branded merchandise and donated images from any artists in the collective who want to help keep us running and self-funded. The funds go directly to upgrading the webhost package and subscriptions for services used for the site. As with all artists on this site who sell anything, I will have my own merchandise shop and I have my own original artwork for sale to keep The Anartist Collective it’s own entity and for everyone. If you’re an artist or other creative type and would like to join the collective, email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com for more information on joining. Everyone is welcome! And join our community forum for artist collaborations, commission boards, art supply exchange, and general community chat to get to know each other.
If you would like to donate to help fund our operations, you can donate directly using any of the links below