Spokane art site up for Webby Award

A Spokane virtual art gallery is one of five nominees for a Webby Award as among the best visual arts Web sites in the world.

Artocracy.org, launched in 2005 by Spokane artist Megan Murphy, is competing with heavyweights such as the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art.

Artocracy is the first Spokane Web site nominated for a Webby, which the New York Times dubbed “the Oscars of the online world.”

The winners will be announced in May. Winners in several categories will be honored at a June 12 reception in New York City.

Murphy said one reason Artocracy was chosen from several thousand applicants was a major redesign. She hired New York City design firm 2 by 4 to refashion her gallery and site elements.

Then Murphy hired Spokane-based Seven2 Interactive to produce the revamped site.

The other four visual arts contenders for a 2008 Webby are the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and sites featuring two visual artists, Stephen Ensminger and Mi Fu.

“We’ve just kept working on the site and making it clearer what we do,” Murphy said. “It’s not just an online gallery.” Unlike other sites that sell prints or works, Artocracy is based on a buy-and-download digital work model, Murphy said.

To be chosen in a Webby group with the Museum of Modern Art floored her, she said. “Just to see Artocracy on that level, that’s pretty amazing.”

Since it was launched three years ago, Artocracy has grown to include two interns and one part-time marketing worker. Murphy’s marketing plan involves pages on Facebook and MySpace. Her two interns join social network forums, explaining how Artocracy works and inviting people to check it out.

Sandpoint-based Bookcrossing is the only Inland Northwest Web operation to have won a Webby. In 2005, it won two Webby Awards for best community site and best social networking site.