About Artwell

This domain has been home to Dorothy’s creative work since 1996. It started as something else entirely.

Artwell was founded in 1995 as one of the first free online community resources for fine artists. Launched as “The Artesian Well” in the summer of 1996, the site predated most of what we now think of as the social web. Dorothy built it from the ground up, recruiting artists, helping them present and sell their work, and creating a thriving online community at a time when simply getting fine artists onto the internet was a worthy goal in itself. Writer Kellie Hanna conducted in-depth interviews with contemporary artists and developed the writing tone for the site. At its peak Artwell supported member artists from around the world, offering gallery display, a long-lived tight-knit studio chat, articles, and community boards.

It was a grassroots labor of love built on the belief that creativity is a means to self-empowerment and that artists deserved a place online that was entirely their own.