In 2005, a family friend asked us to build a website for their art. The brief was simple: something that looked professional, focused on the artwork, was easy to update, and didn’t cost a fortune.

We built it. Then a colleague asked for the same thing. Then another. We quickly realised that visual artists had a shared problem: the website tools available to them were either too complex, too generic, or too expensive. Artists wanted to show their work online, not learn web development.

So we built ArtSites.

What started as a favour became a platform. Originally launched as ArtSites.ca, we’ve spent more than two decades learning what artists actually need from a website, and, just as importantly, what they don’t.

The web has changed enormously since 2005. Visitors expect sites that work beautifully on their phones. Artists need to update their portfolios from wherever they are. The technology that underpinned our original platform served us well, but it was time for a fresh start.

This is ArtSites rebuilt from the ground up: modern technology, new design system, same philosophy. We kept everything that worked: the focus on artwork, the simplicity, the fair pricing. We rebuilt everything else: faster, more flexible, mobile-native.

For our existing artists on ArtSites.ca, nothing changes unless you want it to. Your site continues to work. When you’re ready to move to the new platform, we’ll help you make the transition.

ArtSites is made by Lustrio Media, a small company based in Vancouver, Canada. We’re a small team by choice: it means every decision is made by people who actually use and care about the product.

We’re not backed by venture capital. We don’t have a growth-at-all-costs mandate. Our business model is straightforward: artists pay a fair price for a useful tool, and we keep making it better. That’s worked for more than twenty years, and we see no reason to change.

When you contact support, you’re talking to someone who helped build ArtSites. That’s not a limitation, it’s a feature.

• Art deserves a good home online. Not a generic template. Not a social media feed you don’t control. A proper website that you own and that represents your work with care.
• Technology should disappear. The best tools are the ones you don’t think about. If you’re fighting your website, something is wrong.
• Fair pricing is sustainable pricing. We charge enough to build a good product and keep the lights on. No investor-subsidised land grabs, no bait-and-switch.
• Artists aren’t a niche. There are millions of visual artists worldwide. They deserve tools built for them, not adapted from tools built for someone else.