On-line Gallery? Or on-line store?

I'm sitting down tonight, writing the copy, the actual words, that will appear on the website.

My designer is 95% finished what e has to do, and the web developer is making the whole thing work. My job is to think about what should be written and how.

So to start with, I need to ask - Is my online 'gallery' actually a gallery at all, or is it just an online store that sells art?

My old friend Wikipedia tells me that:

An art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art. Paintings are the most commonly displayed medium; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations, installation art and objects from the applied arts may also be shown.

So, technically, my website will be a space that exhibits art - meaning I can call it a gallery.

But do you think an art gallery can actually be on the internet? There are hundreds of websites calling themselves an online art gallery? But is there really such a thing?

So what should I do? Call it a shop or a gallery?

Illusration and Children's Art

One thing I've affirmed for myself since I started to write this blog, I'm a sucker for illustration.

I could read blogs like Drawn, Illustration Mundo and Art Jumble all day long. I really could. And with a lot of the latest lowbrow / pop surrealist art movement being illustration based, it seems as though I'm not the only one.

So stepping away from my current online gallery ideas for a second, what do my loyal readers think of an art gallery for children, where the artwork is primarily illustration work? I'm there'd be plenty of grown-ups that would be keen to visit, too.

To my knowledge (and I could be wrong), there isn't any art galleries in Melbourne that are focused towards kids. Aside from the current Pixar exhibition at ACMI, that is. Could this be an untapped niche for a gallery? Or am I wrong - has this idea been done before?

(Photo Credit: Philippe Jalbert)