The internet, Facebook and phone pics have formed a network of support for visual artists. The network did not exist thirty years ago. An artist that wanted to display their work had only two avenues. They either gained acceptance into a gallery or personally promoted their work at art and craft shows. Even then, the artist only obtained exposure at a local level. Only the very elite artists with the best connections became know nationwide. World wide fame was obtainable by even fewer. So it is a wonderful privilege for artists today to have a means of introducing their work to the world with just a touch of a button. This also allows the public to view all artwork available and not just what galleries or juried shows selected. Even the most obscure artist can be viewed by those on social media. This brings art collectors and artists together in a way that requires no middle man. It allows the public to decide what is valuable instead of art galleries. Artists then have a chance for success that is based on public interest and not simply the interest of one gallery or geographical region. An artist that is just starting out has the same chance to make sales online as the long established artist. This levels things and makes the ability to sell art pieces a more even playing field. There are other benefits of social media in the art world besides strictly the retail aspects. Online galleries also provide teachers with a way to share art images easily with their students. Art historians and instructors once were forced to search forart images in books or rely upon their photographs taken while traveling. This required much time and often expense as the images had to be processed either as a slide or a photo copy for hand outs in order to be shared with a class. Now visual art instructors and art history teachers can pull up online images in a flash and share them on a projector screen. They can store images for reference and create power points with collections of art images. The easy access of art images online increases the students knowledge of art in the world. It also assists students as they research art. They can view art from unknown artists as well as famous ones which broadens their art experience. Facebook provides a wonderful avenue for art lovers to share images they have encountered by searching online, as well as , art work seen while traveling abroad. However, there is a dark side to art in social media. That of course is the copyright issue and abuse of art images. When social media was new, there was little thought given to this problem. Images were readily taken and used for the viewer’s purpose without any profit for the artist. Now savvy artists watermark their online images so that they cannot be used in public domain without permission. If the customer pays for the image, they receive one without a watermark on it. I suppose if one wanted to spend hours in photo shop they could remove the watermark but it is not time effective. So the system seems to work fairly well in preventing the pirating of artwork. When weighing the benefits against the risks, one can easily see that social media is a great tool for artists. It provides art exposure for sales, entertainment, by sharing favorites art experiences online, andeducational benefits for teachers.