“Certain people are intimidated by going to the gallery,” Reynolds said. “Others have this hesitation. I think we are just connecting the gap.”

The Edmond resident stressed that 80 percent of her clients don’t go to physical galleries, a common site of sales for artists. Her teaching experience convinced her there is a place for selling gallery-fit art not in the traditional gallery, but on the World Wide Web. On Sonarta, one can find paintings, sculptures and works in other media.

By presenting YouTube artist interviews, she hopes to educate and interest those who don’t regularly step foot inside metro-area galleries.

“As an artist, I want to tell people about my profession,” Reynolds said. “I hope it’s the listening to the artist that might bring them to the galleries.”

right “Ego Down” by Eric Humphries

Currently, a few Oklahoma artists have committed to the site, including Norman’s Eric Humphries.

“I see the 24-hour, seven-days-a-week access to art for sale as a positive move for the future of art sales and something that people are coming to expect,” Humphries said. “Sonarta is pleasingly aggressive when it comes to promotion.”

When Sonarta launched in 2007, the site was in part a collection of half a dozen artist interviews.

“Our foundation was built on new ideas,” Reynolds said. “Facebook was not this big. The social media was there, but it wasn’t what it is now.”

That year, with 45,000 hits, Sonarta.com was shaping up to be a promising venture. Unfortunately, Reynolds was struck with a string of bad luck, including the loss of 300 artist videos by hackers.

She wasted no time rebuilding. “I say if you love what you are doing, you are going to do it well and be successful no matter when,” Reynolds said.

  • or