The Artelier website helps visual artists find other artists living locally, nationally or internationally that you can swap studios with (and, if you like, apartments too). It also forms an international network of visual artists who can share ideas and collaborate with each other. More information on Artelier can be found on the About Artelier page.

If you've just joined the site, you might be interested in reading the FAQ's section, which replies to some of the more general queries about making an exchange. It covers queries on household insurance, trusting strangers in your house and it highlights the security procedures Artelier uses to ensure your private contact details are kept safe and only seen by the artists on Artelier you select.

The site is split into two principal sections - the first, Connect with artists, is the main hub which allows you to search for other Artelier users who might be interested in swapping studios (and / or apartments) with you.

In this section you can:

• search for users - by looking on a map of where they live or by typing keywords or search options to find people you could perform a compatible exchange.
• view an automatic list of the last 20 users you have looked at so you can find them again more easily, under Recently viewed.
• find artists a little closer to home; you can do this on the Artists near me page which shows all of Artelier's local users on one map of the region (bear in mind that you'll only see the exact location of a user's studio if they have added you to their trusted users list).
• view your bookmarked users - user profiles you have looked at and selected to keep in a list, to make it easier to find them again later on. To bookmark a user, navigate to their page and select 'Bookmark this profile' while looking at their profile.
• select which users you want to trust with your private contact details. As a default setting, Artelier does not allow any other artists to see your telephone, studio or home addresses, date of birth or email. You decide who and when to show this information to.
• browse through recently agreed user echanges and added profiles on Artelier.
• look for people who are in places you want to visit and who want to visit where you live in My matches. It's a handy first-option search tool - but not the only way to find people to exchange with. We've found that lots of people would be happy to exchange almost anywhere in the world.
• One of the most important things you can do once you join is to invite your friends on to Artelier to make the network bigger and increase the chances of you finding a successful exchange.

The second principal section is My Profile - here you can administer your profile and change your details. This is the place to visit if you want to:

• edit any of your personal profile details (all the ones you signed up with)
• add, reorder or delete images, check messages from other users or negotiate exchanges.
• You can also view your own profile.

You can view a list of all of our partners in Artelier - the organisations around the world we've signed up to act as ambassadors to invite their local artist networks on to the site.

Finally, you might want to join our active Facebook Artelier group for more information and to share information with other members.

If you've not been invited on to Artelier and would like to be, you can request an invitation.

We hope you enjoy using Artelier. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please contact us at artelier@artquest.org.uk.