COOK - Long-time Cook advertising agency, Art Unlimited, recently was certified as a women-owned business by both the federal and state governments.

The certifications put the business on registries that allow greater visibility to potential clients who want to work with businesses owned by women along with providing priority access to government grants and programs.

Art Unlimited is run by sisters Anna Anderson and Elizabeth Chapman who are the company’s CEO and CFO respectively. The two took over the company from their parents, Tom and Pat Chapman who began the company in 1982.

Originally the company focused on print media such as print ads and t-shirts but has since evolved into a fully online company working almost exclusively in a digital-only environment.

While the high-tech business may seem out of place in the woods west of Cook, it’s part of the businesses plan to keep the company right where it is.

“Because of technology our business doesn’t need to be in a large metropolitan area,” Chapman said. “We can operate wherever we are, and we like the woods. The company was founded in Northern Minnesota and we support our communities.”

She added that being in nature offsets the stresses of being around technology constantly.

“We can enjoy the outdoors while still doing our jobs,” Chapman said.

Anderson said the company hopes to add a fourth “T” - technology - to the traditional three “T’s” of Northern Minnesota - tourism, taconite and timber.

“We’ve challenged the community to have more technology,” she said. “We’re able to provide a skillset that can fuel all facets of the Iron Range.”

Anderson said she hopes other technology companies will see the benefit of setting up shop in rural areas drawing more business to rural areas of the state.

The company currently employs about 24 people, most of whom make the commute down the rural-dirt road to the company’s small farm property compound.

Aside from technology, the Art Unlimited property also includes a dog kennel started by Chapman and Anderson as a 4-H project when they were in high school and still run it as a service to the local community.