End of an Era Hot off the press, Blick Artist Materials has inked a deal to buy Portland, OR iconic independent retailer Art Media. Founded in 1974 by Dave Moser, Kathy Christian, Gail Vines and David McNiven it has grown over the years to three stores located in Portland, Beaverton and Happy Valley. Within the next 6 months Blick will open a super store close to the current Art Media Portland location. The Beaverton store will be upgraded and remodeled. All three of the Art Media owners plan to work for Blick. The Happy Valley store is slated to close before the end of 2011. With regret and sadness Kathy Brennan and…
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ColArt Market Priorities: Artist Outreach Program
On June 16, 17 and 18th, the Collective Art Tank of Asbury Park, N.J hosted the annual training meeting of the Winsor & Newton and Liquitex Artist Outreach Program (AOP). The location was ideal in that Winsor & Newton and Liquitex are sponsors of The Collective Art Tank; supporting artists by offering affordable studio space, samples of art materials and technique based demonstrations. The eighteen artists in the Liquitex program are located across the United States and Canada and perform product related demonstrations at colleges, retail stores and art organizations. Their annual meeting is an opportunity to gather together to discuss new art materials, best practices for effective demonstrations and to brainstorm new ideas (not to mention lots of laughing and eating).…
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Market Priorities: The New Strathmore Mixed Media Papers Break New Ground
Strathmore Artist Papers™ recently introduced new Mixed Media Fine Art Pads to meet the needs of a large and growing segment of consumers. According to research, “9% of all art pieces created are considered mixed media/collage.” Mixed media is described as a “new and growing segment of the artist market.”* The program is another example of Strathmore’s commitment to develop innovative new products that help grow the market and create in-store news and excitement for retailers. Mixed Media is also popular among “crossover consumers,” defined as crafters crossing over to art materials and techniques. Strathmore Mixed Media Fine Art Pads are specifically designed to meet the growing consumer demand for paper that offers true performance for both wet and dry media. They combine the characteristics…
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Announcing Gamblin’s Fall BTS 2011 Buy-Get Promotion
Buy any four tubes of Gamblin Artist Grade oils, receive a free 37ml tube of FastMatte Titanium White For the third year in a row, Gamblin has put together a fantastic buy-get promotion to help you drive foot-traffic and sales. To help get even more artists through your doors, Gamblin will be featuring this promotion on its home page and Facebook page during August and September. Why not take advantage of this no-cost program and promote the offer to your community of artists through your web, email, Facebook,Twitter and other communications? Gamblin’s FastMatte Buy-Get promotion enables retailers to offer a FREE 37ml tube of FastMatte Titanium White to painters that purchase four or more…