Michaels Stores has filed with regulators to raise up to $500 million in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that could be one of the year’s largest IPOs in the retail sector, writes Reuters. The offering comes six years after private equity owners Blackstone and Bain purchased the Texas-based arts and crafts company for more than $6 billion. Michaels operates 1,066 retail stores in 49 U.S. states and in Canada. It posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $661 million in 2011 and had total debt of $3.5 billion as of Jan. 28, 2012. With sadness we report the passing of Ainslie Smith Quick, mother of Jack Quick the head of Rhino Art in Encinitas, CA. She…
-
-
Gamblin “Knowledge” Advisory | Alternative solvents, Unpredictable results
With extra care and effort, artists can make almost any type of soap or cleaner work for studio clean-up. Some products consume a lot of water, some are much harder on brushes than others and some leave sticky residues behind. But most all do a decent job with extra effort. And though we at Gamblin feel it’s never a good idea to wash pigments down the drain, each artist gets to choose the clean-up method that works best for them. For modifying oil colors and mediums, however, alternatives to true artist’s thinners, even in very small amounts, can create major and unpredictable problems in artists’ paintings. Effects on Paint Layers…
-
A Message from ColArt on Recent Inventory Challenges
To our valued customers, I’d like to provide an update regarding our supply issues. As most of you know, we consolidated our UK factory into our France operation, along with a considerable expansion of our France factory, in 2011. Art material factories consist of many different production lines, many of them with different technologies and skillsets. While we were able to successfully transition in over 80% of our items that we offer for sales, there were transition issues on some of our lines and items, most notably in Mediums, Sets, and some of the series colors in some of the ranges. Our factory and staff have been working around the clock to…
-
Urban Art Opportunity: Check out this NAMTA Seminar!
Click here for more details
-
Golden News: April 2012
NAMTA Art Materials World 2012 is Right Around the Corner! We’re looking forward to seeing all of you at the upcoming trade show! Please take a moment while at the event to stop by our Booth (#110) to say hello and see some new and exciting items from GOLDEN. In addition to what you’ll see in the booth, we will also be holding two specific events for show attendees (detailed below), so be sure to check them out too!! • GOLDEN Booth Panel Giveaway – The GOLDEN booth is again a creative collection of handmade panels sharing the story of GOLDEN colors and textures. To extend the message of these panels beyond the show, GOLDEN would like to share them with…
-
Hot New Items from Sanford: April 2012
Sharpie Oil & Water based Paint Markers – NEW LOOK! A new design is now available for both Sharpie Oil and Sharpie Water Based Paint marker displays. The Water Based Paint Marker display has an updated assortment to include some of the recently launched new glitter and metallic colors. Water based paint markers are great for scrapbooking, art projects, posters and signs. The water and fade resistant ink will not bleed through heavyweight paper. The markers are acid free, archival quality, and available in vibrant colors for light and dark surfaces. Oil based paint markers mark opaque and glossy on light and dark surfaces. Use on virtually any surface: metal, pottery, wood, rubber, glass, plastic, stone, and more. They are quick drying, resistant to water, fading,…
-
MacPherson’s NAMTA News
Click here for the full details : MacPhersonsAtNamta2012