Industry icon and all around bon vivant Jerry Haines passed away peacefully on Christmas day at his home in Southern California. Jerry was one of the pioneers of the contemporary USA Art materials scene, having worked with Robert Sachs, Shiva and more recently as owner of the Artist Color Wheel Company, now lovingly cared for by his son Ken. We”ll miss you Jerry, you were one of a kind!
This just in from JM Ghent, General Manager of Curry’s in Canada: “We have recently acquired the renowned art supplier Woolfitt’s Art Supplies in Toronto, Ontario”. Former owner Ben Woolfitt will be moving on to create art and pursue other passions in his life. At over 100 years old, Curry’s was founded by Fred Curry in 1911, as an art supplier, framing shop and art gallery and has remained in the family to this day. Woolfitt’s will become their 12th retail location. Woolfitt’s maintained a wholesale business serving art supply stores throughout Canada. Below is Curry’s official note on their plans for the wholesale business:
Curry’s is very excited about this opportunity to blend the best of Woolfitt’s with the best of Curry’s. And after a careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision not continue with the Woolfitt’s Wholesale business. Ben Woolfitt and Bonnie Kievit have really enjoyed helping art supply retailers develop their businesses by providing them with quality materials. However, Curry’s focus and strength is on the retail side and we are not positioned to give the wholesale business the attention it requires. Therefore, we anticipate that Woolfitt’s wholesale customers will transition to distributors like MacPherson’s. We are optimistic that the wholesale customers will be well served moving forward.
Jim Gary has joined Canson as their Southern California regional sales representative. Previously Jim had worked in a similar capacity for Daler-Rowney.
Lon Larrsen, C2F’s East coast sales manager, has announced he will retire the end of November.
Lynn Pearl has joined the DMC Corporation brand leaders in threads and other needlework supplies for creative stitchers. Previously Lynn had worked many years as a product manager for ColArt Americas. Her title at DMC is Product & Brand Marketing Manager.
Kirk Gillespie has joined Savoir-Faire as their northern California sales person. Formerly he worked for Rileystreet in Santa Rosa, C2F as a sales rep, and then for his own canvas business, American Custom Canvas in Colorado. In related news, Aaron Foppe has left Savoir-Faire to join the great new start-up Bristle Magic.
C&T Publishing’s newest addition to its popular Eco Tote collection, called Wheat Fields, will be stocked at MacPherson’s and debuts in February 2013. It features a striking art quilt inspired by Van Gogh’s painting, Wheat Fields with Cypresses. A portion of proceeds from each sale is being donated to the NAMTA Council for Art Advocacy whose mission is “to sustain, strengthen and support the art material industry through advocacy, awareness, and increased funding of art and art education. “
Retailer Videos are a great way to connect with your creative customers. Check out this latest is one from Opus Art Supplies in Vancouver, BC for their “lifestyle” video collection intended to support their brand of “Resources for the Creative Individual”. It’s not about selling product – it’s about connecting artists, discovering new ways to create and inspiring more people to pick up a pen and start drawing. In this one, animator Jeff Chiba Stearns tells the viewer how he came to create an award-winning video that has more than 1.8 million views on YouTube:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKHBo2h3_y0&feature=share&list=UUEgyqQN_YBNFJv0jmFne4ag