ColArt has announced they have withdrawn the Winsor & Newton Artist’s Water Colour Sable brushes from their spring promo due to the ongoing ban on sable hair the the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. Last year without notice they asked Sable brush importers for new documentation regarding the harvesting of Sable hair and until the new information is submitted and approved by them. Winsor & Newton and all other manufacturer’s will no longer be importing Kolinsky Sable brushes. For a complete explanation of what is going on, and a pretty good prognosis of the timeline and resolution, read a summary written by Global Art’s Tom Dix Here.
MacPherson’s SoCal salesperson extraordinaire Sandy Goodstein gave us all a scare when she was recently rushed to the hospital where she underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery. We have good news! She’s recovering quickly and should back up to top form in as little as 6 weeks! Just home from her hospital stay, her first words say it all, “I’m already bored”!
We are sorry to announce that Scott Present left MacPherson’s February 7 to pursue his DJ business full time. Scott played a key role in launching the Montana brand and creating our graffiti channel business. His most recent role was as our inside sales lead for our graffiti channel customers. Anyone interested in exploring this career opportunity should send their resume to Jacquie Lochelt at jacquiel@macphersonart.com
Great news from Sanford/Newell Rubbermaid. Jim Kelly is returning to the Art industry as the Director of Sales for the Specialty Division of Newell Office Products. The specialty division consists of Fine Art, Fine Writing, B2B, and IT VARs.
With heavy hearts we announce that Bill Kaplan, MacPherson’s Director of Merchandising based in our Emeryville, CA office will be leaving us in April to pursue new opportunities. Qualified candidates who would like to lead our team of experienced and motivated category managers should send their resume to Natasha Nicholson-Bjerre at natashan@macphersonart.com
It is rumored that Guillaume Pailleret, Managing Director, Latin America for Hamelin Group will move to the USA to lead Canson in April. Guillaume was previously with Canson-Talens and Kolo.
Michaels, CEO Chuck Rubin announced that Paula Puleo, EVP – Chief Marketing Officer, has resigned to pursue other interests. They have begun an extensive search for the next leader of their Marketing team. In the interim, leadership of the Marketing team will be provided by Shawn Hearn.
Check out this great video celebrating a gathering last year of the M.A.C. – Montana Artist Collective in San Francisco. M.A.C. is a group of internationally recognized writers and artists who are at the forefront of their game. Innovators and leaders in their fields, making an impact worldwide on their peers as well as the “normal” world. Coming together to make extraordinary creative projects happen, the M.A.C. enables these artists a platform to use as a firm base to develop and launch creative ideas and projects. The M.A.C. consists of Revok, Dmote, Reyes, Sever, Risk, Steel, Wane, Cantwo, Cope2, Atom & Kent. Check the website M.A.C. website
httpv://youtu.be/eZ4VyVGsbIA
Savannah College of Art and Design(SCAD) in Atlanta has partnered with Newell Rubbermaid to help the company permanently capture the essence of its brands and celebrate the company’s new Sharpie brand headquarters and consumer marketing hub in Atlanta. The project calls for SCAD students to redesign Sharpie’s marketing floor with bold new murals. The Corporate/Academic collaboration will encourage idea generation and sharing, and promote creativity among Newell Rubbermaid’s brands.
On CBS’ 60 Minutes this week there’s a story on Wolfgang Beltracchi, arguably the worlds most successful art forger. He was brought down and is now serving jail time because he used Old Holland’s Zinc White that unbeknownst to him had a trace of Titanium which had not been invented at the time of the artist he was mimicking. Catch the whole story at: The Con Artist or watch this intriguing teaser!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S2HgibGbb0&feature=share&list=UUsN32BtMd0IoByjJRNF12cw&index=6
There’s also a Kickstarter project out there that tickled our fancy. It’s an effort to get some start-up money to make a unique animated movie on Vincent vanGogh. It looks amazing! Click here for the Kicktarter Link or watch the short concept video here:
httpv://youtu.be/r3LSfvcmrf0