Welcome to the Day in the Life of an Art Store Blog!
My name is Ziggy (or Zigmund Felicity Fraker if you prefer formality). my aim with this blog is to translate some of the gibberish art-talk and pull back the curtain on just what it’s like to help run a small art supply store in downtown Edmonds, Washington.
There’s never a bad time or place to make art in downtown Edmonds! (Photo by Tracy Felix)
I’m an Edmonds native, but I didn’t think I’d end up here for the long haul. Growing up on top of the bowl, putting in nine years at Maplewood K-8, and making my way through high school at Meadowdale did prepare me pretty well though. Now I’m figuring out what actual adulthood looks like for me, and I can’t imagine setting down roots anywhere else. Edmonds has changed so much since I was little, for the better, I think. Selling art supplies to the people in and around Edmonds is the next part of a big adventure.
Working in art supplies has been a singularly unique experience. I’ve dipped in and out of ARTspot for all ten years of its life. I spent some time with other lines of work and lived in LA for six weird months after graduating university, but I always kept coming back to the store as a safe and fun place to work. After ten years of answering questions and researching new materials to bring in I realized that I had accidentally become somewhat of an expert, I think at least. When Tracy indicated that she was interested in transferring ownership, it felt like I’d made the choice to accept years ago without quite realizing that either.
An unfortunate reality is that art supplies are a luxury to many, although they can be of great benefit to any and everyone. To paraphrase one of the core philosophies at ARTspot: everyone has a creative spirit, and sometimes they just need a little push to find and direct it. Art of any kind has the potential to express feeling, communicate a thought, and explore aspects of our identity while we make our way through life. It’s always been a goal for ARTspot to stock various levels of quality materials to help fit the needs and means of anyone who visits us. I don’t think anyone here is going to get rich selling art supplies considering that it’s our honest goal to sell you the right thing. Not the most expensive thing.
It’s been a dream to finagle our way into a larger space someday, but I do enjoy the challenge of maintaining a beautiful space to shop in while still maintaining a healthy variety. Whenever I or my family travel anywhere we always make a point to visit a small (or large) family-owned art supply store. All over the world, it’s amazing to me just how similar we all are to each other. You’ll see the same polychromos colored pencils, princeton heritage brushes, and copic markers here at ARTspot as you’d find at Sennelier’s in Paris or Uematsu in Tokyo. Art and the supplies that make it are truly a global phenomenon!
I think that’s enough waxing poetic about ARTspot, creativity, and everything else on my mind for now. I want to use this blog to explore some of the weird intricacies of why art supplies are the way they are, why putting your resources towards supporting small businesses in your community is (not even in a selfish way) of the highest importance, and just what it’s like when every day is a day in the life of an art supply store.
