A large part of creativity requires buying yourself the right tools to do what you want to do. In other words, you need good supplies to create things. In the past, there was easy access to art supply stores in most towns in the USA. Nowadays, online shopping has caused many types of physical shops to disappear, and unfortunately this includes art supply stores.
There has been consolidation in the art supply shop industry - looking at you Blick and Utrecht. Recently Michael’s - technically an art supply store - has been expanding their fabric offerings after Joann Fabric’s bankruptcy. I suspect that this will lead their already small art supply section to get even smaller.
Many art supply stores have closed in the past few years: I still miss Pearl Paint. If you are looking for physical stores, in my case I've had to look for stores near art schools and universities. Even though I live in a small city, I have to drive an hour to go to the closest dedicated art supply store, New River Art & Fiber in Blacksburg, VA.
Yes there is Amazon, but personally I have not had good luck with Amazon's art supplies. They have not lasted and using tools I’ve bought from Amazon has been frustrating overall, especially paintbrushes. I have also been breaking my bonds with Amazon in favor of shopping locally. If you are doing the same, these sites have been helping me shop for supplies with a lens pointed away from big box type stores. Many of these places also offer classes and other types of creative get-togethers if that's your thing:
- ​Jackson’s Art Supplies has decent prices for high quality supplies
- If you are looking for an online shop with physical locations, Jerry’s Artarama has physical locations nationwide.
- If you are looking for independent art supply stores, IAMart is a great resource (even though there are no locations in my state yet)
- If you live near an art school, check out if the school has an on-campus store. Another store I miss is the RISD store from when I lived in Providence.
- Last year I found my first art supply resale shop, the 757 Creative Reuse Center in Norfolk, VA. It may be worth checking out if there is an art supply resale shop near you, because art supplies can get very expensive as you probably know 🤑
Having access to quality art materials is important to nurturing any creative practice. As someone who watches videos of people visiting art supply stores in Japan because they're relaxing, these places are overlooked in their ability to get you to try new things and get inspired. If you are looking for more creative inspiration let me know.
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