ASI 74 The Art Store: A Hub of Creativity

Jeff: 0:06

Welcome back to Art Supply Insiders. My name is Jeff Marrow and today we're talking with Joe Souder. Joe is the creative coordinator for the Art Store. Joe, welcome in. Did I butcher your last name? No, it was perfect. Okay, and the Art Store. Where exactly is that located?

Joe: 0:25

We are in Syracuse, new York. If there's a geographic center of the state of New York, syracuse is right, smack in the middle.

Jeff: 0:34

You know our audience might recall, back in September we did an interview with Sarah Stedner, who was just an incredible interview and a wonderful podcast, and she really is a great artist and crafter, isn't she? She's amazing, yeah, yeah she. If you haven't heard that one, go back and see it. It's ASI 44. So, joe, tell me a little bit about the Art Store. How long has the store been opened? All of that?

Joe: 1:09

So in 2024, we will celebrate 50 years in business. It's our 50th anniversary. Yeah, we started 50 years ago. Our owner, don his father, owned a hardware store in Syracuse and Don said hey, dad, you know, could I bring in some fine art supplies and have them in here? And so there was a little corner of the hardware store where there were some fine art supplies and from there the rest, of course, is very long 50 years of history. Wow, wow, yeah.

Jeff: 1:45

And how long have you been with the Art Store?

Joe: 1:48

I have been here since 2018.

Jeff: 1:51

Oh my, so you so creative coordinator. What does a creative coordinator do?

Joe: 1:57

Well, I get to interface with all of our vendors, so if it's something that we sell in our store, I've talked to the people who sell it, sometimes the people who make it. I plan all of our classes with all of our teachers. That's a whole that, honestly, could be a job in and of itself, because it's so fun and I learned so much from them. I got then, of course, like coordinating all of their class supplies, that they need all of the stuff for each of the students, getting the classroom ready for each thing, all of our events we have amazing events here and then anything that has anything to do with marketing or social media, our email blasts, all of our sales, all that comes right through me, that's you.

Jeff: 2:41

You've got a heck of a job. So let's talk a little bit about the Art Store. So the Art Store sells fine art and craft supplies? Yeah, absolutely. And now I'm going to jump in. I'm kind of jumping ahead. It's something I was going to ask you a little while ago is you know, the consumer is constantly evolving. What do you guys see as consumer trends? What seems to be popular these days, either on the fine art side or on the craft side?

Joe: 3:15

You know what, honestly, since the pandemic, we've really seen sort of a return to traditional media. Everybody, while we were sort of paused, the world took a great big breath and we paused, we all got very bored, and so it seems like anyone who ever in their life picked up a watercolor brush or was curious to pick up a watercolor brush, picked it back up, or picked it up for the first time, maybe people who just they just never had the time to do something creative, they did it. People returned to things like knitting and crochet. We also all, while we were bored, we got on TikTok and there's entire channels on TikTok.

Joe: 3:59

Instagram, youtube all of the social media is dedicated to just watching people paint and watching people crochet and learning these techniques that you think of traditional art supplies or traditional craft forms or whatever, like there was really a return to that. I think people got a lot of comfort from it and they found out wow, this really is fun. And so since the pandemic, we've just seen more of it and everybody putting kind of a non-traditional spin on traditional media. So I have people who use watercolor paint and they use it on a printing press, they're using it with gel plates or they're taking their little miniature plastic soldiers and they're painting it with fine art oils and mixing different solvents and different aggregates in with their oil paints to get these interesting textures on toy soldiers. It's absolutely fascinating to see that everything it just got bigger.

Jeff: 5:04

You know, all of us hated the pandemic. But I think, in some weird way, when we come out of it on the other side, it's like you said people are trying new and different things, aren't they?

Joe: 5:20

Yeah, and you know what. Honestly, if you're in people who are in art school, right, you take art history and you learn about what was going on the art of the 30s in Europe, what was happening then, and many artists who were in places that were occupied by Nazi Germany, they were painting in basements, they were painting in the dark. So when you look at a lot of the works from that time, they look like they were painted in a basement or in secret, you know. And so that's sort of what we learned like all of this was happening, this art. It never got suppressed, it was just happening underground, in secret. And so, like, look at these dark canvases and dark textures.

Joe: 5:59

I honestly think someday, 20 years, 30 years from now, they will teach art of the 20s the same way we learn now art of the 1930s. Like we all came out of the pandemic and everyone started painting If they weren't already, everybody started painting. And then 2020 itself 2021, the world was on fire and all sorts of social change and crazy things were happening. All of that is now immortalized in an artistic form in someone's painting, in someone's drawing, in someone's illustration. I really do think that we're living in history right now.

Jeff: 6:37

Wow, I've never thought of it that way, but I think you're right, and one of the things that I hear you saying to our fine artists and crafters is don't hold back, try new things. Try new things, yeah, and try new materials. For instance, I've seen that making cards, card making on the craft side, has kind of morphed on over into the fine art side. Oh yeah, because watercolors are right.

Joe: 7:08

Watercolors are acrylic paints on non-traditional surfaces. We've seen I've also seen a huge return to fine writing instruments like fine writing dip pens and fountain pens. We've had a huge demand here in our store kind of replenish our stock of fine pens and we now we're about to grand re-open an entire room, a writing, a fine writing room, with nice, beautiful pens and beautiful inks and then of course, all the papers and stationery and everything that goes with it.

Jeff: 7:42

That's an area into itself. We've never discussed that on ArtSupply Insiders and it might be a good idea to talk to somebody that gets into the fine art of using these pens with calligraphy and all of this other kind of stuff.

Joe: 8:00

People are falling in love with writing all over again. They really are With handwriting, penmanship and just putting pen to paper and writing, whether it's a thank you card, a love letter, anything Like. We're really seeing sort of a return to that time. That's great.

Jeff: 8:18

Now I'm sure you guys have a website, so can you give our audience your website?

Joe: 8:23

Yeah, it's the Art Store, so the Art Store, the Art Store CNY. So the Art Store Central New York. Think of it that way CNY Theartstorecnycom.

Jeff: 8:35

So that's T-H-E-A-R-T-S-T-O-R-E. C is in Charlie, n is in Nancy, y is in Yo-Yo. That's right.

Joe: 8:48

Yeah, theartstorecnycom.

Jeff: 8:51

Gotcha. When they go to that website, what are they going to see? Are they going to see all the products you stock? Do you offer videos on there, tips, that kind of stuff? Yeah, it's sold in our store.

Joe: 9:05

It's on our website 25,000 different items. We have them all painstakingly arranged in a beautiful order that makes sense, and we're constantly updating the website, because we're always bringing something new into the store and we're always going to be rearranging things around here. I think we're maybe that's an artist thing too. We get bored and then suddenly we're like you know, wouldn't Canvas look really beautiful over there in that corner instead of here? Let's move it, let's see what. Oh well, what if we move brushes? Why don't we do that? And somehow that carries over to our digital platform too, because we seem to do the same thing on the website. We're always making it a little bit more efficient or look a little bit more beautiful.

Jeff: 9:47

Well, I just pulled up your website right now and it's beautiful. Oh, thank you. Oh, my goodness gracious, it's got all of these. The first picture I see are all of these surfaces like jesso board and clay board and scratch and pastel and aqua. This is really good, and there's your pens and so forth. So, folks out there, you really need to go and check out their website If you're looking for a really good source for art and craft supplies. Which kind of leads me to my next question is how do you see the role of brick and mortar art supply store evolving with the ever increasing online shopping, where people have kind of gotten away from going to brick and mortar? How do you see brick and mortar is moving forward?

Joe: 10:38

I mean honestly. I think our store website is testament to the fact that, yes, we're a brick and mortar store, but we're also a digital shopping space, our online presence, just like we have our in person presence. I have people who live only a couple blocks away and they're constantly placing orders. You know, free shipping as long as it's over $35. And they're just too busy creating or too busy painting, too busy doing whatever it is that they're doing, to come in. And then we have people, too that we've found a lady who found us through. She buys some of our fine writing inks that I was talking about. She and her husband drove here from Connecticut because they wanted to see in person the store where she's been shopping online to get all these beautiful inks. And, you know, while she was here, she wanted to see what else we have the thing about a brick and mortar place.

Joe: 11:34

What we've really turned this into is an interactive space where artists can engage with their craft and connect with other like-minded individuals. So we do that with workshops, we have constant free demonstrations, we have events and really it kind of transforms our store into a hub of creativity and knowledge sharing. So that is something that, of course, we can all go on Reddit and we can all find there's so many online forums, but nothing beats in person. You know, shopping down the down the brush aisle and you and you see another local artist also shopping and striking up a conversation, and then the salesperson comes over and the three of them all start talking about different ways to wash a brush or different ways to use a brush and different media that you can use that brush with. It's so much of a, I guess, like a social place, not that the digital world can't give you, that, can't provide information, but it's a whole other experience to do it in person.

Joe: 12:41

And also there's people, I think, who constantly just really want hands on, the ability to physically assess something's texture, something's color or something's quality before they make a purchase. And I saw an interesting article about Gen Z, the young people that are kind of coming up now, college age and a little older and a little younger, and that they are all more likely to make a purchase in person. They prefer shopping in a brick and mortar store to doing it online, which sort of bucks the trend of generations Y and X that came before them, who now we're all shopping on Amazon as much you know, as much as we can. We hate going to a mall, hate going to a store or whatever. No, these kids, they prefer to go and speak to a salesperson who has knowledge about an item and then make an informed decision. That way, they may also go online and do their own research, but they prefer to purchase something that they can look at, feel or try out, even Such a good thought.

Jeff: 13:46

Our industry is very tactile. Exactly, it's literally. You want to feel that brush, that watercolor brush, and is it going to have a sharp edge to it? Is it going to hold water? And many times you can go into these stores and you can try brushes with water and you can ask people and oftentimes there are manufacturers there, Sometimes you can talk to them directly, correct?

Joe: 14:11

Any brush in our store. You can try out any paint if you want to take it into the you try it room, give it a whirl, see what happens. And yes, just over the weekend Friday, saturday we had the nice people from Da Vinci brush were in town and so we had a whole lecture and workshop on the different, the different brushes for watercolour and for oil. And you could just see that there was nowhere to park I think for a block in any direction. Our parking lot was full, the street was all parked with cars. Everybody was engaging with the DaVinci people and asking questions, learning whole new things. And this date in age two where we're all about saving money, if you can find a brush that's a real workhorse that can do two or three things for you. Davinci brushes definitely do that.

Jeff: 15:03

So we just interviewed Greg Daniels from DaVinci Brush just a couple of weeks ago.

Joe: 15:10

Oh, did you.

Jeff: 15:11

Yeah, that is a really good brush and one of the things that, as a community, we need to support brick and mortars, because the brick and mortars are going away worldwide and we need to be able to go places to touch the paint, to play with the brush, to look at different things. That's important, isn't it? It's so important.

Joe: 15:37

I think also there's just a lot of again. You can get so many benefits from online or from a digital platform. Right, and I won't knock it, because of course, we have our store website. We have tangible experiential elements that only a physical space can provide. Gosh, like the, it's really, it's shopping and it's entertainment, you know, and being part of a community, and that's for a website to accomplish.

Jeff: 16:06

I love that visual. It's shopping and entertainment, because you go to an art store and pretty much you just smile the entire time. You're there with everything to look at. So I know you guys are very, very involved in your community. How do you guys work with the community and how do you serve them?

Joe: 16:27

There's that saying we are the weirdos, mister, definitely. I think, above all else, we are the place for the weird kids, the art kids, the creative kids, and when I say kids I mean kids of all ages, if you're eight, if you're 108, everybody gathers here to network. You know, we try to be the nucleus of the art and artist community of not just Syracuse but Central New York, the Finger Lakes region. And it's so neat because I can go to a gallery show, whether it's here in town or if I drive to Seneca Falls or whatever, to see one of our artists, you know, putting their works up and I'll look at the work and be like, oh, that's what you're doing with all that quinoa crudone opera, or that's what you. That's why you needed all those catalyst blades from Princeton Like now I see what you've been hooked to. Oh, that's funny and I don't. Again, being part of a community, that's something that I benefit from. But I do like to think that our customers enjoy it too that they can come in and we take them right to what they need to answer their questions about how to use, how to use what with what, how to varnish what, how to get whatever it is ready for, whether it's exhibition, if it's for their senior workshop, if it's for one of their art classes. We're right next to Syracuse University and I can't say enough about their art department. We're also right down the road from Uneductal Community College and again, can't say enough good things about their art department. All such dedicated professors and passionate students at both of those schools.

Joe: 18:06

But we have our kids in town too, who leave Syracuse to go to, whether it's SCAD or Parsons in New York. Wherever they're going to, they like to stock up here before they leave because they don't know what they'll find. And it's really, really awful, I think, to get to school, get your materials list and then have to hunt online or go place to place and hope that you can find what you're looking for. So many of our away students that go out of town they choose instead to stock up here before they go and also just sponsoring community events like murals. We have murals popping up all over Syracuse and we've been working with Golden and their new mural paint, which is absolutely beautiful. I don't know if you've seen it in action. Yeah, it's ex exquisite. And also, of course, montana and Montana 94, the spray can companies. Both of those we've been watching as these murals pop all over town watching that stuff get used.

Joe: 19:05

We sponsored the kids activity tent at the Juneteenth Festival Gosh. Recently we did a little experience booth with some mixed media at an art show down at the Gear Factory, which is another. It's sort of a live in artist community. I don't want to call it a commune, but it kind of is. It's a repurposed machine gun factory from World War Two. They've turned into apartments and artist studio lofts and it's just so neat so we got to go participate in that.

Jeff: 19:39

Wow. Now if let's say we've got somebody in the Midwest and they have a question and they just can't seem to find the answer, do you guys accept phone calls for questions and stuff? Oh my gosh all the time.

Joe: 19:57

We phone calls, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messenger, and we have our also, just our regular. If you go to our website, there's an email that actually comes right to my email If you submit your questions there. We answer questions for people all over, so please bring us your questions Well.

Jeff: 20:20

I know crafters and artists. We always have questions. Oh yeah, I mean absolutely always. So you know, have you had to adapt your store and reinvent yourself after the pandemic? Have you had to do things?

Joe: 20:36

different. During the pandemic, we at first we closed, we here in New York. It hit early and it hit really hard and we sort of watched as it got closer and closer and then finally it was in our county and so before the governor, before anyone could shut us down, our leadership came one day and said you're done, we're going to close up tonight and tomorrow. Don't come to work, everybody stay home. And a few days later, of course, then the state shutdown, made it mandatory. But our leadership, they didn't lay us off, they paid us to stay home. And, wow, stayed home. They were like you know, we don't, we don't want anyone losing their, their benefits, that's not going to happen, we'll take care of you. So we sat at home and a couple weeks went by and then they said you know what, come on in, because it's huge here. If you see pictures of our store, it's absolutely massive. So a handful of people we can really work without ever seeing each other or going within. You know, 10, 12 feet of each other.

Joe: 21:39

So we socially distanced, we wore our masks, we were very careful and we sort of, you know, we did curbside pickup. I would send emails and say, hey, we've got some great deals going on, and one thing kind of led to the next and we had there were orders that were placed before we went home that started coming in, and so we started putting up the new displays and putting in new merchandise and then suddenly we started ordering more things. And we ordered a few more things. We looked around and we're like you know, we've been putting off painting the wall. Why don't we paint the walls? We painted the walls, then we rearranged the store and then we bought new gondolas and then the next thing you know we were in.

Joe: 22:17

We were up to our neck in a complete renovation and so in the months that we were closed up April and May we totally gutted, repainted and re sort of reinvented the entire retail space. So when we opened back up, it was even airier than it had been before, even better spaced out, even more wheelchair and stroller accessible than we already had been. Everything was better. We had an even better selection. We had new merchandise that no one had ever seen and we reopened to the public. People were lined around the block to wait to come in and shop.

Joe: 22:57

The day that we reopened our doors. People were so happy to be back you know, shopping in person and they walked in and just watching their eyes just bugging out of their head at the changes that had occurred in just the few weeks that we'd been closed. They were so impressed and, of course, it's just that the momentum has continued since then. So we really took it as a time to take a deep breath, take a pause. We all had a couple weeks off and then we rolled up our sleeves and we just improved on what we've always done really well, which is offer an amazing experience and with an amazing product.

Jeff: 23:32

Well, there's no doubt that the art store is a premier place to get fine art and craft supplies. How do you differentiate yourself from other stores that sell fine art and craft supplies?

Joe: 23:48

You know we really are a part of the community here. Everybody that works on our sales floor is a practicing artist. You know we're all working artists. In addition to working at the art store, almost everybody who works here teaches classes, also including me. And I think another piece of the puzzle that's integral to this is our entire second floor is an art gallery dedicated to local artists. It doesn't mean you have to be born and raised in Syracuse to show your stuff up there. We have people who've moved here from Italy, from Hawaii, their work you know sits right next to born and raised Syracuseans.

Joe: 24:31

We have members of the faculty from the art department at SU that have been our featured artist of the month. Just so many ways that we can really be part of the community and you really do get a different level of service here than you would at, you know, a big box retailer.

Jeff: 24:53

It sounds like your attention to detail is what really makes the difference. You treat each of us as individual artists and you pay attention to what our needs are Exactly. So this whole interview has gone by so fast. We're just about at the end here. Can you give us a little idea of what the future looks like as you enter your 50th year of business?

Joe: 25:20

I think, continuing to honor our past. You know, and in many ways we always say we're the friendly neighborhood art store, we're your friendly neighborhood art store. You know, in many ways we're still, I think we like to think still like that little corner of art supplies, that precious jewel in the corner of a hardware store, but, of course, embracing the innovation of the future. We embrace the digital age and we invest in our online platforms, but for the store, it still needs to continue to be an interactive space where artists can meet and experiment and collaborate and even, like I said in our gallery, showcase their work.

Jeff: 26:03

Well, as you were talking, I'm still browsing through your website and I am so absolutely impressed as a fine artist or as a crafter. You literally have just about everything anybody could want. I mean, it's just we're all over the place and I'm looking and you've got plenty of our best practices and drawing your inner voice and the ancient art of water marbling. These things are all things that our audience is looking for. So congratulations on such a wonderful platform.

Joe: 26:41

Thank you. We've worked really hard on it.

Jeff: 26:43

Well, Joe, as you grow and as you reinvent yourself, please consider coming back and chatting with us. This has been eye-opening. And again, if they want to go to the website, give them the website again.

Joe: 26:59

TheartstoreCNYcom.

Jeff: 27:02

TheartstoreCNYcom. Joe, thank you so much again. Is there anything I forgot to ask you about? If you want to follow?

Joe: 27:11

us on social media. We love our. You know we can be your friendly neighborhood art store too, even if we're not in your neighborhood. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook the Art Store CNY. We're the same handle on all our social media platforms. And keep an eye on TikTok, because you know we're on there too.

Jeff: 27:32

All right, I have to ask you so I have to be at the end of this TikTok what the heck is TikTok?

Joe: 27:37

Oh, it's a platform that shares a short form video, although some of them seem to be getting longer and longer, because now you can I think it's up to seven minutes you're allowed to be on there. But for artists, especially to show time lapse of their art or just to demonstrate a quick trick or a quick technique, it is an absolutely invaluable tool.

Jeff: 27:56

Wow. Well, this is the exact reason why you need to talk with Joe at the Art Store. They are on the cutting edge of what's happening. Joe, thank you again for being on the show today. We really appreciate it. Jeff, thank you so much.

Joe: 28:11

It was an honor to be asked.

Jeff: 28:13

You've been listening to the Art Supply Insiders. Check back with us often as we talk about the world of art and craft supplies. If you'd like to hear more of these podcasts, please hit the subscribe button on your preferred podcast platform and we really would appreciate it if you tell a friend. If you'd like to show your support, please consider going to our website and hitting the support button at oursupplyinsiderscom. Now go out and create something.