NAMTA – Minneapolis 2013

This years NAMTA (International Art Materials Trade Association) trade show was in Minneapolis – a city I would never put on my list of places to see, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked the downtown area, great restaurants and interesting shops (particularly a book store I browsed a lot) and the Skywalk (a series of 2nd floor enclosed walkways) was really great because I could get to the Convention Center (10 minute brisk walk) and not have to venture outside. Convenient if the weather is inclement, because, while I was there, just a hundred miles south of Minneapolis, they had a snowstorm that dumped 15 inches of snow! That’s a lot even for us Canadians! Minneapolis just got rain – whew!

The show itself is always interesting. I get to meet artists as well as retailers and view some new products before they hit the stores.  

At the Nitram Booth the standout theme for me was that “artists are starting to ask specifically for Nitram charcoal” at their local art store. Because of that a number of retailers placed orders for Nitram at the show. Very reassuring for me that Nitram is becoming the preferred charcoal.

One retailer told me that she has "stopped ordering vine and willow because it is just sitting there while Nitram is selling nice and steady". I was obviously proud and very pleased.

Of note, we did receive an order from The United Arab Emrites – I thought that was kind of cool.

In upcoming issues of the newsletter we will feature the new retailers and put them on our where to buy list. We always encourage artists to shop locally whenever possible.

Regards, Jerzy