JERRY'S ARTARAMA

I wanted to do quick post on how generous Jerry's Artarama has been in light of my recent purge (full story here). Jerry's Artarama is a chain of family-owned art stores on the East Coast w/ a pretty huge online e-store. I'd heard of Jerry's, but had never been a customer -- mostly because I'd gotten used to traveling to a few of my local art stores (all mostly now part of the Blick corp) for everything I needed. In the days following the loss of all my art materials, Katie from Jerry's Artarama got on touch and told me they wanted to send me a bunch of art supplies to help me get back to work. I told her what I generally use, and within a week, I had a shipment of art supplies on my porch -- from brush cleaners to paints (they carry a French brand called Charvin which I had never used before but really like). A day or two later, a utility cart, nicer than anything i've used before and built specifically for artists, was delivered. apparently there is an easel and studio light on it's way as well. let me repeat that I had no relationship with the company at all prior to all of this. i'd never even been a customer -- they just sent me all this stuff as a show of support. there wasn't even a request to help promote the company as a result (which I would have been more than happy to do). how amazing is that?!So I wanted to let you know what kind of company Jerry's Artarama is, because I think it's important.  i've gotten so comfortable paying an arm and a leg at various art store chains -- and generally assuming that none of them have any real support for the artistic community, beyond what they can readily profit from. Then Jerry's, a pretty large company by all accounts,  goes and does this for me, a not very well known artist from the other side of the country. I will be forever grateful. I was not a customer before, but I certainly am now.

So thank you Katie and Jerry's Artarama!