AIKO'S ART MATERIALS

I have borrowed the following from the website of Aiko's Art Materials of Chicago. It was announced recently that Aiko's will be ceasing operations in the very near future. Although Aiko's is technically a competitor, we have both referred customers to each other for years. It is with true sadness that we bid farewell to this remarkable company, and wish their staff the best in the future.

Mrs. Aiko Nakane (1908-2004), the founder of Aiko’s Art Materials, was instrumental in bringing handmade Japanese paper and it’s aesthetic to the United States. Born in Seattle in 1908, Mrs. Nakane attended high school in Japan and was exposed to such traditional crafts as shodo (calligraphy) and ikebana (flower arranging.) She recalled the daily household use of Japanese paper whether to simply wrap a gift or to present an item of food at a meal. She liked to tell of the time her mother tightly rolled a piece of paper to tie her daughter’s hair back when a ribbon or hair band could not be found.

In the early 1950’s, back in the United States as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mrs. Nakane would give Japanese art supplies and papers as omiyage (gifts) to fellow students and friends in the art community upon returning from trips to Japan. Her friends loved the items and clamored for more – thus the beginning of her store, Aiko’s Art Materials.

Since the mid-1950’s Aiko’s Art Materials has provided both supplies and services to its customers. What began as a small concern for a select few in the Midwest has gradually evolved into a global business with orders routinely shipped out to distant destinations in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Yet, in spite of this expansion, Aiko’s still provides that personal, distinctive style that has been a hallmark of the store since its inception.

Specializing in washi (handmade Japanese paper), Aiko’s carries hundreds of Japanese papers, plain and decorated, which make up over ninety-five percent of the inventory. An infinite variety of colors, textures and designs is displayed – enough to tempt every imagination with endless possibilities. The shop serves artists, bookbinders, painters and crafters and those in book and art restoration and conservation.

Brushes are another important aspect of Aiko’s Art Materials. Over one hundred different types of brushes can be found in the shop. They are made up of materials ranging from badger and horsehair to sheep and weasel hair. All shapes and sizes specially formulated for use, be it calligraphy, brush painting, stencil dyeing or painting can be found at Aiko’s. The majority of the brushes are handmade and produced in Japan.

IMPACT 5

For good or bad, another show is in the can. Impact 5 in Tallinn, Estonia was a pretty good show, even if it was short (One day - just six hours), there were over 200 people attending from Europe, the Americas and Asia. Vendors were sparse (which, by the way, I love). Graphic Chemical and Caligo were there for those looking for inks, T.N. Lawrence representing the retail stores, John Purcell Papers out of the U.K. and a Finnish press manufacturer.

The city of Tallinn is remarkable. The old town area (seen at the left) was beautiful and the food was really great. We tried one Estonian and one Russian restaurant. One was great, and one was a restaurant. The people were outgoing and very friendly. It was, however, cold, cold, cold.

The balance of our trip was split between Western Europe, calling on distributors, and Lithuania, drumming up new business. There is a real need for quality printmaking supplies in some of these areas, and we're looking to fill the void - possibly even opening a store somewhere in Eastern Europe to help get materials to them more efficiently.

I did learn a valuable lesson while in Lithuania. I have often wondered how money donated to my church is used. After visiting a number of churches in the Baltics, I know the answer...they use my donations to heat the church! I have never been so uncomfortable in my life as during a memorial service for a relative of my wife's. Even the priest didn't take his coat off, and he beat a hasty retreat as soon as the graveside services were completed. One of the younger people pointed out that the newer churches were heated so that the younger generation would consider attending.

We visited with some who were restoring several churches in Vilnius the capital of the country, and were amazed that there was so much activity with very little in the way of private donations. These were some truly talented craftsmen that were spending years in restoring what was destroyed during the Soviet occupation.

RANDOM MUSINGS

Some nights it just doesn't pay to go to bed. When I was in college, pulling an all-nighter was no big deal. Sometimes there was even studying involved - no really, once there was definite studying - books, reading, note taking - it was all very Hollywoodish.



In the Navy, all nighters were pretty standard fare. I flew as a crew member on a Douglas A-3 Skywarrior, I was young and stupid, and it was an adventure. My standard mission was from midnight to 6:00 am flying over what the Navy referred to as "extreme western South Vietnam". I know that lots of people believe that kids today are geographically challenged. Well this was the whole government that couldn't get it right. Let's just say that it was another country that rhymed with Taos.



When I got back to the States, I worked for the Armed Forces Police in Washington, DC (and no we weren't MP's or Shore Patrol, we were much higher up the food chain. That's my story and I'm sticking with it). And, you guessed it all-nighters, three days out of six.



Married with kids - all nighters. School Board meetings - only half the night, but it seemed like all night sometimes, especially during negotiations, So why am I up all night tonight? There are a number of reasons, none of them good.. waiting for an e-mail from a foreign customer that is very time sensitive, pressures of running a business and the likely winner, trying to keep up with the spam on our Discussion Forum.

After polling a number of people about how to keep the junk, we made some changes a few weeks ago. From the user point of view, it is almost completely without spam. From my point of view it still takes several hours a day to scan those who have registered and dump the spammers. We had one slip through tonight mostly because he had one semi-legitimate post early on, then a few questionable ones and tonight he was pushing prescription drugs, and now he's gone.

We're going to do whatever it takes to keep the Forum clean and useful. Please join us at http://www.graphicchemical.com/ and click on the Discussion Forum buttons at the bottom of the home page. I look forward to chatting with you.

IMPACT 5

We're just a few days away from leaving for Tallinn, Estonia for Impact 5, the usually European show comparable to Southern Graphics or Mid-America Print Council's shows. This year's IMPACT coincides with the Tallinn Print Triennial and will be held at the Kumu Museum in the capital city.

As usual, Graphic will have a contingent at the show, and somewhat unusually, there will be a pretty solid cadre of other suppliers at the show. I'm not sure how many of them are exhibiting this time but I know of several who will be supporting their distributors. It all makes for an exciting trip and an opportunity to meet with artists from Eastern Europe and give them a tase of the quality printmaking materials available from the West. It gives us an opportunity to find both distributors for our materials, and potential suppliers as well.

After the show, the group from Graphic will journey on to Lithuania to visit relatives (Susan's) and renew our acquaintances with a number of Lithuanian artists. Altogether we'll be gone for almost three weeks.

We are also calling on European distributors in Denmark, Germany, Holland, and Belgium, so there's a lot going on in a relatively short period.

We will be supported in Tallinn by our good friends at Caligo, manufacturers of the Caligo Safe-Wash inks. For the uninformed, Caligo Safe-Wash Inks are available in both Intaglio and Relief styles, and are oil based inks that wash up with soap and water. We are happy to provide samples to anyone who'd like to experiment with them - just let us know.

New Blog

After over two years of intermittent of posting on my Printmakers Materials Blog, I feel the need to branch out into a wider market. Who knows why, and more importantly who cares?

I have heard from some of you who thankfully have told me what I did wrong, but unfortunately, not how to fix it. I'll continue to muddle along trying to figure oput how to post a web address or an e-mail in the left hand column or how to put a picture in my bio.

I see this blog as more free form - out of the box thinking. I encourage you to comment on my ramblings, but keep it reasonably polite and clean. I'll try to do the same.