Blick at Manifest

Friday, May 4^th, 2012 Columbia College Chicago presented the 11^th annual Manifest 2012.  This Urban Arts Festival celebrated the work of its 2,000 graduating students with art exhibitions, readings, singer showcases and original designs!  The festival took place in the streets with main stage performances from student bands such as, Kids These Days and Da$htone!  The festival was a huge success, with hundreds of attendees, amazing artwork and fantastic live performances!

Blick Screen Printing Station

Blick Art Materials, national fine art materials supplier and a presenting sponsor, had a booth right next to Anchor Graphics.  Anchor Graphics is a not-for-profit fine art press that brings together youth, artists and the public to further the fine art of printmaking with education.  Blick had a screen printing booth set up with screens prepped by Anchor Graphics, where attendees learned to screen print their very own tote bags!  The totes were extremely popular, so supplies ran out very quickly!  Blick also gave out free prizes and exclusive discounts throughout the entire day.  The staff from the Chicago Loop store had a great time meeting the Columbia faculty, alumni, students, and their friends and family in attendance!

Spring Fling Prize Wheel

Blick Art Materials held its annual Spring Fling Event this year and it was a huge success!  Aside from a 25% discount on their entire purchase, customers enjoyed great prizes, the opportunity to enter two raffle contests, body art demos, live artists and musicians, and much more!  Customers flooded in to purchase their discounted art supplies and to check out the other fun activities at the stores throughout the day.

Body Art Demo Tattoos

Each store put a personal spin on the day’s event.  The Lincoln Park location had delicious cupcakes provided by Bleeding Heart Bakery, New York had DJ Apple come to spin, San Francisco had Diana Lee come in to do a Scratchboard Demo!  Other stores had airbrush artists giving customers their very own temporary tattoos, live watercolor artists painting throughout the day, and many talented musicians.  The day was full of fun and surprises.  Each store picked a winner for the all-day raffle, who won a 156-color set of Prisma Color Markers, and a winner of the body art demo raffle, who won a free Iwata body art application kit! 

All the stores had lots of fun giving their customers a day of discounts, prizes, fun and free entertainment! What a perfect way to celebrate the Spring season!

Award Ceremony

Blick Art Materials in Roseville was a proud sponsor of the 2012 Minnesota Aviation Art Contest Ceremony put on by the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics.

The contest theme for this year was “Silent Flight”. Students ranging from the ages of 6-17 were able to submit artwork based on this specific theme using watercolor, acrylic, oil paint, indelible marker, felt tip pens, and/or ball point pens.

This year there were over 750 entries statewide with four winning entries in three age categories (6-9, 10-13, 17-17). The first through third place winning entries were also sent on to Washington D.C. to compete on the National Level. Winners from the national level go on to compete in the International Aviation Art Contest.

The official award ceremony took place on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at the Minnesota State Capital.  Each winner and honorable mention received a gift card and gift bag from Blick Art Materials as well as an award from the Office of Aeronautics. They will also have the artwork featured in the 2013 Minnesota Aviation Art Calendar.

Award Winners

2012 Minnesota Aviation Art Contest Winners:

Ages 6 to 9:

1st Place  Elise Hyypa
   Northwoods School

2nd Place   James Cho
   Cottage Grove Elementary School

3rd Place   Ashley Kim
   Cottage Grove Elementary School

4th Place  Ryan Westerman
   Christina Huddleston Elementary School

Ages 10 to 13:

1st Place  Sky Waters
   Thomas Lake Elementary

2nd Place  Felix Oh
   Lake Middle School

3rd Place  Emily Shin
   Brimhall Elementary School

4th Place  Elizabeth Cho
   Cottage Grove Middle School

Ages 14 to 17:

1st Place   Lisa Oh
   New Life Academy

2nd Place  Cynthia Avila
   Worthington High School

3rd Place  Christine Kim
   Wayzata Central School

4th Place  Antonio Madrigal
   Worthington High School

Second Place Motor Scooter Winner

Blick Art Materials, recently held a sweepstakes where students nationwide entered to win a free motor scooter!  Blick is pleased to announce that Samantha Villian Van Pamel is the Second Place Prize winner of the Student Motor Scooter Sweepstakes.  Villain Van Pamel is currently a freshman Fine Arts major at Cornish College of the Arts.  Villian Van Pamel enjoys sculpture and print making, and has been buying her supplies from Blick for nearly 5 years now!  Cornish College of the Arts also received a twenty-five hundred dollar Blick gift card as part of Villain Van Pamel’s prize package.

Blick hosted an Award Ceremony on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at the Cornish campus where Deborah Roetter, Director of National Sales, and Mark Adams, General Manager, of Blick Art Materials’ Seattle store, presented Villian Van Pamel with a 2012 Zuma Motor Scooter and custom airbrushed helmet by Iwata artist, Javier Soto.  Bonnie Biggs, Art Department Interim Chair and Dr. Nancy J. Uschur, President of Cornish College of the Arts, were in attendance to represent the school and to receive the $2,500 Blick gift card.  Customers received exclusive discounts to use towards their purchases for the entire day.

New Design Center

Our San Diego location has recently opened a Design Center! Now the San Diego store can cover all of your Custom Framing & Fine Art Printing needs.

Our framing center has a superior selection! Choose from over 1000+ frame styles, enhance your image with colorful and textured mats, and add depth and beauty to your piece with linen liners or mat filets. Protect your image with UV filtering glass and acid free mats and backing. We will soon have computerized mat cutting, so you can select from hundreds of designs and customized layouts! Come in today and let our professionally-trained and highly skilled staff help design and craft the ideal solution for your framing needs!

Our professional Design Center offers our customers the opportunity to combine Canson’s exceptional printing papers with the highest quality Epson Ultrachrome HDR inks. This means you can print everything from your point-and-shoot family photographs to fine art Giclee’ editions. Come on over to the San Diego Design Center today and let our designers help you turn your project into an exceptionally printed image, artwork or family heirloom!

Photo of Moore Motor Scooter Award Ceremony

Last fall, Blick Art Materials, held a sweepstakes where students from around the country entered to win a free motor scooter.  The grand prize student sweepstakes winner was fashion design student, Deborah Artaza, who attends Moore College of Art & Design.  As part of the grand prize package, Blick, and avid supporter of the arts community nationwide, awarded Moore College of Art & Design with five thousand dollars in gift cards!

Motor Scooter Sweepstake Winners

The Philadelphia store hosted an Award Ceremony Thursday, April 19^th, 2012 where Ed Ogorzaly, Retail President of Blick Art Materials, presented Deborah Artaza with a 2011 Yamaha Vino Classic Motor Scooter and custom airbrushed helmet by Iwata artist, Steve Driscoll.  Linda Porch, Director of Development, and Scot Kaylor, Fine Art Chair, were in attendance representing Moore College of Art & Design who received five thousand dollars in gift cards!  “We are really pleased for Deborah.  Her good fortune is shared by Moore and we are grateful for the donation of $5,000 worth of gift cards,” says Scot Kaylor, chair and professor of fine arts, who also teaches in the foundation program at Moore.  “I’m pleased to thank Blick on behalf of the College.  The gift cards will be used to assist 14 of our first-year students with the purchase of supplies for the Foundation curriculum.” 

Throughout the hour long ceremony Blick provided complimentary refreshments, including local favorite, Philly Cupcakes, recently featured in USA Today.  Customers also received exclusive discounts to use towards their purchases for the entire day. 

To see more photos from the event, check out the album on the Blick Art Materials – Philadelphia Facebook page.

Spring Fling Event Flyer

Wednesday, April 25^th, 2012 is Blick’s Spring Fling event.  Join us at any one of our 36 store locations for a day full of art, food, prizes, music and more!  Each store will have a live artist and/or performer from their local community!  Most importantly, each new store will be showing off our temporary Medea body paint products with live demos and airbrush artists.  Get your very own temporary tattoo to reinvent your new spring look!

Come enjoy 25% off your entire purchase and spin our Prize Wheel for a chance to win free giveaways including hats, t-shirts, eco-totes, acrylic paint samples and more (while supplies last)!  We will also be holding two raffles, one throughout the day and one only at our Body Art Demo, see your local store’s page for times.  Customers can enter and winners will be announced at the end of the day! 

It’s Spring!  Don’t miss this exciting, one day event full of fun, demos, discounts, prizes, refreshments and more!  To find a store near you, please visit our Store Directory.

Blick Earth Day Eco Tote

April 22nd is Earth Day!  Celebrate by picking up green products in-store at your local Blick!  This Sunday only, get an eco-tote for a penny with a minimum purchase of $10!  

Blick was green before it was fashionable. We’re proud of our energy-efficient operations, and pleased to offer art materials that are earth-friendly because of the way they’re formulated, manufactured, or packaged.

Visit our Store Directory for a location near you.

March Double Discount Days are quickly approaching!  Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11, 2012 we will be offering our valued, preferred customers an exclusive discount of 20% off their entire purchases, all weekend long at all store locations!  Throughout the weekend we will also be hosting free demos!  March is Youth Art Month, so in observance we are offering three youth focused demos that are entertaining for all ages, including adults!  Plus, you can leave each demo with your creation (while supplies last)!

Join us in store on Friday, March 9 for a Suminagashi Paper Marbling Demo!  The word “Suminagashi” translates literally as “spilled ink.”  Centuries before the art of marbleizing papers was practiced in Western cultures, Japanese craftsman created patterns by floating ink on the surface of water and transferring it to a sheet of paper.  In this demo you will be able to create your own unique print using this same method!

A Mise-en-Scene demo will be held on Saturday, March 10.  “Mise-en-Scene” (meaning “to place on stage”) is a French expression referring to the physical setting of a stage or performance.  The background scenery is designed to help tell a story in a play or on film by creating an environment.  Create a small scene of your own using templates or from your imagination!

Don’t miss an Impressionistic Marker “Painting” demo on Sunday, March 11!  The alcohol based ink in Blick Studio Markers makes them great for paper applications, but for a really unique drawing experience, try them on clear film during this demo.  Make your drawing into a custom bookmark!

Support the young artists in your family and community!  We hope to see you in stores in support of Youth Art Month taking advantage of our free, fun, and inspirational demos!  Not to mention, great savings!

Discount is exclusive to Preferred Card Members.  Not a member? Learn more about our Preferred Card Program.

To find your store’s demo schedule, please visit their store page.  Find a store near you in our Store Directory.

On Thursday, February 9, 2012 all stores celebrated Blick Madness!  Each store had live performances featuring local artists and offered a screen printing demo with free tote giveaway, as well as a card making demo just in time for Valentine’s Day!  Each store also raffled off a copy of Random House’s Adventures in Mixed Media, by Jane Davies.

All customers had the chance to play the Instant Win game with chances to win huge discounts and gift cards valued up to $100!  The day was full of fun; thanks to everyone that joined in the festivities.  We hope you didn’t miss the event, but if you did, look for another fun filled Blick Madness this fall!

To see more photos from the events nationwide, visit your store’s local Facebook page!