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The Best Gifts for Artists, According to Artists

We wouldn't arraign yous if finding a souvenir for the artist in your life seems like a tall order. Artists are known for having very good and item gustatory modality, which usually requires a bit more than thought than shopping for your L.A.–based aunt who volition appreciate a culty dorsum massager or your teen blood brother who explicitly told you he wants AirPods. And if y'all want to purchase an artist a gift they volition actually use, you'll probably accept to be pretty familiar with their practice to know what supplies to get. To help keep you from wandering the aisles of Blick deliberating between that $fourscore tube of Michael Harding lapis lazuli and a Kolinsky sable castor, we reached out to several artists — including painters, photographers, textile designers, and multimedia artists — most what sorts of gifts they'd like to receive. Below, their suggestions, which include something for practically every artist, whether they're hoping for supplies, an action, or cannabis-infused snacks to "inspire" the artistic process.

Silky Nevanon Scissors

Artist Daniele Frazier recommended a gift that she received last twelvemonth and loved: Teflon-coated pair of scissors. "I love them because not only do they expect really beautiful just they're extremely sharp, and the Teflon coating allows you to cutting tape, even gummy tape like duct tape, without the scissors getting gummy over time," she says. "Nobody really buys herself fancy pair of scissors, but nosotros all know the gross feeling of a pair of pair of scissors that has been used too often on packing tape, which is what makes these a nice gift." These scissors are fabricated in Japan and built to last, meaning their recipient can concord on to them for a while. "I call up giving someone something that will final a lifetime is non merely thoughtful just responsible," says Frazier.

Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta Paper

"As a photographer, I'1000 ever in need of photo paper to brand tests and final prints with," says Elliott Jerome Dark-brown Jr., who names Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta as his favorite. "It comes in a variety of sizes, in both sheets and rolls," he says. If y'all're confused about what size paper to purchase, we suggest looking at the dimensions of recipient's past work as a starting point.

Krink K-70 Permanent Ink Marker, Black

"People ever ask me which pens I utilise, [and I tell them] I've been using Krink for years," says Shantell Martin. "They're really smooth, the quality of their ink is amazing, and yous tin use them on anything from clothing and leather to walls for larger murals." Krink paint markers also happen to be on the desk of Sant Ambroeus creative managing director Alireza Niroomand, who likes them in blue and who told usa that "when I want to scribble, I have i on me."

Baron Fig Confidant Notebook

Martin also suggested a Businesswoman Fig notebook, a mode we're very familiar with after our big examination of 100 notebooks. "I think Businesswoman is doing a great task with both quality and a modern approach to the world of creative stationery," she says. "Their journals and notebooks ever make me desire to program, create, and succeed." And if you need whatsoever further convincing, the Strategist also named Baron Fig notebooks as the best back in 2015, when it was a print-merely performance.

Framebridge Providence Frame

"Every artist always has a piece or ii that needs to exist framed," says Kent Monkman, whose work for the Met was recently featured on Vulture. "Detect a proficient local store and get them a gift certificate for framing services they wouldn't spend themselves." You could likewise effort ordering through Framebridge, a framing company that we tested and establish to be one of the best online framing services out there.

Feel It Out: The Guide to Getting in Touch with Your Goals, Your Relationships, and Yourself

"Equally an artist, you spend a nifty deal of your mean solar day in isolation, with a lot of fourth dimension to consider your ain thoughts, feelings, and emotions — for me, the unholiest trinity!" says artist Janie Korn. She suggests gifting this guidebook by illustrator Jordan Sondler, which contains advice for navigating loneliness, career, and self-love. "Reading this volume has helped me experience mentally healthier and better equipped to create meaningful fine art," says Korn. "Beyond the self-improvement office, information technology'due south a really stunning, visually compelling book that you will want to read in a sitting."

Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo Vol. 1

Painter and Illustrator Nasir Young says that, as a visual learner, art books help him proceeds insight into his own work and empathize why he makes fine art in the starting time place. He recommends volume 1 from the Akira series for illustrators and painters. "Seeing dissimilar means stories are told is interesting to me, but besides simply looking at how the pages are inked helps inform how to build value even if you're non drawing comics," he says.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix

If you want to give your creative person friend a gift that delves into the life of an artist of some other era, Monkman recommends The Periodical of Eugène Delacroix. "Delacroix's personal journal offers an astonishing insight into the artist'south life and is an incredible resource for whatever painter," Monkman told us. "In his ain words, Delacroix describes his insights on techniques such every bit color theory and his employ of both live models and daguerreotypes equally references." He says the journal likewise offers a "juicy look" into the 19th-century painter's personal life, recounting diplomacy, opinions of other artists, and what life was like in the 19th-century Parisian artistic scene. "I enjoy the moments where he offers his thoughts on art, similar, 'The things that are most real to me are the illusions which I create with my painting. Everything else is quicksand,'" says Monkman.

'Early Rubens,' edited by Sasha Suda and Kirk Nickel

Monkman as well told usa well-nigh this exhibition catalogue by Sasha Suda and Kirk Nickel, which would make a smashing gift for Rubens fans and those interested in the Old Masters. "The catalogue contains examples of the beautiful Bizarre imagery for which this master is known but is likewise a good resource for those wanting a more in-depth look at Rubens'southward practice every bit an artist," he says. "There are descriptions of the particulars of his studio practice, such as his workshop techniques and collaboration with other artists." Monkman notes that the catalogue as well offers insights into the artist's business and shows how Ruben created a make for himself and branched out commercially. "It's fascinating to compare Rubens'southward historical precedent to modern artistic practices," he adds.

American Origami by Andres Gonzalez

"Recently I barbarous in love with the design of American Origami by Andres Gonzalez," says Brown. "At starting time, it appears to operate similar a traditionally bound book, simply at some point towards the middle I noticed that each of the pages folds back and out to reveal a unlike combination of information." Chocolate-brown notes that the textile used for the pages is similar to that of stationery folders and collapses into a pile the way a perforated revenue enhancement document would. Information technology's a serious gift: "The book itself is a compilation of information on various school shootings, which I learned when looking upwards the data for the book," Brown says. But for an creative person, its appeal might lie in the construction of the book every bit an object: "Information technology'south a fairly thick book, so when I first picked it upward, I sought to experience the design and would engage content later on," he says.

The Total Tote Bag Book by Joyce Aiken and Jean Laury
Making Paper Costumes by Janet Boyes
Creative Masks for Stage and School by Joan Peters

Photo: retailer

If you want to gift a book that might inspire your friend to experiment with a new class, artist Bernie Kaminski suggests crafting books from the 1970s, published by the Taplinger Publishing Company. "They can all be institute for a few bucks online," he says. "They don't have very detailed instructions, just the photos accept provided inspiration for a number of projects." Kaminski suggests these guides to making "designer totes," paper costumes, and masks (he's made a few, he says, and was "happy with how they turned out").

CCKW Nugget Keychain

"A fun stocking stuffer that I give as a souvenir all the time are these trivial nuggets made past my quondam studio mates Chen Chen and Kai Williams," says ceramicist Helen Levi. "Each 1 is completely unlike, and I dear integrating a piece of art into the banal everyday." CCKW also makes fashionable pens, bottle openers, and candleholders that would all make reasonably priced gifts for a design-minded recipient. Yous could endeavor the stacked porcelain planter the pair designed that has since been licensed to and manufactured by Areaware — and named the next condition planter by us.

Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream

If the creative person you are shopping for works with clay, both Josephine Heilpern, a ceramist and founder of the Bed-Stuy-based Recreation Center, and Hashemite kingdom of jordan Baker, a painter and sculptor in Catskill, New York, recommend a heavy-duty hand foam to keep their hands from drying out and smashing. "In the past, I've been to people'southward studios and I'yard like,Oh shit, that feels really skilful. What's that balm? Weleda Skin Food is really popular. A lot of people agree that it's the best," says Heilpern.

Hay Time Hourglass
Antique Sundial Compass

Artist, filmmaker, and poet Himali Singh Soin told us that she regularly gives friends compasses and hourglasses as gifts. "The compass is for space, the hourglass is for time," she says. "These are the two primal qualities that whatever artist will encounter forth the way." Soin loves these objects considering they are "curious in their shape and form" and can exist a reminder to artists that fourth dimension is arbitrary. "Whole worlds may form in the bridge of ane circular of sand spilling in an hourglass — sometimes the compass can leave us asunder and in fact the spleen or the stars, our natural navigators, can point us in the right management," she says. Soin suggests looking for these items at vintage markets (or on Etsy), but in that location are enough of affordable ones online, too.

Jackson Pollock Convergence: 1,000 Piece Puzzle

If your artist friend got into puzzles during quarantine, consider giving them one that'southward known for being a challenge: "The Springbok puzzle company billed this as the well-nigh hard puzzle in the world when it was released in 1964," says Kaminski. "My wife managed to complete it, just information technology took a while." The latest edition of the puzzle (pictured above) has one,000 pieces — just Kaminski says "you lot can always find the original 340-slice version on eBay, and it comes in a much nicer box." (We've linked to both versions here.)

Burnin' For You Foreign Film Candle

If yous want to give them a gift that helps set a artistic mood, Korn suggests a lovely scented candle. "Ambience is super of import to a productive working surroundings," she says. "I'm always burning or misting something (dried air equals stale thoughts)." Korn says that lately she's been loving this candle from Burnin' for You, which is technically orange-blossom-and-jasmine-scented, just she says but smells "transportive," and adds, compellingly, "it volition make you cornball for a sexy life you haven't yet lived."

[Editor's note: This verbal candle is sold out but the make has several other scented candle options certain to set a creative mood.]

Orthodox Church Traditional Bee Wax Candles

And if you want to give a candle with a chip more than drama, consider taking article of furniture, object, and interior designer F. Taylor Colantonio'south advice. "I like to give friends an extravagant quantity of beeswax candle tapers," he says. "They can keep a house glowing with warmth for months." These tapers, which are made in Athens for the Greek Orthodox Church, are Colantonio's favorites. "They are inexpensive yet special, and in a higher place all, useful," he says. "And they requite the near seductive odour of honey."

Teenage Engineering Portable OP-1 Synthesizer

For something more than interactive, Martin suggests this portable synthesizer, which volition let curious artists noodle around in a new medium. "I love how the team at Teenage Engineering is creating amazing products that are super-modernistic but besides strike some bully emotional nostalgia chords," Martin says. "As an artist I honey exploring other mediums that I can create my work with and venturing into music has been actually fun for me, particularly with my OP1."

Jabra Elite 45h, Copper Black – On-Ear Wireless Headphones

For artists who share their studio space or make work from home, Baker recommends skilful-quality headphones. She uses these wireless ones from Jabra. "Listening to music helps with my concentration, but information technology has to exist lyric-free or I'll get distracted," she says. Her go-to playlists include Spotify Electronic Focus and Near Classical playlists, as well as Christopher O'Riley covering Radiohead.

Laura Chautin Custom Hanging Mobile

If your artist friend is a new parent, Korn suggests one of Laura Chautin's custom mobiles. "Baby gifts are hard in general, but for friends with an eye, information technology tin can exist hazardous," says Korn. "You don't want to buy them something impersonal or, God forbid, aesthetically unpleasing — Laura Chautin's mobiles are unique, playful, and beautiful pieces of art."

Olivia Wendel Animal Kingdom Scarf

Amna Asghar also suggests giving an artist art in the form of something that can be worn or admired every 24-hour interval. Asghar told us that she's had her middle on this mitt-painted silk scarf by artist Olivia Wendel. "Wendel has a series of collections — Flora and Animate being existence my favorite," she says. "They are vibrant and lush, dense with imagery from border to border. A bully gift for an artist that can exist worn in multiple ways as well equally hung on the wall to alive with every day." Wendel also makes blankets and pillows, should your artist be more into home appurtenances than scarves.

Utopia California Cannabis Assorted Macaroons

"Artists really need cash or art supplies, but as well that, I recommend Utopia Cannabis'southward macaroons," says artist and poet Samuel Jablon. The macaroons are non-GMO, vegan, paleo, and gluten-gratis, and according to Jablon would be a much-appreciated way to help your creative person friend chill out before a evidence. "There'due south a lot of unknowns preparing for shows that take no guarantees, everything is always on the line, yous just have to live off belief and hard work," he says. "It's an amazing life, but these are delicious and a cracking style to cut through stress."

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti la Tache

And if you really desire to splurge, take a note from Ebecho Muslimova: "While exposure and ideas are the best gifts you lot can give to an artist, I would also settle for a bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti la Tâche," she says.

Sincerely Summertime Monthly Artist Postcard Subscription

Artists honey getting art as a gift because it'due south cute and it supports other artists. This subscription for limited-edition, artist-fabricated postcards from Summertime Gallery in Brooklyn, a nonprofit infinite for artists with and without intellectual disabilities, showcases a different creative person each calendar month. Gain go both to the artist and toward the gallery's upcoming redesign, which volition allow it to switch from art studio to gallery and back again. "It's the perfect way to say hullo to loved ones and learn well-nigh an artist you might not accept known. I get-go signed upwards for the monthly postcards to support a peachy cause, but I've since gifted them again when I saw how excited my auntie gets when they arrive," says Paige Wery, managing director of Tierra del Sol Gallery in Los Angeles.

Craftsy Membership

For artists who love learning new techniques, Baker recommends a membership to the online learning platform Craftsy. "You tin can buy classes on how to paint a portrait, melt a soufflé, or brand a vase on a wheel," she says. Craftsy classes are mostly taught by other artists, then there's a community feel, something that has been a necessary pandemic-coping tool for many of us.

Aeon Bookstore Gift Card

Photo: Retailer

Sometimes the best gift is one you option out yourself. Kaminski suggests giving a gift card to Aeon Bookstore, which is sure to appeal to your artist friend for its "terrific pick of fine art and design books." He says that the store has "a great fiction section and reasonably priced, hard to find records," and is constantly getting new stock in. "I'1000 always finding things I've been searching for or didn't know almost there," says Kaminski. "The other day, they had a collection of Due east Village Eye issues from the 80s."

MasterClass Subscription

Artist Maia Ruth Lee recommends giving the gift of MasterClass: "I love learning new things, especially from the wise and experienced," she says. "As an creative person it's easy to get stuck in our ain thing, and this type of accessible MasterClass can be inspiring and bring nigh new ideas." Lee suggests starting with a class from Neil deGrasse Tyson. "He'south an incredible genius in his own field, and sheds low-cal onto the mystery of life," she says.

The Criterion Channel Streaming Subscription

Painter Cassi Namoda (who also gave u.s. some tips nigh the best white button-downs) told us that she would souvenir some other artist a subscription to the Benchmark Collection's streaming service. "I recently got it for my household," she says. "My partner and I are both artists, and it just opened some other globe for me. I watched Several Friends past Charles Burnett and it inspired me so profoundly."

Metrograph Membership

Photo: Retailer

When nosotros asked Jeanette Hayes virtually the gifts she would give to some other creative person final twelvemonth, she suggested a gift card to a movie house: "I believe that a huge office of being an artist is researching and learning and studying all forms of art," Hayes told us, pointing to Chinatown's Metrograph theater equally a place that would particularly appeal to artists. While it may exist a while earlier Metrograph is open for viewing movies, the theater is offering online memberships, which give access to screenings with ane-night-but introductions by special guests and an assortment of films curated by the theater and bachelor on-demand — a welcome gift, we'd remember, for whatever creative person who wants to dig into some films in the chillier months.

Membership to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Another great selection for New York–based artists is a yearlong museum membership. "My pick would be the Met," says Hayes. Now that the museum is open up to visitors at 25-percent occupancy, y'all can most guarantee that your artist friend will be able to wander through their get-to galleries in a quieter, more than serene setting — not to mention that a membership still gives visitors admission to morning hours and exhibition previews, when they're sure to get some i-on-one fourth dimension with their favorite pieces.

Cameo Celebrity Greeting

Photo: Retailer

If you're looking for a truly personal experiential gift, artist Stewart Uoo suggests the one he says he's been giving recently. "Lately I've been actually into hiring celebrities to send unexpected personal messages to people on Cameo.com. I like to give gifts that are moments that don't concluding forever." This 1 could brand a fun gift for just about anyone — for $100, you lot can send your friend a personalized greeting from Heidi Montag or, for a cool $52, Perez Hilton.

Infinity by Leo James

Photo: retailer

Yous could also give them the souvenir of a new soundtrack for working. Kaminski suggests whatever of the four albums released past Patience Records in the last yr. "All are great to put on while working, reading or doing any," he says. "Leo James'due south Infinity was in high rotation during a project I was working on last spring, particularly the hypnotic second side."

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The All-time Gifts for Artists, Co-ordinate to Artists