In Dialog with Ampersand – Jackson’s Artwork Weblog

What started as an artist’s invention in a shed in Colorado coupled with a pupil enterprise mission grew into Ampersand Artwork Provide, a world-renowned producer of premium artist panels. Ampersand are a family-run firm centered on innovation and craftsmanship, who’ve spent greater than three a long time creating surfaces designed round artists’ wants. On this movie, Ampersand co-founder and present CEO and President, Elaine Salazar, joins us within the Jackson’s Studio to share the story behind the corporate’s origins, and the way their founding rules proceed to form each floor they make in the present day.

Contents

0:00 “We actually didn’t know whether or not artists would actually tackle the entire thought of panel portray significantly”

0:48 “We return to the place we began, Claybord began as a result of there was a necessity that an artist had”

1:06 Introduction

1:34 The Story Behind Ampersand

4:27 “You recognize, I’ve at all times liked artwork; it actually feeds my soul”

4:55 “Whereas Claybord began in a shed in Southern Colorado, we truly had one thing that was reviving an unbelievable custom.”

5:20 What Makes Ampersand Claybord Distinctive?

6:39 The Benefits Of Artist Panels In comparison with Canvas

8:46 What Makes Ampersand Artist Panels Distinctive?

11:45 The Advantages Of Utilizing Cradled Artist Panels

12:46 How Ampersand Has Grown Over The Years

15:10 “The distinctive factor about our Scratchbord is that you may truly add color”

16:36 An Introduction To Ampersand Gessobord

17:22 An Introduction To Ampersand Aquabord

19:29 An Introduction To Ampersand Pastelbord

20:32 Creating Ampersand Encausticbord With R&F Handmade Paints

21:23 Ampersand’s Dedication to High quality, Craftsmanship, And Artist Assist

22:23 How Ampersand Artist Panels Are Made

25:42 How Ampersand Exams Panels For High quality and Longevity

27:06 Behind The Scenes At Ampersand

28:51 How Ampersand Makes Artist Panels Responsibly

29:49 Skilled Ideas For Getting The Greatest From Ampersand Panels

20:33 The Secret Behind Ampersand’s Bestselling Artist Panels

31:33 Credit

In Dialog with Ampersand – Movie Extract

Claybord was the product that marked the start of Ampersand. Launched in 1994, this distinctive coated artist panel was developed by Charles Ewing, who needed a flexible, inflexible floor that will assist a variety of media whereas additionally permitting for scratchboard and subtractive methods.

Whereas finding out for an MBA on the College of Texas, I labored with Charles and his spouse Barbara to develop a marketing strategy across the product as a part of the college’s entrepreneurship programme. Alongside three classmates, we put collectively a marketing strategy for the event of Claybord. The mission received first place, attracting assist and the primary funding to discovered Ampersand Artwork Provide and launch Claybord.

Hello, my title is Elaine Salazar. I’m one of many founders of Ampersand Artwork Provide. I’m at present the CEO and president of the corporate. And I’m right here on the Jackson’s Studio to speak concerning the story of our firm and the merchandise we promote to artists all around the world.

At first, Charles gave us a number of samples, which we despatched off to Pearl Paint in New York. I acquired a name again from Allen Shefts, who was then the CEO at Pearl Paint, and he stated, ‘We’re actually on this product.’ And he stated, ‘Do you assume you possibly can produce a pair thousand items?’ And we have been like, ‘Certain.’

We then had to determine the way to manufacture it. The 4 of us have been nonetheless college students, actually sanding boards at the back of my associate’s lounge. We needed to study shortly – understanding the manufacturing course of, testing completely different substrates, and figuring out which supplies would work finest for the product.

As a result of Claybord has such a thick clay coating, we would have liked a really dense panel as a place to begin. We examined a variety of boards and discovered the way to correctly seal wooden, a course of that turned an indicator of Ampersand and stays one of many issues that units our panels aside.

We arrange our personal manufacturing firm proper in the midst of Austin on East 4th Road. Initially, we approached varied coating corporations to see if they may do it for us. However after we defined the quantity of coating we needed on the board, nobody was prepared to the touch it. Not one of the corporations had sufficient conveyor methods to dry the coating on the boards. So we actually needed to create our personal. We ended up in an outdated warehouse, simply 13,000 sq. toes, on the east facet of Austin. At the moment, it was principally the rundown a part of Austin, Texas.

We needed to create tools able to making use of such a thick clay coating to the board, after which work out the way to dry it correctly. All of this was taking place in the identical house, whereas we have been additionally slicing panels, routing edges, and getting ready completed merchandise for cargo. From the start, we needed Claybord to really feel like knowledgeable product, so we routed each edge to make the panels simpler to deal with and fewer more likely to chip or break throughout transit.

The most important problem was preserving the coating course of remoted from all the pieces else. The primary time we ever produced a cargo that went out of my good friend’s place, we most likely misplaced half of it due to the mud and sawdust. So we needed to toss most of it out. It was a tough lesson, nevertheless it taught us the significance of getting a devoted coating space. Alongside the way in which, we discovered the way to shrink-wrap and label merchandise. As entrepreneurs simply beginning out, we shortly realised we couldn’t do it alone, so we reached out to folks to assist us deliver the product to life.

Initially, it was actually arduous as a result of the market didn’t settle for the product. I might fly out to Chicago to reveal the way to use it. The retailers would get excited. However then it simply sat there. No one knew the way to use this product. However after we demonstrated it, folks purchased it. That’s after we knew we needed to educate the market, so we began an training program. It took a while, however one of many issues that’s actually distinctive about Ampersand is how intently we work with artists all around the nation. And as extra artists used the product, they began to inform us what labored for them and what didn’t.

That’s truly how we designed the remainder of our product line via the years, by working straight with artists. For instance, Claybord could be very absorbent. It doesn’t work as nicely for an oil painter who actually likes engaged on a non-absorbent floor. In order that’s how Gessobord was born. After which, as a result of Claybord could be very very similar to sizzling pressed watercolour paper, relatively than chilly pressed, we developed Aquabord. We then developed Pastelbord for pastel artists.

I’ve at all times liked artwork. It actually feeds my soul. Whereas I used to be an undergraduate historical past main, I took half in a beautiful program referred to as The Arts of London and Florence. We spent two months in London, finding out artworks in particular person and spending time in entrance of work by artists similar to Turner and Constable. We then spent two months in Florence, working in locations just like the Uffizi and finding out the works of Raphael and different Renaissance masters. It was simply unbelievable. And that gave me such a deep love for the Previous Masters.

So, after I met Charles and his mission, it simply fed my soul. I then began finding out the custom of portray on panels. Raphael had all these folks in his workshop creating panels for him to color on. So, we started to know that whereas Claybord began in a shed in southern Colorado, we truly had one thing that was reviving an unbelievable custom.

One of the vital essential components of Ampersand’s historical past is Charles himself, and the story of how and why he created Claybord. Charles is an outstanding artist. He does loads of portraiture. He additionally does loads of wildlife work with an unbelievable quantity of element. However the impetus for him to create a extra inflexible, everlasting panel for himself was when a collector introduced again a bit that he had completed on scratchboard. It had come aside from the backing board. And he stated, ‘I’m going to attempt to do that. You recognize, I’m going to attempt to throw clay collectively and check out to determine how to do that.’ And that’s how he began.

When he created Claybord, he realised he couldn’t solely etch into the floor, but additionally work on it with oils, acrylics, and ink. As a result of he might use loads of completely different media on it, he simply saved utilizing it for his work. However then his artist mates would come over and say, ‘Charlie, what are you engaged on?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, it’s simply the stuff I’m making at the back of my storage.’ After which he’d give them a bit, and so they’d come again, and so they stated, ‘That is actually cool stuff.’

It was actually out of an artist’s want that this floor was created. And it’s out of the artists’ wants that every one our different surfaces have been created. So, Charles Ewing has been so instrumental; he’s a part of the founding group of our firm, and is a superb, nice artist and an incredible good friend.

The subsequent apparent extension was to take Claybord after which apply a coating of India ink on the floor to create Scratchbord. And that’s actually widespread, particularly with the scratchboard artists. I can nonetheless bear in mind when the Worldwide Society of Scratchboard Artists was created. They referred to as Ampersand, and so they stated, ‘Hey, would you thoughts sponsoring our occasion, our gallery occasion?’ What the Scratchbord did for the scratchboard artist was elevate the medium to a wonderful artwork.

We created Gessobord as a result of typically oil painters discovered Claybord too absorbent. We labored actually intently with oil painters, together with Charles Ewing, to develop the suitable end for that floor. When you take a look at the Gessobord floor, it’s clean, nevertheless it’s acquired a tooth. So you possibly can have the management, however not the weave of the canvas. It’s actually a phenomenal floor to color on with oils.

As a result of the floor of Claybord is like sizzling pressed paper, relatively than chilly pressed paper, we labored with artists like Karen Vernon, who helped us design Aquabord. It’s a beautiful floor to color watercolours on. What’s fascinating about Aquabord is that you just don’t have to make use of masking fluids; you possibly can take away pigment from the floor as a substitute. You may layer and layer completely different colors, these fantastic clear washes that you may create, however now you can seal them, and also you don’t have to border watercolours with glass. In order that was revolutionary.

The permanence of art work is on the coronary heart of what we do, which is why the archival high quality and long-term stability of our panels are so basic to Ampersand. We begin with actually good, strong supplies. What’s most essential to us is the permanence of the art work created on them. We wish artists who paint on an Ampersand panel to really feel assured that their work will face up to the take a look at of time. That’s why we go to nice lengths, not solely in deciding on our supplies, but additionally in how we put together the floor.

The setting is admittedly essential to us. So we be certain that all our wooden suppliers are FSC licensed. We be certain that all our coatings and all of the supplies we use in our coatings are water-based. We need to make it possible for there’s no toxicity going into the setting.

All of our staff have been with the corporate for at least 15 years. They actually care. Once you see the method, you realise, wow, any person is touching the board at each step. Any individual is actually taking that board off the coating line, placing it in a rack, and drying it. After which it goes to a different couple of people that take it via the sander and test that each piece of the sanding course of has been completed accurately. The people who find themselves making the cradle product truly test each single board earlier than they put it on the body, earlier than they route the sides, earlier than they end it. Every board most likely will get inspected 4 to 5 instances for the floor high quality earlier than it will get packaged.

We began in that 13,000-square-foot facility in East Austin. And in 2013, we moved into a big constructing out in Buda, Texas. In order that’s the place we at the moment are in Buda, Texas, which is about 20 minutes south of Austin, Texas.

Ampersand can be a family-run enterprise. We actually care concerning the staff and their households, and we care about one another. The individuals who work there care deeply about one another, and we be careful for one another, and I’m very pleased with each one of many members of our group. They make working there an actual pleasure, and so they like one another.

Claybord, our first floor, has a really slick, clean end, and it’s made out of clay. What’s fantastic about this floor is that the clay particles maintain pigments on the prime layer, so you possibly can at all times come again to the white of the floor. You may scratch into the floor to deliver gentle again naturally into the portray, relatively than having to make use of masking fluid or paint. Inks and graphite additionally work rather well on this floor.

When you can paint with oils on Claybord, it’s a very absorbent floor. It’s very very similar to the chalk gesso that was used again within the Renaissance. It’s very absorbent, so it’s important to layer your oil paint in a number of layers. You may manipulate the floor in lots of, some ways utilizing sgraffito methods, and by erasing or remodeling the floor. In order that’s what’s actually fantastic concerning the floor, however this can be very absorbent.

Our Scratchbord is principally Claybord with a coating of India ink. It’s just like the outdated scraper boards, however the distinction is that it’s on a inflexible archival floor. So it permits for extra manipulation than the paper-based scratchboards. And the fantastic thing about this board is that you may truly add color. In order that’s why it’s a most well-liked floor for skilled scratchboard artists.

One of many issues we’ve completed throughout our panel vary is supply not solely flat panels but additionally cradled panels, obtainable in each ¾ inch and 1.5 inch profiles. Whereas the floor is extremely essential, so are the supplies behind it. That’s why all of our cradled panels are made utilizing 13-ply birch plywood for stability.

It was truly Ampersand that first developed cradle panels in 1996 – an artist got here in and needed us to place a body on the again of the board. So we thought, nicely, that’s a pleasant thought, after which began researching which type of wooden to make use of. So we began producing these panels and referred to as them cradle panels.

Aquabord is made with a base coating of Claybord. It’s a clay-based coating, so you possibly can return to white whenever you’re working with watercolours on this board, without having to make use of masking fluids. When you take a look at the floor actually intently, it’s acquired the feel of a chilly pressed paper, which permits for watercolours to maneuver fluidly via the portray. You can too work dry into dry, or wet-on-wet. You may layer and layer glazes on this board like you possibly can’t actually do on paper. Some artists would let you know that you just most likely want much less water than you do on paper. However the fantastic thing about the Aquabord is that you may truly seal your board with a number of gentle coats of spray varnish (or fixative). And then you definately don’t have to border it below glass.

Pastelbord additionally has a clay base. But it surely has a tooth created by a course of utilizing marble mud, in order that it has the power to carry layers of pastel. You may truly take water to the board as nicely, so you are able to do an underpainting earlier than you lay your pastels down. It really works fantastically for acrylics. You may lay washes of water on it after which drop in your acrylics, and it permits for superb, fluid, clean transitions. So you need to use extra moist or dry methods whenever you’re working with pastels and even your acrylics.

Encausticbord was developed in collaboration with R&F Pigments. They got here to us and stated, ‘There’s actually not a floor available on the market that’s ultimate for encaustics.’ They wanted one thing tremendous absorbent that can be utilized with a lot of completely different blended media. So we labored with them very intently to create one thing that we knew was very strong and would take loads of warmth.

When you really feel the floor of Encausticbord, it’s like velvet. And it’s very absorbent. It additionally works splendidly with charcoal. You are able to do photograph transfers on this board in addition to work with excessive layers of encaustics. So it’s only a actually nice blended media panel. I feel most encaustic painters have been engaged on uncooked wooden, however this actually elevated the medium by giving them a well-prepared floor to color on from the beginning.

There are vital benefits of engaged on a panel over a canvas. The primary one is the color. The colors are brighter, extra luminous on a panel, as a result of the sunshine is reflecting off the panel; it’s not being absorbed into the floor. One other factor is the extent of management you have got on a panel. With canvas, there’s at all times some give within the floor, and that may have an effect on how a lot management you have got whereas portray. On a inflexible panel, you get a way more steady floor to work on. When you’re utilizing palette knives or making use of heavy layers of paint, it’s a great assist. It additionally makes detailed work simpler, as a result of the agency floor offers you larger precision and management than you sometimes get with canvas.

The opposite facet is the archival one – the longevity of canvas in comparison with a inflexible panel, and I’m speaking a few inflexible panel that’s been correctly ready. I discovered quite a bit concerning the causes for engaged on a panel over canvas from the late Ross Merle. He was the chief conservator on the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork in Washington, D.C. Work on inflexible panels are superior to canvas for archival longevity as a result of they don’t contract, increase, or flex, in order that they stop the paint from cracking over time. Check out among the early items from the Renaissance – the work on panel are simply significantly better preserved than they’re on canvas.

Once we put together the panel, we begin with a really high-density fibre board. We take a look at the board to make sure that it has a density of a minimum of 65 kilos per sq. foot, and we take a look at the modulus of rupture (the measure of a cloth’s tensile power). We take a look at inner bond strengths. Then we work on sealing the wooden.

Early on, as we have been creating our surfaces, we tried to work with coating chemists to assist us work out the way to seal the wooden. It doesn’t matter what sort of board you’re utilizing; it’s important to make it possible for it’s sealed. So we’ve developed a course of for sealing and shutting the fibres of the board off. We principally embed fillers into the fibres of the board. So over time, the lignans, the tannins that exist within the pure fibres of wooden, don’t switch into the coatings.

Principally, we use these specialised fillers we’ve created to encapsulate the fibres within the board. This course of makes the board actually stiff, much less accepting of moisture, and creates a barrier. So after we put the Archiva-Seal on prime, which is a prime coat, you get good adhesion between the highest coat and the fillers.

Ampersand makes use of our patented Archiva-Seal to utterly isolate the wooden tannins and lignin from the priming and portray layers. No different panel maker is doing this. That is what we do to make sure work received’t yellow over time attributable to support-induced discolouration. And we do that earlier than we put these fantastic grounds on the board. So an artist might be assured that they’re portray on one thing that may final over time.

We truly combine our personal coatings at Ampersand. Each is specifically made. We’ve designed each utilizing uncooked supplies that work with artist pigments. For instance, with the Claybord, we now have a really specialised clay with a particular particle dimension that permits us to take away and add the layers to chop into the floor. After which we lay that via a coating course of that we’ve created at Ampersand. If, for instance, we’re doing Claybord, the coating may go on the boards for a minimum of 21 moist millimetres, which could be very thick. Our Encausticbord, for instance, is even thicker.

After the coating is on the boards, we allow them to air dry for twenty-four hours in a specialised dry room at excessive temperature. After which they arrive out of there the following day or so. After the boards come out of the dry room, they undergo the sanding course of. Every of the boards will get sanded to a specification. Claybord is designed to be tremendous clean, so we use a particular sanding course of to attain that end. For Scratchbord, we use a unique, finer sanding course of to create a clean floor earlier than making use of the ink layer.

After which the boards both go into the flat course of, the place we minimize them and use routers to clean the sides. The Pastelbord floor then has the marble mud end utilized to it, and the Scratchbord goes into our spraying operation to have ink utilized. After which they go into packaging.

If it’s a cradled panel, it strikes right into a separate a part of the manufacturing facility the place the entire cradle making takes place. The wooden strips are minimize, mitred, and assembled, then the panel floor is glued to the body. From there, it passes via edge sanders and routers. It’s all very a lot a hand course of. After which it goes again into our packaging space.

A number of the testing that occurs in Ampersand includes testing uncooked supplies after they come into the manufacturing facility. However after the boards have been coated and are able to be processed, we do loads of adhesion checks to make it possible for we now have good adhesion between the bottom layer and the archival seal. That occurs in each batch. We additionally attempt to make sure that the coating is definitely performing the way in which it’s imagined to.

And our group is admittedly glorious on the ground. They’ll see one thing that doesn’t look proper and can deliver it to our technical man, who can be an artist. He’ll actually take a look at a whole sheet with oil paint on Gessobord to make it possible for the end appears to be like proper. So I feel it’s a mixture of the information and expertise we’ve constructed up over time, and a group that instinctively is aware of when one thing isn’t fairly proper.

Training is tremendous essential. We have now a beautiful connection to artists all around the world, and we now have an envoy program. These ambassadors work very intently with our group at Ampersand and us to do workshops. A number of them are influencers who’re displaying folks all around the world how they work on our boards. We invite them to do options on our weblog. We’re very lively on social media, and we additionally do loads of training by way of movies on our web site.

Our web site is stuffed with materials for artists to actually get into studying concerning the surfaces that we make. And it’s not simply us telling you the way the floor works, it’s actually about artists displaying you the way they use the surfaces.

Additional Studying

Testing Ampersand Claybord in Portray, Drawing, Printmaking, and Extra

Portray on Ampersand Gessobord in Oil and Acrylic

Exploring Ampersand Aquabord with Watercolour and Moist Media

Learn how to Paint on Wood Surfaces

Store Ampersand on jacksonsart.com