“You become creative, or imagine yourself so, as soon as you enter.”

When you enter ARTBEAT, you are embraced by color, not only in our selection of art-related products, but on our walls. We were inspired by the lazure painting technique used in Waldorf school classrooms to create a restful yet dynamic environment. Lazure uses many many layers of translucent glaze color to build an atmospheric wall effect. Lazure can be intense or subtle, but always gives the impression of dimension: the walls become alive with color.

In our original location in Arlington, artist Rosemary Dewees painted a light wash of color throughout the store and created the swirled logo on our studio wall. In our larger Franklin location, we invited artist Robert Logsdon of Colorspace to help us turn a newly built commercial suite into a warm, inviting, creative place. We discussed the feelings we wanted to convey in each part of the store and studio, and Robert worked with us to interpret each section: a swirl of color welcomes you when you enter; a gradation of greens, blues and purples highlight our art supply and gift areas; a movement of pink, red and orange inspire creative pastimes; a “picnic” area, complete with tree and almost-hidden bird’s nest, surrounds our toys, gifts and art supplies for young children; subtle circular patterns and vertical washes invite you into our studio; in our Party room the sun glows amid starbursts of color; and a whimsical overflowing coffee cup announces our Coffee Bar.

Colorspace website