Rayne’s Grey Art Supply Fills a Niche Market
Owners Started a Reuse Depot at the Store
Article/images by John Campbell
Warkworth - There would be no art for art’s sake – or any other reason – without art supplies for artists.
Rayne’s Grey Art Supply fills that need locally, in a storefront on Main Street in Warkworth.
Emily Fenton and her life/business partner Alec Fortin gave the community a glimpse of what their shop would be last December when they took part in the village’s annual Magic Under the Stars festival.
“We had a little popup … (and there) was a great turnout,” Fenton said. “The community was really excited.”
The couple then spent January “to set up the place properly.”
Rayne’s Grey offers ” a good range of art supplies,” Fenton said – paints, brushes, inks, canvas and panels, pads and papers, sculpting clay, and more. “For the first few months we’ve tried to get a little bit of everything … to gauge (what) the community (wants).”
“We have a lot of beginner and student grade art supplies,” Fenton continued. “There’s a lot of people in the area (who) teach classes so we’re really excited to be the place for all the people to come (to) for their art supplies.”
Fenton was pursuing her dream of becoming an artist by studying at OCAD University in Toronto but “once the pandemic hit I dropped out,” she said.
She “didn’t have any idea” at the time that some day she’d open her own art supplies store but then “everything fell into place” last year when she and Fortin moved to Warkworth, where her parents had relocated four years previously.
Fenton “got to meet the community” while working at Our Lucky Stars Café & Coffee Roasters and The Village Pantry, and she discovered there are many artists who live in the area whose “one common complaint was that (they) all had to drive really far away to get art supplies.”
It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, as art supplies stores are places she’s long enjoyed visiting. Her father, James, is an artist who worked in advertising before retiring.
“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this,” said Fenton, who has “always worked in retail … I’ve made it to higher-up positions but I’ve never run anything.”
Until now, but her partner “has managed a lot of stores,” she said, and together they “make a really good team.”
Fortin, who dabbles in woodworking and sculpting, helps out behind the scenes from his office in the store where he works full-time remotely for a law firm’s IT department.
Fenton has started a “reuse depot” at the store that’s “very small at the moment.”
“Art can be very wasteful, and if you want to try something new .. it’s not always accessible,” because of the expense involved, she said.
Anyone who no longer has use for art supplies can exchange them for credit at the store, Fenton said. “We put the material (up for sale) at a much lower cost than the original price (and) so far … it’s been a really great way to put art supplies in people’s hands.”
Fenton said she “always wanted to be exactly like” her father growing up, and she takes great pride in showcasing his work in her business.He’s established “a pretty big following” through commissions, primarily black and white sketches of animals, she said.
To learn more about the store visit www.raynesgrey.ca.
