Start with Art

Start selling your own art or discover indie artists at this creative website

Grapefruit slice between group, Fine Art America

Grapefruit slice between group is a photograph by Johan Swanepoel.

Photo courtesy of Fine Art America

Choosing art for your home can be a little daunting, but as any interior designer will tell you, it's an important element to include in your space. Thanks to online shopping, there are endless options. But what pieces should you select?

Consider independent art from Fine Art America. Based in Santa Monica, the art and photography community features big names and independent artists from all over the world and allows you to find something singular and suited to your specific style. Shop unique prints, home decor, apparel, and even yoga mats and phone cases.

You can expect your items to ship in about three days and arrive at your doorstep quickly thanks to 16 around-the-clock facilities in five countries, located all over the world.

As a bonus, you can feel good about supporting independent artists and galleries. Each purchase funds the person who created it, which is especially important as small businesses struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Browse the works of featured artists each month, including a recent pick, Te Hu. The digital artist creates vivid, fantasy-filled prints that would add depth to any room. Or be inspired by evocative, nature-inspired photography and digital art from South Africa's Johan Swanepoel.

If you've ever thought about spreading your own artistic wings, Fine Art America is the ideal marketplace to do so. Selling your art online is simpler than you might think, and it begins with an easy account setup on the Fine Art America website.

Next, upload your images, and choose the products that you want to sell. This can be anything from photographs to sculptures to textiles. Because you can gauge the value of your work better than anyone, you set your price points. Then begin selling your art to consumers, locally and internationally.

Worried about marketing? Fine Art America has tools and resources to boost sales and help you get your work to potential buyers. Establish branded online stores, sell your work on social media, write blog posts, create e-mail campaigns, and more.

Start shopping for art now, and make the world a little more artistic.

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Toy News

Japanese collector toy store to open at Firewheel center in Garland

Gashapon

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A new store for people who like to collect small plastic objects is coming to Garland. It's called Gashapon Bandai Official Shop, and it's opening in June at Firewheel Town Center, where it will sell "capsule toys" — miniature plastic toys packaged in clear plastic capsules.

Gashapon is a type of vending machine that dispenses capsule toys. The concept is popular in Japan, with machines found in train stations, arcades, convenience stores, and other locations. (The name "Gashapon" is derived from the sounds of turning the handle ("gasha") and the capsule dropping ("pon").)

The toys inside Gashapon capsules can be characters from cultural realms like manga, video games, or Japanese anime franchises. Or they can be coasters, or food miniatures, or charms you attach to your purse or notebook, or little animal figures, or little whimsical animal figures, or little statues, or an assortment of little plastic hats, or a quartet of tiny jewelry stands in pastel colors (buy them all!).

The machines take tokens which cost $2 to $2.50 each; most toys "cost" 2 to 4 tokens each.

The idea of capsule toys — coin-operated vending machines — actually originated in the U.S. in 1907 along with bubble-gum machines. Japan embraced it in the 1960s, and the Gashapon chain was launched in Japan in 1977.

The first U.S. Gashapon Bandai Official Shop opened in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo district in February 2023.

The entire thing is driven by collector frenzy. The toys are produced in limited quantities, and in sets, which encourages customers to acquire every member of the set.

Customers do not know what they will get until they turn the vending machine handle — not unlike slot machines. Like gambling. Or as Gashapon says more delicately, "The element of surprise brings excitement during the purchase and gets everyone hooked!" … furthering the frenzy even further.

Garland will make the fifth location in Texas; following Hurst, which opened in May; Grapevine Mills Mall and Houston, which opened in 2024; and Mitsuwa Marketplace in Plano which opened in 2023 (There's also a kiosk at Grapevine Mills Mall.)

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