Golden Paint Devotee

I was blessed to tour the Golden Paints facility with none other than Barbara Golden. Mark and his wife, Barbara are the heirs and current owners of Golden Paints. I am, now, officially a Golden paints/medium devotee. [Subscribe to their newsletter here.]

The seed of the company was sown in the 1930s when Sam Golden joined his uncle Leonard Bocour, in a paint company called Bocour Artist Colors. At the time, they produced hand-ground oil colors for artists. Their store in Manhattan became a hangout for artists. Notable art icons such as  Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Knox Martin^[2] and Jack Levine would get paint there.

Their illustrious history is worth exploring, but the short is this.

Golden Paints is now housed in Berlin, NY. Michael and I booked a tour during an Autumn visit to upstate NY. En route, we found ourselves traveling a rural road past cows and barns. We were wondering if we were lost. But no. The facility is surrounded by acres of rolling hills and farmland. An Artist in Residence dorm and studio, an elegantly refurbished barn. is nearby.

The meticulous care Golden takes to ensure that each tube of paint is perfectly color-controlled, and the mediums carefully blended is impressive. Unless a paint or medium is perfect, it will not show up on the shelves of their retail partners. Not only do they take care of their product, they take care of their employees and the environment. So many reasons to be devoted.

The tour, made a fan out of us.