Find Your Next Hobby at Fishtown’s Freehand Art Supply

Kim Quinn and Russell Edling in Freehand Art Supply’s colorful space / Photography by Courtney Apple

Need somewhere to stock up on all your paints and paintbrushes, scissors, sketchbooks, and pencils? Or maybe you’re looking for a new hobby — or simply want to pick up a few locally made gifts? Look no farther than Kim Quinn and Russell Edling’s Freehand Art Supply, a haven for Fishtown creatives (and maybe you too!). Below, read our interview with Quinn and Edling, who share everything you need to know about their space.

What we do

Kim Quinn: I think about it as three arms. We have free art classes, a gallery of local artists’ work, and the retail part, which is art supplies — the materials people might need for drawing and painting, mostly — and gifts. All of the gifts are based on making, like a needle felting kit, and all are approachable. The hope is to introduce people to crafts, hobbies, or fine art.

How we started

Quinn: We both worked at Bluecadet, a design agency in Fishtown. By 2021, Russell had left to go freelance, and it felt like the world was not great. Art is a creative outlet for people, doing things with your hands. It was a few years of us meeting at Milkcrate Cafe and planning before we opened a year ago.

Why an art shop?

Russell Edling: We’ve both lived in this neighborhood for years, and both went to Tyler School of Art. We remembered how hard it was to find art supplies in the area. And Fishtown specifically is an area where there is always spontaneous stuff happening, a community of art and people working together.

FolkArt Multi-Surface Acrylic Paints

Our bestsellers

Quinn: Printmaking has been popular, so people are getting all the start-up tools for that — blades for cutting, linoleum, inks. The number one thing we sell is watercolor workbooks, a bound book of watercolor paper with a light outline of designs on it. A big barrier for people is staring at a blank page.

The vibe

Edling: Our gallery space is an opportunity to engage with local artists, and it’s been fun to see it change as the artworks come and go. That flexibility fits in with our “freehand” concept.

Works by various artists displayed at Freehand Art Supply

Up next

Quinn: We’ve evolved our classes to make them more guided, and we’re working on offering canvas-stretching as a service. And we want to continue doing more free, community-based things.

Freehand Art Supply is located at 308 East Girard Avenue in Fishtown.

Published as “Broad Strokes” in the March 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.