Between rows of vendors and potential customers, eyes shift between colorful paintings to floating plants and reflective jewelry.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday at the Monroe Convention Center, artists from the Bloomington area and beyond gathered for the Bloomington Handmade Market. The annual event began in 2009 and is scheduled on the second Saturday of November every year.
The Bloomington Handmade Market also had an event in June called the Summer Fair, allowing for year-round representation.
The market on Saturday featured 68 holiday makers, seven kids’ shops and three micro-markets. In all, almost 80 artists packed the Monroe Convention Center and 4,000 people came to see them.
Talia Halliday, a BHM organizer, said the market allows her to educate artists about the business of art, starting from age 7. She purposefully organizes events where artists can share a platform, supporting each other creatively and in their businesses.
Halliday said her motivation for creating a collective space for artists is to support each other’s work, both with the BHM and her own store.
“My goal has always been to foster collaboration over competition, and to teach people to share information and work together,” Halliday said.
Halliday is also the owner of Gather, a local shop on Walnut Street that sells the work of some artists who were also featured in the market. This is where she mentors the Gather Kids, a group of children ages 7-14, on how to sell their art.
Analiese Causey, a junior at IU majoring in advertising and studio art, is the owner and creator of Blooming Creations Art. She prints her own designs onto T-shirts, mixing printmaking techniques with clothing design.
Causey commented on the value of selling to people in person rather than online.
“I can gauge what people like and what they don’t like, and how I can improve,” Causey said.
Another vendor, Jean Elise, makes toys, games and prints. She is one of the Market’s original artists, selling in its first show 11 years ago.
“It’s really meaningful to still be here and to have this space in the community,” Elise said.
