Great Barrington — Artisans from across the area gathered at St. James Place for the first in a series of winter arts markets on Sunday, February 18. The market will be held every third Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at St. James Place, up until April.
According to co-organizer Kristen Kanter, who also co-owns JK Custom Furniture and Design, the winter market was started last year. “We usually hold our main market alongside the Great Barrington Farmers Market on Church Street during the warmer months of the year,” Kanter said. “Once the Farmers Market season is over, it’s a long couple of winter months where artists retreat and regroup after a long busy season. Having a winter market is a good way to allow the artists to get back out again, be with colleagues and each other. Also, it’s a good way for artists to sustain themselves through selling their items during the long winter months.”
Kanter said that the winter markets will have anywhere from 14 to 16 vendors at each event. The February 18 event had candlemakers, weavers, woodwork creators, and graphic artists selling their wares. “It’s important to be able to support this artist community,” Kanter said. “It’s really a joy to be able to support these great artists because I am an artist as well.”
“I feel lucky to be part of this,” candlemaker Megan Kaiser said. Kaiser is the owner of Brookman Candle & CO. out of Blandford. “This is my first full year in being in this artist community, and I find it very embracing,” Kaiser said. “A market like this offers exposure to everyone who takes part in it.”
Housatonic-based ceramic artist Lorimer Burns said having artist markets in the winter is important for the community. “It’s important that a community of people who make things with their own hands and hearts come together, especially in the dead of winter,” Burns said. “We have a thriving, bustling, and thriving artists community here in the Berkshires.”
“I think having these winter markets [is] helpful for us [artists] to keep us in the game,” Great Barrington artist and illustrator Aaron Meshon said. “I moved from the big city to the Berkshires because of the artist community.”
“These markets give people a reason to get out of their house,” hat maker and event co-organizer Karema Almeida said. “This market lifts people’s spirits after they’ve been hibernating for so long during the winter. Everything that is sold here is made by hand.”
Some of the vendors at the market came from outside of the state, including Randy Ezinga, owner of Turn Again Woodworks in Spencertown, N.Y. “This area is always a wonderful community,” Ezinga said. “It’s got a reputation as an artistic place and people always come out into the community looking for art.”
“It seems like people in this area appreciate handwoven and handmade pieces much more than in other places,” Sara Collazo, owner of La Pequeña handmade textiles of Kingston, N.Y. said. “When you have art and pieces made by hand, it may not be as perfect as if a machine made them, but it has more soul and a story to them.”
For more information about the Great Barrington Arts Market winter season, visit its Facebook page.
