Read Time:2 Minute, 34 Second
The Gaspereau Art Market: Promoting Local Art
Just over the ridge, in the scenic community of Gaspereau, the biannual Gaspereau Art Market has just wrapped up their seventh show highlight local art. Held in the Gaspereau Community Hall the market happens twice a year in July and November. Mindy Hupman is the organizing force behind the market. Over the course of the last four years, this little art market has been promoting everything that is wonderful about the rural art scene.
Coming from a community of artists among her friends and family, Mindy was interested in starting something that would properly showcase the art she knew was being created in and around the Gaspereau area. The Gaspereau Community Hall, heart of the community and site of many a great dance night, was the obvious choice. Laura MacDonald of Deep Hollow Print helped Mindy come up with the perfect name and she also designed the now iconic Gaspereau Art Market posters.
But the art market isn’t just an art market. It’s also a fundraiser helping to get more kids making more art. Mindy teamed up with The Wolfville Children’s Centre to make the event a special art-focused fundraiser for the centre. “They help advertise and many of their families come to support the eventâ€, she explains. “The freewill offering at the door goes to the centre to buy art supplies for the children.â€
While there are regular craft fairs through the Annapolis Valley, especially into the fall season, the Gaspereau Art Market offers a different experience for both artists and market-goers. It is an affordable option for local artists to participate, and it’s focus is on what’s being designed, created, and handmade right here. “I think our Gaspereau Art Market is different from other events because we often just have art, and not crafts or businessesâ€, Mindy says. “Most of our artists don’t attend other markets on a regular basis. Often they have fresh art that they prepare just for the Gaspereau Art Market.â€
Most of those artists are local to the Gaspereau and Wolfville area, but some have been coming from farther away. All of them, though, have some connection to the area or another artist at the show. Each year the show has been growing with fourteen vendors set up for the most recent event in July.
While the Market offers the perfect in-person opportunity to meet the artist as you buy the art, Mindy has certainly seen the value of using social media to promote the event, and the artists, in preparation for each event. “I feature each artist on the Gaspereau Art Market Facebook page, and this gets a lot of sharesâ€, she says. “Their art is so spectacular that people are commenting and asking where to find us.†And with each market, more and more people are finding their way through the vineyards and along the valley, right to the spot where the beautiful art is being made and sold.
The next Gaspereau Art Market is November 18.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %