Painter
Philip C. Thompson vividly remembers the first Bywater Art Market
in May 2002.
"There was this weird cold snap," he recalled recently.
"We were all cold even though it was May."
Thompson was one of the 11 artists who set up their paintings, sculpture,
jewelry, ceramics and photographs on tables and invited the public
to come take a look. A satisfactory of number people did show up,
some bought artworks and everybody had fun. Since that small and
climatically-challenged beginning, the Bywater Art Market has become
a New Orleans landmark, pulling in hundreds of people to its monthly
outdoor fair, with more than 60 artists and craftspeople selling
their work and churning up hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.
The Bywater market has been so successful it has sparked the creation
of similar monthly fairs, the Mid-City Art Market and Art Egg Market.
Held every third Saturday, rain or shine, the Bywater Art Market
was dreamed up by Blake Vonder Haar, the owner of the New Orleans
Conservation Guild, an art restoration business in Bywater.
"A friend suggested we do something with the outdoors space,
the backyard, you might say, at the old place," she said, referring
to the Conservation Guild's former quarters at the corner of Chartres
and Piety streets. Originally the idea was to hook into Jazz Fest
but that didn't work out and the market was set for the third Saturday
of May. The first 11 artists leaned their artwork on the side of
the building.
"We didn't have tents then, that came in July, with the heat,"
she said. "At the beginning there was no real plan, I just
said, 'Let's try this for six months.'"
The first year was a learning curve for Vonder Haar and the artists
as they figured out the best ways to display their wares, publicize
the market and deal with unexpected legalities (insurance, property
lines, etc.). The payoff was the growing success of the market which
soon expanded from the original 11 artists to twice, then three
and four times that number. Now that the market is on the verge
of its third anniversary, the concept seems obvious but no one thought
so at the time, said Thompson.
"When Blake first brought it up, I thought, 'Gee whiz, who
will support this? Who will come out?'" he said. "No one
had done a monthly market. But she was dead-on with this. It didn't
go anywhere but up."
As the market grew in size, Vonder Haar encountered problems about
its space with the neighboring landowner. As a result, in October
2003 the market moved to Markey Park at Piety and Royal streets.
In retrospect, it seems a move was inevitable and Vonder Haar sees
the park as an ideal setting for the market, giving it a festive,
open setting. Of course, as Bywater residents know, the park is
used on a daily basis as a dog park which does create some problems
for the staff. Vonder Haar involuntarily wrinkles her nose at the
thought, "Yes, we hire people to clean it up the night before,"
she says.
The art market has had a significant impact on other Bywater businesses.
Bywater Barbecue, a block and a half from the park always sees a
big increase of diners on third Saturdays, says owner Mike Murray.
At the Bargain Center next door, the funky second hand mall, the
manager says his store gets "two to three times" the walk-ins
of a regular Saturday. Farther away, on Chartres Street, business
at Elizabeth's reportedly increases 50 percent on art market Saturdays.
The art market has been successful in bringing in visitors from
all over the metro area. Philip Thompson says he sees a large number
of people from the Northshore and Jefferson Parish. Vonder Haar
notes that vacationers in New Orleans who "want something different"
find their way to the market in significant numbers. But there are
also many locals who call beforehand and ask, "Where is Bywater,
exactly?"
Financially, the market has been a success all around. Vonder Haar
is the legal owner of the event and manages all the logistics of
the market. She says artists are charged a flat fee of $50 per market,
not a percentage of their sales. The fees pay for insurance, renting
the park from the New Orleans Recreation Department, salaries for
her workers and publicizing the event.
"It's self-sustaining," says Vonder Haar. "I don't
make money off of this."
Vonder Haar feels an important key to the market's success is "quality."
Artists must be juried in, a process that Vonder Haar admits is
"basically me." Her concern is to keep the variety of
artwork balanced as well as insure a level of technical and artistic
quality. One of the oddities of the market is that only a few artists
who live in Bywater have participated over the years. Vonder Haar
says she would like to have more and is always adding to the participants
(she figures the park can handle up to 140 booths). "I don't
know what that is," she says of the lack of local artists.
"I know many artists in Bywater already have outlets, have
a gallery. But I would like to see more (in the market)."
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