Whether it’s your first or fifth time visiting the Indiana Artisan Marketplace, Karen Hampton is confident you’ll find something to fit your tastes.
The Evansville artist has displayed her work at the marketplace since its beginning in 2011. She juried into the Indiana Artisan organization its inaugural year, and after 14 years of attending the annual marketplace in Indianapolis, she says it “feels a bit like a homecoming to see all the artisans again.”
Talented at needlework, Hampton is taking about 40 art quilts and a series of bird photos to the marketplace, which welcomes up to 5,000 attendees one spring weekend each year. Often depicting natural elements, her fiber pieces run 11-by-14 inches up to 50-by-30 inches. A lifelong artist, she’s also looking forward to shopping at more than 100 booths featuring pottery, paintings, woodblock prints, photography, fiber and textiles, glass, and more, all handmade by 80 artisans from Indiana and surrounding states. It’s a community environment, Hampton says, noting that many of the vendor artisans buy each other’s work.
“Jewelry is always fun. Some pieces are inspired by nature, and others are high-cost gems. You get a mix,” Hampton says. “And there are a lot of ceramics, from cups and bowls, to engraved pieces and slab work.”
Instead of just shopping this year, marketplace fan Ashley Petry is joining the fray. The Hoosier author is setting up a booth to sell copies of her book “100 Things To Do In Indianapolis Before You Die,” which includes a love letter to the marketplace.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to see Indiana artists and artisans all in one place,” says Petry, who has attended around five of the prior 13 marketplaces. “I can’t think of any event like it that brings together locally handmade goods. There’s definitely the opportunity to discover hidden gems.”
Shopping among a mix of established artisans and those new to the marketplace, Petry has spotted treasures such as “a handmade quilt, beautiful piece of furniture, or a painting decorating your room for the rest of your life,” she says. “It’s such high-quality work.”
That includes Intentional Camera Movement images by Larry Hampton, Karen’s husband. At the couple’s Hampton Art Studios booth, the longtime photographer, portrait artist, and painter will display pictures from his wildlife and nature portfolios as well as ICM images that display movement during a long exposure, creating an abstract effect.
“I love meeting the other artists and swapping stories about art — it’s a mutual admiration society,” says Larry, who, as a fellow juried Indiana Artisan, began displaying his work at the marketplace a few years after Karen.
Displayed works also redefine what constitutes art. “The first time I went, I expected to see more classical art, and they have that, but I was surprised by foods and wines that are incorporated into the marketplace and aren’t traditional pieces of art,” Petry says. Culinary offerings include baked goods, honey, syrups, wine, chocolates, whiskey, barbecue sauce, and more. Evansville Living readers will recognize cookies baked by the Sisters of St. Benedict from Ferdinand, Indiana, as well as jury-selected spiced and fruit wines from Winzerwald Winery in Bristow, Indiana. This year, co-owners Donna and Dan Adams also are offering a semi-dry rosé blend of Riesling and Malbec to contribute to the marketplace’s spotlight on America’s semiquincentennial.
“The marketplace is a don’t-miss event in our book,” Donna Adams says. “It’s like visiting a museum full of beautiful juried artwork but in all mediums. … And you’ll see artisans demonstrating their artwork and wineries and chocolatiers offering tastes of their artisan wines and chocolates. What’s not to love about that?”
No matter what you’re shopping for, Petry underscores one important pro tip: “Go earlier than later, because items do sell, and once they’re gone, they’re gone,” she says.
When You Go
Indiana Artisan Marketplace
10 a.m.-6 p.m. ET March 28; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. ET March 29
Indiana State Fairgrounds’s Agriculture Horticulture Building, 1202 E. 38 St., Indianapolis
Single-day tickets are $10 in person or $12.51 bought online. Free admission for those under 14.
Want to see Larry and Karen Hampton’s work closer to home? View their wildlife photography in “Africa Safari,” an exhibition running through May 22 at the Dick & Sheila Beaven Art Gallery at the Henderson County Public Library in Henderson, Kentucky.
