Art Market
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
The art market is a sacred place. It is a place to celebrate the diversity of artistic creativity within a community. It is a market for the endless mediums that reflect the innate creativity inside each person. The Summer Art Market has been hosted by the Art Students League of Denver since 1993. It was founded to provide a place for local artist to show and sell their work, and to begin to build relationships with patrons as they developed their craft.
Dennis Pendleton, an instructor at the Art Students League of Denver (ASLD), first introduced the idea of an art market when the ASLD moved into the Sherman School, a historic landmark building on 2nd and Grant Street. Pendleton shared his memory of the first year of the art market, “There were less than a dozen artist. We hung the art on the fences in the parking lot.” Now, the Summer Art Market has over 150 artists displaying their work over a two-day event that spans four city blocks in the surrounding neighborhoods.
One of the uniqueness of the Summer Art Market is that all artists are associated with the ALSD as instructors, students, board members, or volunteers. It serves as an annual reunion for many past students who have now established art careers. The ASLD serves artists of all ages and levels, and the Summer Art Market includes a teen booth for young students to learn how to show and sell their art to the public. “For many local artists, it serves as the first venue to see if people are willing to buy their art,” said Pendleton.
Along with the art market providing the opportunity for local artists to showcase and sell their work, it serves as an annual fundraiser for ASLD. The $5 entry for adults is for both Saturday and Sunday, children under 12 are free. Proceeds go toward funding classes, scholarships, and community engagement programs. The Summer Art Market showcases the multitude of mediums from classical to contemporary people can enroll in at the ASLD including drawing, painting, ceramics, etching, digital art, mixed media, photography, printmaking, fibers, jewelry, and sculpture.
The Summer Art Market of the ASLD cultivates local artists who are rooted in their community. What excites Dennis Pendleton about the art market, 30 years after its’ origin, is all the art is original work. Unlike many festival artists, there are no reproductions. It is a local art market of local artists. It provides a platform for many amateur artists to show and sell their work for the first time, and a place for the community to see emerging artists and become early patrons before their work becomes more widely known. The art market is a place of creativity and community. The art market is a sacred place.
