Niagara Art Market
Location: 7 James Street, St.Catharines, ON L2R 5B7
Phone: 1 (905) 684- 1333
Email: sarah@craftsmarket.ca
Local talent is an exciting thing. We had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Jarvis, the owner of Crafts Art Market in downtown St.Catharines, ON. She has dedicated her time and career to making a home for local artists to showcase their talent.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m originally from the Niagara Region. I left for about 7 years to pursue a career in the television and film industry in Toronto. I loved being immersed in the creative neighbourhood of Queen West. Family matters brought me home to St. Catharines about three years ago.
What inspired you to open an Arts and Crafts Market?
When I migrated back to the Niagara Region a few years ago, I asked myself what could I bring back home with me that could help inspire the creative market in my home town. I have always had a love for arts and crafts and Toronto seemed to have an abundance of local talent outlets. I wanted to introduce a creative space for the community here in the Niagara Region to help support local artists.
We were also lucky enough to land an awesome location. Our friends at Beechwood (an awesome vegan donuts bakery next door) saw that the space was up for grabs and we were the first to jump on it!
What makes you different from the rest?
When my partner Nancy and I sat down and talked about moving forward with this project we did a lot of research in coming up with the best way to run our business.
The objective for us was to come up with a fair way for the artists to be compensated for their work. We really did our homework. Most businesses buy the artists work and they end up loosing 50 percent. We’re different from most because we rent shelve space. We want to invest in our local talent and grow with the artists. The talent usually receives about 93 % percent of the sale and in the future, as they grow the mark up will gradually grow and we grow with them.
We don’t want artists missing out on sales for their hard work and we also don’t want our community over paying for art. We aren’t in it for the money and we decided that this concept is a win / win for everyone.
As a creative individual – what specific craft do you make?
I love to re-purpose items. Seeing the value in something and recreating a modern purpose for it makes me happy. I have a love for fascinators and have been making them for many years — I love making them for weddings.
How are you involved in the community?
All of the talent showcased in our space is Canadian. For the most part we showcase artists in the Niagara region as well as a few from around Southern Ontario including Toronto.
The amount of love and positive feedback we have received has been so lovely and overwhelming all at the same time. We are new and only opened a few months ago. In our short few months of being open we have been well received by the community and have a wait list of artists ready to be interviewed.
We are really excited to grow with our artists and we are so lucky to have an awesome local business like Beechwood Donuts next door.
We are excited to see what the future holds.
We were so grateful to be able to speak with such a positive influencer in the Niagara community. If you are an artist who is looking for space to showcase please visit their website http://www.craftartsmarket.ca for further direction.
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