Can you believe it has already been a year since Elk’s Eye Art Market opened its doors at 22 South 4th Street? A year sure does fly by but during that time the market has been expanding by adding ten additional artists and artisans. There are now 30 who display their works in the facility which collectively amounts to 2,000 individual pieces that are for sale in the market.
The restoration process of the more than century-old building took about two years to complete. The building was originally built in 1913 and was home to the Elks Lodge until about 2011. It was on the brink of being torn down when Carol Bridwell, Managing Partner for Elk’s Eye Endeavors, LLC., saved it by purchasing it at a sheriff’s sale and turning it into a real asset for downtown Zanesville’s art district. Reflecting on the past year has brought to light many memorable moments for Bridwell.
“Physically bringing the building back to usable form, I have done everything but the electrical and plumbing so there is a lot of time in it, and seeing what I envisioned actually come to life, it is almost exactly what I was going for, we ran into a few wrinkles when we found out what was under the walls, that and just looking at all of the artists that we have here, many of them have never shown anywhere else before, or they hadn’t shown locally, they’ve done shows and traveled, but getting thirty different people here with such great work and working with them has been wonderful, and then people coming in to see the art and getting a chance to learn more about it, and about what’s available, all of those things are just amazingly uplifting to me,” explained Carol.
“Many people who visit the building love not just the architecture, but also the history of the building- so many people are excited we were able to preserve some part of that here,” said Stephanie Bridwell, Partner in Elk’s Eye Endeavors, LLC.
Elks Eye Art Market is a juried art retail market featuring a wide spectrum of work from Southeastern Ohio artists. Some of the various things you can find while browsing the market include hand-woven rugs, jewelry, live edge furniture, turned and carved wood items, hand-painted duck decoys, handmade knives, metal sculptures from repurposed items, stained glass, ceramic items, photography, bottle cap art, paintings, and more. You will not find two artists in the market that are similar, everyone brings something unique to the market making each artist stand out on their own. Artists are also recognized with photos and a short biography placed near their displayed works.
“It’s art so you are not buying it every week like you do groceries, we do end up getting a return and we are building that audience. It is a little slow to do that when you are doing something that’s very different,” stated Carol. “There are not very many businesses downtown doing what we are doing and not very many that are open the hours that we are so educating people that there is actually someplace you can come during the week and find things to purchase is growing, I am hearing a lot more people saying ‘I can Christmas shop here, I can birthday shop here’ and people starting to see there is an option that they hadn’t considered before and that is part of what we are trying to do is to make art accessible to people all the time and give artists someplace to show their work all the time.”
To celebrate their one-year anniversary, Elk’s Eye Market is holding a drawing that will run from July 1 through July 31 and will offer the chance to win one of six pieces of art, which were created by Mark Hambel, Jason Hammond, Todd Dunlap, Dick McBride, Priscilla Bridwell or Theresa Dolen. To enter stop by the market, collect a “Wish List Drawing” form from the cashier, complete the form, and return it to the cashier by 4 p.m. July 31 to be entered into the drawing. The winner will be drawn on July 31 at 4:30 p.m. and will be notified (winners do not need to be present at the time of the drawing).
Elk’s Eye Art Market is open free of charge to the public Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 pm year-round, and they extend their hours until 8 p.m. for the First Friday Art Walks held monthly. You can find Elk’s Eye Art Market on Facebook at facebook.com/ElksEyeEndeavors.
