Art Market boasts original paintings, experience

Offering unique, handmade jewelry and art coupled with more than 100 beer offerings, Blank Space Gallery and Lounge and the Orlando Sunday Art Market once again teamed up in downtown Orlando.

The event boasts original jewelry, paintings, photography, sketches and wares on display and for sale by local artists as well as a huge selection of beers at the Blank Space bar.

While there's no charge to attend the market, artists pay a $5 set-up fee to show their work inside and outside of the art gallery.

"There's no screening process. … Artists just tell us they want to come ahead of time and let us know if they need a table or if they have their own," said Geoff Decker, photographer and co-organizer of the event.

Art hangs on the inside walls at Blank Space, and art and wares are displayed on tables both inside the gallery and lining the sidewalk on the outside street corner.

Decker said that the benefit of holding the market at a gallery like Blank Space is that the event can continue despite poor weather conditions, unlike other outdoor-only events.

Decker, a UCF alumnus, said that while he would like to expand the market to include UCF students, working with the university has its hurdles, so his primary form of advertising and finding artists is through Facebook and networking.

This means, while not UCF affiliated, the Art Market is open to any artist, student or otherwise, with no limitation on medium.

Photographer Jessica Hunt found out about the event through its Facebook event page.

"This is my first time showing," Hunt said. "I usually do commission work … but I like it; it's a nice atmosphere."

Originally founded in July, the event went on hiatus after its previous organizer left for new employment. Decker and painter Benjamin Sawinski picked up the event in November.

Decker said the event arose when Blank Space's director of operations, David Charles Desormoux Jr., decided to host a market exclusively for art.

Unlike the Orlando Farmer's Market, which holds similar hours and is in close proximity to the Sunday Art Market, Blank Space's event is by artists for artists. There are no produce vendors at the Orlando Sunday Art Market.

"There's no cross-pollination here. … It's just about art," said Vaughn Belak, a painter and regular at the market.

Belak said he's never showed his art at the nearby farmer's market because of the intermixed vendors and food, along with the higher tabling costs.

"If you sell one piece here, you make [the set-up fee] back," Belak said.

Alejandra Garcia went downtown specifically for the art market but found herself confused with the simultaneous farmer's market.

"I was walking downtown to the art market and saw all of the commotion by Lake Eola. … I assumed that was where I was supposed to be," Garcia said.

Eventually Garcia realized she was in the wrong place when she noted that the majority of vendors at the farmer's market were not art-related. Garcia, a photographer and aspiring artist, said the proximity and time might be hurting the art market's chances at bigger success.

"I'll have to think a little more about it before I decide to show at Blank Space," Garcia said.

A sister-art market event, held Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., began last week and promises a similar atmosphere of art mixed with beer.

The Orlando Sunday Art Market is held each Sunday on the northeast corner of Central and Rosalind from noon to about 5 p.m..

"We're flexible," Decker said. "It's artists promoting artists."