Record Number of Attendees Enjoyed Art of All Kinds

RIVERSIDE >> The 3rd Annual Riverside Art Market took place May 7 in front of the Riverside Art Museum, hosting more than 55 vendors, entertaining hundreds of local visitors and giving vendors an opportunity to display and sell their handmade wares to the public. The Riverside Art Market is an opportunity presented by the Art Alliance of the Riverside Art Museum to raise funds for the museum and to truly preserve Riverside as the city of arts and innovation. This year, the market saw a record number of both sellers and visitors, displaying the growing appreciation for the arts in the community and the interest in keeping the museum a beloved masterpiece in downtown Riverside. “When you look at what the museum staff are doing, I love what they’re trying to create,” said Kathy Bocian, co-chair of the market. “They’ve been so much more engaged with the community, so many innovative exhibits and activities…They’re really trying to make Riverside the city of arts and innovation with the museum at its centerpiece.” According to Bocian, vendors came from as far away as Santa Barbara and San Diego, though many were local to Riverside and the surrounding Inland Empire. This year, the event featured not only art and art vendors, but also offered art demonstrations, food and children’s activities inside the museum. Bocian, fellow co-chair Barb Holshouser and others working for the Art Alliance and the museum have been working since January to sign up the vendors and blast the event on social media. Because the market has continually grown over the past three years, the market expanded this year to not only include booths both inside the museum and out on the front lawn of the museum, but also across the street in a parking lot owned by Encore High School for the Arts. All types of art were displayed, including ceramics, jewelry, photography and print making, to name a few. Bocian said the only real requirement was that all the art was handmade. Some of the “art” present at the event was less traditional, for example, Leslie and John Richmond’s business Leslie by Hand, featuring jojoba oil-based skin products. “My wife said, ‘Let’s start making lip balms,’ and so we’ve started making lip balms, and now we’ve grown to a full-on line of hand salves and soaps,” John said. Food vendors like The Spice Whisperer and Etta Mae Gourmet were also at the market, along with some booths featuring succulent garden art, such as High Noon Creations and Rancho Rubidoux. The California Baptist University Art Club, represented by student president Maria Fiore, vice president Michaela VanSant and club advisor Professor Kristi Lippire, were selling succulent plants at the market, as well, along with student-made creations and little sock snowmen made by members of the club. “It’s awesome that the Riverside Art Museum is putting this on and that we get to be a part of it and it’s cool walking around seeing everyone’s work and being able to display our work,” Fiore, a sophomore visual arts major, said. Last year, the amount of guests over the course of the six hour-event reached about a thousand. This year, according to Art Alliance President Patti Funder, they had already reached one thousand visitors two hours into the event. “As they see the quality of the artists that are here, that makes a difference,” Bocian said. Valerie Starck, who was helping her daughter Lindsey at their booth for Lindsey's business Lulu’s Custom Designed Jewelry, said this was their second year vending and that the event has become more developed. “I hope that they build it and that it gets even better and bigger and that people learn about it and know that it’s happening and they come,” Valerie said. If interested in donating to the museum, checking out some of the exhibits or knowing more about the arts in Riverside, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org.