Go ahead, get your mom that novelty chips-and-salsa bowl. Or for your dear uncle you could choose from one of the 80 XL charcoal knit sweaters at Penney’s. Or you could trudge up and down the aisles of Walmart to find something for your darling niece.
The good folks at Studio & have another idea. Why not use the feeding frenzy of commerce that happens every year to get your peeps something you can’t get anywhere else, something they might grow to cherish, something made locally by hand and something that would be supporting a local artist?
Beginning with an opening from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Studio & (1027 Main Ave.) will host The Bizarre Bazaar, a holiday marketplace featuring 28 local artists selling their wares. The sale will continue from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
“You can get anything from earrings cut with a laser cutter to full on handmade soap that looks like something you should eat to silk screen T-shirts to fine art oil paintings to holiday cards of all kinds of variety,” said Studio & artist Tim Kapustka.
It’s the third year for the Biz Baz and, if you’ve ever been inside Studio &, you’ll understand how packing in 28 local artists and their goods could make for quite the rumpus, described by Kapustka as a cross between a holiday bazaar you’d see at a church (or Durango Arts Center’s Winter Solstice Market) and a chaotic Turkish bazaar. It’s also in line with the studio’s mantra of “Give the gift of local art.”
“This money literally goes from you, out of your pocket, you pay Studio &, Studio & pays the artists,” Kapustka said. “Most people, at least in a vacuum, are fans of ‘buy local.’ It doesn’t get more local than this. You’re literally dealing with the people who created these things.
“Most of us don’t want to give four of the same gifts to all of our people and get it at a big-box store. This is the place to get unique gifts.”
