‘The connection is everything to me’: Artists and art patrons build community through outdoor Bazaar art market

Sometimes it’s nice to have a reminder of just how creative Spokane and the Inland Northwest really is. And really, nothing quite shows you the breadth of that creative talent than an event like Bazaar.

For one day, Saturday, Main Avenue and Post Street outside River Park Square is inundated with more than 130 vendors who create jewelry, clothing, leather goods, home decor, art, skincare, candles, ceramics, tea and more.

And like thousands look forward to events like Bloomsday and Hoopfest, so too do thousands look forward to Bazaar, to the tune of around 20,000 attendees each year.

One draw is that most of the art at the juried show is priced under $100, meaning no matter the budget, it’s possible to find a new favorite piece of art. It’s also a chance to meet the maker behind that new favorite piece.

That community element, both among fellow artists and attendees, is what drew two of those vendors, Caliste Dober, of Bare Threads LLC, and Kale Dittemore, of Chosen Fam, to apply to Bazaar.

Dober started creating when she was young, often drawing alongside her grandpa as he sketched out ideas for woodsmithing projects. Dober’s grandmother embroidered, so she also spent time going through her grandmother’s finished projects and studying the different colors and techniques used in each piece.

In school, she took every art class she could, from jewelrymaking and drawing to ceramics and painting.

“Even if I didn’t end up using that medium, I definitely took a lot of the information I learned from all of those different classes and put it into what I do now,” she said.

What Dober does now with Bare Threads began two years ago after she returned to her hometown of Bozeman following her graduation from Gonzaga University. While scrolling Pinterest and Instagram, she saw videos of people using bleach to tie-dye clothing.

Dober decided to give it a shot using a sweatshirt, seeing it as merely a fun art project. The final product came out better than expected, so much so that her friends and family members immediately began asking her to make pieces for them, too.

“I was at a time in my life where I was like, ‘I don’t really know what I want to do. I don’t really have any corporate career dreams,’ ” she said. “After I got such a reaction from that first sweatshirt that I made, I was like, ‘I’m going to keep doing it and see where this takes me.’”

Dober made a few more pieces and quickly sold them to family, friends and friends of friends. She realized there was a market for her style of personalized clothing, so she created more pieces and attended her first vendor fair.

Most of her then-small inventory sold out, which gave her a lot of confidence in her vision.

“It really filled my cup,” she said. “I had never really felt that way.”

Dober learned as she created, experimenting on denim and active wear pieces and realizing that some items of clothing were too thin to handle the bleach. She also learned to neutralize the bleach after painting, otherwise the bleach would continue to affect the fabric.

Over time, she found cotton handled bleach best. Interested in sustainability, Dober tries to find thrifted and pre-loved cotton clothing.

Similarly, all of Dober’s designs are inspired by the natural world, something she attributes to growing up in Montana and spending so much time outside hiking, rafting, kayaking and camping.

Dober might draw a butterfly, flower or mountain fairly true to form, then put a creative twist on the design by adding funky lines or small hearts or stars. Whether in Bozeman or Spokane, where she now lives, Dober has found an audience for this style.

“I’m not sure if that is because of the location, like if it was Montana, and people were drawn to those things because that’s where we were located, or if people are really drawn to things in the natural world, because everything is so commercialized these days, but people love these designs, and they’re my favorite types of designs to create, so I really narrowed in on those natural aspects, and it really has worked out for me.”

For her second Bazaar as a vendor, Dober plans to bring pieces in a variety of sizes to be as inclusive as possible. Some of those pieces will feature fan-favorite designs from the earliest stages of Bare Threads while others will feature new designs. Some designs will be more complex while others will be simpler, marking a range in prices she hopes will accommodate all shoppers.

Dober is grateful for those shoppers, no matter if they buy or simply browse, as well as to the artists who have welcomed her into the community and helped her make the most out of her market experience. As a newer artist, it can feel intimidating to see artists who are well-established and honed in on their craft, but Dober said by the end of each market, she feels more confident in what she’s doing.

“By the end of the day, I feel so validated and so lucky that people are able to see how special this is to me, and also feel the same way that they feel,” she said. “It’s so special, and it’s contributing to this community. I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to be part of something like this.”

Dittemore, of Chosen Fam, also found community through art and participating in markets like Bazaar. Growing up around medical professionals, she was the only creative person in her immediate family.

Dittemore herself was initially on a STEM-focused path through life, but she found ways to make her engineering projects more creative.

“When I was gathering research, I was taking photos at the same time, and when I was making my boards, the fonts were so cute and the backgrounds were colorful, so it was a little mix of both, where I got to be artsy and fun and creative but also loved the math and science behind it,” she said.

Dittemore focused on engineering until a traumatic incident made her hit pause and spend time in a mental health treatment center in Seattle. She took a step back from her work and began focusing on taking care of herself through journaling, which morphed into designing prints featuring phrases, like, “I hope you stay,” for example, and “Take up space.”

“While I was (in treatment), I desperately wanted to be back where my community was and have my voice heard and share what I’ve gone through and interact with my community in a way that made sense and was encouraging for me,” she said.

After her time in treatment and after she secured a full-time job at Art Salvage, Dittemore began sketching ideas on paper then uploading them to the design application Procreate, where she could create a digital version. Dittemore said YouTube was her best friend when it came to learning techniques, though she also credits local artists like Karli Fairbanks and Rose Honey for being willing to answer questions.

Dittemore also creates block prints and credits local artist Sarah Windisch for that education.

“There have been so many people around me that have helped me become the artist that I am, and I really value that because we’re in this together,” Dittemore said. “Art is an act of resistance, and when we come together and create things and collaborate on things, it changes people’s lives. It’s changed my life, so I really value that.”

Dittemore’s prints, shirts and magnets feature encouraging and, in some cases, cheeky messages. “Take up space” is a popular one, as is “I told my therapist about you” and “Hot girls save lives,” a nod to Dittemore’s family members in the medical field and, coming from a member of the queer community, to hot girls in general.

Like Dober, Dittemore is interested in sustainability and sources her blank clothing items from Global Neighborhood Thrift and Vintage.

Along with her prints, clothing and magnets, which will be arranged on a refrigerator door, Dittemore is bringing an affirmation station to Bazaar, which gives shoppers the opportunity to select a pre-made background and receive a handwritten affirmation from Dittemore on the spot.

“It’s being able to see the interactions and talk to the people about my art and really tell people ‘You are worthy’ right to their face and see them smile because of it or sometimes even cry,” she said. “Bringing and witnessing emotion, it not only helps other people but it helps me. It’s this community and collaborative encouragement that I really value.

“The connection is everything to me.”

If Dober, Dittemore and the more than 130 other vendors weren’t enough of a draw, there is more to Bazaar than the booths.

The first 300 guests will receive a free Bazaar tote bag from Visit Spokane. Guests can also grab a beer at Flatstick Pub and check out their urban putting green.

“One of the reasons we have Bazaar in downtown Spokane is we want to encourage people to come downtown and to support those local businesses that exist within that core of our city,” Terrain Event Manager Rachael Chambers said. “Indaba, Flatstick Pub, the businesses across the river in Kendall Yards, making sure that we’re not taking all the air out of downtown, but instead unifying and making sure that people are able to explore and have a good day even when they leave the market.”

Attendees can catch Spokane Puppetry’s roaming puppets as they wander through the crowd, bringing a little bit of “bizarre” back to Bazaar, Chambers said, or participate in Terrain’s Community Art Project installation, “Faces of Bazaar,” which invites guests to draw a picture of themselves.

KYRS will be broadcasting live from Bazaar, and there will be live music throughout the event from Jona Gallegos (11 a.m.), John Wayne Williams (noon), the Bed Heads (1 p.m.), Wes Marvin (2 p.m.), Kat Higgins (3 p.m.), Aspen Kye (4 p.m.), Based Fiasco (5 p.m.), Jason Garrett Evans and Ruth Engeda (6 p.m.), and Frances Browne (7 p.m.).

Food and drink options include Kapé Cha, Indaba, Sweet Mama’s LLC, the Scoop and Teas Co., with Indaba and the Scoop introducing a Bazaar-themed coffee drink and Bazaar-themed ice cream, respectively. A portion of the proceeds from those sales will go to Terrain.

Bistango Martini Lounge will also open early, at 3 p.m., with $1 from each huckleberry martini sold supporting Terrain.

“It is amazing all the different people who are able to be involved in it,” Chambers said. “We have so many local partners that we’re so grateful for.”

There will also be family-friendly activities with Blue Sky Camps, including the opportunities to make your own bubble wands and chalk art.

“Spokane really cares about the arts, and you can see that with the organizations we have in town,” Chambers said. “You can even see it in the number of art markets that have popped up around Spokane. Terrain was lucky enough to be early in the game when it comes to art markets, but you can see that Spokane has the ability to support a wide array of opportunities, and those are the economic opportunities we want artists to have.

“We want more players in the game, because we want artists to be able to make a living from their art in our city and not have to leave our city to seek greener pastures. The benefit of having a juried market is that work is high-quality and it is hyper-local. That is what people value, especially when you’re looking to support artists.”