Interested in shopping for soap and bath products made in Syracuse? How about a venue featuring works by local artists and artisans year round? A holiday-time craftsfair showcasing everything from sculptures and jewelry to hats and purses?
These, and other venues, are part of an alternative shopping circuit in Syracuse that provides an experience very different from going to malls or roaming the Internet. That circuit extends from Art Mart, now in its 68th year, to enterprises with a history of five or six years.
Read more about your options if you prefer the alternative shopping circuit.
Art Mart
Art Mart continues to operate as a seasonal consortium of artists who split expenses and divvy up tasks such as waiting on customers. At 476 S. Salina St., the group displays an array of works by local creators: glassworks by David McKenney, Nancy Kieffer’s photos, pastels by Greg Trombley, Judith Hand’s watercolors depicting subjects ranging from flowers to a Symphoria rehearsal.
Shoppers will also encounter pysanky eggs decorated by Susan Murphy and Rebecca Nightingale’s ceramics. Izzy Dugger, a first-time participant in Art Mart, is showing prints portraying a female centaur and a “telephant,” an elephant with a telephone.
Art Mart is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It wraps up on December 23.
Salt City Artisans
At 226 Hawley Ave., there’s Salt City Artisans, Home of Syracuse Soapworks. An ongoing storefront with extended holiday-time hours, this is home base for Syracuse Soapworks which makes items including bars of soap and liquid soaps, lotions and butters. Those goods are made on-site and don’t contain animal products or artificial fragrances.
In addition, the venue presents works by over 40 local artisans and artists. Look for Donna Stoner’s watercolors, Elaine’s Home-Made Jam, glasses and salt/pepper shakers by Nella Joseph, Linda Malik’s sculptures. Several of her pieces are both colorful and whimsical.
The shop is currently open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wildflowers Armory
Downtown, at the corner of East Fayette and South Salina streets, there’s an upstairs/downstairs set-up in the McCarthy building providing entree for local makers of homemade and homegrown goods.
At street level, accessible from East Fayette Street, Wildflowers Armory showcases an eclectic assortment of crafts and artworks. In one corner, there’s a display of products made by the Syracuse Cultural Workers– postcards, stickers, buttons and other items.
Walking around the shop, one sees Cathy Pence’s stained-glass works, assemblages fashioned by Susan Scholl from found objects, craft materials and household objects, Sunkiller Press’ collages featuring surreal images. There’s also Jia Zhou’s art prints and Brody Mapes’ images.
Wildflowers’ current hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
In the basement, roughly 14 shops are up and running. They include Cherry Pit, which sells repurposed women’s vintage clothing, and the Flower Skate Shop offering hoodies, skate decks and other goods. East Coast Bandits has an inventory of new and used vinyl records.
On weekends, from noon to five p.m. the downstairs space also accommodates pop-ups, vendors who set up a table for an afternoon or both Saturday and Sunday.
December festivals
Then in December, options for alternative shopping expand drastically, as several festivals take place.
On Dec. 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Delevan Studios, at 509 W. Fayette St., holds its annual open-studio event. It offers an opportunity to visit artists in their studios and purchase their creations.
Well over 30 local artists have studios at Delevan. That includes sculptor Dona Flaherty; Linda Bigness, currently working in encaustics; painters Wendy Harris and John Fitzsimmons; Cayetano Valenzuela of Black Rabbit Studio.
There’s an admission charge of $5.00 for the event, with proceeds going to a local arts organization.
And during the same weekend, St. Elias Orthodox Church, at 4988 Onondaga Rd., hosts its annual Holiday Bazaar. Home furnishings, soaps, jewelry, baked goods and other items will be on sale.
The Holiday Bazaar runs from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on December 2 and from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on December 3.
In addition, the Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival, a fundraiser for the Syracuse Peace Council, will be held on December 2-3 at Nottingham High School, 3100 E. Genesee St.
Plowshares is a jumbo-size festival with over 100 vendors, food trucks, folk musicians and other performers, tables staffed by the Alliance for a Green Economy, the CNY Solidarity Coalition, and other groups.
Expect to find a variety of items on sale: Tom Huff’s stone and clay sculptures, mixed-media pieces and modern artifacts by Manya Goldstein, Michelle Darin’s Jewelry, and baklava made by Magda Bayoumi.
Plowshares runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on December 2, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on December 3. Admission is $2-$5 on a sliding scale, free for persons 65 or older or for youth 16 or younger. The festival’s organizers recommend that patrons wear masks but don’t mandate the wearing of masks.
Finally, the ArtRage Gallery, 503 Hawley Ave., holds its Fair Trade event on December 8-9. ArtRage is partnering with three organizations that work to secure fair prices for goods produced by small-scale artisans and framers around the globe.
The trio includes SERRV International, working with communities in Vietnam, Ethiopia and other nations; Mayan Hands which advocates for Guatemalan artisans making baskets, pocket bags, scarves, and other objects; Break Margins supporting Kenyan citizens marginalized because of their sexual orientation.
The Fair Trade event is scheduled for December 8, from 2 to 6 p.m., and December 9, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Carl Mellor covered visual arts for the Syracuse New Times from 1994 through 2019. He continues to write about artists and exhibitions in the Syracuse area.
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