Events of yore:

The idea for Independent Art Market started began with an idea by Carmelita Nunez for a holiday art sale. In September of 2004 during the 2004 Art Outside event sponsored by Schlafly Beer a handful of artists at that event found a mutual admiration for each others' work, and decided to start planning that holiday sale for early December 2004. During one of those planning sessions Marie McInerny coined the name "Independent Art Market". The holiday sale quickly grew into an open studio tour and an invitational exhibit, and on December 4 and 5, 2004 ten artists showed their work in three studio spaces. Hundreds of people visited, and everyone had a great time.

Pleased with the sucess of the first event, the artists organizing Independent Art Market decided to continue by putting on an exhibit of their own work. The group's second event was on Mother's Day weekend of 2005 at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts. It gained the attention of editors of both The Riverfront Times and the Get Out! section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and drew an even larger crowd.

Shaw's Gallery hosted the third Independent Art Market on December 10 & 11, 2005. It was also the first time the artists organizing Independent Art Market put out an open call for artists. Twelve artists and artisans presented their work, there was a musical performance by the musicians of Sweet Lady Brick, and the event was covered at the front of the Culture section of St. Louis Magazine. Several thousand attended this event, and we all had a wonderful weekend filled with art.

Indpendent Art Market hit a bump, however, in early 2006, when the studio of one of the organizing artists, Eric Woods owner of The Firecracker Press, was destroyed in a fire that started in a neigboring space. The Firecracker Press rebuilt in a new, larger location, and hosted Independent Art Market in its new retail and gallery space on May 27 through 29. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered the opening on the front of the Everyday section, and the event was a tremendous success for both The Firecracker Press and Independent Art Market.