Holiday-themed market adds color to Barrio Logan’s art scene

Hutton Marshall | Contributing Editor

On a recent, rainy evening on Barrio Logan’s Main Street, a brightly colored warehouse was churning out a product the area is rapidly becoming known for: art.

The warehouse space is UNION, which houses 32 artists working in a variety of media. The building, one in a series of industrial spaces in Barrio Logan’s commercial district, was built in 1942 to produce various necessities for the war. Today, its small art studios produce anything from woodwork to handmade jewelry.

That evening, many of its artists were working late preparing the space for its biggest event to date, the San Diego Made Holiday Market, a two-day event happening Dec. 6 and 7.

UNION, created in 2012, is just one of several industrial-sized art spaces along Main Street in the southeastern San Diego neighborhood. UNION artists say the area is currently experiencing a cultural and economic renaissance.

“There’s kind of this resurgence in the area, a kind of art mecca in Barrio Logan all throughout the area,” UNION artist Brooke Dailey said.

Dailey and others in UNION credit much of the changing culture in Barrio Logan to increased policing efforts that have made the low-income neighborhood a safer place for both residents and outsiders. Indeed, crime in Barrio Logan fell across the board by more than 25 percent in recent years, according to a report by Voice of San Diego.

Still, a safe neighborhood doesn’t make life easy as an artist, especially in an area still developing its cultural identity. Efforts to draw art lovers to the district are crucial.

The Barrio Logan Association organizes a monthly art walk that spans several emerging art spaces in the neighborhood. Hundreds now flock to the neighborhood each month to peruse some of the city’s most vibrant artwork.

Dailey and business partner Sarah Lowry recall opening their small woodworking studio Cheshire Salvage — a mildly challenging tongue twister — in UNION back in January 2014. Having heard about the popular monthly art crawls, they were eager to throw their work into the mix. They meticulously displayed their work, prepared food for visitors and invited their friends on Facebook. However, on the day of the event, theirs was the only UNION studio open. While other warehouses along Main Street had embraced the monthly surge in shoppers, UNION remained a veritable ghost town.

“It was really embarrassing,” Dailey said.

UNION doesn’t have employees, just its owner, Seth Collins, who ensures the space is maintained. Lowry and Dailey clean the communal space in exchange for a smaller monthly rental fee on their studio. Absent are event marketing staff like those filling more established warehouses in Barrio Logan.

So this summer, Dailey, Lowry and two other UNION artists, Kristin Dunnis and Eva Zuzuarregui, formed the volunteer UNION Event Marketing Team (UMET). Through UMET, the women began promoting the space and organizing events, two critical components to draw in art lovers and guest artists. Now, Lowry said, more than 70 percent of UNION’s artists prepare displays when the monthly art walk comes to town.

UMET’s quest to bring events to UNION has led to the partnership with an equally exciting art venture, San Diego Made.

San Diego Made is an online artist collective promoting the work of artists throughout San Diego County. The idea is to create a space for artists to interact and share their work, and for art lovers to find new artists and art happenings. San Diego Made is the brainchild of Brittany Wiczek, a local artist, web designer and close friend of the women behind UMET.

Artists sign up online and create a portfolio visible to the public. So far, UNION artists make up the bulk of San Diego Made profiles, but Wiczek said she plans to cater to artists throughout the county.

“It’s also a way for people to learn about the local artists around them and how they can help support the arts,” Wiczek said.

“It’s a bit reflective of what union is with the whole artist collaboration aspect,” Daily added. “Like if we ever wanted to incorporate leather into our work, we know Brian [Hessler, a UNION artist] does leather goods, so we’ve got a guy.”

It wasn’t long before the women collectively decided to bring all that synergy together and collaborate on the San Diego Made Holiday Market.

While this is UMET and San Diego Made’s first foray into planning a market on this scale, they’re ambitious, in part because of the swelling artistic community in the neighborhood, but also because they’re able to model their efforts after other well-established markets in the area. Glass Door, for example, holds regular events drawing hundreds to the space. Even among the community of artists housed in UNION, Lowry said there’s a lot of knowledge to pull from.

“It’s nice just being surrounded by so many people, because the people that are here every day — that work here full time — you can get a lot of information about how they got to where they are now, and kind of apply that to what you’re doing,” she said.

The San Diego Made Holiday Market will coincide with the Barrio Art Crawl for a portion of the day on Saturday, Dec. 6, when the market runs from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and the art walk runs from 4 – 10 p.m.

In addition to the resident UNION artists, 15 guest artists from around the county will also set up shop at the event. Live music, food trucks and a holiday-themed cash bar will be on hand as well. The first 25 visitors will receive a handmade gift bag, and a raffle will be held for one large-ticket item.

For more information about the San Diego Made Holiday Market, visit umetinfo.com. For more on San Diego Made and its community of artists, visit sandiegomade.org.

—Hutton is the editor of San Diego Uptown News and Mission Times Courier, sister papers of San Diego Downtown News. Contact him at [email protected].