With fall events canceled, Memphis artists, craftspeople continue to feel COVID-19's impact

It’s fall. Traditionally in Memphis that means two of the city’s favorite crafts events are on tap. The Cooper-Young Festival takes center stage in mid-September in Midtown, and the Pink Palace Crafts Fair holds court in Audubon Park in early October.

But not this year. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, those events have been canceled for 2020.

The cancellation of the two events is just one COVID-19 hit felt by Memphis-area artists and craftspeople, many of whom are continuing to see their sales struggle as the pandemic carries on.

At the Pink Palace, officials hope a new pop-up shop can give some of these artists a boost.

“A lot of people were disappointed that the 48th annual Pink Palace Crafts Fair and this year’s Cooper-Young Festival had to be canceled this fall because of the pandemic,” said Bill Walsh, marketing manager at the Pink Palace Museum. “But we’re hosting a Crafts Fair Pop Up Shop at the museum to give folks a chance to enjoy demonstrations from artists and craftspeople, and of course to get some early holiday shopping done.”

From Sept. 19 through December, visitors can stop by the Pop Up Shop on the main floor of the museum at 3050 Central. The shop will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and feature creations by local artists and craftspeople.

“This venue is in the form of a boutique and is curated by Memphis Modern Market," said Emily Dunn, curator of the museum’s Pop Up Shop and director of Memphis Modern Market. “There are 30-plus vendors who are local artisans and makers represented in our Pop Up Shop."

COVID-19 precautionary protocols are in place, including temperature checks, screening questions, one-way foot traffic patterns and markers for social distancing. Everyone is required to wear a mask at all times.

There is no admission fee, and proceeds from the purchases benefit the craftspeople and the museum.

Additionally, as part of the Crafts Fair Pop Up Shop, each Saturday, beginning Sept. 19, visitors can enjoy demonstrations from some of the Pink Palace Crafts Fair’s master craftspeople and purchase their creations. These artisans will be set up on the mezzanine of the museum.

How artists are faring

But what about other local artists, crafters and makers? What have they been doing since the pandemic started? The answers are as varied as the artists themselves.

Local photographer Troy Glasgow, who would have been a vendor at the Cooper-Young Festival, said he’s had to get creative to maintain his business.

“Since the pandemic hit, I’ve had to reinvent the way I do business,” Glasgow said. “Fortunately, a lot of my business comes from contract work done on location, which is still available. However, people don’t want me setting up inside their businesses anymore."

To adapt, he's renovated a 6-foot-by-12-foot enclosed trailer to create a mobile studio.

"I can roll up into a parking lot, the trailer has air conditioning, and I work from there," he said.

It’s Glasgow's original work that has taken a hit. Although he still gets calls from interior decorators, he said the majority of his work has slowed considerably. Without in-person shows, like the festival, his sales have been exclusively online.

For Glasgow, the fall festival season has always been a busy time that meant doing commercial work on weekdays and setting up at festivals on weekends. Not so this year — and he anticipates his holiday sales will be slimmer this year as well.

Local artist Mary-Ellen Kelly also expected to be a vendor at the Cooper-Young Festival.

“This would have been my 10th year to participate,” she lamented. “It was always a hugely successful day for me, in terms of sales. Now I’m seeing a major downturn in my sales.”

Since the spring, Kelly has been marketing her work online. And on Sept. 19, the original date for this year’s Cooper-Young Festival, Kelly is hosting a pop-up sale in her backyard in Central Gardens that will include her work and the work of three other artists: jewelry maker Karen Swolensky, mixed media artist Liz Brown and Jennifer Balink, who makes custom stationery and paper art. 

Kelly also will be one of the artists featured in the ongoing Pop Up Shop at the Pink Palace.

For potter Lisa Hudson, she has had almost no sales since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. All her shows have been canceled, and she said she really doesn’t sell much online. Her last retail orders were in February, to local shops Social and Diane’s Art, Gift & Home.

“The Cooper-Young Festival is really the kickoff event for the fall season,” Hudson said. “I was also going to participate in the Pink Palace Crafts Fair. I’ve done that event for a very long time. So as an artist who is solely sustained by my work, these cancellations are hitting me really, really hard. However, I’m still holding out hope that we will be able to have WinterArts, a pop-up shop that opens the day after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Eve.”

Debra Lewis and her partner Rob Cosgrove may be among the few artisans who have experienced an uptick in business. They operate Cosgrove & Lewis and make artisan luxury soaps. They have a booth at Painted Tree, in the Wolfchase area, that affords them a regular retail outlet, and they set up at the Memphis Farmers Market. But things are a little different there due to COVID-19.

“Typically, people sniff our soaps and the fragrances drive sales,” Cosgrove said. “Now we have to keep the soaps at the back of our booth to avoid possible contamination from being touched by a number of people. But our sales haven’t decreased from previous years. To the contrary, our sales have actually tripled, and some weeks quadrupled, during the pandemic."

Online

Photographer Troy Glasgow: troyglasgow.com, @memphispix on Instagram

Artist Mary-Ellen Kelly: MaryEllenKellydesign.com, facebook.com/mymemphisview, @mek_design on Instagram 

Potter Lisa Hudson: Lisa Hudson Pottery on Facebook, @lisahudsonpottery on Instagram 

Cosgrove & Lewis: cosgroveandlewis.com, @cosgroveandlewis on Instagram

Crafts Fair Pop Up Shop at Pink Palace Museum: memphismuseums.org/pink-palace-museum/events/crafts-fair-pop-up-shop/