Back in the days of Market 5 Gallery (a community-based arts center founded by John Harrod, who's also the founder of the Arts and Crafts festival and Flea Market at Eastern Market, together with Tom Rall)...Market 5 Gallery, which is now just the empty, soulless north hall of Eastern Market...there was a large world map on the wall with pins in it showing "who in the world" was exhibiting at Eastern Market and where in the world they were from. The pins crisscrossed North American, from New York to Nevada, California, Oregon, Mississippi, Texas and Florida. But what stood out was the fact that the folks who exhibit outside "The Monument" Eastern Market are from all over the globe. They brought, and still bring, a diversity of peoples, languages, and products to the Market which is unmatched in any market to which I have ever been. We are all privileged by their presence here in Washington, D.C.
I love history, culture, art and...
For years I set up next to Marta Vindiola on Saturdays on the plaza. Marta is from Mexico. She came to the U.S. (California) back in the 196o's to study English and attend high school and later college. For about twelve years she sold pewter tableware, objets d'art, jewelery and textiles, all from Mexico and all inspired by traditional Mexican cultural iconography. It was great being next to her on Saturdays.
The exhibitor community at Eastern Market is a hive of our world. The tradition of the market as a gathering place is as old as civilization: in every country, across religions, languages, cultures, and races, is the concept of "market day." Historically, "market day" happened once a year or a month in the harvest seasons in many cultures. Eastern Market comes alive on the weekends, when more than two hundred exhibitors during the "high season" (April through December) in good weather come out to share and show their wares.
Marta Vindiola's (SeriVendi) most requested items for sale at the Market were her beautiful pewter tableware; she sold everything from serving platters to serving spoons. Many of her clients bought these items to give away as wedding gifts.
Now at the Market we have exhibitors who import items from their homelands that are "for the table", including the tables themselves. Bogdan Stelmach sells Polish pottery, Idil Harun of Somalia who sells metal serving utensils from South Africa, Habiba Bahri and her husband of Tunis sell traditional Tunisian earthen ware, and Eka Himawan of Indonesia sells innovative traditional Indonesian furniture. These exhibitors stand out among many others who bring an exciting variety of international wares to Eastern Market.
Idil Harun ( Harun's African Arts & Crafts) originally from Mogadishu, Somalia. Harun's tablewares are made of brass, bronze, copper and stainless steel and are from South Africa. She and her family fled Somalia years ago because of the war in her native land to Nelspurit, South Africa. Later Harun married an American and came to the states. Ms. Harun has been at Eastern Market since 2003. She found Eastern Market by "looking for a unique upscale market to sell her pieces."
(Harun's African Arts & Craft)
(Harun's African Arts & Craft)
(Idil Harun)
(Harun's African Arts & Craft)
Bogdan Stelmack, from Wroclaw Poland. He sells traditional polish pottery, but Mr. Stelmack is also a craftsperson in his own right. He makes those colorful mirrors one sees walking down the street in the arms of happy Eastern Market shoppers almost every weekend. He has been at Eastern Market for eleven years.
(Pottery from Poland)
(Bogdan Stelmach)
(Pottery from Poland)
(Bogdan Stelmach's custom mirrors)
Habiba Bahri ( Tunis Arts.) She has known about Eastern Market since the late 1970's. She says that back in the day it was listed as a place of interest to visit on "metro maps." She started selling her family's traditional pottery at Eastern Market in 1998, and that family has made pottery in Tunis for five generations, with a factory located in Nabeul, Tunis. Ms. Bahri was also trained as a potter. The traditional name for this pottery is "Foukhar." Ms. Bahri is proud to say that one can cook, bake and serve in "Foukhar" pottery. One of the things that will attract you to her stand in the school yard on Sundays is the extraordinary colors of her earthenware. These colors, she says, are typical colors inspired by the Mediterranean.
(Habiba Bahri-Tunis Arts)
(Tunis Arts-ceramics)
(Pottery from Tunis)
Last in this introduction to the international world at Eastern Market is Eka Himawan. She is from Sura-Karta, Central Java, Indonesia. Her parents make furniture in the Indonesian style out of mahogany and teak. These pieces are solid, eye-catching and elegant. Ms. Himawan has been at Eastern Market on Sundays in the school yard since 2000 selling her family's furniture.
(Eka Himawan)
Eastern Market is where the world meets, eats, buys, sells and shops. Every weekend is a celebration of the cross-cultural diversity that makes our country the envy of the world.
Witnessing,
Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb
(Furniture from Karta, Central Java)
(Furniture from Karta, Central Java)
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