Holiday Maker’s Market showcases the best of art and entrepreneurship

Most days, the lobby of the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center’s Shaffer MacCartney Building could be described as a relatively quiet space aside from the occasional sounds coming from the Garage Makerspace’s 3D printers, CNC machines and other devices.

But on Friday, Nov. 14, it was a bustling center of activity as over 250 people got a head start on their holiday shopping while supporting some of Augusta University’s talented entrepreneurs during the first-ever Augusta University Holiday Maker’s Market.

The event featured 27 booths with everything from handmade jewelry and wood crafts to crocheted clothing and stuffed toys, paintings and hand-tufted rugs to air fresheners and even treats for humans and pets alike.

“Augusta University is committed to preparing our entrepreneurial students for the real world by providing real-world experiences. The AU Holiday Maker’s Market offered an invaluable opportunity for our students to network with and learn from other more seasoned AU entrepreneurs from our own AU faculty, staff and alumni while welcoming our broader community to campus to support student businesses,” said Tina Baggott, interim executive vice president for Strategic Partnerships and Economic Development at AU. “We are grateful for the overwhelming show of support from our campus and community for this first-time event.”

The event – which included food trucks from Wetzels Pretzels, The Food Guys and Ice Cream Island – drew interest from 59 faculty, staff, students and alumni of Augusta University hoping to sell their creations as approved vendors. Ultimately, there was only enough room for 27 booths, and it provided those chosen vendors with a chance to share their unique talents with the rest of AU and the greater Augusta community.

“What an exceptional opportunity to see alumni, faculty, staff, community partners and student entrepreneurs come together,” said Lynsey Steinberg, director of innovation for AU’s Entrepreneurship and Community Innovation team within the Strategic Partnerships and Economic Development unit. “Many of our vendors and food trucks sold out and were thrilled to be a part of our community. The Holiday Maker’s Market truly highlights the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that drives Augusta University forward. We could not have accomplished this remarkable market without all the amazing teams who came together. Thank you to our volunteers and every team member who supported this effort for the benefit of everyone’s success.”

Not only did the items they created and sold vary widely, but the vendors ranged in their experience from those who frequent numerous art shows, markets and festivals to those just testing out the waters of small business ownership.

Danielle Deal and Floe Maddox, both students in the Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, have already had some practice with selling their works. Deal, a third-year undergraduate art major, and Maddox, a fourth-year undergraduate integrated studies major earning a minor in art, are part of Pamplin’s Mad Potters Organization, and they recently took part in the organization’s regular sale.

“We do our Mad Potters Organization sale every semester. We just got finished with that, but this is our first sale that we’ve done outside of school. It’s exciting,” Maddox said.

Deal agreed, mentioning that part of the excitement is how the event drew shoppers from beyond the AU campus.

“It’s a little different because it’s a little bit more in the community, rather than when we do it on campus, where it’s more just our peers and people that we know,” Deal said. “It’s nice to be able to sell to people who aren’t just going to school with us and to know that they take our pieces home and actually use them.”

One of the great parts of the Holiday Maker’s Market is that it appealed to a wide range of students, faculty, staff and alumni from almost all of AU’s colleges and schools, including the School of Public Health, School of Computer and Cyber Sciences and College of Allied Health Sciences.

Kit Wootten, a public health analyst in SPH, was selling crocheted items through their business, Blue Heron Stitches. The name is a nod to the street their grandmother lived on during Wootten’s childhood. Wootten was working well into the night before the event to make sure they had plenty of items to sell, including crocheted stuffed animals and oversized fruit.

Gokila Dorai, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in SCCS, is used to showcasing her knowledge of artificial intelligence and blockchain coding, but on this particular day, her paintings and drawings took center stage. And she wasn’t the only one from SCCS in attendance.

Mia Thompson, who will graduate this December with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, not only had items for sale through her small business Threads and Roses, but she was also showing off her rug tufting skills live as people made purchases. Thompson is a testament to what can happen when someone takes advantage of the classes the Garage offers throughout the year.

“I actually started last year here at the Garage Makerspace. They had a rug tufting frame, and I had just gotten into crochet and knitting, and I was like, ‘I want to do a little bit more with fiber arts,'” Thompson said. “I saw this rug on Pinterest – it was a My Melody rug – and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can make it.’ So, I went to the Garage and asked them if they had a rug tufting frame and a rug tufting gun, and they did, so I just learned from some of the employees there, I made the rug, and I really loved it.”

And from there she just kept going, taking it to the point where she decided to start her own small business, something she hadn’t given much thought to previously.

“I started thinking, ‘Maybe I can make more,’ and I did, and then a few months ago I decided to start a business for it,” Thompson said. “I never thought about being a business owner outside of maybe in the future doing something with tech, like an app, but I never thought about having a business within fiber art. I think it’s really exciting, and to be able to participate in a market is just truly amazing because I love little craft fairs. I’m just so grateful for the amount of support that I’ve gotten.”

Another student whose items were created right there in the Garage was third-year undergraduate student Sierra Collier, who is majoring in health services through the College of Allied Health Sciences. She was joined at her booth, Misty Woods Tradecraft, LLC, by her sister, Makena Harrison.

Collier used the Garage’s CNC machine to create amazing pieces of art, including challenge coin stands, holiday signs and more out of wood.

Their experience at the market was overwhelmingly positive, but this isn’t their first time participating in a market as they have had a booth at the Evans Market on some weekends, as well as some other smaller events hosted by churches and other groups.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to have us here. We like to volunteer a lot here, so it’s nice that we’re able to make some of our products in the Makerspace and be able to bring them here and sell them to consumers,” Collier said. “The really fun thing is making sports signs by using the large CNC machine that they have there. It’s like a really fun process.”

The event was a great example of how talented many of AU’s people are outside of what they study or teach. And the fact that it was at the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center, home of the Garage Makerspace, makes it even more fitting and inspiring.

The Garage features a messy prototyping zone, electronics zone, 3D printers, a collaboration zone and a small pod room. Throughout the year, The Garage hosts numerous workshops that include bobblehead night, rapid prototyping and more.

The Garage is free to AU students, and community members are invited to purchase a membership, which opens up a whole range of possibilities, including access to fabrication equipment, sessions with a maker space specialist, group maker events, volunteer program, prototype design/prototype fabrication, Garage workshops, guest speaker events and fabrication services.

“I would definitely just say, drop by,” Thompson said of those thinking of checking out the offerings at the Garage. “You walk in there and see all those tools and things that you can make; you immediately get inspired. I’m always raving about the Garage because I just love being there. Every time I’m there, I have a new idea, and I’m supported with the resources to actually do it.”