\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/43260138_20251120_POPUP0747.jpg\")
\t\t\tMECA&D students work together to clean up and decorate the college’s experimental space at 49 Oak. St, where their class is hosting a pop-up market in the first week of December. Left to right are Nicole Murphy, Hannah Holt and Brooklyn Green.(Shawn Patrick Ouellette\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Katie Clark, a sophomore studying ceramics at the Maine College of Art and Design, had a problem many artists face at one time or another.<\/p>\n
They ran out of space.<\/p>\n
\u201cCeramics really collect,\u201d Clark said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
One way to make room on the shelves is to sell. So Clark signed up for this year\u2019s Holiday Sale, an annual tradition that features students, alumni and faculty. This market will be their first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to test the waters,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
Shoppers in downtown Portland have two upcoming opportunities to buy directly from local art students.<\/p>\n
The first weekend of December, the Holiday Sale will transform the Porteous Building on Congress Street into a marketplace with 75 vendors, including students. Around the corner, a class will run a pop-up shop in the college\u2019s experimental storefront at 49 Oak St. for the first week of the month.<\/p>\n
These markets allow young artists to develop skills they might need to balance creativity and commerce in their careers.<\/p>\n Evelyn Wong, an adjunct assistant professor, teaches printmaking and book arts. This semester, they are also teaching \u201cArt of Selling Out,\u201d which focuses on the economics and logistics of selling artwork. Their students are running the pop-up shop.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is information I wish I could have learned when I was a student,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n \u2018AN ICKY SUBJECT\u2019<\/p>\n On Thursday, Wong unlocked the door to 49 Oak St. and led their students inside. Everyone carried bins of handmade items and bags of winter decorations.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, a couple of y\u2019all thought about what design you want to put on the window,\u201d Wong said, and two students raised their hands for the task.<\/p>\n During the semester, Wong shared their own experiences of balancing wholesale accounts and gallery exhibitions. They prompted the class to research artists in their chosen fields and retailers in their hometowns. Students visited a book fair for small publishers at Mechanics\u2019 Hall, and a friend of Wong\u2019s showed them his wholesale catalogue.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are actual members of our community who are living off their art,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n Wong taught the students how to make items that might sell well at markets \u2014 handmade notebooks with different binding techniques, personalized zines, letterpress prints. They also talked about different approaches to pricing those creations. Wong shared the formula they use, and the students priced a zine based on time spent and cost of materials.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an icky subject for a lot of artists to think about money, to talk about money,\u201d Wong said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also very real.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah Holt, a senior sculpture major, worked on the shop window with a chalk marker. She signed up for the class because she\u2019s thinking about life after graduation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a no-no to talk about money sometimes,\u201d Holt said. \u201cIt feels great to get transparent and honest answers about things people usually don\u2019t talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018DON\u2019T GET DISCOURAGED\u2019<\/p>\n Jenny McGee Dougherty was a student when she first sold handmade craft boxes at the annual Holiday Sale. Now, she organizes the event as the director of the college\u2019s Artists at Work program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the very few events we have per year where the public can come into the building and see the magic that happens in here,\u201d McGee said.<\/p>\n As many as 4,000 people will come through the Holiday Sale during the weekend. About three-quarters of the vendors are alumni. Students don\u2019t have to pay a fee to participate, and they can set up solo or in groups. Photography students will be running a photo booth, and animation and game art students are hosting an arcade to fund a professional development trip.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been really focusing a lot of our efforts on giving more opportunities to try these things,\u201d McGee said.<\/p>\n Jaden Kyung-Moon Bauch, 22, of Portland, graduated earlier this year with a major in painting and a minor in art and entrepreneurship. An unexpected dental bill early on in college put her in a difficult spot, and she started learning more about personal finance. Now, Bauch balances her painting practice with a coaching business for creative professionals and is studying to be a certified financial planner. She works one-on-one with clients and also travels to art schools.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents really want the knowledge,\u201d Bauch said. \u201cThey want to be financially successful. They might mistrust certain financial professionals, or they don\u2019t know where to look, or they don\u2019t know how to find resources that are designed for artists.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019ll have a table at the Holiday Sale this year. Talking to other vendors at markets, she said, helped her develop her own strategies.<\/p>\n \u201cYour first time vending at a market, it is quite possible that you will make no money,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t get discouraged in the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n LEARNING EXPERIENCES<\/p>\n Joshua Harkins is going into the Holiday Sale with the experience of a year of First Fridays. A sophomore studying animation and game art, he\u2019ll be vending stickers, prints and pins along with a friend.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely had to learn that just because something isn\u2019t selling, that doesn\u2019t say anything about your art or your product,\u201d Harkins said. \u201cIt just tells you that you need to change things up a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n For example, he\u2019s learned that shoppers will shy away from unfamiliar characters, so he\u2019s leaning on recognizable subjects. (Penguins are a big hit.) His friends nudged him to increase his prices for stickers and introduce a sliding scale for prints. Over time, he\u2019s built his confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always had trouble just talking to random people,\u201d he said. \u201cThat has helped.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/w2pcms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/11\/Holiday-Sale-2023-11-2.jpg\")
<\/a>The Holiday Sale is an annual tradition at MECA&D. Pictured here is Leigh Kapantais, who graduated from MECA&D in 2024 and now owns Leekappart and is also an admissions seasonal recruiter at the college. (Photo by Annabelle Collette)<\/p>\n<\/a>MECA&D student Brooklyn Green draws on the window on Nov. 20 as students decorate their pop-up shop at 49 Oak St. In the background is Hannah Holt. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n<\/a>MECA&D student Ezekiel Bliss shares a laugh Nov. 20 with fellow students as they decorate their pop-up shop at 49 Oak St. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n<\/a>The Holiday Sale is an annual tradition at MECA&D. This year, more than 75 vendors will take over the Porteous Building on Congress Street. (Photo by Annabelle Collette)<\/p>\n