Filled with spirited customers, colorful artwork and holiday cheer, the Blue Genie Art Bazaar has been a staple of the Austin community for almost 24 years. An annual market featuring the work of over 200 artists and artisans, the Blue Genie Art Bazaar sells handcrafted art in a variety of mediums including glass art, jewelry, painting, photography, sculpture, body care, clothing and food. Located at 6100 Airport Blvd, the Art Bazaar will be open to shoppers from Nov. 15 to Dec. 24.
“(Our customers) can wander around and see all of the amusing, beautiful and creative things that the Austin maker community is up to in their garages and backyard studios,” said Dana Younger, a Blue Genie Art Bazaar co-founder.
After graduating from UT, Younger, a theater alumnus, opened a sculpture and mural fabrication business on South First Street with business partner Kevin Collins. Drawn to a blue genie on the roof across the street, Younger said he and Collins decided to visit. There, they met and befriended painter Rory Skagen. The three began collaborating, combining their talents to create floats for the Mardi Gras on 6th Street, before eventually deciding to go into business together.
“We were all sitting around in the empty warehouse like, ‘What are we gonna call ourselves? Skagen, Younger and Collins sounds like a law firm — we need a mascot,’” Younger said. “‘How about Blue Genie?’ It was one of those magical moments that makes all the sense in the world.”
Later joined by Chris Coakley, who has a background in architecture, the team held their first Art Bazaar in 2001, showcasing art created by employees. Over the next two decades, the Art Bazaar would grow to a multi-week event.
“Families started coming 24 years ago and bringing their tiny children when (the Art Bazaar) was in the dusty warehouse in East Austin with Porta Potties,” Younger said. “And now they’re still coming and their children are 26 years old, and they’re bringing their children.”
Harshit Gupta, who owns an Indian chocolate company alongside his husband Elliott Curelop, said they used to go holiday shopping at the Art Bazaar. When they started their business, he said it was fitting to sell their chocolate there.
“We started with a very small booth and (now) we have an eight-by-eight wall of all our chocolates and products,” Gupta said. “(Blue Genie) has created a community around (it), which is really nice.”
Jason Wallerstein, an exhibitor at the Art Bazaar, sells punk rock-inspired wood-cut prints and paintings celebrating the flora and fauna of Texas.
“I love taking material that is kind of rough and making something out of it,” Wallerstein said. “I’ll have some scrap wood lying around and I’ll shellac it, draw on it, cut it up and then it becomes something totally different and amazing.”
Younger said he loves that Austin comes out to support creative endeavors.
“In building this show over the last two and a half decades, (we realized) that yes, it’s about art and yes, it’s about commerce, but more importantly, the show is about community,” Younger said.
