The holidays are nigh, which means the return of the Tenderloin Museum’s Holiday Bazaar! Ten local artist-vendors will bring pop up shops to the Museum for a festive marketplace flush with neighborhood wares. Forget the old chestnuts and stereotypical stocking stuffers--enliven your gift game while supporting the arts. From hand-tooled leather belts to intricately-latticed metalworks to cherry-picked vintage duds, there will be a plethora of unique gifts for sale. This year’s seasonal celebration coincides with the opening reception for Holly Coley’s solo exhibition in the TL Museum gallery, Tender Life: Graphic and Ceramic Memories of Tenderloin Living, 1999-2004. 

Holly Coley is an interdisciplinary artist working in drawing, painting, and ceramics. Her work is inspired by invented mythologies, sea life, and everything Japanese. In Tender Life, she focuses on the mythology of the Tenderloin, drawing on her five year stint living in an apartment on Turk and Hyde. Through a collection of graphic panels and ceramic vessels, Coley reflects on the unforgettable characters and dive bars of yore through her playful visual vocabulary. The comics emphasize Coley’s narrative abilities, while the ceramics engage with collective consciousness and memory through everyday, functional items. A celebrated teaching artist, Coley instructs ceramics at Pinckney Clay in the Mission and several SF public schools, plus she leads graphic novel workshops at San Francisco Community College and Root Division. She studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and SF State. Coley is also a veteran of the TL Museum’s Holiday Bazaars, so in addition to being the night’s featured artist, she will preside over a booth full of ceramic spirits, sloths, and centaurs.

Come deck your halls while celebrating Holly Coley’s spirited portrait of the neighborhood. The Holiday Bazaar will run from 6pm to 9pm on Thursday, December 7th. A complete guide to participating vendors is included below:

Participating Artists/Vendors:

Holly Coley is a Bay Area interdisciplinary artist, working in painting, drawing, and ceramics. Her interest in art education led her to teaching ceramic arts and drawing comics for children and adults in San Francisco and Oakland. A community arts activist, Holly has worked with The San Francisco Arts Education Project, Southern Exposure, ArtSpan, Streetside Stories, Root Division, Art Night SF and The Crucible in West Oakland. Coley has exhibited her work in San Francisco and New York. You will find her selling her ceramic work at The Renegade Craft Fair in SF's Fort Mason and ArtNight SF a monthly happening at UN Plaza, combining local galleries and artists. 

Ashlei Quinones is a West Coast based photographer. She moved to New York City in 2007 to attend The School of Visual Arts, focusing on photojournalism, documenting Portraits of America's New Veterans, and captured the challenges of one young man living with HIV. Ashlei relocated to San Francisco in 2012. Since moving to Northern California, her focus has been on documenting the spirit and manifestation of today’s Americana culture and the generation of travelers who wander and explore the world.

Nicola began sewing children’s clothing and accessories using all of the gorgeous textiles and vintage 1940’s patterns she accumulated during her rock and roll travels on various tours around the world. Shortly thereafter, Playful Puffin was hatched. While Nicola was on tour in Japan in 2013, she experienced first hand the art of Shiburi and Sashiko, which inspired her to start experimenting with different hand dyeing and embroidery techniques. After relocating from London (UK) to Oakland in early 2014, she started creating one off pieces for the home. She continues to find inspiration in her travels and likes to ensure all items are handmade and sewn using natural textiles.

Paulcity goods is about trying new things. A leather goods company whose focus is producing empowering, eco designed products. At every step of the way, ecological impact is thoughtfully considered in the production and design of leather belts, bags, and wallets. 

Vacation is the Tenderloin’s only Vintage Buy/Sell/Trade and Underground performance space. Located at 651 Larkin Street. Vacation’s speciality is forward, relevant, and modern vintage with a penchant for truly unique garments. 

Amesia Doles of la bodega flora specializes in unique plant art and plant arrangements, focusing on cacti and tillandsia (air plants) as a common theme. Her designs make great gifts for plant lovers, or are a great addition to any home or office space.

Located in the Tenderloin, Fleet Wood is a print shop, art gallery, and retail space that houses locally made goods. From custom printing jobs to art shows, Fleet Wood is committed to supporting local art and business. Fleetwood will showcase their line of goods screen printed in-house. T-shirts, sweatshirts, prints and totes, cards and prints, jewelry, and/or terrariums. 

Naz is a jeweler and metal artist who lives in San Francisco. Born and raised in Iran, her recent works are inspired by Islamic art and architecture, which suggest a remarkable amount of freedom through the repetition of symmetrical forms. She’ll be bringing a freshly cast collection of bronze and silver rings in addition to a variety of intricate structural pieces. 

The Loin is a printshop and gallery space in the Tenderloin. This community mainstay (who have pressed several items of TL Museum swag!) will sell hand-printed t-shirts, hoodies, posters, and zines. 

Casey Jones is a San Francisco based illustrator and designer who works in a variety of media. Visually striking and physically engaging, Jones’ work responds to his surrounding environment and everyday experience. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. Jones will be selling an assortment of art books, photography books, prints and pins.

Michelle B. will be giving Tarot Card and Pendulum Readings ($5-$10).