About the organizers:


Talia Halliday has been helping to organize the Bloomington Handmade Market since 2012. She runs her crafts business (Conduit Press) out of her studio located in the back of her indie craft brick and mortar (Gather) in downtown Bloomington. In 2020 she opened a second brick and mortar (plant store) called oak.  She's also the mother to seven (eek!), partner to Nathan, and community partner extraordinaire.  Talia lives to celebrate local art and the independent maker and thrives in creating the community that helps BHM thrive. 

Chelsea Jones is the jewelry artist behind Tactile Melodies, wherein she creates beautiful one of a kind pieces that are classy and fabulous! Chelsea's interest range from space (constellations!), history (Hamilton!), and genealogy. You can find Chelsea's work at the many shows she travels to over the course of the year, and often find Chelsea at concerts all over the Midwest, world traveler that she is! 

Sally Harless is the animal draw-er extraordinaire behind Sadly Harmless. Sally earned a BFA in printmaking from IU in 2007 and has been a full-time artist and maker for 15 years! When she isn't traveling to craft shows all over the Midwest, she's going swimming in Lake Lemon, hiking around southern Indiana, or hanging out with her French bulldog, Monty. Sally is one of the founders of BHM from way back in 2009!

Allie McHaley is the sole artist behind Allie & Tess, a line of copper electroformed jewelry. A self-proclaimed recovering social worker, Allie believes in the healing power of connection, and enjoys creating pieces that allow individuals to step into their personal power! When she’s not at her workbench or working at Gather, Allie travels around the Midwest and East Coast for art fairs and festivals. Allie is based in Spencer, Indiana, just 20 miles from downtown Bloomington, where she lives with her husband and their five pets, George, Tess (yes, that Tess), Steve, Bruce, and Rocky!

For Holiday 2022 we doubled the size of our board and are so excited to have brought on Beck, Deborah, Jennie, & Nancy! 


Deborah Meader is a retired social worker, living with her husband and standard poodle in their wooded retreat, six miles east of Bloomington. She has long supported social justice through work, volunteerism, and activism. In 2017, Deborah co-founded The Persisterhood Workshop (TPW) with neighbor and artist, Leanne Ellis. Handmade work by volunteers in small-group workshops is sold at the Bloomington Handmade Market and other locations. All sales benefit local non-profits; TPW workshops champion creativity, camaraderie and social justice.
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Nancy Bradley is the jewelry artist behind ResonatedbyNBradley - resin artist, wife, mom, grandmother and champion of social justice. Creator of resin art designed to resonate with meaning.


The History of the Bloomington Handmade Market
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Bloomington Handmade Market founders Mia Beach, Sally Harless and Nicole Wolfersberger saw the need for an artistic venue in Bloomington that would enable contemporary, emerging artists and crafters to showcase their wares at an affordable price.  During the summer of 2009, the Bloomington Handmade Market was born and has been going strong ever since!

BHM is a bi-annual juried show, meaning that participating artists are selected from a pool of applicants.  In selecting artists, we look for artists and crafters that are creating quality, unusual work of a type that we don't often see in more traditional craft fairs.

Artists come from both Bloomington and around the Midwest to participate, and we are always looking for new artists to apply!  On the "makers" page  is a list of links to artists who have participated in the past, and browsing these can give you a good idea of the types of arts and crafts we seek.

As of 2022, BHM holds two shows per year: Our Summer Fair happens in June on Kirkwood Avenue, right downtown in Bloomington, IN.  Our Holiday Fair is the second Saturday/Sunday of November at the Monroe Convention Center. Admission to the show is always free and open to the public.  The first BHM, in November of 2009 was held at the John Waldron Center for the Arts.  With an unexpectedly high turnout of just over 1000 people, we knew the next one would have to be in a larger venue, so the Spring 2010 Market was held at KRC Banquets and Catering. Our third event was held at the Bloomington Convention Center, with over 1,600 patrons and 46 artists and crafters. With nearly 20 events under our belt, we've continually had 4,000+ people visit our events, spending an estimated $60,000 among our many booths! Future BHM events will continue to be held at the Convention Center (for the fall) and downtown for Summer.

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Bloomington Handmade Holiday is from 10a-4p on November 11th and 12th, 2023, at the Monroe Convention Center. 

 
​The event is free to attend.