In 2023, Ashley Shaw Adams and Ollie DiPietro started a small makers market for queer creators in the Madison area. Over the last two years, the market has grown exponentially, now running four times annually. In June, they held The Big Gay PRIDE Market, a three-day event at the Alliant Energy Center, which featured hundreds of vendors as well as performers, events, games, a speed dating activity, and an 18+ Night Market. 

Ahead of the event, I sat down with the two creators, who answered my questions about the market and what they hope to bring to the LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities.

Can you tell me how the market started?

Ashley: The vision was “a little market called The Big Gay Market.” We wanted to focus on our queer and marginalized communities.

Why does that feel important to you?

Ollie: Something that I really like is that we have gender-neutral bathrooms and signage asking people not to gender people. As a trans person, you can tell when spaces weren’t created for trans people or by queer people.

Ashley: A big part of the idea was offering a queer community space that did not center late nights at a bar, or a space where people are consuming alcohol or partying. You can come as you are, and shop with vendors who you can identify with.

Ollie: I would hope that people who come to our market will buy from the vendors, but even the act of going is participating in something that represents a higher standard of how we treat each other.

Ashley: Plus, a lot of other spaces just aren’t accessible, so specifically having venues that are accessible is important to us.

What’s the role that creative spaces play for marginalized communities?

Ollie:  Within many marginalized communities there are a lot of people that can’t have normal day jobs because of whatever reason, myself included. So, being self-employed, or having an artistic job that allows you to sustain yourself is important.

Ashley: Art has historically been a form of expression and protest, and that continues to this day. When you have a market, you’re hosting an artist to help them make money, but also so they can project the things that they make, what makes them unique, their hopes and dreams, and who they are to the world.

Participating in a market called The Big Gay Market is, in itself, a form of speaking up. Providing a space to enable artists, crafters, and makers to earn an income and to stand their ground has been an unexpected joy.

In addition to Ashley and Ollie, I had the chance to speak to a few vendors, who each spoke about the importance of creating and selling art in their lives, and about the community they have found at The Big Gay Market.

Phoenix Ybarra, Owner of Phoenakitty

I do Indigenous beadwork. For me, it’s a way to stay close to my culture. I actually also teach others how to do it as well. For some, that’s the only way they can stay connected, especially if they have community attachments but don’t necessarily qualify for blood quantum.

This is actually my first time vending at The Big Gay Market. I don’t usually do many markets, mostly because I don’t like to make beading a job for myself. I like to keep it a passion and a hobby. But I like to do markets sometimes because I like teaching people. Beadwork can be hard because you always worry about appropriation, but it’s important for people to know that it’s great to have appreciation for other cultures and support their businesses, as long as they’re not wearing ceremonial regalia or something like that. 

I like going into these spaces to have that communication and show that native people are here, and that we’re not a monolith. I show my different beadworks from different nations, and then my own stuff that is my own style as well. With The Big Gay Market, I can go in knowing there’s going to be acceptance regardless. I don’t have to muffle my words, and can be proud of who I am as an asexual, biromantic, Mexican, and Native American person.

Heather Tubwon, Owner of Frau Meow

I started vending about five years ago. I was looking for more opportunities to make personal art rather than the commercial art I was making for my corporate day job. My background is in illustration and design, and I find that most of my work, which focuses on cats, really draws in a lot of children as my audience. 

For me, cats are the one constant. When everything else in the world is horrible, cats are still amazing. They’re a big source of my comfort, and I love sharing that comfort with my customers. I illustrate and design everything that I make, and then I apply those to a variety of different products. I have plushes, notebooks, stickers, bags, scrunchies, and other things. I am also starting to focus now on making craft kits so others can create things on their own. 

I moved to Madison from Minneapolis for work, but before I started vending, I never really felt like I had found my community in either place. I’m half Black and half Ashkenazi Jewish, so it has always been hard for me to find people to relate to and be in community with, but the Big Gay Market feels like a kind of home.

Yessica Jimenez, Owner of Xeroine Illustration

I’m an illustrator who makes work to be published. In about 2014, I decided to start making my own art available. I make shirts, stickers, totes, and art prints. I’m a painter that practices with watercolor, acrylic marker, and colored pencil, but I also work digitally. 

When I was in art school, it was seen as selling out and not being a real artist if you made prints and sold small pieces of art, but I love the idea of making art accessible.

My family is Mexican, and I say I’m Chicana because I grew up here, but I didn’t really start learning about artists from my own culture until after college, where my classes were focused on Eurocentric art. So, as an illustrator, I had always assumed that I had to create work with a specific, usually white, audience in mind. Then when I got older, I decided I wanted to represent my own community and draw people who look like me. Not only was I drawing Black and brown women, but I was specifically drawing fat women, too. And then, after I came out in my 20s, I started to make gay art, too. 

I appreciate that The Big Gay Market focuses on people who are making things rather than reselling things they buy online. I can’t just accept whatever Target has for Hispanic Heritage merch, or whatever they have for Pride Month. I want to make my own stuff. If I’m making it, it’s coming from within me.

Ben & Sadie Williams, Co-owners of Dr. Lollipop MD  

Ben: I have been making art since I was young, but it wasn’t until I met Sadie that I gained the confidence to put it out into the world more. My lovely wife is encouraging me to show my things to the public, and that’s how we started doing markets. I’m an illustrator, and most of what we sell are original art prints and comic books. I do a lot of the illustrations, and Sadie does a lot of the preparations, some illustrations, and a lot of the writing.

Sadie: There are two types of stories that we really like. A lot of the ones I work on are very introspective, things that focus on physical feelings that I’m working through in my personal life. I also love folklore and fairy tales.

Ben: The comics I focus on are much more Frank Miller-esque in the sense that they’re very violent and a little more of a reflection of modern-day horrors like poverty or authority.

Sadie: I run the business, which is super-fun. Even if we don’t make any money, the markets are great because of the connections. It’s a very different experience creating art while you’re holed up in your house or studio, but when you actually get to share it, you get a bit more appreciation for what you’re doing. I hear artists talk about being nitpicky about their art, which makes sense because they’re seeing the backside of it with all the strings and all the eraser marks. But to someone else, that can be beautiful. Seeing your work through their eyes can help you gain so much more appreciation, and I really wanted that experience for Ben. 

Ben: Here’s another interesting thing: I don’t think I’ve ever been to a market that, despite not having any ounce of horror media involved, so naturally picks up an audience that is inclined to appreciate horror. In most venues, especially if it’s catered more toward the general public, there are a lot of people who don’t understand it, or who kind of gawk at that sort of artwork. Yet, when I come to The Big Gay Market, a lot of people immediately understand it and get what’s going on, partly because a lot of those stories involve being outed or being isolated, which is something a lot of people at the market can relate to. But there’s also just a general open and accepting air at the event. People are willing to try new things and engage with different kinds of art than what they’re used to, which is really nice.