On Tuesday, the Campus Events Board for UT hosted Artist’s Alley. This was the second time this school year that Artists Alley took place, with the first event taking place on Sept. 13, 2022. Artist’s Alley is an event where student artists can gather and sell the items they make. It’s also a very popular event for students, with a line of fifty or so people forming before the event began in the Student Union Plaza.

At this particular event, there were over thirty vendors by estimate, and these vendors sold items from clothing to paintings to jewelry to crochet stuffed animals. In the past, some vendors have earned hundreds of dollars just from this event. The items sold at this event were not too expensive, with the price usually falling between $10 and $50.

Halle Collins was one of the vendors for this event for the third semester in a row. She is an English major in her junior year at UT. She sold crocheted stuffed animals, such as frogs and dinosaurs, and her items were selling like hotcakes.

“They’re called ‘crochet amigurumi,’ technically, and I sell mostly dinosaurs,” Collins said. “I sold most of my inventory. Artist’s Alley is a great event because we interact with people who want to buy our products. It teaches vendors a lot about how to sell and showcase our products and small businesses.”

Maddie Dople, another English major in her junior year at UT, was one of the students attending Artists Alley as a customer. She purchased both a crocheted hat from vendor Jenni Rice and a crochet amigurumi from Collins while at the event.

“It was so fun to support an artist in doing something that they love, if only to encourage them to keep going with their craft,” Dople said. “I could’ve bought something from someone that was just about to give up, and maybe my purchase brightened their spirit and motivated them again.”

Dople also praised the variety of goods that were offered at Artist’s Alley.

“It was really awesome to see the variety of art that was at the event. There were crochet pieces, clothes, jewelry, even soap. Every single artist that I met was incredibly nice, and I am very excited for next year’s event,” Dople said.

In order to spread artistic cheer among customers at the event, CEB offered free tote bags to students as well as items like pins and press-on tattoos that could be used to decorate the bag. These items, much like Collins’ crochet amigurumi, were highly anticipated by the students that attended the event.

Next year’s event will be in the fall, though there aren’t many details available yet. If you would like to become a vendor for future Artist’s Alley events, keep an eye out for flyers in the fall that will be posted around campus. This past year, Collins said that there was a QR code on the flyers where you could apply to become a vendor and CEB would get back to you within a week.

So, start creating and making items to build up your inventory, and look forward to the next Artist’s Alley to come. Who knows, your items might be the next biggest thing on UT’s campus — but you’ll never know until you get to work and join the ranks of vendors for this event.