Salt and Fern Bakehaus is an extension of my love for food from soil to table. Long fermented sourdough, beneficial to gut bacteria, is my mainstay. I grow many of the inclusions I use in flavored loaves, from strawberries to garlic to jalapeños in my backyard in North Mankato. I’ve had an interest in baking for almost two decades (since childhood) and spent part of my time at the U of M Twin Cities running my homemade pastries across campus to hungry engineers at 2 am. These days I am motivated by my desire to connect my neighbors and their families with food I’d be proud to serve my grandparents.

My artwork pieces are all inspired and made from things I collect from nature. Nothing inspires me more than collecting beautiful pieces of nature and transforming them into individualized pieces of art. Each creation is unique and one of a kind and when finished they emit beautiful resonances that only nature can hold.

I'm Jessica Peters and I'm the creator behind Guileless Green. I create organic, handmade personal care products with minimal and real ingredients, organic ingredients and organic essential oils (no synthetic fragrance oils). My creations are my own, from recipes to formulation specifics, and I make everything right in my kitchen laboratory. Each product that I create for you is something that I personally use in my life. I began creating my own personal care products over 20 years ago due to the ever increasing toxic ingredient lists on basic hygiene products. I realized that things can be made simply, with real ingredients and without synthetic and potentially hazardous ingredients. Our skin is the largest organ of our body, and the last thing I want to do is coat this highly absorbent organ with toxic products. All of my products are sulfate and paraben free, and many of my products (beeswax based balms being the exception) are vegan. My personal care line consists of artisan soaps/shampoo bars, various balms for different purposes (anti-inflammatory, acne fighting, and moisturization to name a few), hand and body lotion bars, aromatherapy essential oil rollers, hair and skin serums, and clean burning soy wax/essential oil candles.
The other side of my business is where I exercise my ultra creative brain zones in an adorable fashion. I create small creatures (charms for all intents and purposes) called "Little Cuties" out of polymer clay. These tiny guys are all hand sculpted individually out of different customized colors of clay, by my own two hands. I fix these little ones to keychains, bookmarks, necklace chains and earrings, so you can display your new buddy any way you want. From tiny pancakes to tiny ghosties, I'm sure I've got a little cutie that suits you perfectly.

Hi there! My name is Brenda and I am the owner and sole operator of Lemon & Lace Cakery. I began my baking journey as a child, falling in love with making Christmas Cookies, then getting my first bakery job baking bread and pastries for the local community in Northfield, this is where I learned to laminate croissants and bulk bake sourdough. When I moved to the Twin Cities I worked at a Bakery and this was my introduction to stacked cakes. I loved the process, learning new skills and techniques for icing and decorating the cakes. I have since taken those skills and shared my knowledge with friends and family through insight, and of course cakes and croissants! I’m delighted to start this new journey in Mankato and am overjoyed to share it with this lovely community!

I will start out telling you why I make the things that I do. It gives my brain an outlet for all the ideas that run around in there. I love making things with my hands, sewing, cross stitch, hardanger, painting, macrame, making jewelry, stained glass-- the list goes on. I have never meet a craft that I haven't wanted to try. Some don't work out others I continue to work on and become more skilled at using the x-tool with wood cutting and engraving. I have a couple of new items to share with you be sure and stop by and see me at Makers Market.

Christina Donley is an illustrator and printmaker from Saint Peter, MN. She received a Bachelors in Art and Interdisciplinary Design from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Her work spans a variety of subjects, often whimsical and cartoonish in nature. She enjoys creating detailed works, with lots of things to look at. It inspires her to bring others joy and excitement through her art. She sells prints of her illustrations, as well as fun stickers of her designs. She also screen prints t-shirts and illustrations.

Hello and welcome to Imaginarium Designs. I am a mild-mannered college instructor by day and a maker by night. I grew up believing that creativity was something you were born into. About 10 years ago, I started taking art classes at South Central College and found that I loved painting dots. I started with small canvases and expanded to jewelry and then any item that acrylic paint would adhere to. I scour thrift stores for boxes, canvases, letters, and anything else that might be interesting to paint. I love giving discarded items a new lease on life. I now believe that anyone can be creative. They just need to explore different mediums and give themselves time to build some decent skills. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You just have to give it a try.

Handmade jewelry of all types made from vintage silverware. I get excited about seeing how vintage material is re-purposed.

I have been doing leather craft for more than 35 years and have been making shoes and boots for more than 20 years. I started leather craft with a kit from Tandy. I took classes at Tandy and advanced my skills with instructions from masters like Tony Laire, Jim Linnell, Peter Main, and mentor Robb Barr.
After being laid off from my job of 19 years, part of my separation package was retraining for a different career. I chose to apprentice under DW Frommer I in Redmond, IR. I learned to create cowboy boots with traditional methods. Upon returning home, I attempted to get a loan to start my own shop. While being nice, they would not grant the loan to purchase the machines I needed to make boots full time. Well, shoes and boots were made long before machines ruled the industrial world. I began researching historical footwear construction. My original focus was 1770 but rapidly expanded. Currently I make footwear from Viking Age, native moccasins, Renaissance footwear, 1800s footwear, Civil War brogans to modern shoes and boots. I hand constructed footwear and started my business part-time. I saved money and purchased old, historic machines as I could afford them, or they were given to me. Along the way I learned to use the machines and, more importantly how to recondition and fix them. Currently, I have most of the machines needed to make cowboy boots.

I have been teaching leather craft and shoe making at the Mankato Makerspace since 2017. Find my classes on their website.

As an artists who is self taught I have a love of all things creative. Nature is very inspiring to me and is often part of art. Currently, I am working in resin with real flowers embedded in layers of colored resins. I like reinventing new art pieces using old elements such as old frames, glass pieces, etc. I also like to employ new techniques such as laser cutting/engraving on wood and incorporating that with the resin.
My grandfather was a master carpenter and wood continues to inspire me throughout career as well. If it hadn't for him I may never have experienced the love of making and creating.

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Hey there! I’m Becca. I enjoy making a variety of unique crocheted goods including floral bouquets, home decor, purses, pillows, keychains, stuffed animals, and much much more. I love to make things with dual purposes. For example, coasters that can look like a succulent when not in use. I taught myself to crochet in 2020 to occupy the time, but it quickly became my passion and now you’ll never find me without a crochet project nearby. It’s always so rewarding to watch an idea come to life. I hope some of my projects can bring joy to your home soon!

I have been a henna artist for 14 years. I am primarily self-taught although I have picked up certain techniques and styles from every other henna artist I’ve worked with over the years. I import henna powder directly from a farm in India and mix my paste myself using all natural ingredients. Henna is such a stunning art form in that it is a perfect reminder of the beauty of the temporary.

28 Oaks is a collaborative art studio that focuses on art that you can bring with you through life. From travel board games, decorative wear, bags and other textile items, our work is be to enjoyed and experienced as you make your way in the world. To us the greatest compliment is the wear and tear of daily life on one of our pieces,

I became hooked on wood turning after taking a weekend class with Jim Sannerud at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN, about 16 years ago. Jim introduced me to “green turning”, the process of turning bowls from wood that has not completely dried. I am inspired by the book, Celebrating Birch: The Lore, Art and Craft of an Ancient Tree (North House Folk School)

My bowls are a reflection of my philosophy and work. I love how they change shape as they dry after turning. While I strive for consistency, each bowl is unique and “moves” as it desires. My bowls and spoons are functional, natural, durable, food-safe, hand crafted, and beautiful, as the projects in Celebrating Birch demand.

Shayna Swiers is a Mankato MN artist and jeweler who has been honing her craft for over a decade. She achieved her Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) and Masters of Arts (MA) degrees from MN State University, Mankato. Shayna is the Sole proprietor of The Seventh Oak, specializing in wire weaving techniques and metaphysical crystal meanings, healing and lore. Pairing the healing energies of copper, crystals and Intention to create energetic companion jewelry that will aid and guide her clients along their life's travels.

I started making pottery about three years ago after taking a beginner pottery class at Makerspace! I enjoy the challenge of creating items that are functional and interesting to look at. I am inspired by all the makers and artists that I work around and hope that reflects in what I present! Cheers!

Stained glass is something I started in high school when my dad said, “You need a hobby.” I’ve created at least a handful of pieces each year for more than 20 years. I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s window designs — who felt stained glass windows should frame nature and were meant to be looked through. I think the best feature of glass is its color, followed by its texture. Mostly, I use the copper foil method, but periodically work with lead came.

I started painting to drowned out some of the negativity in the world, It makes me happy to paint; so my hope is that my paintings put a smile on at least one person’s face. Also I am inspired by natures beauty, so the majority of my paintings are flowers, rocks, landscape and water, etc.

I am a painter living in Mankato, MN with my husband and two cats. I graduated from MSU with a BFA and an MA degree and went on to get my Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Dakota. I now teach painting at MSU as an adjunct instructor.
I work in a lot of different media and do commissions ranging from traditional portraits to book illustration to wood burning. But my first love is painting. The work I sell at the markets are original paintings in ink. I begin with an abstract process of pouring ink with rubbing alcohol and then paint highly detailed scenes from nature into them. They are a representation of the human impact on nature. I almost always approach a sensitive topic with a little humor, so the natural imagery is often paired with a bit of trash or a human element that speaks about our impact on the environment.
I also sell prints, merchandise, cards, jewelry, and stickers!

Jasper Y. Grace is a queer artist and writer whose work explores the human condition through the lens of a whimsical and macabre world. Their main body of work comprises of fiction and illustrations that combines motifs found in the art nouveau movement with body horror, as well as explores how the natural world meets the technological, influenced by their background in computer science. In 2025, they published the first part of their ongoing serial novel “An Immortal Laid to Rest”, which follows an archivist and doctor traveling the desert in search for their freedom.

I am a professor, photographer, and dancer from St. Peter, MN. I focus my photography on landscapes and items in nature, with special attention to the odd, distinctive, or macabre. I enjoy learning photographic techniques as I go, exploring and playing with my camera, editing software, and compositional strategies to just see what happens. I sell prints and cards of various sizes, as well as the Doll Head Oracle, a collaborative project created with other local artists.

My name is Kristi and I am a houseplant enthusiast. I started collecting houseplants about 2 years ago. This passion has grown into a self taught hobby of growing, propagating, and selling houseplants. I pride myself on my starter sized houseplants. Grown with love from small tissue cultures. This includes Philodendrons, Hoyas, Monsteras, Anthuriums, and more. Secondly, I have created handmade beaded forever plants. These forever plants give me a sense of peace and beauty without the upkeep of live houseplants. Finally, my husband and I work together to make shelves used to bring life to the walls of my home.

Dustin Swiers started glass lampworking back in 2008 when he moved to Mankato for schooling. Swiers received two degrees from Minnesota State University, Mankato, a BFA and an MA, both focused on ceramics and sculpture. He created Flame in Hand Glass as the sole proprietor in 2010. Swiers has moved his studio set-up to work out of the non-profit Mankato MakerSpace, so he can be accessible to teach classes and create while volunteering his time as a Shop Lead. Dustin's work ranges from functional to decorative, blending disciplines of Lampworking, Off- Hand Glassworking and Stained glass techniques with Metalworking, Electroplating and Lapidary to create jewelry, custom blades, vessels and sculptures.

Caleb Stoner is an artist, blacksmith, jeweler, lapidarist, and all around maker. He creates a variety of works spanning an expansive range of subjects, both functional and aesthetic, employing many mediums he has learned over his years as a maker.

He likes to create unique handmade pieces using multiple materials such as various metals, wood, stone, and other periodic elements. Almost all of Caleb's work has elements of "from scratch" or self gathered materials. Caleb pays keen attention to the minute details that all together create pieces that are intricate and interesting to look at.

Hey-o it’s Kyle and you’ve entered my brain space, welcome! Here you will find the shattered shredded and dripping wet remnants of my mind attempting to realize that connection with you. I do art because it’s the first thing that gave me a semblance of meaningful release after losing my 20s to overloading my grey matter circuitry hard, and after the reboot, when nothing gave me pleasure and numb ache was all I knew, a shining pen beckoned me and took up in my hand and gushed forth upon the papers of the earth. Here are some results, enjoy!

Shelley Caldwell is a local artist who produces mixed media works on paper. Her work combines observational drawing of botanical & other subjects from nature with formal abstraction, emphasizing line, pattern, & color using a variety of processes & materials. She is an MSU, Mankato graduate with a BFA & MA in Drawing & Installation & has also taught at MNSU & Gustavus. Shelley’s work has been shown extensively throughout the region & has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Springboard for the Arts, & Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. Compelled by the surrounding landscape, she presently works from her family farm in Faribault County.

Shelley will be offering original works on paper, prints, and plants!

Since Mary Ann Schwartz was a small girl, she has been playing in the mud. Once grown, she was given the opportunity to pursue formal training at the University of WI Parkside, in Kenosha, WI; in 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) focused on ceramics and fibers. After assisting in the opening of a ceramics studio at Lemon Street Gallery, She taught ceramics at the RAM Wustum Museum of art in Racine, WI and local galleries. Working on various custom and personal works, both functional and sculptural, has been rewarding.
After relocating to Mankato, MN in 2024, Mary Ann joined the Mankato Makerspace. She enjoys the process of making vessels that can be touched, held, and interacted with; finding their way into daily rituals; so personal, primal and intimate for each of us. Each vessel is an invite to connect. The touch of the human hand forming the clay reaches out and touches another human hand utilizing the same vessel.

I’m Andie Kukacka, lifelong Minnesota rockhound, gem & mineral collector, and developing lapidary artist. I love sharing my stone and other natural material findings with my community, and find joy in bringing the beauty of semi-precious gemstones to light. I take pride in collecting many of my local materials myself from their natural sources, and take care to be transparent about how and where I source my materials from abroad. Whether sourcing stones from other miners and collectors, I hand select each stone for its uniqueness and quality. I’ve been teaching myself a variety of lapidary skills for 5+ years, and have recently expanded into bezel setting my own works. I’m personally drawn to agates and jaspers as some of my favorite stones.

My creative practice exists at the crossroads of design and authentic expression. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design from Black Hills State University and currently work as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator, bringing professional experience in visual communication to my artistic work.

I investigate how images shape meaning across digital and physical spaces. My practice spans printmaking, mixed media, gouache and acrylic painting, and collage—exploring layering, unconventional canvases, and controlled imperfection to translate complex ideas into tactile form.

Rooted in the digital yet grounded in material process, I navigate a balance between precision and intuition. Chance, texture, and hand-built marks disrupt rigid systems, allowing visual language to move beyond fixed interpretations. Whether through ink, paint, paper, or pixels, my work asks: how can images bridge distance, difference, and human connection?

I aim to cultivate a thriving artistic career alongside my professional work, embracing slow, tactile processes as a counterpoint to the speed of contemporary visual culture and creating work that resonates both intellectually and sensorially.