Makers Market Co-Founder Makes a New Space
Kala Rehberger aims to make emotional connections through her work
Like handmade art from local artists? Interested in animal teeth and bones as earrings? Then Kala Rehberger is the artist to check out. If you’ve purchased some of Rehberger’s jewelry from Tangled Up In Hue, Truckers Union, or Black Kettle Tea & Bootique, you may want to peruse her ceramics and other artwork, now available at her new studio in Artisan Forge.
“When (people) go into my studio, I want them to just feel their emotions. A lot of my work has to do with my personal emotions and life,” said Rehberger. “I want them to kind of feel disturbed but feel safe at the same time.”
One of the founders of Eau Claire Makers Market, Rehberger is expanding her artwork business to a major epicenter of everything art in Eau Claire. Her studios hours are 10am-1pm every day. Along with having her studio as a workspace is a spot to sell her own jewelry, ceramics, and collages, Rehberger plans to feature young and news artists’ work in her studio, giving them the chance to grow their own business.
Rehberger has also partnered with Artisan Forge to manage the newly created Artisan Forge Market. Similar to the Eau Claire Makers Market, vendors from the area will have the opportunity to showcase and sell their own artwork to customers.
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When (people) go into my studio, I want them to just feel their emotions. A lot of my work has to do with my personal emotions and life. I want them to kind of feel disturbed but feel safe at the same time.
KALA REHBERGER
EAU CLAIRE ARTIST
“One thing is just getting a bigger, wider, and (more) diverse crowd to Artisan Forge. There is that stereotypical 50 and above people that walk in,” Rehberger said. “So with these markets, I want to try to pull the vendors from the Eau Claire Makers Market to try to get them into Artisan Forge, just to broaden the crowd a little bit over there.”
The first Artisan Forge Market is planned for Saturday, April 29, from 10am-4pm, and markets after that will be held on the last Saturday of every month. The open gallery of Artisan Forge will be filled with all manner of local artists, along with live music and the chance to visit or shop in the permanent artists’ studios at Artisan Forge.
“(It’s) to create a more inclusive art space, especially for BIPOC individuals and LGBTQ+, any marginalized groups that aren’t really seen as the focus in art,” Rehberger said. “There are stories that are being told but it’s not words.”
To view Rehberger’s art, visit @the_oddhouse on Instagram. Learn more about Eau Claire Makers Market at ecmakersmarket.com.
