Keira Anderson Photos.
The Leaf Keepers’ Johann Hember stood beneath a tent on Central Avenue, surrounded by an array of plants. Each leaf perked up, green and alive, in the sunlight. Each seemed ready, too, for a new home. Around Hember, the street began to fill as a trickle of attendees turned to a steady flow.
That was the scene on a recent Saturday, at the latest iteration of the Westville Arts Market (W.A.M), an initiative of Westville artists Kate Stephen and Dooley O Jackson that has been steadily evolving for the past four years. With around a dozen vendors and a warm, sun-soaked afternoon, the market centered the power of creative community, one artistic output at a time.
The next market is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Weather permitting, it will take place on the Central Avenue Patio, which has become the de facto spot for the creative pop-up. Check W.A.M.’s Instagram for weather updates.
“We really made it because we want the community to be able to find artists who don’t have storefronts,” said Stephen, a jeweler who works out of a studio at the West River Arts building on Whalley Avenue. She praised the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, or WVRA, for its support. “So they can come, they can pop up, and they can support local art.”
As an artist and small business owner, Stephen knows that kind of need firsthand. Saturday, she alternated between checking in on vendors and selling her own jewelry and curated vintage clothing, two things that she’s passionate about. She praised the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, or WVRA, for its support of the market, nodding to it as one of the things that makes Westville the fun and artsy neighborhood that it is.
On the other side of the patio, vendor Arthur Lam was participating in the market for the first time. Lam, who recently moved to New Haven, works as an architect during the day. But when he’s not doing that, he does his own design work. Saturday, he was selling an array of tiny, sculpted cartoon-like shapes through his small arts business Motli, which features tiny animated charms that can fit on a keychain.
Last year, he discovered W.A.M. while visiting the Edgewood Park Farmers Market. Seeing other vendors there inspired him to do so with his own work.
“I had gone to art markets in the past before and had wanted to do it,” he said.
Right in the middle of the action was author and visual artist Megan Shaughnessy, displaying several artworks of hers. Based in Hamden, Shaughnessy originally started her artistic career in photography. But during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, she found herself doodling more. The result was her first book, Orla & Otis: Lost & Found. The story follows a young girl and her cat as they discover the power of creativity and imagination.
“The moral of the story is basically your imagination is never lost,” she said (she is currently working on two novels, including a middle-grade work of fiction titled The Departed). “It’s always with you, and there are lots of things that you can do to nurture your imagination.”
After switching from photography to children’s books, she started to think about how to put herself—and her artwork—in the open more often. After hearing about W.A.M. for a while, she signed up as a vendor. She credited Stephen, a colleague and a friend, for her support.
“It’s been a learning experience,” she said. “In the beginning, I only had a few things and then I kind of grew and figured out how to create my table and do different things.”
Attendee Stephany, who declined to give their last name, said they were glad to check out the event. Stephany recently moved to New Haven and saw a post about the market on Instagram. Saturday, she gravitated toward booths that offered scented products.
“It’s something I’m interested in,” she said. “Something I’m definitely trying to explore more in terms of like, what’s the feel of the city.”
This article comes from the 2025 cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). YAJI is a program in which New Haven, Hamden and West Haven Public Schools high school students pitch, write, edit and publish articles through the Arts Paper. This year, YAJI advisors include Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman and reporter and YAJI alum Abiba Biao. Keira Anderson is a rising senior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, where she studies creative writing.