Allen Hampton's Blue Light Studio
Market is a place to try new things for vendors and patrons.
This is the ninth article in a Vendor Profile Series intended to share the history and diversity of the Market through the stories of our vendors, as we celebrate our 25th Season. This article is written by journalist Barry Courter.
As an artist, Allen Hampton likes to experiment and push himself to create something new, and the Chattanooga Market provides him the perfect test audience, as well as a steady income.
He says it's been a great place to test new ideas.
Right now, “I’m experimenting with painting and have started bringing some pieces to the market to gauge reactions," Hampton said. "It’s an incredible way to get feedback from the general public.”
Over the years, Allen, owner of Blue Light Studio, has worked in clay, metal and now paint, but his professional career didn't start out in the arts.
After getting a degree in architecture from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1980, Hampton took a year to travel Europe. After getting work in his chosen field, he quickly learned a desk job wasn't for him.
He found a local pottery guild that allowed people to rent space and equipment, and he was soon spending his nights and weekends there.
“I was hooked,” Allen says.
When work slowed at the architecture firm, he was laid off and decided to dedicate himself into working in clay full time.
“I spent the first two years working out of my grandfather’s house and garage. When he passed away, I bought a small piece of land by a mountain stream on the edge of the Cherokee National Forest and built a home and studio from scratch. My wife, her daughter, and I lived there for 25 years. I was focused on clay for most of that time, but in 1998 I took a welding class at a vocational school and started exploring metalwork.”
After the housing market crashed in 2008, the family sold their home in the wilderness and moved to Chattanooga.
Over the years, Allen said, he has gained experience in many ways about making a living as an artist. He's been a pottery teacher, operated his own gallery, sold via consignment at galleries and traveled up and down the East Coast selling at street shows.
These days, he much prefers being close to home and under the protective roof of the First Horizon Pavilion, and he likes knowing the market will be there every week.
“I sell at the market on select Sundays and consign at a couple of local places. I don’t miss the road," he says. "Honestly, I can make just as much in one day 15 minutes from my house.”
Allen says he appreciates the dedication of the Chattanooga Market team and the work they do keeping things fresh.
“My own work has evolved right alongside the market. In 2014, I made a few metal 'Chattanooga' signs. One was sold to a staff member, who encouraged me to make more. Eventually, my booth became exclusively about those signs. They were outselling everything else. I’ve refined them over time with customer feedback, and now they’re what I’m known for.”
Hampton is also known for the trophies he's made for events like the Lodge Cast Iron Cook-Off and to honor vendors for reaching milestones such as topping $1 million in sales at the market.
“It's nice to contribute in that way too,” he says.
