Craft fair season is around the corner, and the Oddity Market hosted by Crystal Casket Events offers an opportunity for those interested in less-conventional art styles to explore the weirder work of local artists and find things that couldn’t be found in regular stores and markets.
Chris King and Reed Mann of Crystal Casket Events host these markets to give exposure to artists who work with odd, macabre subject matter. They said that animal bone art, jewelry, taxidermy, and other unusual media are common at their events. The upcoming market will feature vendors such as Obsidian Revival, Medusa’s Lair Creations, Black Sheep Fleece Co., and Lil Hex Co.
Mann came across the oddity scene after discovering Relic Oddities, a Memphis-based oddities and curiosities shop. After being inspired by the work there, she looked to expand people’s awareness of oddities.
“When I became an oddities dealer, I noticed that there weren’t a whole lot at that point in Memphis, and there were a lot of people that were wanting to start creating,” Mann said.
Since they began hosting the shows, King and Mann noticed a more palpable sense of community among not only Memphis-based artists and creators, but the people who come to the markets. They believe that in the past couple of years, the public perception of oddities has shifted. Mann thinks that a lot of this has to do with the internet.
“[Oddities] became oddly trendy around 2024, and I think that has a lot to do with TikTok and the internet,” Mann said, “and I think, thankfully, all of that’s really cool and easy to access.”
Using taxidermy as an example, she went on to explain how before the shift in perception, people thought that the only people who used it as decoration in their homes were “folks that, you know, went out hunting and shooting deer and shooting ducks”.
King and Mann believe that, since 2024, more people have been seeing oddities as an unconventional, new way to look at art. Their shows consistently draw crowds, including regulars, kids and adults of all ages, and people from all sorts of different walks of life.
“We’ve just gotten really positive feedback from the whole community who’s showing up to our events,” King said. “It’s had a lot of people that you wouldn’t think would be interested in taxidermy, wet specimens, or bone art.”
Memphis Oddity & Curiosity Two Day Market, The Medicine Factory, 85 W. Virginia Ave., suite 101, August 15-16, noon-7 p.m., free.
