‘Fresh Art’ and Design Coming To The Saint John City Market
SAINT JOHN– A Saint John graphic designer and artist is the newest face in the historic Saint John City Market.
Kevin Goggan, who recently retired as a designer with Horizon Health, has set up shop in the market to sell both his artwork and work on his other design projects. He’s the second new vendor to move into a stall in the market over the last few months, with Uptown Donuts opening in September.
“The art I do [is] basically stuff around Saint John or in the area,” he says.
“I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I went through back in the old days where you had to draw everything. Then computers came along and I adapted to that. About four years ago I decided to go back to drawing a little bit.”
Goggan started posting his creations on his Facebook page “Kevin Goggan Fresh Art.”
“I threw one on Facebook for sale for auction. It auctioned off and, ‘Oh, I should just do this again,’ ” he says. “I just kept on doing it and before I knew it, I sold 400-500 pieces through Facebook. I realized it was time to do more of this full-time.”
Last year, he decided to create a monthly calendar using his art. It turned out to be a huge hit, which made him realize that he could perhaps turn his passion into a business.
“When I sold a ton of calendars I said, ‘well gee, this is a product,’ and I realized it was a product that could basically pay for the [Market] location,” says Goggan. “I was like ‘okay, that’s one piece of business.’ “
His market stall will feature a gallery, where he plans to showcase not only his work but the works of others too. He also plans to sell different kinds of retail products featuring his art, such as his calendars. He will also use it as his “office” to do his design work for an already established base of design clients, as well as paint.
“It’s really three businesses,” he says.
The idea to operate a design business out of a market was something he originally saw years ago in a design magazine.
“A design business had actually set up in a market in the United States. I always kept that in the back of my mind. It was interesting because I’m not really big on ivory towers,” says Goggan.
“I like the idea that you’re talking to people every day and you get a good sense of design in general. What people are doing and thinking and what’s really going on.”
Goggan is currently working and selling calendars out of the location. He plans to finish work on the gallery within the month.