From seasoned creatives to the newest of beginners, Tucson jewelry artist Cyn McManus wants to give everyone a chance to show off their artwork — and that's exactly what she's doing.
In December 2021, she was joined by a handful of fellow makers set up around the pool at The Tuxon Hotel for the first market she ever organized. McManus handcrafts jewelry under the name Lilith + Daughters.
Dime Rags, pictured here at a previous Tuxon market, creates custom clothing with recycled fabrics.
"I was worried nobody was going to come, I felt like maybe I just threw this together," she says. "It ended up being really awesome. Everybody sold stuff that day. I sold stuff that day. After the market ended, I broke down and cried and said, 'Oh my God, no one hates me. This actually works.' People kept asking me when I was going to do the next one."
And so began a quarterly tradition called Makers Market at The Tuxon.
"It's about community. It's about people being able to have the opportunity to do something they might not be able to do in another space," she says. "I want everybody to get their chance in the sun to do what they really want to do."
A response to better the community
McManus made the move to Tucson from St. Louis in 2011 — a move she didn't want to make.
At the time, she was in her early 20s and living with her mom in Missouri. She was feeling stuck. Her mom had a condo in Tucson and pushed her to make the move to Arizona. McManus said no — over and over again.
"She tried everything she could to get me to move out here — and then she bought me a plane ticket," McManus says. "She told me to give it three months and then I could come back."
McManus gave it 90 days — and she hated our desert city. When the three months were up, her mom broke the bad news: McManus had to stay in Tucson.
But Tucson grew on her.
"I think I was disconnected from everything my life used to be and I had to grow up and start over and it was really refreshing to do that on my own," she says.
Cyn McManus is the mastermind behind jewelry brand Lilith + Daughters and the quarterly Makers Market at the Tuxon.
McManus has always dabbled in art, especially jewelry-making. She jokingly writes in her bios: "Cyn has a degree in fine art but doesn’t make fine art."
In early 2020 when the pandemic struck, she found herself becoming a helicopter parent as she was home with her kids. To give herself something to do, she pulled out her jewelry.
"I had made some stuff for friends and they thought it was cool," she says. "My husband was like, 'You make cool stuff, maybe you should sell it.' But I was like, 'We're in the middle of the pandemic. People don't need f—king necklaces and earrings.'"
But by the summer of that year, she launched a website for Lilith + Daughters and got 13 sales.
"It was all friends and family, but it was really cool," she says. "It was fun for me to do. It wasn't about me thinking I want everybody to wear my jewelry."
When the world started to recover, outdoor artisan markets made their comeback. McManus started vending at markets — and as a response to being fired from her job at the time, she began organizing markets of her own.
Darby Hunter Art, pictured here at a previous Tuxon market, is known for funky stickers and other crafts like painted frogs.
"The Tuxon market kinda sprung from my last job," she says. "I was working at a place that said they were for artists, but the place wasn't serving artists. I was like, how hard is it to throw a pop-up market? And I sat down and said, what are all the things you need? You need to advertise it, music is an absolute must, food and beverage are great. I just wanted things to be different."
"I was like, I'm going to do everything I can to be the exact opposite (of my last job) and it's been one of the best things I've ever done," she says.
Since the inaugural event, the makers market has tripled its number of vendors. McManus has hosted eight markets so far, with the next being held noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in the outdoor space just west of The Tuxon, 960 S. Freeway. You'll find everything from jewelry to baked goods to apparel to paper goods.
"It's the perfect little spot for what I wanted to do," she says. "And the hotel — they're so nice. They're always asking, 'What do you need from us?' It's really nice to be able to have an event at a place where people aren't just looking to make money."
Points Jewelry showcases minimal handmade jewelry at a previous Tuxon market.
At McManus' last market, 75% of the vendors had never done a market before. One of the vendors at an earlier market was only 16 years old. It's important for McManus to include artists that may be new to the creative scene or might not participate in as many markets.
"At some point, you think you've met everybody. But there's so many that don't even come out to markets and they make some of the coolest s—t," she says.
And just so we're clear, gatekeeping isn't something McManus is interested in — she wants to share her knowledge with everyone. "I don't understand why anybody would want to keep information to themselves that would help people succeed," she says.
"My favorite part about organizing the market is meeting all the different people," she says. "It's kinda self-gratifying but it's that moment when they're like, 'This is really great.' And they're really sincere about it."
"I want every part of the market to be something everyone in Tucson has touched, whether it's the graphics or the first market we had a live musician and she was like, 17. Just little things like that," she says. "I want it to be a market everyone is involved in, not just being there as vendors."
The story of Lilith + Daughters
McManus creates jewelry with stones like lapis lazuli and natural emerald. But it's more than that.
"Lilith + Daughters is a reflection of my inner self, the person or the things that kind of muddle together that are my personality," she says. "There's the etherial, romantic side of the jewelry with the crystals and sort of chandelier stuff I do, and then there's the hardcore geek because I do anime-inspired jewelry and Marvel. I have a whole plan for a 'Black Panther'-inspired line."
The business also intertwines generations of her family. Lilith is her grandmother's middle name, her mother's middle name and her youngest child's middle name.
Lilith + Daughters is a collaboration between vintage items handed down from McManus' grandmother, and ideas from her mom and children — including a gallon-sized bucket of My Little Ponies that her oldest child suggested should be made into earrings.
Cyn McManus creates all the graphics for the Tuxon markets. She hopes to work with local artists for future designs.
"This one necklace I made, it was with a bead my dad got me when I was probably 13. I never knew what to do with it so I put it on a necklace with some jade," she says. "I had almost had it for a whole year when I started doing markets and I never thought it would sell. And then this girl said, 'I want it.' And I was like 'Are you sure?' and I started crying. I was like, 'I'm so happy you like this. I never thought anyone would take it.' And she started crying, too."
Similar to her favorite part of organizing markets, connection is her favorite part of vending at markets.
"My favorite part of vending is when people are really curious about the stuff I use," she says. "I love talking about stones with people because I'm a huge nerd and I love learning."
And of course, McManus is an advocate and believer in our local creatives. She'd much rather spend $65 on a handcrafted coffee mug than get 10 commercialized mugs for $65.
Coy Creative shows off her handmade earrings at a previous Tuxon market.
"The idea of community is everybody doing things that benefit each other and when it comes to baking or making art or vintage resell of clothing, that's something that already has humanity in it," she says. "People put their all into the things they're making. Target doesn't put everything into what they're making. That money isn't necessarily staying in the community. Yes, people here work there and they go home and pay their bills, but it's not really staying here and supporting the community.
"We all need art. We all need self-expression. That's what makes us human," she says. "I think the biggest middle finger is spending money on something that somebody put their everything into."
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