6th Annual Blues Festival & Art Show, Keystone, CO Aug. 21-22, 2010 1-7pm both days

Comment by geri a. wegner on August 20, 2010 at 9:47am

You sound like you are having a wonderful time. You also sound so relaxed, this must be a fun show for you to do. I hope it is even better than you make it sound and you have a successful weekend.

Comment by Robert Leuallen on August 20, 2010 at 11:04pm

Thanks for the good wishes Geri. This is a more unusual show as to having some time for relaxation, arriving day before, setup starting at 3pm. Sort of a mini-vacation of sorts.

Comment by Robert Leuallen on August 20, 2010 at 11:31pm

9pm, back in our room, finished first phase of setup. Was able to back our trailer up to our booth location at 3pm, was perking along well when the show organizer came by and said we'd need to move our rig out at 5pm, new info not in the info packet that we hadn't planned on, so had to dump rest of load and move rig, then leave bins, carts, etc. that usually go back into the trailer. We can finish up 7-9am tomorrow so it will work out, but guess one has to always be ready for surprises.

Comment by Robert Leuallen on August 22, 2010 at 12:34am

9pm, Keystone. First day of show, was "ok" which means we made expenses plus a little (think we are working for about 25 cents an hour now), along with a strong potential on our $4400 big wall piece, which if comes through, will certainly make this show.

We had to arrive early to meet the 9am deadline for vehicles out in order to clear our bins and carts (I keep telling my artist wife she needs to pick an art medium less logistics intensive than decorative ceramic raku). Since we were there and all set up, decided to ride out the morning with hopes of early customers. Not. Folks didn't really show up til Noonish, music started 1pm. Slow start, picked up mid afternoon, then tapered off late afternoon as music and liquor kicked in, including higher music volume. Plus we were caught between the big amps of the Blues folks and a loud guy playing for a small bar next to us. Schizophrenic brain brambling, like really bad stereo, hard to talk with customers. But late we did pick up a $150 sale to be shipped to Tennessee.

Booth location: At first glance, thought we had a great spot, but our "side-street" of 5 artists off on a lane from the "main street" proved to, by my estimates, provide about 1/3 or so of the traffic flow who came up our way from "main street." Theoretically, the folks who came our way are maybe more interested? 3 of the five artist neighbors I talked with reported same results as ours. Didn't get to talk to other artist who had "main street" locations, heard 2nd hand that one did poorly, but hard to tell if from type of art or location.

We all enter into our art shows with bubbling optimism, then as the battle begins and life in the trenches becomes reality, eyes open and we quickly assess our potential for survival.

From my 13 years as founder and director of one of the first 24 hour crisis intervention centers in the U.S. (we were about number 4 or 5, during the early 70's of sex, drugs and rock and roll, Traverse City, MI), I'm a big believer of positive thinking and that "we are what we think."

So despite what I observe and experience as to apparent negatives for sales, I remain positive, look for opportunities and couch our art show experience beyond the sales/money realm into other benefits of connecting with other artists and people, the art show experience.

I look forward to our final day tomorrow with a call from the potential $4400 sale, additional sales, a smooth tear down and cruising home feeling like this show worked ok, but now more knowledgeable about if we'll do it again.


Overall attendance seemed pretty good, would have liked to get a better shot at all the bodies that were there, but such is the crap shoot on booth location.

Comment by Robert Leuallen on August 23, 2010 at 2:34am

11:00 pm, The show is over. The big headline, "How was the show?" for us and a number of other artist was "made expenses plus a little," which translate to "not a real good show." Weather was great, just didn't have the bodies, and of the bodies that were there, not a lot of buying.

For us, the $4400 big piece nibble didn't materialize, but may still. Got a very strong, line jerking nibble on our $1250 piece that may still come about. Otherwise, actual buying of the day was minimal, as it was for others. Just wasn't the kind of folks we've experienced in the past. One missing item from pre-recession, in the past at Keystone there were numerous company folks having retreats, seminars, etc. They've apparently cut back from business/pleasure doings.

My concern about being on a side street from the main traffic flow didn't seem to make a difference as those in the main traffic flow apparently didn't do any better. Most artists are so philosophical, "well, always a down show or so in the circuit." Our next door neighbor called them "stinkers."

For us, doing a variety of area Colorado Rocky Mountain regional shows, we had some repeat customers who have been looking for us, one lady in particular who bought 2 pieces for $180. We promote our show schedule on our web site, but the challenge to stay in touch with past customers gets overwhelming at times.

Tear down went relatively well, we could start at 6pm, but couldn't bring in rigs until the music quit at 7pm. Worked out ok, for us, we have our system on wheels so I was able to bring in our bins and such from the parking lot, which was fortunately downhill, so we were able to finish in 3 1/2 hrs, which is not bad bad for us, we are usually one of the last. Price paid for our art medium and creating a more extensive mini-gallery presentation.

Which part of comes from using a taller Trimline tent system, besides more weather resistant, gives us much more uncluttered height, better lighting from translucent top. Can't count the times customers have gushed about our booth presentation. We believe helps greatly with sales.

Will we do this show again? Seems all art shows now are in the context of the "economy." One of our goals in our coming 25 show free day window is to map out our 2011 show schedule. One benefit of this show was talking with other artists, shows they've been doing, planning to do. Got some great leads. We'll keep this one in the hopper for consideration depending on what happens nationally in the coming months. Generally, Colorado Rocky Mountain art shows are pretty good prospects.

I was wondering why in the past there were about 60 artists, only 25 this time, one reason is that the show organizer keeps losing spaces to the fire dept. who wants to keep access open, so many spaces that used to house art tents were empty so they can rush in with the big equipment in case of ? These new space rules may lead to a questionable future of this show. Comments were heard "is this all there is?"

One thought I just had was that I may print up a business sized card to give to artists who stop in to chat about shows, noting to become a member of Artfairinsiders.com. Most artists now are internet connected, and while right now this web site seems predominately "Eastern," there is a very viable art market in these here Colorado hills. Well, big, like really huge, mountains actually.

Amazing how many folks come here from all over the country, have 2nd homes, condos, friends with condos, etc.

Our next show, 25 days away is the Colorado Mountain Wine Festival, Colorado's biggest wine festival, which is a pretty narrow art market show, one of our most enjoyable and profitable one day shows we've done for about 8 years, so I'll likely be "off the air" for a while as this show won't be applicable to most artists.

But, there are other topics I may end up writing about, love the energy and interaction with this site.

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