Blog

Just came back from Magic City Arts Festival in Birmingham Ala. I don't think I have ever been this tired in my life and I am heading out on Wednesday to do my next show. Don't worry, I'll rally! But for right now I am nursing my wounds, physical, mental and monitory and trying to put it all in perspective. I applied to this show because I heard good things and also that it was great for contemporary 2D art which is my medium. Being that it is only about four hours from where I live I thought it was a no-brainer. It's not listed on Zapp or JAS but has a stellar reputation in the South and is the premier spring art show in Alabama, with Kentuck being the fall contingent. 

I never go to a show without requesting in bold letters that I need a shaded booth. I am an encaustic artist and although the work is made to be stable, direct sun is not it's friend. When I got there my booth was in full sun. I went to ask about it and they pleasantly helped me find another booth, unfortunately that was in direct sun too and wrecked havoc on my work. Linn Park is in the center of Birmingham and is a beautiful park with abundant full sized trees but somehow I was in the corner of the park, in a bad spot for traffic and for direct sun from 12 o'clock on. It was my own fault, I should have been more vigilant about the path of the sun, but I wasn't given a whole ton of options or time to decide, and the places available was sunless until an hour after set up. Also, because it was in a park we all had to dolly in and set up. which was pretty hard since it was all hills and roots and a winding path throughout the part. The set up was generous in space for artists, with lots of room on either side and in back. But there seemed to be a lot of booths designated with no-shows and lots of space between booths. While this enabled the artist's to spread out, it made it possible for people coming to the fair to miss whole sections. It was good for some but no so for many others. So Friday came with, as only one who lives in the south knows, heat flattening sunshine which would have been great any other time, but well.... By the time one o'clock came I was taking down everything in the front of my booth so it wouldn't melt. I am religious about doing encaustic the correct way- fusing every layer to make it stable but when in full sun all it takes is grabbing an edge or one kid with penchant for poking it and it has to be taken home and fixed. So, needless to say it was a dismal day and by 6pm I was ready to pack it up and head back home. 

I talked to the directors, they were incredibly nice and helpful, they told me they would help me move my booth that night to another spot. After a wonderful dinner and Art Bash for the artist's and generous awards. I went back to my booth to try to take down my work and get ready to haul it to another location. Mind you I have a Craft-hut and Pro-panels, plus work so it was not going to be a picnic any way I sliced it...and by the way did I mention I am sixty-three, and although I do body pump class three times a week- setting up two times in two days is exhausting. I had good help, Ashley and Aaron had a cart and we shlepped it up to a good place under a large tree and I came back at 7am Saturday morning to hang it all over again.

But as I found out - I was still not in a good traffic flow and Saturday wasn't much better than Friday. I sold lots of small pieces but only one medium size and the total weekend take was less than 500. Sunday came with an overcast sky and a 50% chance of rain. By 12pm the rains came and the crowd's disappeared. Because the food trucks and entertainment equipment had to be packed up first, the fair directors said we couldn't pull our cars up to load out until after 5pm. it was dark, gloomy and incredibly muddy. By three o'clock I decided to pack up and dolly my stuff to my car two blocks away. I was lucky enough to find a nice man who helped me with my tent and Pro-panel's and even though it was a lot of work and I was a muddy mess by the time I left, I was out of there by 4pm and thankfully on my way back home. 

Monetarily, the show was not good for me. But the layout was what really seemed to be the biggest problem and except for people with ribbon's on their booths, I think the rest of us just eked by. I know of a few people that did well, but I didn't see a lot of big-ticket items being carried out and there were a lot of large paintings there. I saw some pottery and small bags and a ton of metal lawn art (those guys make a killing-) but that does not a "good return" make. This show is in a beautiful location. If they could figure out how to make it more accessible it might just be great. There were meals and breakfast and nice people running it. But when you are making a living doing this you have to take in all the considerations. Would I do it again? Probably not. But if I saw a better layout that was real ( not the one that was sent to us online which in a strait geometric pattern that wasn't adhered to at all) possibly.