Show for "Vendors"

Comment by Nancy Grimsley on August 5, 2011 at 2:14pm

Oh Wyandotte....I can remember 20 years ago when that was quite a show.  Artists who did not get in would wait on Wednesday morning in the hopes of a cancellation spot.  There would literally be TONS of people waiting hours for a spot.  They would have picnic tables, many of them, and there would not be a seat left, all filled with artists hoping to be in the show.....

Wednesday was packed from the moment it opened and many of the patrons were employees or their husbands were employees in the car industry.  At that time it was run by Leslie who did an outstanding job and it ran like clockwork. Friday night wealthy patrons would peruse the booths and you could sell big ticket items for sure.

Now flash forward to today.....Leslie took early retirement, the car industry went kapook and people moved from that area, and now the only way the show fills is  with buy sell.  Its a shame....ahhh remember when!

Comment

Comment by Larry Berman on August 5, 2011 at 5:30pm

I also remember what that Show used to be like 20 years ago. We used to look forward to doing it on the way to Ann Arboor.

Larry Berman

Comment by steve appel on August 8, 2011 at 9:26am

i do not want  to change the subject but it seems that  a lot of shows around the country are going that way.  Jury by ck.

Comment by T'Louise Willis on August 8, 2011 at 4:33pm

Ok....maybe I'm the exception...but I had an awesome Wyandotte. I missed it last year and started sending out email blast to my customers and it actually turned out to be a really great show. I do admit there was definitely buy and sell...however, I have seen that at almost every show for years. This show was cleaned up better than when I did it in 2009. I actually collect business cards from so-called draftees to give to the promoters so they are aware. The sad thing is many of these draftees send totally different slides and photos of their work in when they apply. Kind of like the wooden flower artists that painfully sits there and shaves a piece of wood off of a huge tree branch then dyes the wood...then carefully puts it together to form a beautiful bouquet...same flowers I found at market in Houston years ago. I could order the same flowers without the made in China sign on them and they would come to my store with our store logo on them. Now I have seen many artist sitting in their booth at shows 'acting' as though they hand make each one. And....don't even get me started on the spoon & fork jewelry. I think promoters should make a trip to Houston,Texas and see the miles of buy and sell that you can purchase. Because sadly enough...I have even witnessed artists win awards for their so-called art. But, I have the option to sit on many juries and trust me the photos can be very persuasive. Im one of those artist that don't mind pointing out the buy and sell... My family depends on our art as a full time income.

Comment by Karen Dwyer on August 8, 2011 at 7:28pm

Out of 275 "vendors" 150 must have been jewelry, some handcrafted, several fork and spoon and the rest buy-sell....so sad. The retailers had their merchandise out in tents mixed in w/ artists with huge "sale" signs. Crowds, yes crowds of people walking...where were they going? They were not looking into the booths, but they were going somewhere! They had a mixture of several FINE artists to people selling flip flops...What is an artist to do! Can't say I would recommend it at all for anyone that is handcrafted.

Comment by Caroline Kwas on August 8, 2011 at 9:28pm

Wow, guess I didn't miss much.  I declined the Wyandotte show ,and wondered if I'd made the right call after having my own little vortex of apathy over in Hyannis the same weekend.  Guess it didn't matter much either way, but at least I had some really good fish n chips on the water in Cape Cod.

Comment by Warren Townsend on August 9, 2011 at 11:01am

T'Louise, glad that you did well there.  Like I said I made a nice profit too.  It seems that there are some very good folks there that still like art, but the majority buy manufactured junk.  When you politely point out that they just bought something that they could of bought at Walmart they have no idea.  Their impression is that since it is an art fair it must be art made by an artist.

As far as the juring, for instance the guy next to me does not even apply for the shows.  His boss does all of the applications for him and the other couple of folks, provides the whole set up for them too.  So if the folks running the show would just check IDs compared to the applications about half of the vendors would be gone.  No more of the manufactured metal from Kentucky, no more of the stone ducks, no more of the fake spoon and fork jewelry, no more of the T-shirt booths, etc, etc.

 

One thing that kind of pissed me off a little bit is the bar across from me had some China wine bottle sculptures, really really ugly things in a display on the street.  I asked the manager at the bar what gives, his reply "Patrons at this art fair buy the worst junk."  I told him that if you get rid of the junk maybe the artist that the fair is suppose to be about would be able to support themselves better.  His reply "f... the artist I need to make money too".

Comment by Karen Dwyer on August 9, 2011 at 12:00pm

That would pretty much sum it up now, doesn't it...

Comment