Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals
Stepping back in time, or, Is this the Twilight Zone? The Midland Art Fair Review
This past weekend I did the Midland Art Fair. The first and only time I did the show was 25+ years ago. My good friend Tim Ricketts teaches Ceramics at the Dow Art Center and he talked me into doing the show, again. It was a good excuse to get together with Tim and his wife Leslie who have a nice place out in the country surrounding Midland. I, also, wanted to try out my theory that I could do well at a show that had little expenses. All I had to do is sell 1 decent size piece, or win the top prize, and I'm in the black.
The first thing I noticed was that the show had shrunk to only 92 booths. When I did it 25 years ago there were over 200 booths. The second thing I noticed was that most of what was sold was lacking in good taste and quality. This is not one of your better shows. I found this to be a plus, considering there was less competition for the customer looking for something nice. Thirdly, there was a lot of buy/sell booths, which normally would have me blowing a gasket. One of the other artists with decent work, a jeweler, said she counted 15 buy/sell booths. I was warned before hand that the show would be like this, and, I promised my friend Tim I would behave myself. So, I went with the flow. What wasn't revealed to me until I got there, was that it always rains at this show, including the last 8 years. This year the weather was great on Saturday and it poured all day Sunday. Apparently, most people do the show a couple of years and then give up because of the rain. This is the reason why they can't get get people to do the show and end up giving the spaces to anyone who has something to sell. The person to my left drew henna tatoos on peoples bodies. Since I think the popularity of tatoos, permanent or otherwise, is proof that America is on the downside of cultural sophistication and good taste. It was good therapy for me to not be bothered by these things. Quality wise, this was the worst show I've ever done. However, I was told there are worse shows. A friend at the show told me the Plymouth Art Fair surpasses this one. And, most people have nice tents and decent setups, so, there are plenty of events for them to do. I just never cross paths with them.
So, how did I do? I won Best of Show and once they gave out the ribbons, I started selling. All my sales on the first day were low end, under $100. The second day got rained out. Most of my sales on the second day were to other artists(there were a few), who had nothing to do but to walk around. I sold 1 nice sized piece. Unfortunately, every time I had someone interested in a serious piece, it would start pouring and people would leave. It was very uncomfortable, cold and wet. I don't think anyone else had a good show. I did ok, but, only if I added the prize money to the total.
This show suffers from bad management and promotion. The Dow Art Center is a first rate facility with art classes, concerts, and museum quality shows in its' 2 story display space. There's no reason why the art fair should be so unlike the Art Center. Some things that would be obvious to me, to make it a better show, aren't getting done. For one thing, if it rains every year on this date, move the show to another weekend. Also, use Zapplication. That would get more applicants. Thirdly, have some sort of quality control to get rid of the buy/sell. Fourth, Dow is the biggest employer in Midland. They built and underwrite what goes on at the Art Center, including the art fair. The show should do more to attract the fairly well paid employees of Dow. Even on the nice day, the crowd was casual, at best.
The first thing I noticed was that the show had shrunk to only 92 booths. When I did it 25 years ago there were over 200 booths. The second thing I noticed was that most of what was sold was lacking in good taste and quality. This is not one of your better shows. I found this to be a plus, considering there was less competition for the customer looking for something nice. Thirdly, there was a lot of buy/sell booths, which normally would have me blowing a gasket. One of the other artists with decent work, a jeweler, said she counted 15 buy/sell booths. I was warned before hand that the show would be like this, and, I promised my friend Tim I would behave myself. So, I went with the flow. What wasn't revealed to me until I got there, was that it always rains at this show, including the last 8 years. This year the weather was great on Saturday and it poured all day Sunday. Apparently, most people do the show a couple of years and then give up because of the rain. This is the reason why they can't get get people to do the show and end up giving the spaces to anyone who has something to sell. The person to my left drew henna tatoos on peoples bodies. Since I think the popularity of tatoos, permanent or otherwise, is proof that America is on the downside of cultural sophistication and good taste. It was good therapy for me to not be bothered by these things. Quality wise, this was the worst show I've ever done. However, I was told there are worse shows. A friend at the show told me the Plymouth Art Fair surpasses this one. And, most people have nice tents and decent setups, so, there are plenty of events for them to do. I just never cross paths with them.
So, how did I do? I won Best of Show and once they gave out the ribbons, I started selling. All my sales on the first day were low end, under $100. The second day got rained out. Most of my sales on the second day were to other artists(there were a few), who had nothing to do but to walk around. I sold 1 nice sized piece. Unfortunately, every time I had someone interested in a serious piece, it would start pouring and people would leave. It was very uncomfortable, cold and wet. I don't think anyone else had a good show. I did ok, but, only if I added the prize money to the total.
This show suffers from bad management and promotion. The Dow Art Center is a first rate facility with art classes, concerts, and museum quality shows in its' 2 story display space. There's no reason why the art fair should be so unlike the Art Center. Some things that would be obvious to me, to make it a better show, aren't getting done. For one thing, if it rains every year on this date, move the show to another weekend. Also, use Zapplication. That would get more applicants. Thirdly, have some sort of quality control to get rid of the buy/sell. Fourth, Dow is the biggest employer in Midland. They built and underwrite what goes on at the Art Center, including the art fair. The show should do more to attract the fairly well paid employees of Dow. Even on the nice day, the crowd was casual, at best.
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Comment by Connie Mettler on June 9, 2010 at 10:00pm -
So, how do you feel about your experiment? Worth trying again somewhere else? There are so many reasons to do an art fair, it looks like you tested a bunch here. Once upon a time this was a good show.
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Comment by Kevan Breitinger on June 10, 2010 at 7:59am -
Still don't know where the show was.....
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Comment by Barry Bernstein on June 10, 2010 at 10:05am -
Midland, Michigan. I guess I assumed that everyone knew the show because it's been around for 44 years. Sorry.
Connie, I'd have to give the experiment an incomplete, because of the rain. The idea of doing a lower level show knowing I'd have a good chance of winning a prize is solid. Every show has a few people with the means and the knowledge looking to buy something nice. Not counting the prize money, I did the same here as I did in Birmingham(MI) and I spent $250 less in expenses. So, I could argue that I did better at Midland than Birmingham, even though Birmingham is a much better show, quality wise. Also, Bloomfield Hills, which is within a mile of the Birmingham show, has an average household income of $250,000, one of the highest in the country. So, yes, I would try this again. I got invited to do the Flint show which is this weekend and I am considering doing it. I probably won't because there is rain forecast both Saturday and Sunday. If the weather was nice I would definitely be there.
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Comment by Kathy Laga on June 10, 2010 at 12:06pm -
We have done the Midland Holiday show in November for 3 years. It's an indoor show so weather is not the issue. It's a high quality show and is very well run. Our sales have increased every year. We also attribute our success in this show to the money in the area due to Dow. It's just suprising to hear that their outdoor show would not be run just as well, for all the reasons you gave!
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Comment by Kathy Laga on June 10, 2010 at 12:08pm
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I live just south of Flint. The economy there is severely depressed. We did that show in 2008 and we did OK, it does help that it's on the grounds of the FIA. We didn't do it last year or this year because of our concerns about the Flint economy specifically
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Comment by Barry Bernstein on June 10, 2010 at 1:04pm
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One of the benefits of winning Best of Show at Midland is getting into the holiday show without having to go through the jury process. I am planning on doing it unless I go to Florida for the Masters show at Disney.
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Comment by Carole Fleischman on June 11, 2010 at 5:27pm -
Last year I tried the "Big fish in little water" without much success. Primarily poorly run or misrepresented shows (Zona Rosa in Kansas City), or just too small without much traffic. My work is primarily high end ceramic sculptures. This year I switched back to "A" shows and stared making a lot of smaller affordable sculptures ($150-$250). This has made a big difference in my sales during the depressed economy. And I still get the big sales, I just do not have to be so dependent on that one big sale. awwwwwwwwwww I thought it was Midland TX
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