Another report from "Shows Passed" (or maybe I should use the correct form "past" although the free ranging use of incorrect or invented spellings seems rampant in our society as it dumbs down to the lowest common denominator). Okay, enough with the diatribe...or maybe not...remember Norm Crosby? he made a career of misuse of language. The guy was brilliant, had to be to use the wrong word in the right way to make it funny, my hero!
The Autumn & Art Festival @ Bradley Fair held Sept. 14-16 was one small show trying to do all the right things and I think they succeeded. The show was sponsored by the same people who do a larger show in the area. It was held behind a shopping center in one of the higher income areas of the city. Behind a shopping center? Yes, there was a beautiful little park with a man-made lake and plenty of grass for duck grazing.There was plenty of signage draped on the entry to the shopping center but who looks at shopping center signs? I wondered about their overall advertising when one woman came into my booth late in the day on Sunday proclaiming that she had no idea the show was going on except that she saw the draped signs on the shopping center, or was it the sandwich signs on the street?
From the minute I arrived I could tell they had their show together. Logistics getting into the show were well thought out with artists threading through part of the shopping center and queuing up for load-in. Ample volunteers and show personnel with walkie-talkies were evident to keep things moving smoothly. Artists seemed to arrive throughout the day in such a casual manner that there was plenty of time to move things out of the van/car and into the booth space. Artist spaces were clustered on both sides of the roadway to allow a good flow of visitor traffic. There was plenty of space behind booths to allow for storage which I sure appreciate. Artists were treated to a nice BBQ dinner prior to Friday nights preview of the 74 artists. I should mention that the quality of the art was very high, in fact I saw some of these same people at Cottonwood and Bayou City in Oct. and those were generally high quality shows as well.
There was a large and energetic crowd for the preview and, in fact, that seemed to be the most buying energy! Visitors on the Friday night had paid for the privilege of an advance preview dinner from two top restaurants, voting on the artist of choice, beer and wine. It says something about their commitment to a quality show to do this, I think.
The rest of the weekend was pretty much like other shows I've been to this year, a lot of people trudging past the booths with little interest in buying. A lot of compliments on the work with little serious interest in buying. Okay so there was the one guy who came in and without deliberation bought one big piece off the wall (I remember those days!).
I give this show high marks in terms of their commitment to making it work for both the artists as-well-as the patrons. There were not too many artists (patron burn-out) there was just enough food to keep'm there, there were no superfluous activities (i.e. a carnival, although there were people on stilts and a juggler) parking was nearby and plentiful for people to get there, generally the show layout provided for a good flow of pedestrian traffic, etc. The sponsors solicited input from the artists at the awards breakfast and genuinely listened! Did I mention they gave out awards, fed us, they had plentiful volunteers with water and booth sitting? Oh, electricity was included in the booth fee! Considering the show went into the dark hours on Friday it was a necessity.
I'm looking forward to see how next years show shapes up. From my experience in the last couple of years it seems that people have to see your work a few times before they are willing to buy so I'm willing to make a go of it.
Comments
I wonder how many a record # is? All the fairs I have applied to have said something to that nature. Well it looks like it was a good enough show for you to return - I will have to take a look at your work and keep an eye out for you at the fair.
Yeah! I just got invited back also, seems that the show is growing in popularity as they "had a record number of applications this year" and chose the top 100 artists! Nice to see that they are keeping the show small and select. I'm looking forward to it!
I just got into this show for 2013 - very excited. Hopefully it is a good show. The Caliber of Artists last year was very good, that is one of the ways I decide to enter a show or not.
I also did this show and there was one thing they did especially right that I hadn't seen before. They had a small stage with low key music - jazz mostly. But the best part was that instead of the few booths nearby being blasted and you couldn't have a conversation with your customers, while others couldn't hear the music, this show placed speakers about every 100 feet or so all the way through the back of the tents. There was easy volume control and it made the entire show feel even that much more cohesive. You could have conversations with buyers and still hear the music. Somebody was thinking.
Thanks for the review Brian, glad you sold a big item :)
This kind of show is my favorite. Hope it continues to grow and prosper for you.
I've been hearing bits and pieces about this show for several years now. It sounds like they are doing everything right, but you sound a little undecided about a return visit. Right? It is great when an event can get their preview night to work and people come enthusiastically and buy. That was good to hear. It shows they are tuned into their community and their stakeholders. So, in contrast to so many other events that bring out lots of people and there are decent sales on the weekend and maybe not the more affluent are involved, this show has that buy in and the challenge is to turn the weekend crowd into buyers.
From all the positives of the show it seems to me that the growing turn around in the economy has this show ready to be stellar. Hopeful thinking? Why not?
(I just visited your website. Nice work. Interestingly when my husband was participating in the art fairs he was also making silver gelatin prints and handcoloring them.)
That sounds like a nice show to be in. Thanks for your review. Had you done this show before?