I am new to the art fair scene and wanted to know how the mesh wall with a trimline canopy works. Has it been a success for any art fair vets out there?
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I am new to the art fair scene and wanted to know how the mesh wall with a trimline canopy works. Has it been a success for any art fair vets out there?
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
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I also love my trimline and mesh panels. I have found that if I use two "S" hooks per piece when hanging that it helps keep things straight.
I am going into my second year with my Trimline and mesh walls. The tent is just great. Once you get used to setting it up it doesn't take long at all. I have the 8' tent and can do it alone. I decided to make the switch at the end of my first year after spending most of the day during one show holding my old tent due to the wind while the painter across from me was making all kind of sales and didn't worry at all about the wind.
I really like the mesh walls. Easy to transport and setup. Also, on very hot days, you have the option (if possible) of having your tent walls up and have some air circulate inside the tent. This is a major plus.
However, there are two points that have me thinking about possibly going to the pro-panels. I think the pro-panels look more "professional" and would give my tent more of a "gallery" look. In addition, if you are obsessive compulsive about your art work and it has to be neat (straight) on the walls at all times...don't go with the mesh walls. It is harder to keep things aligned. Sometimes putting a small piece of "putty" on the lower part of your framed work helps keep them in place. It all depends on the wind.
Flourish sells fabrics for the mesh walls. The fabrics might take care of both "issues" that I have pointed out. Maybe someone who has the fabrics can comment.
My setup.
I have a 10X20 combo that also can be set up like a 10X10. The 10X20 is very heavy and I could not do it alone, but I see people setting up the 10X10's alone often. I've only used it once so far, but it feels much more sturdy than my EZ ups did. I used EZ ups for 3 years, and they got the job done for me, but it was time to upgrade. I'm a painter and my work is really heavy; it's reverse painting on old wooden windows and some of them are very large. If you go to my photos I have a photo of both configurations. I could hang twice the amount of work on there, and do, for my shows. The mesh will hold it all up. As for them not staying on straight, I find that if I use 2 hooks placed a few inches apart on the wire they will stay much straighter. Also, on a lot of my windows I use a D-ring (I think they're D-rings) on each side at the top of the piece and those hang beautifully. There's no wire involved at all then. The hangers that flourish sellls works great for the really heavy pieces, but I forgot about using them last time and used double hooks and it worked fine.
I love the mesh for it's weight, ease of packing, and the breezes it allows through on warm days. I think the appearance lends itself to the art fair atmosphere and don't think it's unprofessional looking. I like the look of the pro panels too, but for me, I'm very happy with the mesh.
I've been using the trimline for a number of years and love it!!! I've slowly been switching to the webwalls mainly because of the lower weight for transport. Also, they take up a lot less room in my vehicle. My oil paintings do not weigh a lot, so the webwalls are fine. Heavier pieces however, can be hung from the bars so as not to pull on the mesh. Flourish Co. sells hangers for this, but I've heard they're easy to make. One drawback to the webwalls is that they lack flexibility in wall arrangement for your booth. Unless you pay extra for the framework for walls to extend in, you're limited to walls on the outer sides. So far, I've been OK with this limitation.
Bill Hobbs
Thank you for that insight! I'm new to this art fair business and I need all the advice I can get.
We would never go back to using anything but a trimline....it is really a great tent. We did use one of the mesh panels for a while before we switched to pro-panels and for us it worked very well. We sell fused glass and hung jewelry displays, barrettes and decorative items from the mesh wall so not as heavy materials as many artists hang, but it seemed like it would have been able to handle much more.