Key West show is a difficult set-up. You have to wait until the Garbage collectors come. This year we didn't get on the street until 6:30am which is late for anyone with a long set-up. The hotels are extremely expensive add that to gas prices. The show itself gets a nice busy large crowd. You do get a mix of tourists and locals. The tourists want something they can take on a plane. The locals pretty much buy low end stuff, which Lois doesn't like. She walks and inspects and complains about stuff in your booth if she doesn't like it or if you have too many of one item. If a ship comes in you might get lucky, I have done the show for the last 5 years (I have a friend in Key West I stay with, only reason for doing it) However, if it is a Disney ship and it usually is, they buy nothing.
Hey, Nels - Twisted Sister here - thank so much for your comments, guess i will have to make something keywesty if i decide to go
Nels Johnson said:
Linda. First I went back to your page to find out your media. It is always helpful to give it when you start a discussion. Because different media can do better or worse at any given show. That said I have done this show more than 10 years. I am a color photographer with--eureka--many images of Key West. I see you do metal. Well here is my experience with your medium factored in. You get a mix of locals, tourists (not on cruise ships) and tourists from cruise ships. Recently, I had breakfeast, while in Key West, with the show director,Lois Songer. She related to me what I have always thought was the situation. The locals come to the show, but very few of them buy much from us. The reason being, there is a lot of art for sale in Key West all the time. So they don't get all excited by what is at the show. They like crafts better and almost anything that is not 2-D. So much for the locals. (In the years I have done this show, I can count on two hands the amount of work sold to locals. I know because I ask when they buy at this show--"Where are you from?" But all is not lost. The tourists do buy, ones on and off ships. You have to be ready to ship a lot of sales from this show to their homes back yonder. I don't know how that will work for your metal. I do not know its scale.
Many years this can be a show with $1.5k-$4k sales for me--don't forget I have local images (by the way, I live in Tampa). Most artists make some money at this show, it varies from year-to-year. If you treat going to this show as a working vacation then it comes out alright. Key West is very expensive for everything. It would be helpful to you if artists of other mediums chimed in about the show.
Linda. First I went back to your page to find out your media. It is always helpful to give it when you start a discussion. Because different media can do better or worse at any given show. That said I have done this show more than 10 years. I am a color photographer with--eureka--many images of Key West.
I see you do metal. Well here is my experience with your medium factored in. You get a mix of locals, tourists (not on cruise ships) and tourists from cruise ships. Recently, I had breakfeast, while in Key West, with the show director,Lois Songer. She related to me what I have always thought was the situation. The locals come to the show, but very few of them buy much from us. The reason being, there is a lot of art for sale in Key West all the time. So they don't get all excited by what is at the show. They like crafts better and almost anything that is not 2-D. So much for the locals. (In the years I have done this show, I can count on two hands the amount of work sold to locals. I know because I ask when they buy at this show--"Where are you from?"
But all is not lost. The tourists do buy, ones on and off ships. You have to be ready to ship a lot of sales from this show to their homes back yonder. I don't know how that will work for your metal. I do not know its scale.
Many years this can be a show with $1.5k-$4k sales for me--don't forget I have local images (by the way, I live in Tampa). Most artists make some money at this show, it varies from year-to-year. If you treat going to this show as a working vacation then it comes out alright. Key West is very expensive for everything. It would be helpful to you if artists of other mediums chimed in about the show.
I haven't done it for at least ten years. But I would assume it would be the art show, as compared to the craft show end of January. From what I remember it gets most of it's traffic from the cruise ships so there's no consistency from year to year.
Replies
Nels Johnson said:
I see you do metal. Well here is my experience with your medium factored in. You get a mix of locals, tourists (not on cruise ships) and tourists from cruise ships. Recently, I had breakfeast, while in Key West, with the show director,Lois Songer. She related to me what I have always thought was the situation. The locals come to the show, but very few of them buy much from us. The reason being, there is a lot of art for sale in Key West all the time. So they don't get all excited by what is at the show. They like crafts better and almost anything that is not 2-D. So much for the locals. (In the years I have done this show, I can count on two hands the amount of work sold to locals. I know because I ask when they buy at this show--"Where are you from?"
But all is not lost. The tourists do buy, ones on and off ships. You have to be ready to ship a lot of sales from this show to their homes back yonder. I don't know how that will work for your metal. I do not know its scale.
Many years this can be a show with $1.5k-$4k sales for me--don't forget I have local images (by the way, I live in Tampa). Most artists make some money at this show, it varies from year-to-year. If you treat going to this show as a working vacation then it comes out alright. Key West is very expensive for everything. It would be helpful to you if artists of other mediums chimed in about the show.
Nels Johnson photographer
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100