Art is Relative participated in this first time art fair this past weekend. We were invited to jury in from another show we attended earlier in the year - and I'm happy we were in on the "ground floor" of this very nice event.
We arrived in Rockville a little before 6 a.m. Saturday morning - ready to set up ( we have a brand new Show-Off tent and this was our first show to use it - I've included 2 photos of it just prior to the show opening). The gallery on the square where we were to check in was open - and was very nice. We were just a tad ahead of the woman who was the keeper of the artist's location map - so we had just a few minutes to wait - but it was nice to get to know the volunteers that were there.
For a first time show - they had a nice mix of media - approximately 57 artists were involved and there was a mix of quality of work as well - from fairly novice to the highly gifted. I humbly believe we were very near the gifted end of the range - but certainly not the peak. There was an artist involved from the Chicago area who painted in the Masters style - and he was phenominal!
Load in and load out could not have been easier - being able to park right next to your booth to do both was very handy! They had a parking lot about a block from the square where you could park for free for the day - and they had golfcarts manned by volunteers shuttling artists back to their booths if you wanted a lift. VERY artist friendly.
Weather was spectacular which I believe contributed to the fairly steady - but not overwhelming flow of people through the booths. There was quite a bit of room between booths - so you had lots of room to spread out - and it made for a very relaxed atmosphere.
Volunteers were plentiful and were available to booth sit if you needed a break, they brought around drinks and home baked treats in the afternoon as well.
As I mentioned browsers and buyers were steady - and we were happy to make some good sales. I spoke with a few other artists and they also were having good days.
As a first time show - their booth fee was very minimal - I don't know if this will go up - but they could double or triple it and we would still consider doing the show again.
In the very near area - Danville, Illinois has a two day show the same weekend - so there's competition for the public.
Rockville, Indiana is located between Terre Haute and Indianapolie - there is some money in the area and people were very appreciative of the artists.
All in all - I give this show high marks! It wasn't our best show money wise - but it was one of the nicest in accomodations and I have high hopes for coming years!
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