I was in the Keys last weekend just being lazy and decided to check out the Art Under the Oaks show in Tavernier. Let me start by saying this show does what it is asked, which is raise funds for San Pedro Church. The app fee is very low, $85, and is probably run by the church people themselves.
We arrived and found that parking was in about a quarter or half mile away at a school, where they had buses run every 5 minutes. This was a great feature, lots of parking and just get on a waiting bus and go. Getting there we saw about 100 tents +/- and started weaving through the aisles. What I found was very disappointing. There were only 2-4 painters, the majority were jewelers and the rest fabric and misc. A (very) few of the jewelry booths had very nice work, the rest were the type you could buy in Walmart etc, a string of tiny beads with a charm on it, we considered it "buy-sell". The fabric again was the same, a few with well made items and the rest were again considered "buy-sell". My friend, who is a fabric artist, pointed many things out to me, one standout was the boxes they came out of (a dead give-away) and the quality of the material and stitching which was poor. When you can buy a "quality hand-made" item there for less than it would cost you at Walmart/KMart to buy the material before assembly you know something is wrong.
One guy sold items made out of coconut shells, birds feeding their young which moved with the wind. I asked if he made them. "My friend makes them, I'm just watching his booth". Well, I have the exact same one at home and I know it's made in Indonesia. Same item, same wrapping paper. All of his "hand-made, hand-carved" work was from the same place. In fact, we saw several of his items at shops we went to and giggled about the guy being so good that all the shops wanted his work!!
Several of the better artists we spoke to were disappointed also. This could be a nice show. For what it was it seemed to have fairly good attendance. I think if they knew how to put a better quality show together they would be able to raise more for their programs.
JMHO - Carole
Replies
Bill, I felt sorry for the few fine artists that were there, they were being sorely overlooked.
Jeff, You're right, some promoters think that the b/s stuff sells more and is what the people want. At the Delray Affair the year before last there were 2 "artists" there both with exactly the same product. When I said "Gee, there's a tent down there with exactly the same thing" to them, each swore the other copied him. Ha! they must think everyone is dumb. - CZ