Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals

What's the worst question you have been asked at an art fair?

Let's do it as a top ten: My number 1 is

"Did j'all make this"?

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Paquette on July 9, 2019 at 11:11am

That is STUNNING!

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Permalink Reply by Larry Sohn on July 9, 2019 at 5:28pm

Did you fight him "tooth and nail" over that?

It was an offer, did you take the "bite"?

Sounds like the customer was a real "card" :-)

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Rabbass on July 9, 2019 at 1:56pm

Not the worst, but a consistent annoyance: I get the "did you make this" or "are you the artist" at least 10x per show. It's always surprising. I guess a lot of the public think that art shows are more trade shows and we are just sales persons repping the brand? I'm re-branding and putting my name on everything, hopefully that stops that question!

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Permalink Reply by Connie Mettler on July 9, 2019 at 4:15pm

It could just be a conversation opener, Ryan, and that was the easiest way for them to get it started. Nevertheless, a photo of you creating the work hanging in your booth proves something and make sure your name is displayed and yes label everything. Smart marketing. It does give the work even more validity with a sceptic also.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Rabbass on July 9, 2019 at 6:38pm

you're right, some of them might just be saying so even though they assume or know it's me. that is a good point, I need to get a photo up for sure! I actually plan to put my time lapse painting videos on an iPad looping, I think that would be great! thanks for the tip Connie!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Riggs on July 10, 2019 at 8:31am

One of my photos is of a covered bridge in Madison County in Iowa. I guy half laughing asked “Heh, is that the one that burned down?” The one that burned down I got married on and he’s kinda laughing about it.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Gwinn on August 6, 2019 at 9:16pm

Today is the first day of my first fair and before the doors even opened another vendor asked me "did you take all of these?". I'd say 75% of people asked that. The one that took the cake though was the guy who asked me "have you been to all 9f these places" not 5 seconds after me telling him that I took all of the pictures.