Location

Duluth, MN

Your Medium

Beach Glass & Lake Stone Jewelry

Years in the Art Fair Business

4

First show ever

Sunset Beach Fine Art Fair, Sunset Beach California

What is your website?

https://SweetwaterBeachGlass.com

What are the best things about art fairs

Meeting some pretty awesome people, especially other artists!

Best show ever and why

Lake Superior Art Festival, by far. It was a hugely successful show for me, even though it was a first-year show. The women who put it together are artists themselves. I knew most of the other artists, each of the 20 booths were super unique and well put together. Everyone was professional. The setting was lovely, on the shores of Lake Superior, and the weather was gorgeous with a nice lake breeze to keep us cool.

Worst show ever and why

Women Rock breast cancer awareness women's expo, Spirit Mountain, Duluth MN, Fall 2013. I was recruited by the event coordinators to put on this show. I thought that since the chased me down, it would be a good show for me. I was very wrong. First of all, they only gave us an hour to set up before the show. The other vendors, mainly direct home sales, parked by the door and left their cars in the way even after they unloaded. I had to lug my stuff across a dirt parking lot and down a hill. It was awful. I was placed in the 'overflow' area, and given an 8' table. I was promised a 10 by 10 area. I set up quickly, and people began pouring in the doors. I realized that I was in the way wrong spot when the speaker started talking, I was DIRECTLY in front of the loudspeaker, in the room where the stage was set up for performances. Anyone who came to talk to me couldn't hear me describing my process and where my materials come from, so I hardly made a sale. The only sales I made were in between speakers and performances, which was seldom. The fee for the show was $300 plus a donated piece for the silent auction. I donated a $65 piece that auctioned for $15. I sold under $250 for the day, taking a loss. I asked the booths next to me what they paid, most of them paid $100 for their booth, none of them artists, most of them companies peddling their services with pink added to the logo. When the coordinator requested feedback, I told her what an awful event it was for me. She got rude and said that at least I could write it off on my taxes, so it was a benefit for me to do a show that I took a loss on. I was flabbergasted!

Who referred you to ArtFairInsiders.com? Please be specific.

David N. DeMattia

What is one fun fact about yourself?

April is an art enthusiast who can only knit scarves and other rectangular shaped items. She is running two successful businesses while balancing a busy home life with two dogs and a recent engagement to the man of her dreams. She puts the 'pro' in procrastinate and apparently likes to talk about herself in third person.