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

Connie Mettler's Blog – December 2009 Archive (22)

Video of How Art Can Save the Mall!

Earlier in the month we had some stories on this site about using empty stores to sell art for the holidays (and beyond, I hope). My friend, Donna Beaubien, opened one of these venues in Rochester, MI, at the Village Shopping Center, a "life style" mall. Here is a video of the gallery. I thought you'd enjoy seeing what a good job she did.

View it on YouTube.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77vFjsLWjZM

Added by Connie Mettler on December 30, 2009 at 11:06am — No Comments

Call for Entries: Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts

July 8-11, 2010 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts State College, Pennsylvania 44th Annual Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition 300 Exhibitors Deadline: January 29, 2010 Applications available online:

www.zapplication.org Why should you apply to this festival? Here is what its director, Rick Bryant, has to say: --It is always ranked in the

Top Ten in the …

Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 30, 2009 at 10:49am — No Comments

Love and Laughs for the Holiday Season!

Your Holiday Present - a bunch of laughs!

Take a look at this video, a bunch of funny clips all rolled into one. Then would you please tell me why I am sitting here laughing out loud? Is there something wrong with me?
www.UTube.com/funnyclips

Added by Connie Mettler on December 28, 2009 at 11:30am — 3 Comments

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, Columbus Festival -- And the Winner Is...

Maureen Riley!! -- Ann Arbor Street Art Fair

Leah Alters!! -- Columbus Arts Festival

After a lengthy vetting/application process at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair (see this blog post with more details) the former Director of the Detroit Festival of the Arts, Maureen Riley, will be named to the position of Executive Director at the prestigious art fair, effective… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 23, 2009 at 10:17am — 1 Comment

Call for Entries: 13 Amdur Productions Events in Chicago

Listed below are

thirteen Chicago area professionally run art fairs by Amdur Productions. Headed by Amy Amdur, these events exploded on the art fair scene 27 years ago when the Port Clinton Art Festival appeared in the affluent community of Highland Park, IL.

Taking her cue from this success Amy has gone on to create new events in affluent areas of the metro area. Her hard work coupled with a strong marketing outreach have allowed many Chicago area artists the… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 23, 2009 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

Updates on Arts, Beats & Eats

Last week I traveled to

Royal Oak, MI, to meet with Jon Witz, producer of

Arts, Beats & Eats, and the operations people for the event. I do believe we have here the "second coming".

In

1998 Witz produced the first Arts, Beats & Eats with the support of the Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, perhaps the most important politician in Michigan. Patterson found Witz great partners like Chrysler and K Mart and Jon was off and… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 23, 2009 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Managing Stress at the Holidays

So here it is 4:45 am, days before Christmas. I thought I was taking this week off to take care of and enjoy the

holidays, but instead I am lying in bed thinking about all the things yet to do. You probably know what I am talking about. Luckily I have this article from Charlene Davis, from the

Artisans Monthly, with tips on managing. "Statistics overwhelmingly indicate that stress is the root cause of many health-related issues including heart disease, cancer,… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 23, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Time to Quit Your Day Job? Etsy may be the answer

Thanks to Duke Klassen at the NAIA Forum for sharing this good story from the New York Times -- That Hobby Looks Like a Lot of Work

QUIT your day job?

Sara Jorde for The New York Times:

To some craft enthusiasts that is just the name of a popular blog on Etsy, the fast-growing Web site that serves as a marketplace for crafts and vintage goods.

But to Yokoo Gibran, it was an epiphany.

Ms. Gibran, who is in her 30s,… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 22, 2009 at 6:15pm — No Comments

Teenager wins $5000 prize for photo!

There is a little chat in the discussion area of Art Fair Insiders today about the results of the jurying for the Main Street

Fort Worth festival. A nonplussed artist was pretty amazed that there was such a large turnover in accepted exhibitors. Me, I'm not so surprised. Texas has become the new "art fair heaven" with money flowing pretty decently at the art fairs and as a result floods of applicants to the good Texas shows. That aside, a friend sent me this article from the… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 22, 2009 at 5:58pm — No Comments

Heavy Rains Threaten 2010 Festival

Shreveport, LA -- October's Red River Revel

As artists we are very aware of the impact weather has on our incomes. A while back a friend's new boy friend was heard to mention that he had recently learned that The Weather Channel was as important as CBS and NBC as a source of news. No surprise to any of us! But have you thought of how the weather impacts the organizations putting on the event?

This fall the 34th Annual Red River Revel was held in the midst of… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 21, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Call for Entries: Lakefront Art Festival

August 21 & 22 Washington Park 29th Annual Lakefront Art Festival Michigan City, Indiana Sponsored by the Lubeznik Center for the Arts Saturday - 10 to 6 Sunday - 10 to 5 Deadline: January 29 The Lakefront Art Festival attracts thousands of visitors from surrounding states to a festive, high-quality event held under shady trees in a grassy park on the shore of Lake Michigan. Because the festival is sponsored by the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, it is overseen by arts… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 16, 2009 at 4:48pm — 3 Comments

Cool Holiday Link: Elf Yourself!

Have some fun with this cool link. Visit: www.elfyourself.com, upload a photo and dance like you haven't danced in a long time!

Let's see, should it be disco, hip hop or a mambo?

Added by Connie Mettler on December 16, 2009 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Artists: Let's Save Michigan Contest

Many thanks to jeweler

Idelle Hammond-Sass who forwarded this information to me today:

"This is a call for a WPA type competition for posters to "Save Michigan" contest and also check their website- there are places to write stories, upload pictures etc. " The creativity needed to revive our state will not be found beyond the Great Lakes - it is already here at home. At Let's Save Michigan, we're activating… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 16, 2009 at 12:30pm — No Comments

New director for Laumeier Sculpture Park. New oomph for the fair?

Many, many years ago the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis hosted its first art fair. It was started by (who can tell me her name, preceded Kathy Crick at the State Street Show in Ann Arbor) and it was a hit right off the bat! We were there and continued to enjoy this May event in St. Louis for a number of years. My favorite time was the year we were in St. Louis for the show then hung around the town for a couple of days with our friends Bill Coleman and Carl Inglesby and then we all headed… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 14, 2009 at 10:53am — 2 Comments

Michigan art fair news: Arts, Beats & Eats moves to Royal Oak!

Breaking news -- it's official -- the hugely popular art, music and food festival held on Labor Day

weekend is leaving its birthplace, Pontiac, MI, to move to a new address -- cool, captivating, hip downtown Royal Oak. Jonathan Witz, producer of ABE, made the announcement this afternoon at Sangria Tapas Cafe in Royal Oak. I've been part of the arts of this event since its inception 12 years ago and have seen firsthand what was a very promising and exciting and… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 8, 2009 at 6:11pm — 6 Comments

Call for Entries: Ann Arbor Street Art Fair

Today's call for artists is for the BIG ONE that started it all, the

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As most of you know there are four art fairs running consecutively in Ann Arbor in late July. All of them have excellent art, but this is the one that is universally acknowledged as the best, the original juried art fair. The thrill of this business is in participating in an event of this caliber. Will this be your year?

Why not apply now? I always… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 8, 2009 at 5:46pm — No Comments

Call for Entries: 2 Shows - Westfield Armory, Westfield, NJ

Top Ten Reasons to Apply to Rose Squared Productions, Inc.'s, Fine Art and Crafts at the Westfield Armory in Westfield, New Jersey · Twenty-eight years of experience promoting Fine Art and Craft shows in New Jersey · A first class mailing list of 30,000+ past patrons · A sterling reputation among exhibitors for being an "exhibitor's promoter" · Reasonable booth fees · A strong advertising campaign including direct mailing, cable television, newspapers and… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 4, 2009 at 11:53am — No Comments

Cool Art Link: Crop Art

Harvest season is almost over and especially here in the upper reaches of the Midwest we can't get enough

enjoyment out of our bounty, so you guessed it! We make art from it. Crop Art is a competitive category at the Minnesota State Fair where it even includes political commentary. The images are made from seeds, collected, roasted, toasted and glued!

Adherents say the crop art is even more artistic than what is exhibited at the fine art building. See it all!… Continue

Added by Connie Mettler on December 3, 2009 at 11:09am — 1 Comment

Where Do Art Fair Artists Go? Back to the hills

Many of you remember photographer

Jack Stoddart, aka

Hippie Jack. A fixture at art fairs for about

20 years, in recent years he was pulled back and become a music producer and hosts music festivals in the hills of Tennessee, way back in the hills! And that's not the whole story! Teaming up with his son Jason, they have videoed the "roots" music that is performed