A Bad Year?

Just got home from Krasl, my 7th show of the year. A great spot for an art fair, a little resort town on Lake Michigan, beautifully run, so it feels more like being on vacation. Easy. Got off to a great start on Saturday but then things fizzled out so my sales ended up being just adequate. Like most of 2017. 4 Bridges in Chattanooga (okay), Southlake in Dallas (hideously bad), Three Rivers Pittsburgh (an okay profit but not worth 5 long days in a difficult show), Old Town Chicago (horrible again), Boston Mills (not bad but down from last year), Cherry Creek ( okay, the outlier. My all time best sales. Well over 5 figures for a simple potter. Other worldly.) and then mediocre Krasl.Not a great year so far, Cherry Creek notwithstanding. I’ve had the repeated experience of thinking that customers are ready to buy. I reach for my square, ready to swipe. And then they don’t pull the trigger. They say thanks and back away. Weird. Because this is only my third year of doing shows I don’t trust my own experience entirely, so I talk to a lot of artists, especially ceramic folks. And I hear the same thing. This is bad; as bad as 2008 some say. 30 year veterans are finding other sources of income, or looking for a total exit.There are lots of theories about this. But eventually, in every conversation, there is a moment when the other artist has figured out my politics, and they begin to talk freely about the national anxiety and uncertainty sponsored by the current administration. Will people lose health care? Will we go to war? Will there be serious civil unrest? What will the next psychotic tweet say, or the next big lie ? And there is a sense that people in the middle to upper middle income bracket are now cautious and holding tight. Not buying even when they can afford to buy.Beats me. I never bought the “it’s an election year” uncertainty theory, but now, yes, I feel the anxiety myself. I tend to buy more under such circumstances, especially good bourbon, but hey, that’s me. Other people may get restrictive. I do know that many more customers now spontaneously talk politics, mostly expressing alarm, which is a bit weird because they can’t know where I stand. But politics is on people’s minds. They talk but don’t buy.I know that things tend to short circuit on this site when things turn to politics, but here we are. Consumer behavior has to be affected by the national mood, for lack of a better term, and the Current Occupant has elicited many feelings but confidence, calm, and security are not among them [insert right wing rebuttals here]. There are other theories too: young people not buying, technology, etc. etc. etc. But mostly they center on national politics and a general sense of foreboding that inhibits buying.My politics are slightly left of Che Guevara so I’m surprised that people actually leave their houses to go to art fairs, let alone buy, given our national condition. But I’m also well aware of my biases. Are others having an unusually difficult year and if so, how do you understand it?
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  • I brought this post back because at the time that it had gone up, I had nothing to report, as I hadn't done any shows in 2017. 

    Now I have 4 shows behind me, various types. All 4 have turned out well. The two smaller 2 day ones of course brought in less money, but enough to make them worthwhile and such that I would do them again.  

    State College was good.
    The fair that I returned from late last night in Leesburg, VA area, also good.

    People are buying a bit of everything from me.

    I hope that others are also doing well?

  • One word struck me in Peter's comment; "complacency". It stuck me that Steamboat Springs show last week probably has gone downhill after 47 years by the arts council figuring that the local wealthy will just show up as they always have, without pre show interviews with top tier artists and advertising photos in local papers about artists attending. And, if the artists are complacent about what work they bring to the show, they share in the guilt.

  • Working the Street was, once upon a time, contrarian. It grew from artists fed up with the mainstream avenues, galleries and institutions, or the simple lack of any sort of exposure, and drew to its ranks the outsiders and malcontents that roamed the rarified turf of those who chose a life of art. However, years later, a friend and artist comrade made a remark that seems to be more and more pertinent today: "art has become an industry". And so it is, and so has the Street.  Now, everyone talks about the same ten shows, comparisons are made sideways with what everyone else  is doing, and gone is the "maverick", the edgy outsider that used to define the artist.  The facts point to diminishing returns for most of us on the Street, notwithstanding those who are consistently reporting good to excellent sales.  This will always be the case and, indeed, I've been one of those people, on and off, during my long career.  I'm not suggesting all should stop following the Zapplication et., al, path, but I am tipping people off to the possibility there are other rocks to lift, smaller and cheaper shows that are outside the consensus, long ago forsaken by our august ranks, and sponsored by people hungry for real talent to show up.  Yes, change is required, but the one trick pony is what happens from the complacency that a mature "industry" breeds. 

  • And do you think I could put a ring on a stick?
  • I checked out your page and you have beautiful work. I really gotta get a page going. Even my pics here are 5 years old!
    And I see your just down the road from me. We have probably been in several shows together. I'll keep an eye out for ya!
  • I hear you Robin. There are some really great artists out there whose work really sells. I've met a young guy who does pastel landscapes that are among the best "paintings" I've ever seen. And his work sells. On the other hand I know some glass people who've been at this for 25 years, get into literally all of the top tier shows, make stunning work, and yet struggle month to month to pay the bills. It's a tough and mysterious business. It is also true that some people make a killing, even at top tier shows, selling very questionable stuff, stuff that you could make after a beginning class in [fill in the blank]. And people line up for it. Not art but they've figured something out about product and consumers and price. These people make me drink more.

    While I may broaden my price point, both lower and higher, the day I tailor my pots to some idea I have of consumer demand (this is a nation that loves McDonald's remember) is the day I sell my potters wheel and start making metal skulls on a stick.
  • This is something my friends and I talk about a lot. Many people say do whats in your heart and your art will sell. Bullshit. I make jewelry and there are trends and price points. And then there is the show that is normally good and you get there and it's half jewelry. There is thinking about your art and thinking about product. 

    I was just at a show where I normally do very well. But this year all the jewelry artists had rings. Some sold just rings. I am usually the only jewelry person who specializes in rings at a show. And the price points of the other artists were extremely low. 

    Jewelry has usually at least twice the applications of other categories. (not an excuse, just a fact) I have had trouble breaking into the top tiered shows as well.

    But I am working on both a line of inexpensive small silver rings (price point). And how to produce the artwork that I know I am capable of. 

    But I too have noticed a lot of people spending 20 minutes picking a piece out and I turn around and they are gone! Much more than usual. 

    And I have noticed that photographers are outselling painters. Even when their prices are similar. Is it because they feel more comfortable around a medium they have dabbled in? (photography) or they don't have the confidence to buy paintings. Which in a lot of peoples minds buying a painting = ART!

    I plan on talking to more people during slow times about how they feel about art. And what makes them pull the trigger. Or not.

  • In my vast years of experience - I'm in year #2! - I have simply given up trying to divine the tastes or buying habits of shoppers. But I have had three really crappy shows in a row - all in Michigan. Some of the photogs said the last one - Muskegon - was their best show ever. But they also said they were local and had a following of friends and family. Most vendors there did not have a good show. Far from it. My neighbors had worse shows than I did. The one before was modestly worse. And the one before that was simply a really bad nightmare. In fact, of the last three shows, I would venture that only one of my immediate neighbors made expenses.The year started pretty well but the last month has seemed decidedly off to me. Enough to make me rethink what I'm doing. Then I remember advice from a vendor who said give it 5 years to figure out what you're offering and how to do it - so I'm still plugging away. But I do wonder sometimes - like Al - if there aren't some sections of the country that are skittish. I know my work compares well. My offerings are unique in the way I present them. But the wall art simply isn't moving like it did last year when I knew even less than I do now. Which makes me wonder if ignorance really is bliss!

  • We also are having a better year than last year which was better than the year before. We keep a positive outlook, wide variety of price range ...30.00-600.00. We look to improve ourselves and please our customers including commission work. We sell hand cut natural Stone Jewelry. Good luck for the remainder of the year.
  • Al, I am not pulling your leg about Gene stopping by on Friday.  He was in St. Joe meeting a friend for lunch and came to the bluff before noon.  He said no one was setting up at that time and he was pressed to get back home later in the afternoon. He was disappointed he didn't catch up with you.

    As for the topic at hand and your question, I am having a better year in my last 7 shows than I did last year. So, I am optimistic that things are getting better but never to return to the "good old days".  I also believe what others have mentioned (stay fresh with your work, consider your price points, engage your customers, utilize effective sales techniques) are all valid solutions to seeing some change in buyer's behavior in your booth. However, I think what conclusion you and Diane have arrived at is spot on! 

    I am firm in my belief that the results, expectations and quantification of a poor/good/great show can vary wildly for each artist thus talking to other artists about how they did at a show can be skewed.  I have learned to go into each show with high hopes and NO expectations. That philosophy keeps me off your profession's couch.

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