Hello,
After not getting into Gasparilla thought I'd try this festival out. Really should have stayed home and with my conversations with a few other vendors they thought the same. I know it was a small show and had really great prize money yes that was the draw to get in. If you where lucky enough to get prize money then you might have come out ok I wasn't one of the lucky ones. But I can say that I did well enough to cover my expenses etc., didn't mention this I drove in from Atlanta. Yes like probably most events in Florida this past weekend the cold could have been a small factor but not all. One of the local artist helping in the festival stopped by my booth Sunday and asked how was my show here this weekend and I told not very well. His comment was sir I can you this don't expect it to get any better! So with that said I can't recommend this event I know I won't return but you can only be the true judge to enter this festival. This is only my opinion. I don't even think anyone from the event even stopped by my booth to even say hi. Anyway see if I can post a image with this post and you can see the style of work I creat. Have a great day.
Comments
Hi Marje, your work is very contemperary and the shows you listed they seem to be more rural that might be the reason for lack of sales. Now that is my opinion I too did Osceola last year and it was horrible too. Your work would fair better in a larger metroplitan area but those are the shows that seem to be harder to get into. I've been told that the coastal shows bring in larger crowds plus tourist I did the Space Coast festival in Cocoa beach and did fairly well now you might not. Surely hope things turn for the better for us both.
Hi Mike,
I am another "new to shows artist" and attended Bartow. I was one of the lucky ones who received an award, which just stopped short of covering basic expenses. Small amount as it was I was very glad to receive it because I have attended Osceola, St Augustine, Boca Raton and Bartow, received awards in all which offered awards but so far have not sold one drawing, not even 1 reproduction of my drawings.. . Decision time looming.
Btw For a beginner like me (who known nobody on the circuit) it would be very helpful if when writing a review the writer indicated which was their area.
Many thanks for any ideas.Marje
I do understand that need for some cash flow. We used to do that drive from Michigan to Florida when we didn't get into the biggies just to run money through the checkbook and really worked at saving some of the income to avoid it. It would be very tempting if we lived in Georgia to just take a run down to Florida though, so I get it.
Hello Connie, I think it's the Bartow Arts Guild. It was a nice show, fairly good crowd, people were extremely nice etc. I'm not blaming them for the poor sells, I was told by a few artist from past events that they experienced slow or very little income from this event. Now if your going to try and win prize money they have a good payout for that. I picked it for the price and it being a bit rural thought my work might fair better than that of someone who paints beaches. I had applied to the Gasparilla show and didn't get in it was a filler show plus I wanted to give it a try. Fairly new to Florida Events so testing the waters, I'll be in both Santa Fe and Mainlsail in April. I did do Space Coast Festival in November of 2012 and had a good show or to me it was plus I placed 2nd in my medium field.
LOL! Good for you, Mike. Most artists would rather paint than write. Nice work and thank you for this contribution.
It was a cold weekend -- and Floridians are so spoiled by having nice weather so much that there is only a small window when they'll come out to the show -- too cold to go to the beach and not so cold they have to wear gloves.
Who runs this show? I don't know anything about it? How many artists? What made you decide to give it a try considering there were other choices this weekend?
Paint better than I can write hope it comes over ok, I have been told by several artisans over the last year or so to skip this one but like them all you really hope to have a good event. Later