Well I’m now two weeks into the saga of getting used to shows outside of Florida. This show is definitely different from anything I encountered in Florida. There are three distinct locations, in the building, in a pole barn, and in the big tent. In the pole barn, where I was, there are two different locations, inside pole barn, and outside pole barn, which mean exactly what they say, inside is facing inside and outside is facing outside. I had an outside pole barn location. Outside pole barn is like being inside and outside at the same time with all the disadvantages of both. Weather and lighting were the biggest problems. You are allowed to put up your tent frame but tent tops are expressly forbidden.
I have a great lighting system that I bought used a few years back. It consists of several natural light spotlights that when shined up to the tent top reflect a wonderful even bright light. Without a tent top to reflect them off of, they are really bright spotlights and not good at all. So I spent a good deal of time over the weekend adjusting lights and never finding a good solution.
The front of my booth was exposed to the weather. There is an overhang which works great as a psuedo awning but it will not keep out the rain and wind. Overnight I took down my front photographs and clamped my tent sides to the front. This worked. It rained overnight both Friday and Saturday and I had no damage. The wind neccesitates clamping on the sides as well as the top and means one tent side won’t do it. So each morning I had a conglomeration of tent sides and clamps to undo. What would work better would be a large tarp but bring lots of clamps.
The pole barn has two entrances that take people into the “inside pole barn” locations. I was in the center with a corner booth on either side of me that faced the entrances. Many people came in one side and went out the other without ever seeing me stuck there in the middle. And did I mention that the booth spaces are once again, exactly 10’ by 10’. So along with moving lights I spent the weekend trying out different chair locations to try and funnel people past my booth.
It was a weird crowd too. Quite a few couples, my demographic, stared at and discussed photos at length, even discussing where they would put it. And then walked out without even taking a card. And the cards, hardly any went out. I’m of the school that cards are cheap and I give out as many as possible because I never know when they might show up with someone who wants to buy something. I did get a lot of great compliments including some from fellow artists but three sales total. You know something is wrong when the biggest sale of the weekend is to the lady selling fennel cakes who has been staring at the photo all day. I was told the crowd was down and others around me were not happy with their sales either.
I am attributing my low sales to a combination of a bad booth space, a low crowd, and a lack of equipment / adjustment to the space. I will try it again but I will bring better lights, a tarp, and request a different and larger booth space so I can sit where I am used to sitting and get more traffic past the booth.
Other details – The staff is all volunteer and very dedicated, organized and present. Load in and out at the pole barn is easy. I’m not sure how it would be at the big tent and it looks like it would be diffcult at the building. Artist parking is close by. Bagels, coffee and other sweets are provided each morning as well as a nice artist dinner Saturday evening. There are special exhibitor bathrooms and ample porta potties. All of the food vendors had a special exhibitor line.
I got to meet Holly in person. She says hello Munks.
Saturday morning as I sat in view of the mountains, and the bluegrass music started to play, I felt the overwhelming sense of being home, back where I belonged.
I’m now off for the summer. Clif has already planned an extensive journey into the mountains for next Saturday.
Comments
Wow, that's a lot of negative news about the Crozet spring show, so we want to add something more positive to it. After a decent 2010 fall show (decent, not spectacular) we applied for both shows in 2011 and we are glad we did. Last weekend's show started off very slow on Saturday with lots of oohs and ahs and promises to be back, the usual stuff. But guess what, quite a few came back on Sunday. We ended up with a good show and some profit in the bank even after a three-and a half hour trip (twice) with a gas-guzzling motor home. But, from what we gathered from many other artists, we were among a few lucky ones this time. We're looking forward to the fall show. The down turn in show sales in the last couple of years has made us reconsider carefully what we put up for sale for every show. We've added new simpler designs that are still pleasing most prospective clients but can be offered at a lower price. It has resulted in lower profit per sale but with a higher volume. Unfortunately for many artists this is hard to do due to the type of art they make. In Crozet we saw what happened to most of the fabulous woodworkers, fine art painters and photographers, many of whom had no or very few sales. On the other hand, a high-priced metal sculpture artist near us did very well
We cannot blame the Crozet show organizers. They provide us with a wonderful and safe setting. They are very helpful wherever they can, and they do a lot of advertising. The crowd was there on Sunday midday, that's when we had our best sales. Do not give up on this show, we hope to see you again in the fall.
Marley & Jetze Beers
Marley by Design
Lampwork and metal jewelry
Set up and tear down was a breeze. I just would have expected them to cut the grass. It was ankle deep and no one could put a floor down and trying to level a pedestal was difficult.
We traveled 4.5 hrs and that was too far for this show.
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