Blog

Yep, that's me. Can't leave anything alone. But let's start with the good stuff.

This is the best show in Western New York. Hyperbole aside, just a joy to do. I have done this show since the first one 14 years ago when an artist friend called me and said "wanna do a show"? It is in a trendy urban neighborhood (where I just happen to live), about 4-5 blocks long. They have a dance tent and a kids area and a music stage and I normally avoid shows that have all that but this one just works. I made my best sales number of the year. Everyone loves this show. I mean everyone: artists, visitors, kids, dogs. It is a consensus that the people spend because of the happy atmosphere. I agree.

The show was established by local artists and is run by energizer bunny volunteers. Kudos to them all. The food court is run on solar energy and all the plastic utensils are comostable. It's stuff like that that tickles people.

Now, about that molehill. I was schmoozing with a friend who does amazing work with fabric. She prints and dyes nature designs on fabric and then creates wall hangings and bags and quilts. Her booth has jute blinds on the walls and understated, uncluttered display pedestals. It's like entering a Zen zone. Beautiful. I tell you this so that you can feel the horror of what set up beside her" Dye your own scarf!! Yahoo! Step right up, squirt ink into these troughs, drag this cheap square of silk in it, lookie you made something. That will be 25 bucks. Next!

Seriously. It was awful. The guy would step into the middle of the street and do his carnival barker thing to draw a crowd (an activity strictly prohibited) and then do his routine. He made a poop load of money.

So, of course, I "facebooked" a picture of this junk booth with the sarcastic comment "wonder what his jury pix looked like" because I know lots of really talented folks who cannot get into this show. I got like 50 comments. The artists were incensed, the "civilians" told us to have a drink, those with knowledge of the workings defended the committee and advised we take it up with them.

I think a lot of us mentioned it in the post show comment forms, but on the 2nd day the head of the committee stopped by the guy's booth to stop him from carnival barking and was overheard telling him he misrepresented what he was going to be showing. Should he have been tossed? Sure. But the show was so crowded and the vibe was so good I think he probably decided to ride it out.

It dawned on me later that our jury pix are on line for this show so I looked up the guy. Yep. He submitted pretty pictures of hand dyed silk scarves. Lovely. I would have accepted him.

Turns out he has been infecting shows all over the NorthEast with his tacky booth. Some shows are not as tightly juried as this one, but he apparently always presents himself as a fabric artist and then shows up with an EZ Up, 2 troughs and a bunch of red plastic buckets.

Oh, and guess who the Buffalo News showed a photo of in their coverage of the event? Yep. Sigh.

Still the best show, still the best crew, still my best sales. Molehills aside.