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I was in Atlanta September 18-20 for the Third Annual ZAPP Conference. I've been to a fair number of conferences and will tell you right off that one of the best things about attending these events is the people, both people you've only heard about (art fair directors, artists), people you've met online (say, ArtFairInsiders.com or Facebook) and old friends and acquaintances.

The first activity was to attend the Atlanta Arts Festival in Piedmont Park. There I met a great group that I've known online for a long time: Julie & Tracy Tepp (Atlanta Arts Festival organizer), Kelly Kindred (Bayou City Art Festival), Nichole Smith (Newport Arts Festival) and Liz Smith (Artisphere).

Then off to a meet and greet where lots of familiar people appeared: Mo Riley (Ann Arbor Street Art Fair), Les & Ella Slesnick (retirees), Sarah Rishel (artist), Terry Adams & Tara Brickell (Cherry Creek), Patty Narozny & Elise Richey (Hotworks), Cindy Lerick & Laura Miller (St. Louis Art Fair), Katrina Gallegos (Coconut Grove), Karla Prickett (Smoky Hill River Festival), Stephen King (Des Moines) and a bunch more.

I went to dinner with Liz Smith, the Slesnicks and two men who have served on a fair number of art fair juries: Jerry Gilmore and Jerry McFadden. Hint to you: if you want to find good local restaurants hang out with Gilmore. He was on a mission to eat his way through the Southern cuisine.

The conference was a whirl of information

• including a keynote address about the changing demographics of the US population and what that means to the art audience.
• Lawyer Marci Rolnik had a mountain of interesting information about copyright that could easily have been worth the whole conference for artists. 
• Karla Prickett, Deanna Henion (artist) and I were on a panel about jurying moderated by Leah Alters from the Columbus Art Festival. (I got lots of feedback about the thread on this site where you all told me what you wanted the art fair directors to know about your thoughts on jurying. I made a full report. Many thanks for your input. I was prepared.)
• Reed McMillan brought a host of ideas to invigorate art events including flash mobs, pop up events, the Renegade Indie shows, inviting food trucks, shifts in consumer behavior, re-imagining partnerships with communities
• a Symposium led by Stephen King with outsiders to our industry, Tucker Berta a strategist with economic districts; a representative from Americans for the Arts, Mitch Menchaca; the CEO of a dynamic website, Custommade.com, Michael Salguero; artist Kirsten Stingle who is also a storyteller; and Carlton Turner, executive director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional non-profit arts organization. This was the best part of the conference for me. The mix of people telling their own stories of how they have brought art to the streets and their approach to making their work count despite the today's economic realities was inspiring.
  
  Reed recommended a book, Raving Fans, a Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service. Have any of you read this? It sounds like it would be full of ideas for our business.

Karla Prickett & Jay Downie

• Two workshops on social media with attention being paid to artists needs and the art fairs separate mission
• Last (and always the best part) a Mock Jury with show directors and artists viewing the images of artist who were in the room. The jurors were Jerry Gilmore, Randall Smith and Nichole Smith. If you have never seen a live jury or seen your own work in the midst of others' work, put this on your list of things you need to do. It is always eye-opening and one of the best things you can do for your career in the art fair business.

Throughout both days Larry Berman provided complimentary image evaluations and private portfolio reviews. Great to see artists Carroll Swayze, Beverly Hayden, Aaron Hequembourg, and Ron Schmidt once again.

I also met Julie Cochrane from FestivalNetworkOnline.com but hardly had a chance to talk, Jay Downie from Main Street/Fort Worth and as always enjoyed the company of the folks from State College, Rick Bryant, Carol Baney and Pam Lautsch.

The ZAPP staff led by Leah Charney did a great job of putting together a conference with good topics and interesting speakers who were full of useful information.

Rick Bryant helping me with Facebook

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When I think of Atlanta I always think of a vibrant, growing city, population pulsing and new business abounding. Being from Michigan I've certainly seen the impact of the hard economic times, but I have to tell you, these hard times were evident in the beautiful Midtown area of Atlanta also. These gleaming buildings, maybe not even ten years old had many closed storefronts and empty spaces. I have always tried to ignore the economic downturn, and wanted to believe that if we all work hard, are smart and creative and make good choices we can be fine. Atlanta told me differently.

I had thought the term "new normal" was something the artists invented to explain the new economic realities but I heard it on the lips of the participants in the Symposium, not even referring to art fairs. 

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Post 1/28  29/11

I am pleased as punch to report that I made a rather large sale the other day; however, this is where experience separates itself from just plain old dumb luck. Realize now, that I still am a fairly relative newby with less than three years art show experience under my tent.  So, when a wonderful patron asked me, “And how much is shipping to New Hampshire?”  I played coy and said I’d have to check my book and get them a quote.  Hell, I’ve shipped paintings to Germany!  How difficult could it be to ship a piece to Keene, NH?

Well.

I checked my little book, and recited the quote for the USPS for a piece 36” X 24” and up to 25 lbs to NY for $85.00.  Hey, how much more could a piece 52” X 24” be? A few bucks?  Oh no no no no.  At a certain dimension, the USPS turns its back on you.  At a certain weight, UPS and FedEx just hand you Vaseline and tell you to bend over.  There is a netherworld out there in shipping, where the actual size of a package is eclipsed by its estimated weight category.  This is the best way I have to describe it, and it’s better this way, because my tequila report is interwoven with it.  Apparently, according to one private shipping company (which may be the issue) dimensions and weight cease to matter and become a nebulous area where the length x width x girth is estimated to fall within an estimated weight range, and if your package doesn’t fall within these specifications, they hand you the extra large bottle of Vaseline.  Uh huh. 

“Three hundred thirty dollars.  Plus one hundred twenty nine to build the crate.”

“Two hundred sixty five dollars, and that’s only a thousand dollars insurance.”

“Well, air will insure any amount, if you can prove its value, but ground will only insure up to a thousand.”

Hang on.  I’m getting to the tequila report.

So, after a few hours of feeling like I bit off both ends of my burrito, so to speak, I began to ask other artists which shipper they use.

“Shipper?” many of them inquired with a politely raised eyebrow. “Why would I want to use one of those?”

For the first few days of the show, my booth was peppered with fliers from private shippers advertising “free packing”, “will pick up from show”, “insurance included”.  I began to feel like a college student shopping for car insurance.  I didn’t even know there was a difference between packing and crating.

“You make your own box.”  Upon viewing my completely obtuse expression, my peeps began to explain.

“You go to Home Depot.  You grab a refrigerator box.  They’re always throwing them out, they’re free and they’re heavy duty.  You cutta the box to size.  Now, if you gotta canvas, you gotta getchaself summa masonite and putta thata on the face of it...you builda your owna box...”

Ok, so maybe I’m overdoing the Godfather bit, but it was about as big a mystery to me as say, oh, cannoli cream, cappozella, and Casa Nostra.  So, taking me under their wings, these obliging artists initiated me into Packing Your Own Artwork 101.  “Screw the shippers,” went the first commandment, “they overcharge.”

As Framer Dude is collaterally involved with this adventure, he was adamant that I buy a box from someone: “I am NOT dumpster diving for cardboard!  We’ll go to the shippers and buy a box!”

So, we went to various packers.

“I can order that size for you, it’ll be here Wednesday.”

“A 65” x 30” x 6” is $70.  Yeah, just the cardboard box, lady.  We gotta pay to freight it here.”

“You need a crate for that size.  Mine are $129.”

Uh huh.  When a shipper charges more for a box than I paid for a painting to go to Gemany, I start to get the idea that maybe I’m being played and taken for the rube I am.   I don’t like that feeling.  I retreated into my wounded manic artist persona in the truck home, feeling about as stable as nitroglycerin.  Seriously, one decent sale and I shoot myself in the foot and eat my profits with the shipping? There’s got to be a better way.  Maybe I don’t have all the money in the world, but if I bought a painting for say, 2 grand and then was told I’d have to pay 500 in shipping, I’d balk on principle and rent my own damn uhaul and driver for less!

Framer Dude suddenly changed his tune when another boothbuddy pointed out all our frigging tools.

“Can he build a crate?  I mean, it’s kinda like building a frame...I got a painting I have to ship next week, and I’d pay you to make it rather than one of these vulture shippers.”

 MacGuyver Dude pipes up.

“I can build a crate.”  

Today I saw the covert looks towards him with visual vocalizations of “Crates” along with fingers pointing.  He may be leaving hot dog heaven soon.

So, having been deflowered by the packing and shipping companies, one of the veteran artists who has taken me under his wing, gently tugged at my sleeve at Happy Hour yesterday and offered me a consolation/congratulation: homemade tequila by a compadre of his from Mexico.  A bit of law and trivia (are the two even mutually exclusive?): if you make your own tequila in Sonoran County, you are not allowed to call it ‘tequila’; this was called Baccanora, or something like that.  I took French and Latin in high school, what was I thinking?

“You’ll get the hang of it,” he assured me as he expertly daubed finishing touches on a commissioned painting.  What, the shipping?   “...don’t take it like a shot, just sip it.” Oh. Oops.

Sippin’ tequila.  This stuff had a smoky cactusy burn to it, complex and oaky and flowery, that would have made it a venal sin to mix it with anything.  Well, after a water glass of this pure cactus heaven, I stumbled back to my RV, only to find Framer Dude and another peep engaging in another consciousness-altering substance.

Feeling suitably invincible now, I acquiesced to this peep’s generous offer as well.  Which is why this blog post was not published last night, as originally intended.  Beware of artists bearing gifts.