At long last, I'm back in the saddle after a bad back forced me to scuttle a scheduled show in Bethany Beach a month ago and then kept the kayak in the garage during a planned 2.5-week "staycation" back in Ft. Myers. I used the time to reload four shows' worth of inventory and ship it all to my rental home in Cape May County, then hopped a non-stop flight on Spirit Airlines, ready to sell 'em all...or at least a lot of 'em...while I photographed the fall bird migration along my beloved South Jersey Coastline.
Well, not so fast, cowboy. My first stop, The Wheaton Festival of Fine Craft, is as well-organized as any show you'll find, with friendly volunteers, well-orchestrated load-in/out, a beautiful 65-acre, tree-lined setting on the grounds of the WheatonArts Center, and a solid following among arts lovers. The site is home to the Museum of American Glass, the Creative Glass Center of America International Fellowship Program, the largest folklife center in New Jersey, a hot glass studio, several traditional craft studios, five museum stores, a 13,000 sq. ft. Event Center and a beautiful pond-side picnic grove. The center bills itself as "the soul of American craft and art." And their marketing program and mail list is top-notch.
So what could go wrong?
Well, in what seems to be a recurrent theme this season, it was the weather. A beautiful, summer-like Saturday with steady crowds was scuttled by the cold front that whipped through Saturday night to drop a half-inch of rain and chill the temperatures by 25 degrees. So Sunday turned out to be a fireplace-and-football kinda day for Philadelphia area residents, leaving artists to (mostly) talk amongst themselves. The 40 or so artists who displayed in one of the indoor venues, or under the ultra-long canopy outside, fared somewhat better, but even those crowds were way off from Saturday.
I wound up selling only slightly more than I sold at the previous weekend's "Margate Fun Fest", which was a popular community event for the family and kiddos, but makes no pretense of being a serious art show.
So Wheaton wound up 'way below my sales expectations, and it can't all be explained away by the weather. (I sold nearly as much on Sunday as Saturday.) So wha' happened?
First off, the quality of work was excellent, but as the show name suggests, it's heavily skewed toward fine CRAFT, not fine art (of the 2-D variety). Of the 125 artists, the show's beautifully designed, full color program listed only three fine artists and seven photographers, compared with 16 clay artists, 16 fiber artists, nine artists working in glass, 15 woodworkers, and 10 clothing designers. Jewelry (29) was the most heavily represented, by far--but nearly all that I saw was beautifully made. I had lots of time, unfortunately, to walk the show on Sunday, and I saw very little work that didn't belong at a high-end festival. But, many of the folks who strolled the grounds on Saturday were carrying crafts, not 2-D work. "If you're a 2-D artist, you'll build a following here over time," a ten-year veteran of the show told me.
There were plenty of savvy buyers who came in to meet me on Saturday, but they were making bee-lines for the browse bins of 16x20s and 11x14s, not my wall canvases. Another wildlife photographer friend who sells only canvases and notecards (no matted prints at all) said that his sales came almost entirely from ultra-small (8x10, 11x14) canvases, not his larger ones. One of the fine artists next to me had a "working display tent" set up next to her usual gallery tent, and she cleverly carved out a survivor's take by selling her demo 8x10 prints for $10-20. But she didn't sell any larger works, which were sized and priced similarly to mine.
(Photo, right: Saturday crowds)
The jewelers I talked with did OK "considering it was pretty much a one-day show", as one put it.
All in all, this is clearly an event run by folks who know what they're doing, and they obviously enjoy a lot of community support. Bottom line, I can't hold the weather against them. If you're a fine craftsperson within a day's drive of this show, I'd put this one on your list for 2013. If you're a 2-D artist, I'd consider it, too...but come prepared with smaller, less expensive work and plan your first year as a "seed investment" for the future.
(Photo, left: Late morning on Sunday)
July 15-18
At the Tower
On the streets of Ann Arbor, MI
175 Artists
Deadline: January 15
The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair is one of the events that turned this whole art fair business into a business that now supports thousands of artists nationwide, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. Don't miss your opportunity to be part of a legend!
The Street Art Fair is one of the highest ranking art fairs in the nation and for good reason:
*It draws collectors who rarely attend art fairs
*It attracts the finest artists
*It works with many cultural community and educational institutions to produce exceptional community art activities
*It works throughout the year to be a blue ribbon presence in the Ann Arbor community
This is the original event on which the other Ann Arbor fairs have patterned themselves, as well as many other fairs across the nation. It is the creme de la creme of art events.
The Street Art Fair has an distinctive jury process, unlike that of any other art fair. Under the guidance of Shary Brown, the director, there are five separate panels jurying specific media or related categories.
There are 4 to 5 jurors per panel, one of whom is a member of the Jury Group. The Jury Group meets in a sixth 
session after all the panels are complete to review the submissions with high scores and determine invitations in each category, balancing the scores, the range of work and the strength of category.
Artists selected for the wait list are also determined at this session. They jury over two weekends in late January and early February with at least two sessions mid week. All images are projected, statements read with additional information available upon request.
The strength of this approach is that they have jurors (who are paid an honorarium) working 4 to 6 hours only in their own area of expertise, or related areas. Jurors see the work multiple times and are able to ask questions and to discuss the work, moving back and forth to compare it to other submissions in the category. Jurors are generally working artists and are often educators at area colleges or museums. They mix new jurors with experienced jurors.
The Jury Group member brings a familiarity with the fair and knowledge of the goals and programs from having juried the fair on site the previous year. They will bring the overall sensibility of the panel to the final session.
One of the unusual aspects of this jurying is that there is no booth slide required, but rather five images of your work.
For more info on the Street Fair visit their website: 