kansas (6)

Call for Artists: Mulvane Art Fair

12347782063?profile=RESIZE_400xJune 1 & 2, 2024
Topeka, Kansas

Washburn University Campus
Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm
90 Artists
Deadline: February 23, 2024

Application fee: $35/Booth fee starts at $275

In 2024, the 30th annual juried event will feature more than 85 artists from across the country and will draw thousands of art lovers. With a focus on quality and variety, the fine art event is a favorite in the community and region. Proceeds from the event support the mission and programs of the Mulvane Art Museum, which is Topeka's only art museum and is on the Washburn University campus. High standards for art are key to the success of the 2024 Mulvane Art Fair.
12347782454?profile=RESIZE_710x

This is not only the Art Fair's 30th anniversary but it is also the 100th anniversary of The Mulvane Art Musuem! We will be featuring more roving artists, entertainment and children's activities than ever before, guaranteeing a large and engaged crowd.

12347783095?profile=RESIZE_400x"Love the patron program and purchase awards. Love the on-campus housing option, the relaxed Friday setup. All volunteers and organizers were very helpful and friendly. While the crowd is smaller than other shows, the quality is better." ~Landscape Painter/exhibiting artist from 2023 (anonymous artist survey)

The Topeka community has a growing and vibrant art scene, full of people that greatly value and support original artists and their work.

 

For more info: https://mulvaneartmuseum.org/artfair/index.html

Contact: Stacy Ash stacy.ash@washburn.edu

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Call for Artists: Mulvane Art Fair

12347782063?profile=RESIZE_400xJune 1 & 2, 2024
Topeka, Kansas

Washburn University Campus
Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm
90 Artists
Deadline: February 23, 2024

Application fee: $35/Booth fee starts at $275

In 2024, the 30th annual juried event will feature more than 85 artists from across the country and will draw thousands of art lovers. With a focus on quality and variety, the fine art event is a favorite in the community and region. Proceeds from the event support the mission and programs of the Mulvane Art Museum, which is Topeka's only art museum and is on the Washburn University campus. High standards for art are key to the success of the 2024 Mulvane Art Fair.
12347782454?profile=RESIZE_710x

This is not only the Art Fair's 30th anniversary but it is also the 100th anniversary of The Mulvane Art Musuem! We will be featuring more roving artists, entertainment and children's activities than ever before, guaranteeing a large and engaged crowd.

12347783095?profile=RESIZE_400x"Love the patron program and purchase awards. Love the on-campus housing option, the relaxed Friday setup. All volunteers and organizers were very helpful and friendly. While the crowd is smaller than other shows, the quality is better." ~Landscape Painter/exhibiting artist from 2023 (anonymous artist survey)

The Topeka community has a growing and vibrant art scene, full of people that greatly value and support original artists and their work.

 

For more info: https://mulvaneartmuseum.org/artfair/index.html

Contact: Stacy Ash stacy.ash@washburn.edu

Read more…

Call for Artists: Smoky Hill River Festival

10048216073?profile=RESIZE_400xJune 10, 11, & 12
Salina, Kansas
Oakdale Park
Friday 10am-7pm, Saturday 9am-7pm, & Sunday 12Noon-4pm
130+ Artists
Deadline: February 3
 
Application fee: $40 Booth fee: $325
The Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art and Craft Show welcomes your application! The show presents an exceptional juried collection of original fine art and crafts. The Festival is held in the beautiful, natural outdoor space of Oakdale Park.
 
We have welcomed thousands of loyal home towners and far-way guests, as well as appreciative food vendors, artists and performers who had never experienced the arts Festival-style, until they came to Salina. The three-day arts celebration is unmatched in its on-grounds hospitality and community support and continues to evolve, reflecting Salina Arts & Humanities’ passionate commitment to the arts.
Here are just some of the things you can expect:
  • Unmatched hospitality and dedication to meeting artists needs
  • Approximately 60,000 gate count each year
  • Knowledgeable and enthusiastic Patrons who purchase nearly half a million dollars in artwork every year
  • Invitation for each Artist + 1 to the exclusive Thursday night opening party celebrating Artists & Patrons, with exceptional complimentary food & drink
  • Onsite Parking
  • Assistance with load-in and load-out available
  • Artist promotion and live artist website links on Festival website
  • Art Gift Certificate Program
  • On-site weather tracking
  • 24-hour security
  • Hotel discounts with participating hotels
  • Complimentary Artist Breakfast on Sunday morning
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art in the park, garden city kansas

This is a one day show in september in conjunction with fall fest. the lady who runs it is so unbelievably nice that its hard to write anything bad about the show, but Garden city is a shitbox.  the town is all grain elevators and feed lots and depending on the wind direction smells like rotting cow flesh.  I was there for about 30 hours and that was far too long.  There are a few people from what I've heard who have lots of cattle or oil money but i saw no evidence of it.  I mostly sold cheap prints.  I'd say if its geographically super convenient to do, maybe do it. the jury fee is only $10 and $60 for the booth fee which i actually didnt even pay til i was at the show. and they had prize money! not a ton but compared to the booth fee it was okay.  I got 2nd prize which was $200 so that was nice. 
Just a little info for anyone considering this show. 
Although the jewelers near me seemed to be really busy, but i dont know how well they did.

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Kansas City Downtown Art Annual review

Kansas City (MO) Downtown Art Annual

 

The Good: Location, people, show staff, Horace Washington & Friends

The Bad: Results

The Ugly: Tornadoes

 

First let me say that I was impressed with what Kansas City has done with the Power & Light District, the downtown area where the show was held. It appears that the city has invested a considerable amount of resources to make “The District” a vibrant place. I have never been to KC prior to this trip so I have no idea what the area was like before, but now it seems like a happening, downtown area. Good job, KC.

 

Friday setup was in the rain the entire time, a drenching, steady rain. Fortunately by the time I was done with setup and got back to the RV to change into something dry the rain had stopped, the sun was making occasional appearances, and the streets were drying out. Reason enough to be optimistic since my show the previous weekend was a total bust. See other’s reviews of Art Birmingham.

 

The Downtown Art Annual is on fairly narrow city streets so setup/teardown can be a bit tight, but everyone worked pretty well together. The show is a three day affair with setup starting at 11:00 am Friday and the show running from 5-9 pm that night. By 9:00 pm it is pretty dark and lights are needed for your work to have any hope of being seen. There is power available but there is a catch. The city light poles have electrical outlets which we were allowed to plug in to, if we had a way to reach them, they are about 25 feet above the sidewalk. Needless to say nobody took advantage of the “available” power.

 

Sales, at least for me, were less than expected, I covered expenses plus a little. I am a black & white photographer and had a lot of interest in my work but couldn’t get enough people to pull the trigger. However, the mixed media artist next door did quite well. Saturday was the busiest day with a good sized crowd that seemed genuinely interested in looking at the art and talking with the artists, as opposed to just strolling through the zoo, looking at the animals in their cages, and eating a corn dog. For the most part I found the customers to be considerate, appreciative, and fairly sophisticated. Never once was I asked to give a discount, all of my sales were at full price. How often does that happen? Friday evenings crowd seemed to be the younger, hipper, KC downtown residents and if your art appealed to their tastes, good sales could be had. Sunday was the slowest day with light crowds and equally light sales.

 

As has been my experience at most shows that feature music, it was way too loud! During most of Saturday communicating with customers was difficult. I enjoyed the music, it was a nice blend of blues and jazz with a touch of rock n roll, but I wasn’t there for the music. Sunday’s music was a welcome relief. While still being a blend of jazz & blues, the volume was several decibels lower. Horace Washington & Friends, the first of two musical groups on Sunday were quite fun and entertaining from noonuntil 2:00 pm and continually urged the crowd to “buy art”. I spoke with him afterwards and expressed my thanks for his encouraging the folks to buy art and he said, “Unlike you folks (the artists) we get paid no matter what. You are the reason everyone is here, we are here to support you”. How refreshing!

 

There was no food court. This was a Howard Allen show, a first for me, and from my understanding HA shows do not have food courts. FYI.

 

As a side note, I have experienced just about every kind of weather in my years of doing shows except a tornado. I am from the Northwest and the T-word strikes paralyzing fear in me. I can deal with earthquakes, wildfires, rain, wind, snow, ice, but please, no tornadoes. Turns out that the tornado that destroyed Joplin, MO happened on the Sunday of this show and was only 150 miles away. Way too close for my comfort. My thoughts and condolences go out to the folks who were affected by this devastating storm. Makes my less than expected sales pretty insignificant.

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When I applied for this show, I was looking for something close to the OKC 6-day show.  The Book & Art fair is held every year on Mother's Day weekend at the Century II exhibit hall in Wichita, Kansas as a fundraiser for the local art museum.  As the date of the show approached, my husband and I were faced with a couple of very unexpected and expensive events that had me questioning whether or not to do this one.  He talked me into going, but I chose to drive and set-up on the same day to keep my hotel costs down, something that I don't normally do.

 

Set-Up

Set-up is on Friday from 10 am 'til 8pm.  I arrived at 5pm and found easy parking at the loading dock.  I was able to unload quickly onto one of the provided flatbed carts and dolly my stuff to my booth space.  Set-up seemed to go smoothly for most people. Affordable electric ($35) was provided via an outlet on the floor right at your booth space, the floor was fairly level, and the aisles were wide.  I managed to finish setting up at 7:45, a respectable time when I'm by myself.

 

The artist's parking was an easy one block walk from Century II.  Because of my late arrival I didn't need to move my car to the artist's parking lot on Friday, just move it from the the dock space to another "loading" space.   Saturady and Sunday that short walk was much appreciated in the 100 degree heat.

 

The Show

The show opened Saturday morning at 10am, and there was a line of shoppers at the door.  Some of these folks went straight for the booths, others went right upstairs for the used book sale.  By 2pm the crowd had thinned out to a mere trickle and pretty much remained that way until the 6pm closing time.  Bargain shoppers abounded in the afternoon crowd, drwan in by the book sale.  The artists had plenty of time to walk around and visit in the afternoon.  I met many first-timers like myself, and one long-timer.  Several of the artists had been in OKC like myself.  All of the first-timers expressed that it would be nice to just make the booth fee for this one($200).

 

Sunday brought an 11am start time, and shoppers were once again lined up at the door.  Most folks managed to make early sales, but by 2 o'clock the crowd had shifted again.  The recycle metal worker across from me managed to keep the sales up for another hour or so, but most of the buying energy was gone.  At 3pm, an announcement was mad that all of the used books were on sale for $3 per paper grocery bag full, and that sucked some of the shoppers up to the balcony to look for bargains.  Several of the artists started a slow tear-down at 4:30 in preparation for the 5pm show close.  Those I spoke to didn't have great sales on either day and were gald when the show was over. 

 

Load Out

In anticipation of the forthcoming chaos of folks trying to leave a not-so-great show in a hurry, I brought in my own handtruck and packing materials when I arrived Sunday morning.  The flatbed carts provided by the site were in short supply at teardown and I was gald to have a place to stack my ProPanels off of the floor.  Everything was orderly and quick, and the hall was fairly empty when I departed at 6:30.

 

My Review

For some reason this show was very heavy on photography and jewelry.  The jewelry I get - Mother's Day and shiny, 3-D things to touch.  But photo?  I'm a photographer and this was totally not my crowd.  My stuff is higher-end, monochromatic, historic process work and this was a lower-end, 3-D, bargain-hunting crowd.  Unfortunately this show doesn't really have a website, and you're only given a list of participating artists at check-in (without a notation of medium), so reasearch can't be done prior to application or acceptance to see if your work is a good fit.  My hopes were that being sponsored by the local art museum the quality might be a little higher.

In terms of sales, under $100 seemed to be the hot price point.  A nearby jeweler sold a piece well above that mark but had give a significant discount just to make the sale.  In terms of 2-D, the hot item seemed to be the "print-in-a-bag" - no mat, just a flat print dropped in a clearbag.  Even notecards were a hard sell at this show.

In the past this show was held in conjunction with RiverFest (now held in June), which apparently brought in bigger crowds on Saturday.  This was the first year the the Book and Art show was on its own and despite a good advertising campaign the shoppers just weren't there.  And this is first and foremost a used book sale.  The art fair feels like a sideline - a few boothsitters, cookies at check-in, but that's it.  Everyone was very nice, but that doesn't put gas in the car to get you home.  If you live close by and need a filler show, this could be OK if you have lots of stuff in the $30 - $50 range.

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