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I had the fortunate chance to attend the Chastain Park Art Festival when I was in Atlanta for my son's Law School graduation.  His graduation was on Monday so we decided to go check out the Chastain Park Art Festival on May 9th.  The show ran from May 9 through to May 10th. 

The weather was wonderful, that coming from someone who just left the frozen tundra Michigan had been fighting off all spring.  It was so nice to be able to stroll along the artist's tents without being bundled up in warm winter coats.  There were people out looking for Mother's Day gifts as well as art for themselves.  People were able to stroll along the booths without having to worry about cars and traffic because this roadway was closed to any traffic.

The first booth we happened upon was the lovely Melanie Rolfes and Michael Zavison.

They had a great spot as people seemed to enter the row of booths from the side of the show they were on.  They had a huge booth with all these great large paintings that would look great in those gigantic homes that bordered the park.  Melanie lives in the Atlanta area and she said she loves this show.  She said the Spring show allows crafts for Mother's day purchases but the Fall show is all Fine Art. I did see some crafts but didn't think I saw any junk.

Next we came upon Joel Lockridge who makes fine wooden pens.  My husband seemed to be very interested in owning one of those.  I think that may be my first Christmas gift purchase of the year.  Joel wasn't too far from Melanie's booth.  As you can see, Joel had a great looking booth.                                                                                

Not too far from Joel we found Ruth Jellema.  I never saw her art work before and she had some great pieces.  Her work is so unique and any one of her pieces would look great in someone's home.   It was great getting to meet Ruth.

We walked the complete length of the show and finished up by stopping by the Chastain information booth to meet up with Randall Fox and Patrick  Dennis.  They were both great guys.  Randall treated us to a great lunch on the grounds.  It was the best pulled pork BBQ lunch.  We loved it.  Thanks Randall, we appreciated trying out the great Atlanta cuisine at the show.

Randall told us that the people around the Atlanta neighborhoods tend to stay in their own communities and don't go off into the other ones.  Chastain Park didn't really have an Art Show for their own area.  That is how they decided to start up the Chastain Park Arts Festival.  That seemed kind of strange about the neighborhoods but I heard that from someone else not connected to the show, too, later that weekend.  The Chastain Park area had big gorgeous homes bordering the park and I saw something that I never see in Michigan anymore - new home construction!  New homes are always a good sign of the economy of an area.  And those new homes will need some art work soon!

There was plenty of room for storage around the artist's booths.  They had lots of room on each side and lots of room behind the booths.  The show was one long giant strip with no one behind the booths.  Having the extra room on all 3 sides was nice as I think it was a bit of a walk to the artists parking area.  The weather was gorgeous and sunny which would have meant very hot in Atlanta.  But, this show provides plenty of shade with the park's large trees all along this road way.  This looked like a great place for a show.

I don't know how sales were as I was there first thing Saturday morning.  Hopefully, someone will let us know how things went for them.

Show promoters- Puleeeeze stop calling for "vendors" in your prospectuses and advertising. It drives me nuts!

I just did this first year show this past weekend, it's in the same place that I think mainsail is (i might be wrong on that) its on bayfront drive and ne 2nd street in that little park just south of Vinoy.  it's a friday set up and load in is EASY. - yay!

Saturday had just PERFECT weather and people seemed super enthusiastic, I mostly sold small to medium things, but I sold a lot of them. It was the best show I've had in a while and I dont even think i was on the busiest side of the show.  A buddy of mine who is also a painter however was across the park in what I would have assumed to be one of the best spots and he did not do so well on saturday, (I havent spoken to him about sunday, could have been a game changer, who knows).

One of my neighbors was a local large scale sort of impressionistic painter of palm trees and stuff and she straight up killed it.  I dont know how much she did but she had to have done close to 10K or more. Most of her business she said was return customers though, because she's lived here for 17 years.  My other neighbor was a sculptor of stone and he did well also. 

I spoke to a few who did not do great, 2 were because for some reason (uncharacteristic of Paragon) there was a freakin time share tent so buyers just scurried away from that tent and as a result the artist neighbors of these obnoxious people suffered severely.  Sunday wasnt as great as Saturday, largely because the weather, it didnt rain until the afternoon, but there was an impending storm that was obvious all day. 

I totally recommend this show, and as with all Paragon shows, its really nice that Bill is walking around seeing how everyone is doing, I have never complained about anything, so I'm not sure if he solves any problems that you have, but he certainly seems to care. 

I don't often feel motivated to report on a show, but sometimes it's a must!  This was our second year at this oceanside event and worthy of a review.  

First, the venue - the Chincoteague community center is the location for both indoor and outdoor booths.  I can only really report on the indoor, but the outdoor vendors seemed to be happy.  Indoors, we have either a 10x10 or 8x8 space, with power available at extra cost.  The Air Conditioning is great, event with all the doors opening and closing.  Linoleum Tile floor is immaculate, as is the rest of the building.  "Dan", the center coordinator, is on-site all the time and ready to resolve any challenges that may arise.  The Wi-Fi is free, password protected, and great!  Plenty of ingress and egress for load in and out.  Tables and chairs are complementary.

Next, the promoter.  Sam Serio owns and runs the event.  Sam has years of experience as a vendor and it shows.  He is the Jury, and is very good at it.  No buy/sell indoors for sure, very little outdoors and those that are there do NOT compete with the crafters.  Sam also allows a few commercial booths like Bath Fitter, and that's fine by me.  They pay dearly, and keep costs under control.  Sam charges a $5,00 admission fee, with multi day discounts, coupons, and late arrival deals.  Sam also does a drawing on Friday and Saturday for a total of 4 - $50 coupons for next year's booth fee!

The Crowd - this is a largely tourist crowd that loves this event.  They buy.  They are not broke.  Super bunch of shoppers, and we make new friends every year.

The Vendors - first rate bunch.  Positive attitudes abound

The weather - last year hot, but this year was amazing

Hours - Friday and Saturday and Sunday, 9-4:30

The Island - Chincoteague is a vacation paradise.  Whether camping, Hotel, B&B or vacation rental, you will have a magnificent stay.  The annual Chincoteague Pony Swim is the Wednesday after the show.

This is a very nice event and the sales are great to good.  Our take is that if you can spend 2 weeks in a beautiful place, eat, drink and hang out, spend 3 days at a show and come home with more money than you arrived with, it's a big win!

I wanted to write reviews of the shows that I've done to help other artists potentially make decisions of whether they want to apply or not but its kind of a pain to get the shows onto to the reviews page so I thought i would just share my information on here.

Key Biscayne, Florida

Hyde Park, Tampa, Florida

Altamonte Springs, Orlando, Florida

Marco Island, Florida

Old town Art Fair, Saint Augustine, Florida

St Armands Key, Sarasota, Florida

Lawton Arts Festival, Oklahoma

Blue Dome Arts Festival, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Deerfield, Illinois

Hinsdale, Illinois

Wells Street Arts Festival, Chicago

Northville Arts festival, Michigan

Fountain Square, Evanston, Illinois

Salida Arts Festival, Salida, Colorado

Salida Riverside Arts Festival, Colorado

Downtown Aspen, Colorado

Beaver Creek, Colorado

Sloan's Lake Arts Festival, Denver, Colorado

Evergreen arts festival, Colorado

March -

Key Biscayne (Howard alan)

    I personally will never do this show again, I did terrible.  it was my first show so i was working out some kinks for sure and I cant completely discredit this show. The artists I spoke to who seemed to do well were glass or 3-d artists and miami artists.  A cuban/miami local who does pretty much only pop art style of cuban coffee pots and american coffee pots that say "cuban" and "american" I would have to assume did awesome because I saw those paintings walking all over. 

Its a very hispanic population so those who are fluent speakers also have an advantage, I speak spanish at a conversational level, but I'm not as confident "telling my story" or selling in spanish so I certainly had a disadvantage.  Anyways, there were a fair amount of people walking around, the show wasnt dead, it wasnt hugely busy though. Easy Friday set up but I will absolutely never ever do it again.  Overnight parking is in a park a mile or two away and there is a sparsely running shuttle to bring people from A to B. 

Hyde park (Howard alan)
     This show is in an awesome location in Tampa.  My target clientele is younger with money and this is who populates this show.  Its a Saturday morning set up so that's kind of a pain in the ass, but I did luck out on being able to pull right up to my booth to drop stuff off and set up.  I would entertain the idea of doing this show again, I think  a lot of people do well here. 

Altamonte springs

      This is in an interesting location north of orlando in an expensive town home development with a similar demographic as Hyde park.  A majority of Saturday got shut down because of a tornado warning but i think it would have been a pretty good show for me had that not been the case.  I would probably do this show again.  

April -

Marco Island (howard alan)

     This was the first show that I felt I did well at. now after having done months of shows my idea of "well" is certainly different than it was then but Marco Island was good for me.  I think it was a first year show of HA promoting it. I think some seasoned artists said there used to be a show run there but there have been a few years sans show making it essentially a first year so, So i would have higher expectations for this show in the future. 

Set up/Break down was cake.  you can drive onto the grassy area to set up. unfortunately parking is miles from the show, there is a trolly to shuttle people back and forth.  There are no bathrooms or any amenties near the parking, I walked over to the beach and poached showers at the hotels on the beach in the evening. 

St Augustine (Old town I think its called, its run by Lynne something)

      Same set up as Marco Island, in a big open field, you drive up to it, super easy.  Parking is right next to the show which is really nice and my family lives in St augustine so i was able to get a shower there.  The location isnt great, not a ton of traffic. I did okay because my grandma passed out the little art show promo cards provided free by the show to everyone in her neighborhood and told everyone if they didnt atleast come to the show and see me they would be off of her christmas card list. I'm not joking. haha. So that was a big help.  I dont think its a great show.  its a mediocre show at best but I will do it again because of my family. 

St Armands (paragon)

     This show also has a fairly easy set up, you drive into the middle of the circle and drop off your stuff then parking is maybe a quarter mile away on the beach which is pretty nice. there are nice bathrooms there (they're locked at night) and beach showers so that's good. 

I didnt have a very good show there, one of my neighbors was a painter and he didnt do well either, but a jeweler that was near us did awesome.  Ohh and a guy who made crazy huge outdoor bronze sculptures killed it. He must have sold 3 pieces at 5-7 grand each. 

Bill Kinney, the promoter, comes by at the end of the show asks what your sales were and comes out with series of graphs by media etc and shows what the average sales of each were so that's really nice (assuming that they're accurate) according to the file that he sent the average sales were just under 4K per artist.  I did below that but I had not yet gotten my Trimline, so i was rocking an EZup and I think with the fancy vacationers of St armands. 

Also, Howard alan had a show close by that weekend and sent Helaine over to this show to try and get the vendor list, when paragon refused to give it to her she walked around and wrote everyones name down. I guess to discriminate against us? art show politics....

May- off to oklahoma!

Lawton -

    Wow, that's an interesting demographic there.  Fairly easy set up if you have a spot next to the road, less so if you're deeper in the park.  There are lots of food vendors here and the show certainly attracts a lot of people, a large portion of them are toothless, inbred looking carnival going turkey leg eaters. and the other side of that are Army people stationed at Ft Sill. 

I do hawaiian style art so many of them had been to hawaii and really connected with my work so I sold a lot of pieces in the 100-250 range. I dont think I had any sales from a higher price range, but i did sell quite a bit of pieces there.  A neighbor of mine that made wall sculptures out of square nails was NOT happy at all, but he has higher expectations than I do, he's been at it for like 30 years, and I probably did better there than him. 

its a 3 day show, set up friday am/midday and show is open friday like 4-7 or something then normal weekend hours.  The promoter was super accomodating and even set up for host families to stay with in town.  They also arranged for all of us to be able to use the YMCA gym, pool, sauna, and showers which is right next to the show. I was really stoked about that, and parking is a few blocks away at a library ergo free wifi.

The weather can be really unpredictable, there were tornado warnings on thursday, not terrible throughout the weekend until breakdown and shit got crazy windy. I didnt get any damage though. 

Blue dome in Tulsa

       So this show started as a boycott of local artists to Mayfest's policy of only accepting 10% local artists.  I was only able to do this show because my buddy is from there and we split a triple booth, which was probably the best location in the entire show right in front of the oldest bar in Tulsa. Most of blue dome is crafty or buy/sell low end stuff, which can go both ways, but i'd say it worked in our favor.

there are a lot of serious buyers in Tulsa who boycott mayfest because of the aformentioned reason and they had very little choices of fine art in this show, us being one.  So we totally killed it and were pretty drunk the whole time.  Also, the booth fee is like $100 for 3 days, so thats awesome. If its geographically convenient at all I will absolutely be doing this show again. It was a blast. I imagine Mayfest is lucrative for artists as well.

June-

Deerfield, IL

     I will absolutely not be doing this show again.  Its in a heavily jewish area so saturday was completely dead and sunday was not a whole hell of a lot better.  A few people did okay, but its not my crowd, nor was there a crowd at all. It was a fairly easy show to do, I met a couple who became my closest "art tour" friends who i subsequently did shows with for the next 2 months.

I also by crazy chance got my top collector there. He is a young guy and avid art collector but had no clue of the show. he had gotten off the train and saw the show so walked down in the last few minutes before closing sunday. He bought a small original and said he would be getting my biggest piece at Wells street show in 2 weeks which he did.  He has since bought a few more originals for me.  That made Deerfield worth it, but I wont do that show again. No one was really happy. I do not recommend it.  It is next to whole foods though which made me happy

Hinsdale, IL

    Not my cup of tea either.  I didnt really speak to anyone who had a good show.  Its in a hugely upscale area, but I did not see anyone buying expensive pieces.  Thats about all I have to say. ohh the breakfast they had was the best muffins I'd had yet at a show-they were from a local bakery

Wells Street - downtown chicago

     That show is a big drinking party. I was right across from Benchmark bar, which seemed to be one of the swankiest busiest bars.  I heard that some serious buyers dont walk to that area because there are too many drunk people, but I did really well there, partially because of my deerfield collector buying my biggest piece.  It was a good time, I will apply to Old town next year and if I get in I will certainly do that, but I would do wells street again. Set up/ breakdown has potential to be a complete nightmare. 

Northville, Michigan

    This is a 3 day show, which it probably shouldn't be, but its in a small downtown in an upscale suburb.  Friday am we set up then the afternoon was open for business. The weather sucked friday and I didnt sell a single thing, but I didnt really care, I was hungover and didnt want to talk to anyone anyways. So i just stood in my booth and painted all day as it rained outside. 

Saturday was a different story, weather was great and I killed it. It was another show that had a lot of lower end stuff so i think that helped me stand out.  That was a $100-300 price point show for me atleast, but I sold enough to definitely be willing to do it again. especially if i can do ann arbor which is only 2 weeks away i think. 

The promoter is new to running the show but she's so awesome. I asked her if there were any showers we could use near by and she offered her house which is only a block away so I showered there and then hung out with her and her husband for hours. 

I will definitely put this show on the list for next year if its geographically convenient.  Its a good filler show at best, but it was worlds better than other filler shows that I had done.

Fountain Square, Evanston IL

     I heard from artists who had done this show for a number of years that they keep changing it around and thats definitely affecting the show in a negative way.  I expected more from this show than I got. I had a last minute sale that took me to the number I wanted to make for the show just before breakdown, but... ehh.... I think this show is going down hill for sure.  I would do it as a filler show maybe.  I made money, but it just seemed like kind of a buzzkill. 

Lunch was catered by wholefoods though which was nice.  Parking is free, but is sort of far away and they said they had a shuttle, but that company is a shit show and no one knew they were supposed to even have a shuttle. an employee gave me a ride so it was all okay, but still, unorganized. and parking is miles away so its not really walkable before/after a show.

July

Salida Arts Festival

    This was a first year show so I had low expectations.  I didnt do well by any means but as it turns out, I did worse at a number of colorado shows. Jerry, the promoter, I think, worked really hard to promote this first year show which isnt in a great location.  Load in is harder than it should be for being in a park, in my opinion. 

I will not be doing any shows in colorado again probably, and the only person I spoke to who was stoked was this really amazing older Korean man who makes Cajon drums who sold on saturday alone 14 drums that are priced between $400 -$700. He did awesome. Salida is a lower income artist community, and also a place where other Coloradans come on mini Stay-cations So if your art sells well here, maybe entertain this show.

Salida Riverside

    This show is run by Danna Tullis and I will NEVER do another show run by this woman. this seasoned show was in a far better location than the prior and I did way worse, as did everyone.  The owner of an art gallery less than 1 block from the show came by and told me he had no clue the show was happening.  Danna does no promotion for shows, she just takes the booth fees I guess.  She also does Sloans lake in denver which was terrible and I will mention later.  DO NOT DO THIS SHOW.

Downtown Aspen (Howard Alan)

     I did not do as well as expected at this show, which is an understatement,  but I think many people did do really well. They put a few artists on this weird little off shoot of the show, I was not one of them, I had a decent location, but I felt terrible for them, they got no traffic. I also heard other artists tell me that the art galleries had united and had gotten an article in the paper discouraging people from patronizing the show, and instead, going to art galleries who pay taxes etc all year, rather than these foreign artists who just come in for one weekend. 

I was next to a knife maker who did awesome. His stuff was really cool and he and his wife were great and made a super unique product, so I can see why they did awesome, also a glass artist who I heard of and didnt meet until the following weekend did like 20K from one collector at the show.  Most of the people buying art here are on vacation. 

Also Mountain fair was going on the same weekend in carbondale, less than an hour away and I think that detracted from the people at this show somewhat.  This show can be good for some, it wasnt for me.  I think also that booth appearance is extremely important at these shows, as these people are accustomed to buying at high end stores.  So the fact that I still had an EZup probably hurt meas well.

August

Beaver Creek (Howard Alan)

    Set up can be a complete nightmare, although it wasn't really for me.  Same as Aspen where I think i probably would have done better with a nicer booth set up, So its on the agenda.

A neighbor of mine who did big abstract paintings and had a large tall trimline tent sold 2 pieces at 7k each and got a huge commission.  Across from me a fiber artist did pretty well selling womens sweater things.  the glass artist I mentioned from Aspen straight killed it here too. He has some really awesome stuff and larger pieces are in the 6K-7K range and he must have sold 5 of those alone among lots of smaller stuff. 

You also run the risk (probably 50%) of being stuck in an area thats a huge pain in the ass to set up as well so far of the beaten trail that it has little to no foot traffic. This can be a fantastic show for some though, that's for sure

Denver Sloan's Lake

     Also run by Danna Tullis.  Last year was supposed to be the first year show, but that was when Denver was having crazy floods so this was the first year.  Very little foot traffic, also more of a pain in the ass to set up than it should be.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SHOW TO ANYONE. no one I spoke to did well.

Evergreen

    This was one of the most accomodating shows I have done, although Beth, the current promoter, did announce she was resigning this year.  They have a pretty awesome artist dinner on saturday a few miles away.  Some people did well at this show, not me though, nor one of my neighbors. Its in a park so they had to design the map around trees and such so I was in a weird offshoot which was a lower foot traffic area for sure.

This was the worst show I had in a long time, but people out here, especially these retired, upper middle-upper class just weren't into my stuff.  I think its worth doing for others, but i will not be doing it again. 

To be continued .....

Although I certainly wanted to be accepted into the Upper Arlington Arts Festival -- a show in a wealthy suburb of Columbus OH that my customers say I HAVE to start doing -- the sting almost went away when I read the line in the rejection email that said juror comments were available upon request.

What???  They'll actually share the jury notes and we don't even have to beg?

Thinking this was too good to be true, I jumped on the offer right away and shot back a request for comments.  And today, about a week later, the blessed news arrived.

First there was a brief description of the jury composition, the judging process and the scoring mechanism.  Then my score on a 7-point scale.  Then the median score in my category.  Finally, the jurors' verbatim comments.

Wow.  Really impressive.  More detail than I've ever received.  A little confusing because all the jurors' comments were quite positive, yet I didn't even make the wait list.  The other applicants must have been really good, and I say good for them.

I feel so positive about this show's transparency and respectful behavior that I will happily donate my jury fee again next year.  I'm even feeling inspired to pull out the sketchpad and try to up my game with some new and improved work in the hopes of improving my score next year.

So if you'll be in the Midwest over Labor Day weekend in 2015, give this show a try.  You'll find them on Zapp.

I was excited that I got accepted at late notice to the Coral Springs Art Festival, partly because I used to live there and know the area, but also because I expected a good show.  The ACE section was full, so I got into the art section.  I was lucky to get a hotel at a somewhat reasonable price within walking distance, even on the same side of the street.  I had a good booth location, too.  Yes, we had to set up in the dark on Saturday morning (a Howard Allen show) and I thought a lost a crucial tent part and I never got to change out of my sweaty "set up clothes", but the weather was perfect and there were crowds of people.  It was very well organized and set up and break down were easy and quick.  Sales should have been good, and they would have been acceptable if I didn't have travel and hotel expenses.  As it was, I did better than some shows, but not quite enough to cover expenses and make a profit.  Would I apply next year?  Maybe.

Hi all, been busy, busy, busy here downunder with my autumn shows - as a rule they've been nothing spectacular either in organisation or sales... but last weekend a regular annual one day show had a new co-ordinator and I'm sure she had been reading AFI ... it was just so.... ORGANISED!

The event was a one day show run by a private school about 2 hours drive from me.   It has been slowly dropping off in sales over the years - last year there was an explosion in the number of booths and the result was that no-one was happy with their sales - there just wasn't enough $$ to go around.

Anyway, this year, it had reduced to about 2/3 of last year's numbers - a happy amount I think with a good variety and quality and this resulted in a slight increase in sales over last year.

This is one of the few shows that actually sends out a map with your booth allocated prior to the show.  (The high majority just tell you when you arrive, or its a jumble of waiting in line and you get the next spot on the ring...)  If you have been before they will give you the same spot, which is a relief as repeat customers can find you!

However this year

*each booth was allocated a time slot to drive in and unload, then the car had to be moved pronto and parked away from the show area.  (Previously there was just a time frame to set up in and many would park and leave their cars there, leisurely unpacking from the car and only move the car just prior to the show starting which caused a few dramas).

*helpers were on hand to unload each car, erect tents and tables.  This meant you were in and out of the show precinct in under 10 minutes.  The helpers had put your tent up before you walked back from parking your car! 

*booth sitters were available if you were manning your booth alone, by phoning the co-ordinator.

*every booth was a corner booth - two booths were next to each other with a wide walkway before the next set of two booths.    AND the stall space was generous at around 4mx4m (a tent is about 3mx3m).

Now these may not seem momentous... but with the very casual arrangements most shows have down here, these were very different.   Of course some people complained as their allocated unloading time didn't suit them, however you were able to park away from the show and dolly your items in at any time, providing you were set up before the show started.

On the downside, the co-ordinator really wanted everything to be ready on time... and so we all were... by about 2 hours BEFORE the show opened.   (This speed was assisted by not spending time erecting our tents)  And whilst they had a coffee van and BBQ set up so we could buy breakfast, it didn't open early enough so there were many cold and hungry people wandering around!   I managed to do quite a bit of shopping in the other booths waiting for the show to open, although many of the booth holders just looked around - hoping for a sale or two first, to fund their wanted purchases!

Unfortunately crowds were down substantially this year which everyone noted, and with the early set up time, this meant for a very long, dragging sort of day (especially when I added on the 2 hour drive each way).  Whilst my sales were acceptable, most of these were to previous clients and if I didn't have those, I would have been very disappointed.

The high note for me was experiencing co-ordination that I have only ever read about here and which you may all take for granted!

I have a new favorite show!  I did the Rotary Club Sanibel-Captiva Art Festival (Sanibel Island, FL) in February and it was beyond my expectations!  It was easy to set up and break down due to excellent management.  Attendance was brisk the whole weekend, and people were buying.  I am one of those people who always bring more than I need, but I nearly ran out of inventory, and I did run out of business cards and receipts.  My sales more than made up for the travel and hotel expenses.  The weather was perfect and the setting for the show was charming.  Yes, there is a toll of $6 on the bridge, but I got a very reasonable hotel only 6 miles from the bridge in Ft Myers.  I plan to apply for next year's show and hope that (1) I get accepted and (2) it is a good as this year.

  The other day I recieved an interesting question from a show about my application.  

To give some background; the show application had a section that asks for the high and low price range of the artwork. Filled that in and proceeded to submit the application last month.  

  The question from the other day was to briefly explain the low end of the artwork. They explained that the jurors would most likely want to understand the lower price range artworks since the jury images are the nicer and more detailed artworks.  I answered politely and briefly but then got to thinking.... without pictures of the less expensive artworks; how are the jurors going to imagine them?  Is the jury making descisions about art they will not see?  Are the jurors making financial descissions as well as artistic?

  My understanding had been that the questions such as price range, were you in the show in previous years, do you require flat ground, can you set up inside, what other festival have you done, will you donate artwork,  etc....were used by the show committe to gather information for marketing, help with show layout and for their informational data base. 

     The question seems normal and weird at the same time.  Any thoughts?

I'll be heading to Gainesville, Florida for my first fair of the year.  I've only read one post about the show and it wasn't a positive one.  What I liked about this show was that it offered an interdisciplanary category that encouraged artists to branch out from their main category.  I primarily work in oil and acrylic, but also have started in encaustic (I also make jewelry).

I was wondering if anyone else is going, so we can meet!  I would just like to  meet other artist who are on this site!

Best of luck to everyone this year!

Cheers,

Amy

This is my first post and inquiry.  I was so looking forward to doing this show at the Callanwolde Mansion in Atlanta, GA.  I applied and was accepted by the jury.  I went to pay my single booth fee (a week before the deadline) through ZAPP and received the message that it was "SOLD OUT".  Confused, I clicked on the double booth (which I did not need or want) and it was available.  Again, I tried to click on the single booth with the same message.  After sending two emails and not getting a response about the "sold out" question, I finally got this e-mail:

2014 Callanwolde Arts Festival: January 25-26, 2014
STATUS NOTIFICATION
Dear Amy,

Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2014 Callanwolde Arts Festival.

When the jury made its selections, you were either Invited or placed on the Wait List.  

The response to this event was immediate and very strong.  Those who received the invitation to participate secured their space quickly, many with double spaces.

Although we set the deadline to confirm your participation (make payment) and open the Wait List on January 13, we are now completely SOLD OUT.

How did this happen?

The jury invited 90 artists to participate.  This venue will hold a maximum of 86 artists.  There is no room to "expand" to include more space.  We were quite surprised that no one declined, and many purchased a double space. It is very unusual for our events to sell out so quickly and it really put us in a bind, because we hate to lose you!   

We regret that we are unable to invite you to join us for this event, however if we receive any cancellations, you will be the first to know!    

Don't forget, we have many more events in 2014!  Click HERE to see them all.
If you have questions, please send us an email and we will do our best to reply to you quickly.
 
Sincerely,
Patrick, Randall, Lisa and Sarah
Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces
info@affps.com 

After going back and forth, insulted by one of the staff (saying I shouldn't have waited until the last minute to pay, which I didn't), I finally just gave up on them... they were selling double booths (and then not single) before everyone who had been juried in had a chance to get a single booth.

I was very frustrated and miffed...

Has anyone else have this happen to them?  Should the people in charge of this made some of the double boothers, give up half their booths to accomodate the four of us that just were plain out of luck...

It occurred to me (while reading a very nice 'thank-you' response from an AFI member who found one of my comments helpful) to make a request of the AFI community.  Here it is:

The vast majority of readers on this site are "lurkers": Folks who visit and read, but don't write.  And God bless ya, I'm not here to criticize this: It's true of just about every other blog site on the Internet (including the ones that specialize in serving writers and bloggers!).

But I do have a friendly proposition for those of you who get help from something you read here:
Pay it forward!

That means (pick one!):
* Post a comment saying, "Thanks, that was helpful!"
* Ask a follow-up question
* Comment on another topic

And if you ask a question about a particular show that hasn't been formally reviewed, and you get information that helps you decide to actually DO the show, how 'about writing a short review of your experience afterward?

Doesn't have to be complicated; just cover the same questions you had when you asked about it in the first place.  Here are the most frequent questions asked about shows:
* How were sales?  Attendance?  Were packages being carried around, or were folks sight-seeing?
* Is it worth the trip for an out of towner?
* How is the setup? Was it "day before show", "morning of show", or both? 

* How far away was the artist parking?
* Were there amenities/awards?
* What did the crowd seem most/least interested in: 2D? 3D? Or dogs, music, wine?
* Is there a particular type of art/ craft that would do well/poorly?
* All things being equal, would you do the show again?

BONUS POINTS if you do any of the above RIGHT AFTER YOU REALIZE YOU GOT HELP HERE.  To wait, is to be like one of those show visitors who says, "I really like this.  Let me think about it!"  ;-)

Thanks--in advance!

I am new in participating in art fairs. Two weeks ago, on August 17, I had a booth at the Agora Art Fair in Fitchburg, WI, near Madison. I was reasonably successful with slightly over $1000 in sales. One of the pieces I displayed was a 30x40 picture of a restaurant on a bridge in a small town in Provence. Many people admired it, but no bought it. That is, no one bought it until yesterday, when I received a phone call from someone who had taken my card. She told me she wanted to purchase it and could I bring it over and help her hang it. I agreed, and my sales from that show just went up about 30 percent. You never know.

Wow, I canceled my participation in the Estes Park Fine Art Festival earlier this morning. I didn't want to make a 6 hour drive up there through these floods and mudslides... but now the situation is much worse. Here is a video of downtown Estes Park taken this  morning. Hoping everyone in Estes is safe.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=686801504681447&set=vb.521157024579230&type=2&theater

Okay. I did it. I've been in the biz forever. But this was my very first outdoor show with a tent and walls and all the concerns we all read and talk about on this amazing site. And although I had read and researched and practiced and planned, my insides sweated it out and I totally wanted to back out of the whole thing. By the time we arrived at our friend's beach house with a borrowed van the night before the show, I was already exhausted, and soooooo angry. At what? At whom? No one, really. I was just disappointed. I was disappointed that it wasn't more fun. I hated the packing and unpacking and spending way too much time preparing. I'd read all about grid walls on this site and decided to go with that. But they were so heavy and cumbersome. Why did I spend SO much money on all this? Why did I even think I'd want to do this at all? I'm too old for all this bother. What was I trying to prove?

And this was only Friday night and all that was going on was early set up the night before the actual festival.

My husband came with me to set up the tent and put everything in place. With a few festival neighbors to help, we got the tent up and were even offered four heavy-duty twisty dog ties for the tent legs which I hadn't known would be allowed. We'd put up the grid walls and placed the weights but we could NOT get the tent walls to meet, to close and it had taken so long - before I'd asked for help, that is - to get the tent itself to stand straight and sturdy, and then to get the weights and stakes in place that the sun had set and it seemed that all the tents were up, the artists were gone, but we were still there. I was living a nightmare and I felt incompetent and angry and embarrassed. It was now dark and the wind was howling and the walls were blowing everywhere. I wanted to take everything down, put it all back in the van and run away. I hated everything about the process. 

My husband, however, was amazingly patient. He was not about to let me quit. And then my inner artist warrior took over and I found myself making a decision. "Let's take down the sails and leave up the tent and grid walls. Batten down the hatches and let's get out of here!" 

I slept not a wink that night but literally watched the full moon turn orange as it made it's way across the window and out of my line of vision. Every gust of wind startled me while I tossed and turned. I wanted to get up and paint the scene it but everything was in the van. I thought "I should be working, painting, sculpting, not doing this crazy art show thing." I awoke angry and tired and hungry and didn't have time to eat breakfast or even shower. I wanted to run away and not set up at all. I figured we could run over there, take the tent down and leave. I'd send an email later. The artist warrior side of me prevailed again, though. As did my incredibly patient husband. (He had actually slept that night.)

That first morning, as we set up my paintings and my ceramic masks, I pretty much filled my mind with complaints. I had been amazed to see my tent and all the weights and display grids sitting upright and waiting for me. But I was still mad at myself. As I made my way through the bubble wrap, all my mind could focus on was how I hadn't bought shopping bags, I didn't get new business cards, I forgot to make price tags, I should have brought a cooler. I HATE THIS!

The weather was gorgeous and the crowds were quiet but pleasant. I didn't make a single sale and after this first 8 hour day of sitting in an uncomfortable chair, I felt justified in my disappointment. At the end of the day as I wrapped and packed all my artwork to drag back to the borrowed van - still couldn't get the walls to fit - I thought, why not just take everything down now and run away? I don't HAVE to come back tomorrow. I'm not in the Army, for heaven sake.

Oh, alright. It's only one more day. I'm fine. I'll come back.

My husband and friends went out to dinner after the show that night. I stayed in and went to bed. Confident that my tent and grid walls were securely in place and my artwork was bubble wrapped safe and sound in the van, I slept. Boy, did I sleep.

I awoke to the sunrise, had breakfast, took my shower and dressed like a proud and happy artist should. I even remembered earrings and mascara. I'd brought a better chair and went off to rule my day. I took my time, by myself, to set up my work on those walls and as the minutes went by people came in to watch, to talk, to admire, to compliment, to ask questions, and yes, to buy.

I made price tags out of my crazy out-of-date business cards and wrote my new info on the cards I gave out. I wrapped purchases in bubble wrap and twine. I had wonderful conversations with visitors as well as my fellow artist neighbors, enjoyed an ice cream cone from the local food truck and made new friends. And throughout the day, I sold stuff!

Before the first hour of the second day, I'd already made back my booth fee and had once again found my joy in talking with people about my work, selling with no apologies and proudly calling myself an artist in business again. "Oh, are YOU the artist?" "Yes," I beamed. "Yes, I am. This is my work." It had been so long since I'd been in the public eye and I loved hearing people tell me how "exciting and different" my work was. I even loved it when people said "Oh, these are kinda scary!" Thank you, I'd say with one raised eyebrow. Thank you very much. 

At five o'clock on that Sunday afternoon, four volunteers ran up to me and asked if they could help me with anything and I said "yes, thank you. I think I could use help with everything." They laughed and got to work. The volunteers had been there throughout both days to give us breaks and bring cold water or hot coffee. When my husband arrived with the van, everything was folded neatly on the grass and I found myself relaxed and smiling with an inner peace I hadn't felt in ages. It had truly been an amazing day, made even sweeter by the turmoil I'd put myself through leading up to that last moment of my first show.

What I want to say to you here is Thank You. Thank you for this forum. For tips you've all shared, and the booth photos for Newbies, and the experiences of all the different shows you've all lived through, both good and bad. Thank you for your input on walls and weights and tents and displays, even when you've answered the same question a million times before. And, oh my God, thank you for telling us about zip ties! But most importantly, thank you for making it alright to be scared sometimes. And for making it okay to admit that we've never actually done this before. 

Thank you for letting us understand that it's okay to ask for help of our fellow artists. And to accept that help graciously. And that the volunteers really DO want to be helpful. Thank you for giving me permission to say "Excuse me, but this is the first time I've used this tent. Could you help me?" 

How sad it would have been to have given up and never had this crazy experience. How helpful it was to come here to this forum every couple of nights for months with a question, or just an hour to read about things and then be able to actually use what I learned here. If I can pay it forward I would say this: Don't be afraid to feel your feelings but then get past the negative stuff and move on. Get a good night sleep, eat a good breakfast, don't forget your sunscreen. Drink lots of water and know where to go when that catches up to you - because it will. Ask for help when you need it, offer help where you see a need, be grateful and mindful of how lucky you are to live your life by your own standards, to spend your day in the shade of a tent surrounded by your own creativity and joy. Talk openly and happily with everyone you meet, be nice to people even if they say silly things and don't seem to "get" your work. And when things get crazy - which they will - stop for a moment, find your center, take a deep breath and just have a ball. The answers will come. Always remember that you are an artist and that's just an incredibly cool thing to be.

Thank you again.

Robin

Did the 2nd Annual Dewey Beach Arts Festival (juried) last weekend with my hand-poured scented soy candles as my product. This is my craft business which supports my fine art show habit. So please don't make fun of a product which generates twice as much revenue as my award-winning fine art paintings... 

The scheduled Saturday show date was an off-and-on stormy rain-out and thankfully show management called off the event via text and e-mail very, very, early in the AM after apparently staying up late to watch the weather (I got both - just before I headed out the door at 5 AM for my 7 AM set-up time)

Sadly some folks read the Friday e-mail which said things were a "GO", but forgot that the e-mail also said check your e-mail before you leave on show day as things might change with the weather. So a few folks showed up on Saturday after a several hour ride to find the show called due to weather - and then checked their e-mail and texts...............

The scheduled rain date was the day following and after a damp set-up, the weather turned sunny, warmed up and was beautiful.... A perfect Mother's Day - unless you're related to Mother Nature....... There was music, kids art and activities, some free food, fine art, photography, craft and jewelry.

I saw a 'professional' tent rental company come in and rebar-stake a rental tent right into the asphalt of a town street...I was wondering why the underground utilities were marked....now I knew why... Couldn't believe I was watching this guy sledging rebar through the asphalt.. knowing there was a natural gas line running down his side of the street. The underground utilities mark-outs are only so accurate (as I know from my environmental geology days of drilling monitoring wells in urban settings) and you just don't go punching rebar into the asphalt several feet without a whole lot more information on the utilities.... Reviewed the show rules - there was nothing in there about staking in the street.........

Unfortunately, this beautiful weather was due to a frontal boundary passing through with very closely spaced isobars (this means it's gonna get real windy) The winds got to sustained 20-30 mph with higher gusts and they called the show 1/2 hr early...

To my knowledge, despite a preponderance of EZ-ups, nobody had any tent flying/collapsing/sailing - and this is because show management stressed bringing lots of weight. They also helped lots of folks, including me break down in the gale...  I had over 200 lbs of weight on my tent and it was still pushing it around - but not picking it up. Part of this was having my sidewalls up which kept the wind out from under the canopy top, but still acted as a sail.

As Robert has said elsewhere - rubber feet on your tent legs are essential to keeping skidding to a minimum when on pavement, but this doesn't help if your pavement is getting covered with blowing sand.

The event was juried during the application process and was judged onsite, with ribbons and gift certificates being awarded to the winners. Several jewelers said there was too much jewelry (a more common lament these days - yet lots of jewelers keep applying to events and juries keep overloading the category - but that's an entirely different discussion).

Sales were slow to start happening. Part of this was due to the weather changeover from marginal to beautiful and part of this was waiting for church services and Mother's Day brunches to be completed. I saw lots of packages being carried about; including lots of stuff with frames. Despite the slow start, rain date, and slightly early close, my sales were as good as the year before - which isn't outstanding, but I covered costs and made a profit.... I had multiple repeat business customers who had seen me at other events and had an events planner make an inquiry about wholesale... (Yay!) There's nothing like having people stand at your booth and praise your products to other potential buyers... You can't buy this sort of advertising for a consumable craft item - especially if you aren't kettle corn, corn-dogs, or sugared nuts

Show management (made up of local business people - The Dewey Beach Business Partnership) was competent, helpful and were looking out for the artists and artisans. They get good marks for keeping everyone well informed about the weather-related cancellation and showed good judgement in calling the event because of weather.

Do the show again? Yup. Howard Alan quality event - nope. Easy set-up and windy teardown. Well attended for a second-annual in a pre-season beach town. Well publicized in the area, but not in Wilmington, DE or Philadelphia to my knowledge. Wouldn't do this one yet with high-end high-priced items - I think there's a limited market for this at this event still.... However, I may bring my art and my craft next year to this event... This event has potential if management keeps working on it as they have for the first two events...

What could they fix? Hmm... They could work on the maintenance of the venue - by having better provisions for puddle problems for the next time... but they did ok considering the situation they were handed

Hi Friends...I am fresh out of the van and home from Tupelo.  Here is my review of the show...

I arrived Friday afternoon and checked in at the information tent with nice staff.  I had been assigned a booth on the very end of a row (bonus corner booth), so I was able to pull up right next to my space, unload and set up. 

After set up, I went to my hotel and freshened up for the GumBall.  The Gumball is a preview party for artists and patrons.  If you donated a piece to the silent auction, admission was free.  I donated a piece as did Robert Wallis, so we went together.  Gumball is a classy event with free food, very good food btw, and a cash bar.  The silent auction was impressive.  There were many good pieces there and people were bidding.  I was glad to see my piece sell for a good amount and Robert's did too.  Robert and I had a great time chatting and having dinner and cocktails.  He told some great stories. 

Saturday the show started at 9am and the weather was fair.  It had rained the night before, and was still a bit drizzly, but cleared to a nice day.  The crowd came as did the buyers.  I would say they had a good crowd and good buying energy for reasonably-moderately priced art.  On Saturday, I covered all expenses and moved into profit.  There were some artists though, that had sold little to nothing on Saturday.  I heard a lot of people say that last year was better for them. 

Saturday evening was the artists award dinner with a nice meal and free wine/beer.  The show gave out 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards in all categories with cash prizes for each and one best of show with a $1500 purchase award.  I have to say I thought this was generous to do all three awards per category and have money for each and have a nice artist made trophy for each.  I get the feeling that whatever this show makes on jury fees and booth fees goes right back into it for artist amenities and awards.  I would like to congratulate fellow AFI member Suzanne Ens for winning First Place in fiber!!!  It was well deserved, her work is amazing!!!!!

Sunday the show began at 10:30 am and the crowds were not there until about 2pm and even then they were very light.  I do not know if Mother's Day had anything to do with that or not, but this is a very church going community and nothing seems to happen until afternoon there anyway.  I had only one sale on Sunday and there was a significant shift in clientele from Saturday.  This crowd was much older, many more families and 99% lookers.  Typical Sunday for many shows.     

Load out was just as easy as load in and I had the whole thing packed up and was pulling out in about an hour.  I ended the show with a very modest paycheck profit.  I was very impressed with the hospitality this show offers.  Free dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, The Salvation Army served free hot breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings for artists and water was passed around several times.  I think the awards were very generous and I found the staff to be very friendy.  I liked this show.  This was not a very big money maker and I will keep it in the maybe category for the future, but I still thought it was a nice show and I liked it.  There was a lot of good work there and some very nice artists.  One caution for those that have higher end work (over $500.00), I heard many artists with these price points were doing little to no sales.  There were a few artists that zeroed at this show, sadly that happens sometimes, I have been there too and it sucks.  Overall, I give this show a B+, they did everything right and the only thing keeping it from an A in my mind is low sales, but I am grateful for the little profit I did make. 

I will be doing The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Fair in Reston, VA this coming weekend.  Due to the very long drive for me I will probably be posting that review next Tuesday.  Stay tuned........   

I am new to the bay area, moved from texas and am looking for some feed back on what shows, juried , are worth while. I am work with mixed media and create one of a kind pieces of jewelry or accessories.

Hi Friends.....Here is my review of The Main Street Festival in Franklin, TN.  It is a good review and one caveat...I was awarded first place, so I might be a bit biased and still very thrilled; this is my first first place award ever. 

I arrrived Friday evening and checked in with show director, Rene Evans and her staff.  They are all very nice people and very helpful.  We had to wait until 10pm to begin setting up unless the cars were moved from the area where the booth was.  The police were closing the streets at 10 and I got lucky and my booth area was clear by 9, so I started setting up.  The weather was not good.  It was pouring down rain the entire time I set up.  It took longer than normal, due to the rain, but I got it all done and went to the hotel to dry out and get some much needed rest.

I overslept a bit on Saturday due to the short night and being so worn out, but managed to get to the show about an hour before it opened to finish the finer details in the booth.  Saturday's weather was horrible.  It poured down rain all morning and into the afternoon.  Fortunately, there was no wind, just constant rain.  Naturally, the crowds were very light in the morning, but the best part was the serious buyers were there.  Parkas and umbrellas in tow, the people who love art and the festival still came and were shopping.  I had very good sales on Saturday despite the rain.  I thanked each person who came in to my booth for being out in the weather and many of them bought.  There were several empty spaces where artists had not set up and in some ways I can't blame them and in other ways I think they lost out on the good buying crowd on Saturday.  The rain slowed down in the afternoon and eventually stopped about two hours before show closing.  The crowd picked up and everything got more lively. 

Sunday was much better weather, no rain and pleasant.  The crowd was totally different.  It was a crowd of after church people, families and lookie loos!  Very, very big crowd on Sunday.  This festival is well attended when the weather is good, there is no doubt about that.  Unfortuantely, the Sunday crowd was more conservative and not nearly as many buyers as on Saturday.  I sold one piece on Sunday. 

Jurying....This show is a mixture of art and craft.  There was some beautiful fine art there, some very nice crafts and of course, obvious buy/sell and some things that I would not jury into a show.  I am not sure what thier goal is during the jurying process, but I felt they did a pretty good job of it, with a few things that I wouldn't jury in, but maybe there is more to that than I know.  (There may be exceptions made for local businesses/artisans, I got that vibe, and that's totally ok with me!)  

I had very nice neighbors at this show, they couldn't have been better or more helpful.  The show director is very involved and was my booth sitter on 2 occasions.  I felt that this show is well organized and well ran.  My sales at this show were good and after all expenses made a modest "paycheck" profit.  I think if Saturay had not been so rainy I could have made more.  I did have a few pieces that got wet and needed repair, so they were not out.  I think if they were out, they likely would have sold too, making my sales total better.  Overall, I am pleased with this show and feel it was worth it.  Having won first place in the show, I am automaticly in next year and I will do the show again.  I will give this show a solid A in terms of organization, staff, attendance, sales and overall artist experience.  I encourage anyone who is thinking about doing Main Street Festival to apply for it and if accepted, by all means do this show!!!!!!!