My winter plan last year was to do 7 Florida shows, most of them in South Florida (2 in Naples, one in Bonita, one in Ft Myers, Las Olas and Coconut Grove) with the only exception being Winter Park. Winter Park delivered with very good sales, but the other 6 shows were terrible. This winter I stayed away from South Florida and did only three shows (Gasparilla, Winter Park and Mainsail), all in the middle of Florida in metropolitan areas not affected so much by the tourists and the snowbirds. I earned more money at these three shows this year than I did at seven shows last year.
Mainsail was the weakest of the three generating only $2000 in sales. Those sales were especially disappointing because my wife and I flew home to Michigan for a month between Winter Park and Mainsail, creating more travel expenses than if the shows were all back to back.
The show is laid out in a large grassy park next to the waterfront. Each space is outlined in white chalk with a wooden sign in front of it showing the booth number. Spaces are about 12x12, laid out back to back. One odd thing about the show is that the committee does not reveal your booth number until you arrive at check in. I guess, that way, you can't complain in advance about where they put your booth.
Check in started at 1pm on the dot on Friday afternoon and artists were not allowed to start setting up until after checking in (indeed, no one knew where their booth would be anyway). Artists were told that all the set up would have to be done before 6pm because the park would be shut down at that time. I'm not sure if that rule was enforced because we finished before 6pm and got out of there before the deadline.
Some shows (like Gasparilla) have a super-organized set-up procedure where every artist has an assigned set-up time when they are allowed to bring their stuff into the art fair grounds. Not so at Mainsail. Once we got our packet and knew where our booth would be, we just streamed into the park willy nilly looking for our spot. I actually prefer this kind of arrangement because it depends on the artists themselves to work out where to park their vans and trailers to unload and set up. I saw little of the art fair committee during setup. No art fair police directing traffic and enforcing rules. Artists worked with each other to make room and accommodate each other. Load out on Sunday afternoon was handled the same way, letting the artists work out their own schedule and drive their vehicles into the grounds whenever they were ready. I like it when the committee recognizes that us artists are adults and can work things out among each other.
Weather forecast for the week-end was a little threatening with 40-50% rain being forecast for both days. Remarkably, the only rain during the show was a slight sprinkle on Sunday that some artists may not even have noticed. So, the weather held off until 7pm on Sunday, just as I was closing the door on my trailer after packing up. Some artists were still packing up at that time, and probably got wet, but we drove back to the hotel under a mild, but steady rainfall.
Just about all my sales were small ones, for unframed pieces. My biggest sale was $200. This was not a crowd that was buying big ticket items. As usual, sales varied among the artists, but I didn't hear of any big winners. This is a conservative crowd mostly out to look, not buy.
I like the setting for the show and the ease of setup and break down. Although my sales were a little disappointing, they were much better at Mainsail than at all 6 of the South Florida shows I did last year. If I can schedule this show without the airfare and the hassle of parking my rig somewhere for a month, I'd do it again. I just wish the committee could come up with some ideas for getting some bigger spenders to come out for the show.
Comments
I'm a digital artist. Not sure they've even assigned me a floor yet! Most people may not know what "encaustic" is, but at least they know the work is created by an artists hand. For me, its a battle to convince people that the pictures I sell were not "computer-generated", but produced by me, an artist, using a computer as a tool. Not many digital artists win awards either. More photographers win awards than digital artists. Had an email conversation with a committee person at the St. Louis Art Fair who tyold me that they were considering eliminating "digital" as a category because the judges couldn't understand the medium. In looking over the jury results I found that only two digital artists were invited to that show... and I wasn't one of them.
I always kind of think of it as the painters are on the 4th floor, the sculptors, on the 3rd floor the print makers and drawers are on the 2nd. Jewelery and fibers are definitely on the first floor- the items most buyers look at first but without the prestige of the fourth floor. In the basement is the potters and the photographers- seems it always has been that way-the credibility issue- but it sucks.....below that where the heating system is and a dirt floor to boot is the mixed media people-as Rodney Dangerfield would say, " I can't get no respect," but even lower than that is where I am-(encaustic), after three years of shows, most people still don't even know what it is. Well, that's it in a nutshell, don't be offended....but when I hear about a show with 1 award for photography- it calls this back to mind.Ha!
So true Brian.
Geoff ,that's all they ever do there 1 obligatory award for a photographer. As do alot of shows with non categorized awards I'm starting to get use to the lack of respect towards photographers as an art.
By the way, Geoff... It was your recommendation that tipped the scales in my decision to participate in the Mainsail Art Fair. I'm glad I did. Hopefully I can put together a smoother schedule next year and do it again. I've found that in most cases I've done better at shows the second and third years that I do them. So, there is hope for this being a strong show in the future.
Yep -- I noticed that too, Geoff. Not much love for the photography.
John, thank you for one of the most thorough show reports of this or any other year. All the current show details, and a nice bit of historical perspective, all in 10 tidy paragraphs.
Folks, this is how you do it!!!
I didn't get in this year (I *did* review it last year, and it was one of my best Florida shows ever). I can't account for why sales were down. The weather was squally last year, too.
If April is a cruel month for Northerners, it's much the same for us Florida natives. This is the second April in a row where strong Q1 revenues have deflated like a cheap tire on a mountain road. My per-show average is down over 50% for the month over Jan.-March. That said, if any show in FL is worth hanging around for, historically it's this one.
I did notice that only one photographer won an award this year. Just sayin'. ;-)
Hi John. I've been waiting for this. I knew you were going to this show (don't think we've had a report on it before) and was looking forward to hearing the report.
Glad to see that your expensive research in 2012 showed a better outcome in 2013. Sometimes it is hard to stay home, all those shows beckoning to you in Florida where it is sunny every day and maybe your perfect customer is hanging out ... but you resisted the siren's song. Good for you.
I am so with you on letting the artists plan how to park and unload. We are adults, we do this 10-30 times a year in many different circumstances. We know how to do it!
It would be interesting to know what the demographic info is for the artists are for the show. Did you see anyone else from way up North here? We did Florida shows for many years but never heard good enough $$$ to make the trek back to Florida for this one. For Northerners April is a cruel month.
The prize money is pretty great though, right? The judge chose a lot of 2D work, with some very good choices. It would be great to link this show to another one so you wouldn't have to make a special trip. Does anyone have any suggestions?