I had my first art show yesterday, Art on the Bluffs in Columbia, Illinois. This was a one day show in a small city about 20 miles South East of St. Louis, Missouri.
I am a photographer and my work consists of flowers and insects. Most of my images are close-ups and I print them on textured 100% cotton water color paper with rather heavy color saturation. My selling prices are for signed and numbered, matted prints in a 11x14 inch mat for $65 and in a 18x24 inch mat for $175.
This show seems to have a diverse mixture of participants with some having less than a year of experience in their field and some seasoned artists. Many arts were represented with a total of 50 artists.
As this was my first show, and as I am limiting my expenditures until I know if my work will sell and until I have a better definition of what kind of equipment I will need, I rented an ez-up type of tent. It was delivered without sidewalls and with an 80 pound weight hung from, the roof line at each corner. I hung the heavy story display type of wire grids on three sides.
Right after getting my art work hung, we were hit with light gusts of perhaps 10-15 mph and the gusts were met with the sounds of much breaking glass and other objects. My ez-up tent had no problems, I assume that this was due to the open mesh sides and the heavy weights which saved the day for me.
The show opened at 10am and I was ready to start making some money. I was not disappointed, as by 3 pm I had amassed an amazing total sale amount of $20, two of small unsigned prints mounted in 8x10 inch mats. At this time, I started to have serious doubts of my decision to sell my artwork and questions rang in my head - priced too high?, not of sufficient quality/interest?, etc. One couple had come by at about noon and said that they wanted to buy one of my framed images that had a price of $200. After looking for a while, they said that they would be back after lunch and I dismissed the sale when they had not returned by three.
Suddenly at three, the dam burst and the couple returned and others suddenly showed up and I sold $600+ and had an order for another $300, all within the next hour for a total of almost $1,000. I had been hoping for a bit more, but none the less, I left a happy camper. I have no idea of how the vendors in general did but those that I talked to around me, had substantially less sales. I also saw very few of the attendees with purchased artwork.
Amazed as too how many of the potential buyers were mainly interested in how well the color would go with their interior design. Very few seemed to be very interested in mundane facts such that only acid free components were used or that they were pigment and not dye prints.
I do not know why my items were selected for purchase but hopefully I have hit upon a successful formula of interesting subjects well presented. I do not have sufficient experience to know if this one day show is what is considered to be a good show but at the present time I am happy.
When I was first accepted at an art fair, I did not realize the amount of money and time doing a show would entail. I have now spent multiple thousand and many, many hours on my inventory of a couple of hundred matted prints and about 60 framed images. I have hopes that the next show will bring me closer to the break even point.
One of my biggest concerns was the price point - too high, too low, how do you know how to price the artwork?
It took me almost 2.5 hours to move the stuff from the house to the car, another couple of hours to set up (in a waiting rented tent), 8 hours at the show, two hours to pack up and get home and another couple of hours to get everything moved into the house and stored again. Although the packing was done the previous day, still much more effort than I had been anticipating. My hats are off to all of you that do this on a regular basis.
I also have come up with a solution to pacify my wife as to the amount of time that I am expending on doing the art and the fairs - she gets 1/3 of the sales (of course before taxes).
I have a second show scheduled for two weeks from now, a much larger show with much higher attendance and this one may well decide my future direction in doing art fairs, although, at my age of 70, they will be limited to the local area and they are not required for my main source of income.
This has been an interesting journey thus far and rather educational.
Comments
Thank you cc
I also will be doing solo at the art fair but will try to look you up perhaps before the show starts if I am fast on setting up.
Thank you for your kind remarks. I feel good about my work on even days and think that it is crap on odd numbered days. Rather hard bot be objctive about one own creations.
I do have a nice thing going with this show, it is on the street where I live two blocks down. Nice to know that if I forget an ything etc, only ten minutes to retrieve.
Hope to see you at the show. Have a great day.
As far as vertern goes, not me. I struggled with prices, I wanted one that was more affordable thus the in 11x14 mats for $65 and my larger images in 18x24 mats are $175. Doing photography, I have an advantage - all off my works are originals, I can get a good price and do not have a lot of labor in individual pieces - I ignore the 5-7 hours of shooting for every printable image as recreation and do not include it.
I chose a small show to get my feet wet and now will try a fairly big show. Going into the first show, I was very anxious, was concerned about selling anything, was unsure on how my work would be received, concerned about how do I act, etc, etc. I came away from the first show with new confidence and found a number of problems that I need to correct.
I also am concerned about making sales, I now am retired and I invensted about $4,000 into preparations for the art shows - money that is now preciouss with my now very limited income. This trial art fair showed me that my images can sell and they seemed to be well received.
The upcoming show will have a major impact on my future directions - if I do well, I am sure that I shall continue to do art fairs but if not, I am not sure what direction I will go in.
I decided that I had to give it a try or I would kick myself in the ass for the balance of my life - this alone made doing a couple of art fairs worth the price to keep me from wondering for the balance of my years.
Although I have gathered grouip of supporters that say my work is great, I at times am not sure that I agree with them and figure that I needed to put them to the test and that being to attempt to sell them.
About all I can say is without trying you will never know. I had a boss that was fond of saying the only people here that are not making any mistakes are those that are not doing anything.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. May the juorney be successful and perhaps we will meet at some rest station along the way. Good luck.
I too am doing my first art fair soon. It is the Bella Arts Fest at the St. Peters Cultural Center in St. Peters, MO. , just west of St. Louis. I was lucky enough to score a gently used white EZ up with sides, an awning and a bag for $75! I am really nervous about all of my expenditures and the work (I am almost 60, but in pretty good shape and good health and I will have helpers) and whether I will recoup any of them at the show. This is the first year for this show and I hope it was not a mistake to choose it for my first one. My sister lives there, so I won't have lodging expense and it is only 2 hours from home, so gas won't be too bad. I am primarily a pastelist and have been pricing my original pastels, framed mostly with museum glass (which is expensive and has recently increased in price) from $195 for an 8x10 to $450 for an 18x24. I will have some giclee prints, I hope, by then and blank 4x6 greeting cards of some of my favorite images. I also do custom pet portraits and will be trying to solicit commissions for them at the fair by showing some of my own pets that I have done. Any advice from any of you veterans out there would be greatly appreciated. Does my price range seem reasonable.? Should I expect to get more than usual in the "big city"?
Thank you. Will also try to look you up, I too am solo but have help for setup so may be able to get away befor th show starts.
This show is about as close to home as I can get, I live two blocka down the street.
Thank you for your kind comments on my work. I feel that I have at persent about 80 decent images. After getting through this show, my main efforts will be devoted to getting up a decent web site.
I have been doing photography for a number of years but my current direction is new.
I just found your website and had a look at your work. Distinctly beautiful! I particularly appreciate your uncommon point of view and your compositional skill. And regardless of what your clientele may or may not understand/care about in regards to the use of acid-free materials, you know you are producing a fine stable worthy product. It's just the right thing to do if you care about your work. Along with the others in this forum I heartily applaud you for stepping out with your first show as an older artist. It is a difficult gig, but you will continue to refine your system to make it more manageable. I will also be at Shaw. I work alone, so it's sometimes difficult to get out to see other artists, but if you're close by, I will definitely come by to meet you and see your work in person. Congratulations on a successful first show!
Britt - thanks again.
I have a lot of repeat customers. One woman has bought 14 of my originals! I keep mailings lists for different states, and I always send out an email to those lists when I have an upcoming show. I also have a good Facebook following, so they get a lot of information there too.
I also sell a lot of work as gifts. Mainly prints, but come October and November I start working like crazy shipping out prints for Christmastime!
I have an addictive personality and am totally addicted to festivals. I love the adrenaline rush of the big sale and seeing the profits go up. I hope your next festival is just as (or more) successful to you as well. Keep tweaking, keep learning, keep loving what you do :). I think people can see if there is passion in work and it makes a difference!
Thank you Britt
I have noticed that I do well selling multiple images to the same person and thus far have several individuals that I have sold a half dozen or more to, either initially or later.
Do you have many repeat customers and if so, do you do anything to notify them of shows where you will be exhibiting? Do past customers contact you either directly or through a web site for additional pieces?
From my sales thus far, it seems that a high percentage of my sales have been purchased as items that will be used as gifts. Is this normal?
I just hope that my upcoming art fair in a better venue will be as or more successful. Multiple times the number of potential customers but also about three times as many artists competing for the dollar.
I'd say $1000 for a one day show and your first at that is very good! The other posts are right. You'll learn to streamline and tweak your processes. This is my second year doing festivals (I think I have done 10 now) and I have not done the same thing twice. I keep finding new ways to pack up, set up, tear down, etc.
As for pricing, I think you have pretty good pricing. Maybe do a couple larger items for at least $400-600. Something to really catch people's eye and draw them in. You are completely correct though, that people do not care much about your materials or what paper you use, how long it took, etc etc. They want value and they want something to fill that space in their home. At least at the majority of festivals, they arent looking to find a mind blowing piece of artwork that they will redecorate their home around. And maybe I'm a bad artist, but I totally understand. I don't buy artwork that clashes with my decorating either. I know, shame shame on me.
Being organized is also helpful. I keep track at each festival how many prints I sold vs how many originals, sizes, prices, subject, etc. So the next year, I try to play to that. If I sold a ton of prints, I bring more and place them in a more prominent place. If I sold in the $100-$300 range, I bring mostly those. If large pieces sold, I bring all my large pieces. So far this year I have more than doubled my sales from last year at each festival I've redone.
Good luck to you!
Thank you Michael. I just hope that I was not a one show wonder.
I am rather sorry that I just got started when the outdoor shows are ending for the year and there are not too many indoor venues in the area. Due to my spouses physical limitations, I am limited to where I can do shows.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next