Okay, I was warned about this one, but oh-no, I had to try it anyway. It had one thing going for it; cheap booth space at $110. If you're local, give it a shot, otherwise stay away.
Booth space was unusual at 15x10, so the prospect of having two extra sides available to hang work sounded good, so I sprung for it. Sort of like a mouse going for the cheese. My neck still hurts.
Okay, so I get the usual acceptance letter, and given that it looked like some locations required some heavy duty carting in, I asked for something close that I could load in easily as my knees and back aren't amenable to long walks on the beach and in the rain. I luck out; I'm only about 8 spaces from the curb. The letter said set up time was 7:15AM on Saturday. Damn! My wife and I decide to drive up to Chicago from Indy on Friday and get a room instead of leaving in the middle of the night on Saturday morning. Despite spending over 2 hours in rush hour Friday afternoon traffic just getting from downtown Chicago out to Schaumburg, we figured it would be a good idea to scope out the location and see where the booth is located.
Damn good thing we decided to stop by, for as we pull up to the site it looks like half the show is already setting up. WTF?? Some folks got emails saying they could set up Friday, but we certainly didn't. I went to the sign in table, no one there, but all the badges were laid out. Okay, get the badge and start unloading. We get the first load from the curb to the booth location, and we notice a few vans pulled up on the courtyard. The letter said cart in only. Okey-doke; when in Rome.. I pulled the van next to the space and start unloading :-)
Ah, the fun is just starting. The 10x15 space didn't include any space between the rear of the booth and the one behind it. A quick consultation with the guy behind me and we both moved away from the back; I moved 2 feet and he moved one foot. Now we had storage space. To hell with the marks on the pavement; when the booths across from you are about 35-40 feet away, a couple of feet isn't going to kill the traffic flow. We get the booth and panels up, and decide to hang the next morning.
Next morning rolls around and I realize there is not a lick of shade on this courtyard and it's going to be hotter than hell in the direct sun. I usually put up an awning behind the booth, but no joy there due to the narrow storage, so the back door becomes a side door and the next door neighbors who are placed at a 45 degree angle to us agree that attaching their side tarp to my side awning (the side tarp) and the pole assembly would work just fine to get both us a shaded area almost 15 feet wide between our booths. Hell of a deal ;-)
Now for the show. I never saw any of the organizers from the Arts Center come around. No one, Nada. I did talk to one of the judges for a moment, but the other one was a surly looking schmuck who wandered around with a scowl and didn't so much as even glance at my booth. The lady who juried the entries came around and introduced herself, and we had a wide ranging discussion that went on for about 15-20 minutes. Outside of that, none of the show people came by that we could tell. Their office was just inside the entry way on the way to the indoor restroom, and I would see one or two people in there. I guess they were too busy sipping their Starbucks to bother with the plebian artists on their grounds.
The best way to describe the organization of this show is slipshod and ineffectual. The best thing is that their lackadaisical attitude allowed those of us on the courtyard to bring our vehicle up on the pavement and get the hell out of there mach schnell, not to mention setting up. The facility is beautiful with a pond in the middle and artists set up around that, sort of like Loring park in Minneapolis. Another artist said for the last 20 years they struggle every year to get themselves organized. Sounds like it may never happen.
Bottom line is the sales. Mine was at the bottom. It sucked; big time industrial strength shop vacuum suck. A total of $300. That paid the booth fee back, paid for the gas, and one nights lodging. It didn't pay for the other two nights or the meals. I lost about $200 doing this show. The painter behind me did zip. I saw David Kay there and he was doing okay, and selling smaller flip bin pieces. I brought big pieces, with probably 30 12x16 smaller flip-bin pieces and those may have been too big. The crowd was either geriatric or stroller moms, and they all seemed to have short attention spans with the ones who walked into my booth sticking around for about 30 seconds.
It was not my crowd, and this is a one time show for me. I'm not going back, it's not even a good filler show. Too many artists around me were complaining about low sales. A lot of the artists around me were first timers although the potter next to me did okay and she had done the show for several years. She already had a following and was selling to repeat customers. I just don't see the crowd as high ticket or even medium ticket.
Lack of organization, apathetic management, cheap crowd, low sales make this a show to avoid. Another reason to avoid this one is the location by the picturesque lake. You can't drive there because there is no road, only a sidewalk too narrow for a van, and a set of steps to navigate. At tear down, a woman artist about 60+ was pushing a cart uphill on the grass, up the sidewalk, and then unload at the steps to carry up the steps and then reload onto the cart again. Bless her heart, she probably got her van loaded yesterday. What in hell are these people thinking with logistics like that? This is asking for someone to have a freaking heart attack.
Comments
I have done some of the D&W shows and did well at the first ones in Deerfield, then last year when it was so cold the bottom dropped out. The Deerpark show in the mall was a terrible disaster for me, and there was no way I would return to that one. I may return to Deerfield if I can convince my wife of it, as she was not happy with that last one. Debbie is a likeable person and attentive to her artists and I hope she does well. All in all though, the saturation is telling and there has to be enough return to warrant all the effort and expenses.
BTW, I was impressed that you're sticking with B&W images. I don't see many folks out there doing that. I started doing B&W back in the late 60's-early 70's and can still remember the different odors of each solution, and of course my wife can still recall the time I did real sepia toning in the garage. Even with the doors open, the odor permeated up into the house =8-O. After that, it was a process done with the doors open, fans going, and she was somewhere else ;-)
Robert, Thanks for the plug. We have done this show for several years. What we have done is set a minimum sales amount. We keep saying if we dont so this amount in sales, we wont be back. Each year we make that minimum. Like you said, all we sold this year were the smaller size pieces. But we did make the minimum for continuing. So with that said, we are fortunate as this is in our back yard, 20 minutes from home. Otherwise it would not be worth it. This show has a nice venue, picturesque location, with comfortable music, and good food vendors. Schaumburg is a good middle class area, but they do not seem to buy art.
As far as Chicago area shows go, yes there are the Amdur shows. However, in this area, people can go to an art show almost every weekend. Would you say saturation? Now you are seeing a deterioration of artists at Amdur shows. Then there are at least two other producers of shows. D&W and Erin Malloy. Then there are the chamber of commerce shows and the shows by the local art community. Can you say saturation? LOL
Robert, the good thing about the Schaumburg show is that we got to meet. I always cherish meeting friendly fellow artists. Let us know when you are in the area again and we would love to stop by.
I did Schaumberg several years ago, same story, never again. I'm doing Erin's Northbrook this year for the first time, we live in hope, don't we? I'll see you there Robert!
Robert, yes I will be there. It is a small, community show. If the weather is good it will be well attended, bad weather can make a big dent in this one. See you there!
Haven't been to Schaumburg in several years. Quality of the show has always been too uneven. Northbrook has money but who knows these days. There are a lot of shows in the area (Amdurland).
I'm sorry you traveled so far for this show. I did the show several times when I first started out. Primarily because I am pretty close, the show is early in the season, and the price was right. But even with all of that it was not worth it. I arrived at my designated time the first time and had your same feeling! Everyone was set up! My booth was at the top of the hill and I thought load out would be easier down the hill... but that is when I found the value of bungee cords because one wrong move and everything was on the ground. I can deal with bad or difficult logistics if the sales are there. But every year I said the same thing to myself "why I am I doing this show?!" When I looked at the people attending the show and as I talked to them it was clearly not my buyer. My sales were decent... but not enough to continue. I haven't been back in several years and it sounds like it hasn't changed. Sorry you had a bad experience.
Robert, I don't sell very well in the Chicago suburbs (where I live!), but I do pretty well at Northbrook and Geneva. I grew up in Northbrook so that may help :)
Great review. I have felt the Chicago suburb show pain. I did 3 Amdur shows in the burbs last year. The crowds were just as you so aptly described. I got sticker shock on my $40.00 earrings. Ouch.