So from my experience in life in general one thing stands out and that is presentation so here is a short list of what to do when presenting your art at shows.
1. Do keep a uniform idea in mind. Paintings work best if they flow together as otherwise they may clash too much and confuse the potential buyer.
2. Do have wonderful stands that you test before a show. Nothing worse then finding out a painting is going to fall over because the stand can not sustain the paintings weight.
3. Do talk to people ahead of time about a show. Nothing worse then finding out the show is terrible and has poor traffic if you can be told that by another person who has "been there and done that"
4. Make sure you have all equipment, sales tax licenses etc ahead of time.
5. Book accomdations ahead of time and if you can stay with friends great. Who knows you may even make friends for the next show and not have to use a hotel.
6. Do have a positive attitude even if the show sucks. Being negative does nothing but bring you down.
7. Do read the the art fair reviews and look even on yelp for reviews. You never know where your non biased feedback will come from.
8. Do think about your target market group ie. I brought psychadelic paintings to conservative clients. That just is not going to work. Think about who you are selling too and plan your products accordingly.
9. Never spend more on a show then you can afford to lose.
10. Have fun and embrace selling, meeting people and learning. Your worst critics sometimes can show you that your work is great if it envokes that strong of a reaction.
;.)
Comments
Janet,
Isn't it amazing how one or two frames can change everything. I'm sure things will pick up again. Details sometimes make all the difference. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Daniela
Along this same line, be careful about your frames. I made the mistake of buying some cheap frames after losing my entire setup in a storm. Before that I was selling consistently. After that, dropped to almost nothing. Needless to say I have reframed the culprits to match the others and hope things will pick up again.
Amy,
Great feedback. Thanks so much.
Daniela
Hey Sam,
I look forward to hearing how it works out for you. Uniformity is something I noticed when I displayed at my last show. My stuff felt like it was all over the place and colors were different and different color schemes that was too overwhelming I think for people looking at my work. I must have scared one or two conservative women that day and I realized how important it was at least color scheme wise for things to kind of go together. If I was in Williamsburg I'd do some cool modern neon paintings where the berkshires is definitely more on the conservative side to put it mildly. Let me know how the new way of displaying works out for you.
Daniela
If they are all the same style you can try the theory of working and displaying "series". In my glass I have 3 basic themes going now, each theme is displayed as a group. Not sure if that helps, but it might give you another way to think about it.
Thanks a little life experience has taught me alot. ;.)