Blog

Today was the first day of the two-day La Jolla Art and Wine Festival. As my first juried show, I didn't know quite what to expect. Gladly, I can say it wasn't bad at all!

Set up the night before was a bit stressful, but I think it was to be expected. This particular show is shifting away from it's original, fenced-in parameters to an open format that doesn't require a ticket for admittance--it was completely open for the general public. And that sounds a bit like a free-for-all street fair experience, but it wasn't. They had very high standards for their artists, and while it was apparently exponentially bigger than previous years the quality of the artwork still remained high. There weren't any buy-sell booths, and no blatant impulse buy kinds of vendors--most of the artists juried in had obviously "been around the block" a few times and had pretty substantial booth setups.

It was unlike my previous show experience at the OB Chili Cook-Off where the art was relegated to an Artist's Alley and there were many loud rock bands and a carnival with live ponies to compete against. Instead, there was a classic car display, and the stages featured acoustic guitars and quieter singer songwriters.  This event was clearly about the Art, and the primary focus was all about artists.

I'm not sure how it compares to other Art Festivals, but I can say I felt like I was in very good company. The two booths adjacent to mine both had kind artists who were confident and cheerful throughout. The weather was top notch--a perfect day for browsing artwork! And I got to meet one of my fellow Artfair Insiders members!  (Shout out to Lucia Friedericy!) I think this first day proved successful for everyone around me.

As I said, setting up was a challenge. They had wisely staggered set up times, but because the tent crews couldn't start assembling tents until 2 hours prior to the vendors arrival, not all the tents were assembled on time. We had paid for 3 extra walls, but learned quickly that extra walls were the last thing on the tent company's assembly list, so we had to make a choice: assemble our display without the walls or come back the next morning and try to set up at 5:30am. By the time we got our walls, it was 4 hours past our scheduled arrival time, and our booth assembly was long done 2 hours earlier. We just made do without the walls (which we had paid for) and struggled through. My booth lacked the "finished look" I had hoped for, but the two artists on either side had enough experience to not need the walls for their assembly, and had Pro Panels and canvas walls of their own, so our rented walls weren't required for us to complete what we needed to do.

We learned that the limited "specs" they had provided said nothing about the pre-assembled tents being lashed together, nor that the tent poles were significantly thicker than the typical kind used in Trimline or Craft Hut tents. But we had been warned by a friend of ours who had worked setup the year previously on this event, so I had purchased longer and heavier zip ties specifically with this in mind. Thank goodness I did--our set up wouldn't have worked if I hadn't. The specs also didn't mention a lack of horizontal support poles along the bottom of each tent, so we had to jerry rig pole supports to make my gridwall units stable. But everything turned out fine in the end. If we had waited until 5:30 in the morning to start assembly, we would have been under a time constraint and thinking on our feet. As it was, we were able to take our time figuring things out. It was a late night for us, but it just goes to show that one can never ask enough questions and you have to plan for all contingencies. I learned that on this site, thank-goodness!
But the day's visitors made the whole experience worth it. The attendees were my kind of demographic, and I made a lot of contacts and actually sold much more than I did at the OB Chili Cook-Off. And there's still one more day, so I'm excited about the prospects. The people in La Jolla were there to see the art, to contemplate decorating their homes, to find gifts, and to expand their wardrobes with unique and unusual pieces. They were not there to get drunk and eat chili. I never heard one complaint that my prices were too high (in fact, my partner was told they were too low for L

a Jolla) and I garnered a lot of attention painting a large black velveteen shoulder wrap in booth as an ongoing demo throughout the day. The customers were eager to try things on, dig through my stock, and take business cards. I have been told that the crowds at this particular event do indeed contact you later for custom work since they can afford to wait to get what they want specifically. And there were a LOT more people than the previous year, apparently. So I guess changing the nature of admittance was a wise decision for this particular event.

The volunteers were all very nice, and the Artist's Cove offered free bagels and cookies and coffee to all the artists. A lunch delivery service was arranged (pricey, but convenient) and it was executed beautifully.

I've never left my stuff over night like this before, and I'm hoping that their roving security is thorough (I think it is, as we saw many security guards around and that particular area is not known for spot crimes or petty theft). I guess we'll see. We did end up using one of the walls we rented to seal up the tent front, so at least everything is out of sight.

Tomorrow will be the true testing ground as I'll see how it all wraps up. I'm excited for the potential. And regardless, it was a beautiful day to be out making art and meeting new people. I could get used to this! Wish me luck for tomorrow! I'll post pics soon! : )