Let me give you a little background about how I found this show, and then I will tell you everything about it--it is called giving you guys some real meat that you can digest and then make an informed decision about would it be a good fit for you.
Mind you, I am a photographer, 40 years on the circuit, so much of my info is from a 2-D point of view, but I have lots of 3-D friends and have good perspective on what works for them.
SO, NELS, WHY THE HECK DID YOU PICK THIS SHOW?
It was an open weekend for me, I needed a filler.
Shazam. This year I did not get back into Saint Louis (was in last year, you can read my blog, it is as informative if not more than Barry's, it is just I don't suck up to the promoter like he does--but, he is a great guy, great artist, he got the right show and made moola).
Heck, I did not get back into the Plaza (been out 5 years now, been in 7 times in forty years).Got juried out of Naperville for the 10th time in a row. Was number 20 on the wait list for Arts and Apples (fat chance). Skipped Arts, Eats and Beats (thank God), did Upper Arlington on Labor day, but a one-day show will not pay the bills for the month (read my recent blog about it). Decided to pass on Ferndale and the Swamp Fest, done em both, had little to show for the effort.
So, I got Neptune (Virginia Beach next weekend, nothing like the June Show). So I needed a filler, something to help pay the booth and jury fees.
Right now, gotta pay Barry Witt almost $400 for the Jan. Bonita show, had to pay Deland almost $300 for their November show, gotta pay Halifax (Daytona) another $250 for their Nov. show, oh, and I owe Richard Sullivan $400 for the Thanksgiving show in Sanibel.
Then, oh gee, God forbid, if I get into Artigras, Gasparilla, Artisphere, Des Moines, Winter Park, Mt. Dora, Main Street Fort Worth-- they all want their high booth fees in December--the lowest grossing month for art shows all year. Oh yeah, you just go on a starvation diet and hang out behind Subway and eat their five-day old bread rolls that they throw into the garbage, because who has any money to eat on.
For alcohol, I will ferment old dried cat food mingled with my leftover mangos and avocados in Ybor. It is going to be a tight fall, let alone who knows about January. I already bought Ellen her Christmas present- five shiny pieces of coal--should make a dazzling necklace to offset her beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair.
Yikes! I just high-jacked my own thread.
Back on subject.
How I found this show.
Connie did a little blog about it.
She does that a lot. Puts little unknown shows out there--gives us some info, then we can ummmm, should I check it out.
So, I did.
What turned me on was the fact that this was the second oldest outdoor show in Chicago--59 years--so, what is the number one oldest? I don't know, does somebody know?
Next, I checked out some of the exhibitors from other years, there were a few, very few, that I knew. So that was hopeful.
Next, I Googled Park Forest, IL (that is the show location).
It did not really tell me a whole hell of a lot. Got no feel for the ethnic makeup or any demographics.
To me, this looked like a filler show. If I could take out $1500 I would be happy--it seemed possible.
Then, last week right before the show, I leaked out on Facebook that I had this show scheduled.
Oh, Jeez! You should have seen the funeral memorials coming in. The Sterns said, "Are you nuts" (OK, I am paraphrasing Bob, but I know Bob). Oscar basically said, between the lines , "Good luck, compadre, we will bury your bones on I-80."
Thursday nite at Clearbrook, my go-to restaurant in Saugatuck where I live in the summer, the bartender looked at me and said, "Nels, are you nuts, it is very dark there, it is Southside Chicago."
I don't do a lot of shows in Chicago, I don't know Northside from Southside from Westside. I just know that Chicago people don't dig my work as much as the rest of the world does.
I base this on facts, I have done 57th Street, Hinsdale and Amy's Port Clinton--and they were all snoozers.
I go just up the road to Milwaukee, Green Bay or Madison and I kill them. I think I am way too colorful for Chicago, they need dark and dreary and conservative blick that has been done 100s over.
JEEZ! Are you finally going to tell us about the show?
You betcha.
First off, I recommend this show to you if you live within about 150 miles from it. Also, traditional, conservative work will sell best.
There. That is some powerful meat, chew on it. It is more than most bloggers on this site ever give you--and, there is more coming.
Park Forest is just over the Indiana border into Illinois.
Coming from the east, like me, you use I-94-80. Connect on I-57 go south ten miles, go east on Route 30 about 10 miles, turn right, go south on Western Blvd. and you are there. There is a big shiny archway that proclaims downtown Park Forest.
I found a Red Roof on the CLC card for $39 per nite in Lansing, which is just north and slightly east of the show (about 20 minutes away if you drive 75 mph) right off I-80 at Torrance Road.
The booth fee is $175. Yep, you read that right--$175. This aint no Amy Amdur show--thank God.
They give you a breakfast each day, bagels, OJ, coffee and fruit.
They give you a hell of a Saturday nite artist dinner--where awards are announced.
This year, we had appies, cheeses, fruit, four kinds of wine and crackers.
Than came the meal.
They had four kinds of Chicken there, roasted baked, fried and yummy.
They had great collard greens, great green beans, great potato sale, great tomato-cucumber salad--they had cornbread.
They had meatballs, they had pork.
They had five different desserts. You could come back for seconds, thirds and even fourths, and I might have seen a fifth go out the side door.
They kept the wine a-flowing.
They were the nicest people (the gallery-committee) you ever ask to be next to.
ENOUGH ABOUT FOOD, TELL US ABOUT THE SHOW.
Thought you never ask.
Well, I came in a day earlier (It is a Sat. morn setup) to check it out.
A lot of closed storefronts on the main street where the show is. Easily can fit 100 booths along it and on the grass in front of the gallery.
Not many people walking around.
I was getting a real uneasy feeling about the whole thing.
I happened to bump into a shop owner and asked her about the show--and, did anybody show up for it. She assured me that people came from all over for it. That made me feel a little better.
Next morn I got there early and was setup in no time. Others were too. All the booths were nicely spaced with plenty of room for storage and room to display on both sides. What a concept!
The forecast called for rain to happen on and off all day, better than 60% chance of wetness.
It was mostly cloudy, we finally got rain at 2:30, it poured hard for about 30 minutes than cleared, so did the buying crowds, they were gone.
So, before the rain people were selling, mostly lowed price points. I did almost nothing.
I was thinking of tearing down Sat. nite and leaving. Thank goodness I did not.
Sunday morning, we awoke to clear sunny and very breezy skies. It was frisking cold too. But no rain was forecast.
People arrived early and started buying. I surpassed Sat. sales totals in my first hour.
Everybody had a good day. People came from all over. Many of the exhibitors are long timers at this show. Many have done it for 20 years or more. So they have a steady following.
I had A MODEST GOAL THAT I HAD SET FOR MYSELF FOR THIS SHOW. AFTER ALL, IT WAS A FILLER. ALSO CHICAGO PEOPLE DON'T BUY A LOT OF MY WORK. (Ach! I did not realize the caps key was lit, forgive me).
I am too colorful and too tropical for them. They buy tried and true traditional themes here, over and over.
Anyways at show end, a woman walks into my booth, looks at my biggest piece and says, "That would look perfect on my living room wall."
She then told me that her husband was a photographer and he had a booth at the show too.
I figured, fat chance of selling to her. She said she had to talk it over with him and she would get back to me. I said, "Aloha," I will never see her again.
She showed back up in five minutes and uttered those magic words, "I will take it."
Ha! Oscar, I made my goal. I was out of there in under an hour. Take the money and run, all the way back to Saugatuck.
I met the nicest people there, exhibitors and patrons. It was a joyful little show.
You might want to try it sometime.
Comments
Yes, we're confirmed exhibitors in Park Forest Art Fair sponsored by Tall Grass Arts Association. Come see us September 19 and 20, 2015 at our first show of only two that we're doing this fall. We'll also be in Peoria the following weekend for Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair. WOOHOO!
I'm in Wyoming, Stew, about 1,400 miles from Park Forest. I'll most likely be doing only two shows this fall, this one and Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair. I normally show in Florida, but health reasons are keeping us from traveling to the South. Hopefully we'll find a good following in this new area and that no health problems will arise from this climate. We don't do summer shows, so we won't be doing all those everyone touts. Can't stand the summer heat! WOOHOO!
Fast forward to 2015....
You going back here, or elsewhere? We might be coming since we're doing Peoria the weekend afterward. I'll keep you posted.
well said, Janet, you do a hell of a good job--glad I could participate.
Nels:
I was delighted to read your review and especially delighted to see the comment by Stewart Rein with whom I spent a very pleasant time at the previous art fair trying to figure out if we were related. (My dad's last name was Rein.) We think we are not.
So, first of all, some information about Park Forest. A great new book provides some history: "Park Forest: America's GI Town." It is a very interesting community - built in 1949 to accommodate the GI's returning from WWII. Phil Klutznick, who was head of housing in the Roosevelt administration, was urged by the President to develop housing for the GIs so he formed a private partnership and purchased land in the southern suburbs.
Now, this part is not included in the book. If you know what was going on in the housing market in America at that time, you will find it amazing that this home for GIs, many of whom had recently served in the Pacific, was open to Asians and Jews. No land covenants. Amazing.
Ten years later, one of the early Japanese residents, urged the government to adopt a Human Rights ordinance and establish a Human Rights Commission. They did. (Amazing.) Then Harry Teshima went out and recruited the first African American family. Again, in an era of block busting and red lining, Park Forest invited a black family. (Amazing!)
The book does mention that the town is built on the principles of the "Green Belt Towns." Curvilinear streets. Small lots but many large parks. Neighborhood schools and central shopping: only Klutznik envisioned the shopping area as a regional mall, one of the first in America, with anchor department stores (Mays, Marshall Fields, Goldblatts). Years later, he lamented the fact that he placed it in the middle of town instead of on a major highway and when a neighboring town built one on a major highway, it spelled the demise of the Park Forest Plaza.
So, the Village demolished the empty anchor stores, created a main street through the middle of the plaza and is leasing it as a downtown. It is a work in progress.
As for the Park Forest Art Fair. It is operated totally and completely by volunteers who are not, themselves, artists but who love art and are committed to keeping the arts alive. They fundraise all year long to ensure low entry fees for the art fair. They also want to ensure that the profit from artists' sales accrue to the artists and not a professional fair organizer. So, the registration fee is $175.
We have debated allowing commercial vendors (who pay much more than artists) but have turned down the idea. We think most artists do not enjoy showing their high quality wares when sandwiched between ComEd and Anderson Windows. We hope we are correct in that assumption.
The committee is also committed to providing an artist-friendly atmosphere at the fair, hence the two breakfasts and (as my kids would say) a "killer" dinner. Hence, too, the constant stream of volunteers offering free bottles of water and a break if necessary..and help with unloading and security all night long, etc.
Nels, you mentioned your sales. I tried to get around to talk to all the artists and almost everyone reported really good sales. One potter said he sold more on Saturday (despite the rains) then he sold last year during the whole weekend. Two pastel artists, whose work is expensive for this market, each sold several works Saturday morning. Interesting since Saturday is usually browsing day and Sunday is sales day.
One thing you did not mention; however, that most of the other artists did. They reported that people stopped and chatted with them. Lots of people. They felt it was a very different phenomenon than that which they experienced in other fairs.
We feel terrible about the weather but the last time we had bad weather on that weekend was probably about 16 years ago.
One final note, in response to the racist comment you heard. The southern suburbs are, indeed, diverse. Anyone who has raised children here is deeply grateful because we sent them forth better prepared to live in America than the children who grew up in lily white places. And, whoever made the comment must be unaware that there is a black middle class living in these suburbs…people with money to spend on art!
So, I hope you will encourage your friends to apply for jurying for the 60th Annual Park Forest Art Fair, which will be held on the 3rd weekend in September (the traditional dates). Jurying will open in January, 2015. The Call for Artists will be posted on our website: www.tallgrassarts.org.
Many, many of our artists have participated in the fair 35 years or more. While we love these artists, many of them are now retiring. Our goal for the 60th is to rebuild to 100+ artists.
To answer your question: the oldest, juried art show in Chicago is 57th Street. We're second.
I did the Park Forest show last year and back up everything that was stated. It was a filler show for me too, so my expectations were tempered. As I drove toward the show to scout it out the day before, my heart sank. There must have been a vibrant downtown at one point but it has been usurped by nearby malls. WhenI set up the following morning, I met several artists who, as Nels stated, had been doing this show for eons and they had good things to say about it. To summarize, I was well looked after, the arts committee was ever present, they fed us, booth sat and probably would have spoon fed me if I had asked. Sales? Very good...way behind expectations. I strongly recommend this show. It is just that, a fine art show without the brass bands. It was well attended and people came out to buy rather than use the show as entertainment.
Yes!! I knew you were going to this show. They've been loyal advertisers on this site and send in their money EARLY, as well as pay for extra promotion to bring people to ATTEND the show. Yes, extra, how do you like that? They've been solid supporters of my business plan (these websites) and know they are devoted to their show and then I hear that you, my most loyal reporter, is going to go there. I know when I don't hear anything from you it only means one thing:
But I'm shaking as I see your name pop up here, what will he say about these good folks at Park Forest? Whew! As always, the man with the golden fingers. Glad this worked out for you, Nels. As always, it is a pleasure to see your posts show up here.
Oh, and by the way, Norm's (my husband) work (b & w and very quiet) always did well in Chicago area shows and not as well in the sunny places of our country. That is just to reinforce your surmise that your work is too happy and sunny.
This looks like a lot of really good info, so I am commenting so I can come back and read the rest later. Thanks for sharing it.
I am glad that you did good for that show Nels. At least you went with some clear expections.