It has been a while since I blogged about my husband and my art fair experiences. We have had an incredible first half of the year!Our last show was the Taubman Sidewalk Art Show. This was our 10th show of the year. Load in was very easy. The support staff were great; helpful and encouraging. The show was hot, but there were plenty of people out! On Saturday we sold a few originals and a ton of prints. The people were very encouraging and seemed to love the art work. It is different, so you never know if it is going to be positive or not. Not everyone likes scientific illustrations and bugs:)That being said, Sunday, we were confronted with the exact opposite. We had a string of older women that apparently just came in to talk smack about the work. We have never experienced that before. Normally people just move on. I don't really understand the mindset. Why you would waste your time to come in and tell us repeatedly that you didn't like our work is beyond me. I'm used to a comment or two about not liking bugs, but to spend 10 to 15 minutes telling all the ways they didn't feel it was art or good was a new experience. We were polite as always, but it was very tempting to tell them that either 1. There is the door or 2. You can take care of the situation by buying the art and you can do whatever you like with it. The weather Sunday was threatening to rain all day, so the crowds were thinner and sales weren't as good overall. It just would be nice to not have people beat you down.We are going to write Sunday off as old biddies with nothing better to do and hold onto the very positive experience of Saturday!
I did Tubman last year it was a nice little show but I made a whopping 400 dollars... so I skipped it this year. It was too conservative a crowd for my work. Realism reigned and everyone around me that were landscape painter's did well. But I am like you and my work is different and didn't do well there. As for someone battering (that is what I call it) you in your own booth. Don't take that... you paid for that booth! Negativity is so draining during a show....you just can't afford to listen to that stuff. Show them the door next time and don't feel bad about it....
Comments
Thanks...that always helps.
Apologies! Should have put that in the review! It was in Roanoke, VA.
Any clues to where it is located?
I did Tubman last year it was a nice little show but I made a whopping 400 dollars... so I skipped it this year. It was too conservative a crowd for my work. Realism reigned and everyone around me that were landscape painter's did well. But I am like you and my work is different and didn't do well there. As for someone battering (that is what I call it) you in your own booth. Don't take that... you paid for that booth! Negativity is so draining during a show....you just can't afford to listen to that stuff. Show them the door next time and don't feel bad about it....