Certain media and styles each have venues that lean towards them versus other mediums and styles. For example, I did a show in Lexington. I thought that the location would be ideal for my work. It turned out that the show was organized by a gallery that specialized in abstracts and the show was pointed toward, and marketing concentrated to, their customer base. A lot of fine crafts, some photography but no realism (or very few including me). Actually, the closest was an impressionist. A wood turned friend was there (does excellent stuff) did well. The turnout was fair - not great; but still...
I read the comments/show reviews with keen interest; but when I see the comments are from photographers or people who do fine craft work, I have doubts whether those ratings/comments are germane to me.
I am interested to know which members do realist works and work in oils, pastels or sculpture so I could key in on their comments. I also encourage those who take the time to comment, which I very much appreciate, to comment on the presence of other mediums and styles that participated and whether they had similar results. I promise to do the same with shows that I do this year.
Comments
Thank you for the kind words, Sabrina. WOOHOO!
Check out the artists in Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival for 2015. The show is happening in a month. There's actually more realism in it than I expected this year. This proves I misjudged the judges based upon reading their biographies.
WINTER PARK SIDEWALK ART FESTIVAL
Sabrina, you might need to take the plunge and make your own website. Check out Len's and mine. We're both using Fine Art Studio Online, FASO for short. You might check out Squarespace as well, but I don't know about their service. FASO has great customer service, and you can talk with a real person in a flash on the telephone.
FINE ART STUDIO ONLINE
Len Jagoda, you'll have to try some Florida venues. Ocala (Marion County) may be the thoroughbred training capital of the USA. But I've never seen any racing and equine artists in the fall show. That doesn't mean you'll do well there. From what I see on your website you are doing very specific portrait type work. There's tough competition in that field, but we don't see much of that in the bigger art fair shows since the art fair market caters to artists with more individual perspective. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting what you are doing. You might need to focus on some aspect of racing besides the obvious group of horses rounding the curve into the stretch or nosing across the finish line. There are farriers, gamblers, jockey club workers, trainers, aspects of racing behind the scenes, etc. And if you've not seen the landscape around Ocala, it's stunning. I know, It's also stunning in Kentucky. But I was amazed with Marion County and Ocala, even with some farms right there in the city.
Just stopped by your website. Beautiful paintings and exquisite frames! Wow!
Thank you so much for looking at my Etsy store! Sorry that the setup at my Etsy store seems confusing. When you look at the listing, it only shows the lowest price. For example, "Pears with Clouds" sells for $29 for a 8x8" Giclee print. When you click on the drop-down menu, you will see the original sells for $599.
Thank you for pointing it out. I need to rethink how to arrange my listings. Maybe two sections to separate prints and originals? That way I will need to find a way not to display the same image twice in the same page because they are from different sections.
Esty doesn't help much in selling originals though. I listed my works there and forgot about it. Maybe I should really sit down and learn about internet promotion.
The year 2014 was my first year into the art show business. Overall. I've made the expense but not much profit. My best show was Mid-summer festival at Koehler art center, WI and a small neighborhood show in Chicago called Edgewater Art Festival. Big shows like Old Town (I got a flat tire on the way to the show in the morning) and Port Clinton(huge thunderstorm, and I grounded $0 for originals), oh well, it comes to the conclusion that I wasn't ready for them.
This year I am thinking about double the number of shows to around 20. I try to avoid big names but still plan to check out Lakefront. Curiosity is bugging me.
I would love to know where my paintings would be favored. I live in Indian. Any show within 4-5 hours drive will be considered. Florida always fascinates me but financially I am far rom there.
For those who would like to check me out, here is my Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamLandForever
We are 2D realists, figurative contemporary and imaginative realism. We exhibit mostly in Central and Panhandle Florida, as well as in other parts of the South East USA. We've exhibited all over the USA, but focus now on the South East. Our work has been well received and collected just about everywhere, with a few exceptions. We don't do as well in Colorado shows, and just o.k. in Kansas City. We don't get the right vibe from Texas venues, and thus don't go there anymore. California is expensive, so we don't go there often. We don't do summer events since we don't like to withstand summer heat--we might make an occasional exception for this.
Obviously, metropolitan areas offer greater diversity of demographics. Investigate the demographics of a city on wikipedia. I don't do that very often since I've established myself in certain markets.
Landscapes and still life not selling? Hone your skills and perspective, 'cause these are the most purchased items according to many statistical reports. But there are a lot of artists doing this type of work. I just looked at your ETSY page, Sabrina. As good as those seem, you should be earning a decent living selling your work. Are you kidding with the prices? Pears with Clouds and others are only $29 for the originals? And you have a Masters Degree? Maybe a 12x12 should be $290 or $390? You bet THEY SHOULD, or more. Moon Rising is $39 for the original and it's 16x16 inches? How about $795 or something substantial like that. Frame it. Raise the price. Sell it. Survive!
It's not as simple as it seems to guess which shows will be right for you, especially by reading reviews. Just because the review states REALISM ROCKS doesn't mean customers will find YOU at the same event, and you'll go home wondering why you followed a bogus lead.
Read the reviews to understand buying energy and trends, the treatment of artists by locals and show committee, whether or not there's the potential for bigger sales, weather info, parking, ease of set-up and take-down, etc. If the review says ABSTRACT does well, that doesn't mean the type of REALISM you do will not find a buyer.
I agree that it's important to consider the source when reading reviews of shows. I often times check the profile of the poster before I get too excited about a comment.