I want to thank you God for a good season so far.
During the Bucktown Art Fair I never lost hope to come ahead in the show. I did not make booth fee. Wow, that really happen! Really this happen! I should be angry, wondering what happen instead. I should be questioning my work. Instead I accept what happen and move on to the next. I know that bad show will happen during the year. Bucktown Art Fair and Hyde Park Community Art Fair both in Chicago will always hold special place in my heart.
Thinking that I should apply to another show instead. Someone why you will risk a lot more. I told him my work has evolve and I can’t do this show because my presentation is to finish for this show. Is not that I am better or worst but I got a more gallery look that lets put it together. If you walk the show you can tell the difference between season art fair artist and beginners. Beginners rule this show. Let make this clear is not the quality of work is the presentation. Red flag start showing artist that I know drop this show and paid two booth fees instead.
Some people did really well but you can tell that lot of artist walk away ........
I still believe this show is a good as Old Town Art Fair but the crowd has change.
So if you head the Chicago keep in mind that the new buyers had change. Younger crowd is not buying traditional art. Most of them are edging work and very economical. So far this season people do not under stand what good art cost or even framing cost.
This remind me a post from my old friend Munks.
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Comments
Elaine, some people don't appreciate handmade. When you see those displays with a large selection of the same thing, I think it's very eye-cathcing. So it you don't care that it's mass produced, it sells.
What caught my eye though, is your reference to your "hobby". I am a tax accountant in my other job. I can tell you, you do NOT want a hobby. Ask your tax preparer about the hobby rules - you report all your sales as income, and you may or may not get deductions for your expenses. Believe me when I say you want a business with a profit motive.
For me, shows help me support my 'hobby." No, I'm not out to make a killing. I do not try to run from show to show every weekend. I have a select group of shows I am going to now that are somewhat dependable. If I can cover my costs - booth fee and gas, with some money left over, I'm happy. Of course, the more money I have left over, the happier I am. My husband does NOT understand that I cannot force people to buy my jewelry nor can he understand why so many people are out there selling jewelry. The money I've made in the past have helped me purchase a much nicer tent as well as upgrades on my booth. I take pictures (as most of us do) every year and try to critique my booth. I completely understand by looking back why I didn't do as good here or there. Booth appearance is absolutely a draw or a hinder. Each year I take money to tweek the booth here or there. I find it has been making a great difference over the years. What I cannot understand is how people who have a ton of jewelry, all identical except for stones, sell, sell, sell? It takes me about 45 seconds to look at one of those booths if I'm visiting. If you have a lot of goodies, I'm stopping to look. On the other hand, I never went to craft shows before the jewelry started. I have to sell it. I'm retired and I'll never need it anyway.
Oscar,
I agree completely.
For me there are 3 kinds of shows.
#1---Dependable Shows that I feel like I can count on to be profitable. I am always hopeful I will get in these and very disapointed if I do not. I try to do as many of these as I can get into, but I can't rely solely on them for income. Juries are fickle and sometimes even these shows have disappointing sales.
These are the shows that are organized and take steps to assure our success. They have fair booth layouts with no dead spots. They advertise. They involve the local community with things like youth art components and patron dollar programs. They are events that patrons look forward to attending and buying every year. They are responsive to artist concerns and care whether or not buy/sell is in the show. All of these things increase the chances that the show will be financially successful for us.
#2---Filler Shows that I really see as a gamble. For these shows I have much lower expectations. I sell or not only by chance. If the right person comes along and sees something they must have.
The crowd doesn't come to buy art specifically. Maybe it is the music, or food or fresh air that draws them, but not my work. Maybe they are just there to show off their dog. The show is not always responsive to artist concerns, it has bad booth locations, etc. The things that I do not like about the show are not serious enough to label it a (see next show type)
#3---Show "that I would become a toothless 2$ prostitute behind the dumpster at the bus station before I would even consider giving them my money".
Bucktown has been a filler show for me. I really enjoy it and sometimes I do very well. But it is very inconsistent from year to year. The crowd never gets there until after 1pm on both days, some of those booth spots in the park are on serious hills. On the years I do well, I am delighted and on the bad years, I look forward to the next year when it is likely to be better.
I totally understand shows so bad they are depressing. I made $194 at Artigras in Jupiter, FL years ago and to make it worse the poster artist was next to me with work I didn't understand the appeal of and they had a line all weekend. They had such a line that the show organizers helped them with sales. I am not ashamed to say that I was so broke I cried on the way home. That experience affected how I manage my money so that one bad show won't mean I can't pay the bills. Artigras is definitely a #3 show for me, but I do appreciate the lesson I learned from it.
Michael, The first thing I can tell you that did not saw Maria at the show. There are to many things that wrong about the show but is no worth to discuss. This is one of my first show I ever did. It had been good through the years but one year I can make 3000 and next year 100.00. Nothing to do with the things that we can not control. Last year I broke down in a storm and we the artist decide to take off. Nobody came around to tell us about the bad storm coming through and we should start breaking down.
I do not know about other artist but I spend money in my presentation and display. I want to depend only of my shows income. I work very hard in producing my work and adjust to times. I need to do shows that are more stable. I know that shows one year can be good and another .... but you want to do shows that really organize and with potential. The promoters get paid no matter what and the artist are in the risk. If we start loosing money show after show you will be homeless. At start of the year I make of list of show. I set a budget. If I do not get into the shows in my list I stay home and go to my regular 10 to 7 job.
Last year at one of Amy Amdur shows I saw an artist very sad and you can tell by is body language that he was in serious money problems. I had been there and is not a pleasant feeling. I reduce my risk as much as possible. I know other artist that take joy when things go wrong for you. When I see an artist in trouble and try cheer up that person even it had prove to be the wrong thing to do.
So I see people that will call friends in circuit and you guys know who I am talking about . I will help them if they ever need help.
This does not mean that wont do the show again but this is my approach to every single show because at the end of the day is about how I can paid the bills, put food in my table, save money and be happy.
I do shows because I enjoy doing the shows but money talks.
I was there and did fine. (I do feel lucky to have done fine, and talked to plenty of artists who did not fare as well.) I had a terrible Saturday (I made booth fee) and Sunday was a very good day but only because of 2 large sales. I normally sell a lot of small or unframed pieces (I have a lot of Chicago themed images that usually sell well here), but the volume and the crowd just was not there this year.
A neighbor made an observation that I thought was very astute. Bucktown has always been about the poetry, music, and edgy young artists, so the art show attendees in greater Chicago do not necessarily seek this show out. It is usually just neighborhood people and if they happen to see something they want to buy, they will (but they do not come to buy specifically). There is a lot of money in this neighborhood and Lincoln Park is very close by with even more money. This weekend I spoke to decorators and people who had to consult their decorators.
Normally the volume of attendees at this show and the relatively small number of artists means this is still a good show. But this year the first day of school was moved up to the day after the show. I am certain that kept the crowds away and if that date conflict is not resolved next year, I think it will have an extremely negative effect on the future of the show.
I really like this show. The show is all volunteers and the money they raise goes back into the neighborhood. I feel good supporting that with my booth fee.
Unfortunately that also means there is little institutional memory. (For example-every year it is difficult to get the streets barricaded so that cars do not drive though the show). I fear that lack of organization or a strong leader means they will not be able to bring the crowd back. I really hope I am wrong.
I also did the Bucktown show and also did not make my booth fees. Several of my booth neighbors had done this show in the past and said this was an off year. I'm glad to hear that it wasn't just me that had a bad run. I had heard such good things about this show and was excited for it. I'm on the fence if I'll be back next year.
Oscar, I know what you say about the beginner'r booth. Did you see the "booth" next to me that had no tent, just lounge chairs w coolers and some tables where they were selling giant glass penis? I never knew what they were for...I don't know if they were pipes or flower pots but they had liquid inside...Oh well...maybe they were selling like nobody else
Well said. Thanks for writing this. I just had a tough weekend myself. It's time to shake it off and move on with my business. Thanks for getting me in the mood to do that!