Well, it was my best art show, in Florida, for the last 41 years.  That is saying a lot.

This is a very hard show to jury in.  For example, I got in 1983 and 1984.  Thought I had it made.  Well, I got juried out the next 27 years. Got in in 2012 and finally got back in in 2020, then rolled over to this year.

That is a hell of a lot of rejections.  And, I always sent new work every year.

On the other hand, my esteemed and dearly-loved wife, Ellen Marshall, has been in over 10 times.  I guess they love beautiful blondes.  Just kidding.  She got in because she had dynamic pastel images that read well with the jury.

We should all take Jurying Seminar with Ellen.  Be sure to wear your best blonde wigs.

Now, on with the show.

This is a three day show.  Most setup in the park on Thursday. Street booths set up early Friday morn.  Show starts at nine.

When we heard the show was moved to midMay rather then March, we all felt, “Oh shit! We are screwed. Snowbirds gone, sweltering heat, we will be lucky to do half the usual.

Because of that exact feeling I rented a booth and wall panels from Tents4Events for $300.  Money well spent.  I showed up and hung my workin less than two hours. At teardown I was out in less than an hour.

Added bonus.  We had the coolest temps ever, for a May show.  Never went over 81 degrees.  I shivered in the morns but the crowds came in record numbers.

Friday started slowly, by 10 am crowds were steady with cooling breezes keeping us happy.

Fridays are always the slowest days for sales and this was no exception.

Patrons were well dressed and on the elderly side.

Most were enthused and just happy to be out at a social event.

The show gave us all generous ten foot spacing between booths.SIGNS WERE POSTED BY THE SHOW TELLING PATRONS AND ARTISTS TO BE MASKED when inside the booth(sorry for the all caps, fricking finger). Majority abided.  I had hand sanitizer there. Very few used it, but they did wear their masks.  I used the sanitizer every time I touched a credit card or handled fresh cash (Fresh cash,what a concept,I wonder which aisle would have it at the supermarket).

Not many people walked with freshly bought art in hand, maybe they had it all delivered to their homes, kinda like takeout pizza.

I was barely able to sell $500 for the day.  I was not alone.

The overall feeling of the artists was they were happy to be out there selling and seeing friends.  For many, this was their first show in a year.

We were all rolled-over artists from 2020. There were some empty spots which was strange.  I guess the show chose not to call any from the waitlist.  A little odd for a major show.

Saturday.

Cooling breezes and chilly temps greeted us that morn.  I loved it.

Crowds were out early at 9 am, people were buying right away.  Also, I was seeing the faces of younger, well dressed couples.

Winter Park is a wealthy suburb of Orlando. A lot of power brokers live here.

An architect friend of mine said he had just designed a set of condos just down the show on Park Avenue.  They were priced at $4.5 million and they flew off the shelves like baked bread.

Before the show started I walked around to get a feel from the artists about sales.I know a lotta artists just be being around the circuit for 41 years.

Their general reaction to me is something like this: “Jeez! You still around. Sally, hide the tequila.).  Then we smile and give each other a fist bump.

Every artist there is a star in their own right. 
At noon, on Saturday, I was not feeling the love.  I had not even sold one 16x20 framed photo at $175. I was sitting on less than $1200 for the whole show.

Then around 1pm things started happening.  I sold two metal photos for $1K each.

After that it was steady sales to the end.  I looked around and most of my neighbors were selling steadily.  It felt really good.

One thing about Winter Park, they have a lot of rules for artists.

I ran afoul of one of them unwittingly.

The rule says the committee reserves the right to make artists take down work if it is not in accordance with this being a family oriented show.

A Winter Park official came into my booth and told me to take down two photos that involved nudity.  (This is a family show, no nudity).

Later she came back and searched through my bins and yanked every matted photo with nudity.

Yikes! I have been censored.  Nothing I could do but comply.  Their rules.

I was one happy camper when Saturday dinner came around.

Sunday. 

Another cool morn with crowds circling early.

I circled the show early to get a feel for Saturday sales went.

Majority of artists were just happy to be out at a show, selling, and vibing with fellow artists.

The crowd started buying early and I had a repeat of Saturday sales, except they started buying earlier.

I saw one significant trend for me.  My metal photo sales made up a third of my total sales.

I only started getting photos printed on metal in December, most shows I sold two pieces.

This show I sold seven metal pieces starting at $500 and going up. I am glad I made that move.

I sold right up to end at 5pm.

I dollied out to my van and was out in one hour.  Tents4Events took care of the teardown. It was worth the $300 rental.

If Florida can hold art shows without artists getting sick, I do not see why other states can not too.

I live for shows like Winter Park, they keep me focused on improving and being a better artist.

I hope this info was helpful.  Feel free to weigh in with comments pro and con.

Later Gators.  Des Moines here I come.

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Comments

  • Thanks again, Nels, for sharing this useful information. Wish I could have been there too. Then I could have put the tent up and taken it down and saved you $300.

    This has always been a tough show to get into. Our friend, Bill Coleman, believed that they kept a secret list of people they didn't want to let into the show. He would mail his application from out of town so they wouldn't recognize the State College, PA, address. I think he also played around with his name a little also. Our participation was sporadic also, more nays than ayes. Let it be said though I truly believe that nothing fishy was going on, they just have a large pool of applicants.

    Re: "We were all rolled-over artists from 2020. There were some empty spots which was strange.  I guess the show chose not to call any from the waitlist.  A little odd for a major show."

    • Winter Park has never been one to have a wait list, historically
    • We've been hosting Zoom meetings with art fair directors over the last year and several of the directors have mentioned not filling empty spaces simply as a Covid precaution.

    What? Take down the nudes? That is crazy ... we showed nudes at every show we did for 30 years and many times at Winter Park. That committee person needs a lesson in art history.

    I know you wrestled for years about not giving in to the digital photo and not showing photos except under glass, guess even an old dog learns new tricks! That had to be hard to decide to make the metal prints, still I'm an old purist and wish it weren't so. I like the old darkroom stuff, etc. But I guess that just shows my age. 

    Wonderful to hear about good sales, and the high price points are great too! Here's hoping for this trend not only to continue for you but for all of us and all the shows to come.

    Hope I run into you somewhere in the Midwest this summer.

  • Way to go Nels!!!!

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