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After an awesome 24 days in Cartagena Colombia we came back For Coconut Grove.  We were waitlisted for this show.  It is hard enough to plan a Florida tour but when a waitlist happens it is extra difficult.  We have never been to Coconut Grove.  We have the travel bug and really didn't want to come back home where it was wet and cold after Beaux Arts.   October we decided we were going to get off that waitlist and planned like we were in the show.  Hotels this year were CRAZY expensive for that time.  It is a three day show Sat, Sun and Mon,  and you setup on Friday.  That is 5 nights.  Hotels were going for $400-$500 a night in the area and house rentals were being snatched up fast.  We booked a four bedroom house with other artists and committed to being there whether or not we got in.  We figured if we didn't get in we would have a chance to check out the show, enjoy more time in beautiful Coral Gables and help out or artist friends.  Luckily we got off the waitlist.  This is an expensive show to do even with out the hotel rates.  The booths are high cost and we double booth it.  This is a really big show and there is another show right next door.  Lots of artists and big expenses.  We had shied away from the show because the reviews were so mixed.  You never know until you try it so this is what we did.

 The show is set up like a backwards Z or a hard S.  Most spots are along Bayshore.  There is a big median in the road.  Booths set up along the median with booths on one side.  The other two off shoots are across from eachother for the most part.  Here and there along the main drag you may have promo booths across from you.  It is a really big show and too difficult to explain.  Some booths are better than others but that is true for most shows.  We had some room on either side, enough to walk thru.  

Set up is Friday afternoon.  You drive up to your space and unload.  You can check in after set up.  Some spots it is easy and clear others a bit tight.  Everyone seems to work together.  You can buy artist parking.  This works for some if the parking is near their booth.  There are plenty of other parking lots you can pay for that may be more convenient.  We had a double spot in the 800 block and could easily park and set up.  We didn't have to move since noone else was there setting up around us.  We are fast and got set up  in about 1 hour.   Coconut Grove has a lot going on.  The marina is right there and a great shopping/restaurant area.  The logistics for getting around is challenging for the first time. 

The weather forecast was perfect for Saturday.  Finally great weather.   The crowds were good  but most sales were around $300 from what we saw and what other artists told us.  We are large scale original only abstract.  Nothing under $1k.  We didn't meet many patrons on a mission to find original art Saturday.  Sunday another perfect weather day and it  felt like a different show.  People were out on a mission with a plan.  They were shopping for big work.  We had a great day.  Monday there was light misty rain on and off.  The bargain hunters were out.  Sales happened even after break down.  Of course some had excellent shows and some had ok shows and some did not do well.  Many artists have done this show many many times.  They said maybe it was time to give the show a break.  We were thrilled with the show. 

Artists amenities were good in my opinion.  It changed from years past and some artists were not as happy.  This year they had a VIP area opened up for the artists.  They had food, cocktails, beer, wine, soda, water etc all day.  They had trailer porta potties (my favorite).  It was located at one end of the show.  This is a long show so if your booth wasn't near the VIP area it was difficult to get to.  With free booze some artists spent too much time in the VIP area.  It was not too far from us so we used it for the nice bathrooms but I always pack my own food.  Some artists care more than others about artists amenities.  For me I just want a strong buying crowd.  They had plenty of volunteers for booth sitting.  We don't need booth sitters but the offer was always there. 

Load out.  This was really unclear.  Our entrance into the show was closed at the last minute because of a safety problem.  That messed up our exit strategy since the truck was already lined up.  The show ended at 5pm.  We were out by 7pm.  Not too bad considering the confusion. 

I really liked this show.  It is big.  It is confusing.  It is expensive. There is a ton of competition and amazing artists.   Miami is a great market for our work.  The patrons are all ages and ready to buy if you have what they want.  Be prepared for bargaining. 

After this we finally had to head home for a bit to restock and take care of home business.  Next up Gasparilla.

After finishing  Las Olas we planned on doing a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas  in between shows out of Miami.  Usually costs $149-$189 pp but this year one of the cruise ships was dry docked that week so  it was too expensive this year.  We fortunately have some awesome artist friends who let us crash for the mid week and had a fun mini vacation in Fort Myers with friends.

Beaux Arts Festival of the Arts is one of our favorite SE Florida shows.   It is on the University of Miami campus near the museum in Coral Gables Miami.  Beautiful setting.   Hotels and vacation rentals were expensive, even more so than normal.  We finally found a two bedroom house about 15 minutes from the show and shared with another artist.  The food in Miami is amazing.  Make sure to take advantage of it.

 The show runs Saturday and Sunday with set up on Friday.  The weather this January in Florida was not art show friendly.  Friday morning we set up with no weather issues.  You can drive up to your booth and if you arent in anyones way you can stay put.  The weather was rough later in the day.  We went to the hardware store and bought extra weights for the tent.  Some booths are on grass and some on pavement.  Some booths are back to back some are across the street from each other.  Some booths have a lot of room all around some are tight.  You have a mix.  They offer close easy free parking for the artists.   Trailors are no problem.  They have a breakfast for the artists, your reguar carbs with some cheese and fruit.  There are food trucks and the campus has restaurants and normal college campus services.   This show has been reviewed many times so search here on AFI for more info.

Saturday the show opened at 10 am.  We lucked out with good weather.  The crowd was good, not huge but a good crowd.  Most people I talked to had an ok Saturday but this show is known as a  Sunday show. 

Sunday.... we knew the weather forecast was not pretty.  Our pilot friend gave us some inside scoop to the weather that was about to hit in the morning.   He was warning us that it was not looking good for the show site.  We arrived around 8:30 am.  Right after the front went through..  It was not good.  Lots of  tents down to the ground and work spread all over.  I won't post pics of that.  It is too hard for those artists to see and relive.  We were fortunate in our location and our tent  was basically fine with just a few things to deal with.   We spent the next couple hours  trying to help clean up.  My next part is a bit of advice for fellow artists and how to help when something like this happens at an art show.  There were so many tents down I think many artists didn't know how to react.  Of course many artists were helping especially in the areas where just one or two booths went down but in the big parking lot, that got hurt the worse, not as many pitched in.  The wind came through so hard and it wouldnt matter how much weight you had you were going down.   It was devastating to see.  I heard many people say they didn't know what to do.  Here are a few suggestions and if anyone else has some please add.  My partner was recovering from surgery.  He wasn't allowed to lift more than 15lbs.  So he went to the down booths, dug thru the rubble and found business cards and called the artists to give them a heads up.  Sucks to be the messenger but better than being blindsided when you arrive.  He also took pics of the damage for the artist so they could have it for insurance if needed.  Most of the artists didn't want to see the pics  so we offered to send the pics to a friend or relative for safe keeping.  We tried to save any work that we could.  There was a lot of standing water, still raining some and windy.  It would have helped to have some artist open up their booths to help store that art until the owners could get it to a safer place.  Get some tools, like a wire cutter, screw driver etc.  Brooms and lots of them were needed for broken glass.  Help pick up trash.  These booths and the set ups were all tangles and needed to be taken apart in bad weather conditions.   For an artist whose booth is down trying to find anything is difficult.    Offer help but most likely an artist will be in too much shock to answer.  Just wait around a bit and see what you can do.    Towels or anything that can help people dry off and clean up their art are a huge help.  For the artists who had the option and strength to set up again they will need supplies.  Zip ties, duck tape, rope, any extra tent parts help.  We had a few extra stay bars and tent legs.  Those were used to reinforce broken legs.   We broke out our cooler and served up beer, wine and cocktails to help settle nerves.  We are all in this together. 

The wind was still blowing but the forecast for the rest of the day looked good.  By 11 am everything was back up and running pretty much.  The wind died down and patrons showed up.  A lot of be backs came and folks were buying.  It turned out to be a good day for most of the artists we talked to.  Not the best Beaux Arts ever but considering the weather it was good.

The show ends at 5 pm.  Break down is kind of a free for all.  It works.  Those that have easy access to drive up to their booths usually go first and get out of the way for those in the back.  We had a really easy place to pull up right at 5 pm and were out by 5:30. 

I really love this show.  The setting is so beautiful.  The people have money and most live there.  You have some tourists but not a ton like many Florida shows.  Big work sells well.  People have money and are sophisticated buyers.  The staff is great and very friendly.

Next show is Coconut Grove.  Here is where living the artist life on the road pays off.  Instead of staying in Florida for the next month (which would be very expensive to do)  we found $200 rt flight from Miami to Cartagena.  The dollar is crazy strong in Colombia and we were able to rent a condo right on the beach for $900 for 3+ weeks.  Breakfast cost $1.50, Lunch $2 and dinner $5.  We were there for Carnaval and were able to attend the worlds second largest celebration, second only to Rios.  Once in a lifetime event for us.   Awesome vacation in between shows.  We use natural pigments in our work and try to find new ones from different parts of the world, so this was technically a business trip:)

I would love to talk with artists that have been accepted to the annual art festivl.  Two years running i have buffed up my booth, taken what i believed to be amazing photos, wrote precise descriptions, and bam, rejected.  In the body of the rejection email KRASL made it clear that people are rejected often several years running, and please try again.   It baffles me.  Granted i work in wearable fiber and wonder often if that is a limiting factor.  

They do invite artists to attend the jury process, which is refreshing and rare... sadly i live 5 hours drive from there, and could not break away to be there for the jury.  I also wonder if that is a limiting factor.

If you have done the event, can we chat either on this blog or via email?

Just finished our Winter 2016 Florida tour.  Did 4 shows.  Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, Beaux Arts in Coral Gables Miami, Coconut Grove Miami and Gasparilla in Tampa.   I will post in 4 parts.

 One of the great things about doing Florida shows in the winter is to get the heck out of the bad weather at home.  We also make sure to enjoy our time while there and make the best out of what Florida has to offer.  Staying in Florida between shows can be expensive and we have found other alternatives to help save money and enjoy traveling.  We have cruised in between shows and traveled to many countries over the years.  It is a great life.   

First show was at Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale early January.  Have done this show many times.  Took last year off but was eager to return this year.  Usually stay right at the show at The Riverside but the going rate was close to $300 a night.  Found a great air bnb owned by one of our own, artist, just a mile from the show.  2 bedroom with a pool and extremely artist friendly.  We shared with another aritist and that is a great way to go to save money. 

This show has been reviewed many times.  If you are interested in more info just search it here on AFI.  Set up is early morning.  There is a somewhat new system for load in at HA shows.  You can drive up to your booth spot till 5am or 5:30 am.  You can drop off your stuff than go park.  After 5:30 am you can start setting up.  If you arrive after that time you have to dolly in.  We arrived around 5 am unloaded and parked.  Set up is quick for us and we were done by 6:30 am.  Back to the house to have breakfast, take a shower and relax before returning. 

Booths.  Las Olas is a four lane road with a median.  Booths are back to back but the median is between the booths.  There is not a lot of space in the back or on either side but enough that the booths are not touching.  If you agree with your neighbor you can probably get 3 feet between each booth on one side.  Many spots can plug into electricity.  The space between your booth and the sidewalk is one lane.  There are stores and restaurants all along the street. 

The show starts on Saturday at 10 am but people are out shopping well before that.  Actually while I was in the shower at 8 am I received a call from my booth neighbor telling me I had a potential client.  The weather held Saturday and the crowds, as usual for this show, came.  Sunday the weather didnt look as good.  We lucked out and only got about 15 minutes of bad rain.  The great thing about Las Olas is there are a bunch of restaurants.  At our booth we had The Oyster Bar and could sit right on their covered terrace and watch our booth, even in the rain.  The crowds were big on Sunday.

Sales.  This was not our best Las Olas.  The artist on one side of me, 2D, had her best Las Olas show ever.  As did 2 of my sculpture friends, 3 painters and 2 jewelry artists.  All around most people I talked to had an excellent show. 

Load out.  Show ends at 5pm.  You need to break down then get your vehicle.  The streets are narrow so we opted to dolly out.  We were gone by 6 pm. 

This is a great show to start 2016 and Fort Lauderdale is a lot of fun.  It is a well run show and the quality of work is top notch.  I love that it is all about the art.  There are no kids areas, music stages or funnel cake.  Also for those who want to rent a tent and propanels the new company HA uses has brand new light domes and new propanesl at an excellent price.  Very impressed.

Next up Beaux Arts

April 24
Culver City, California
Presented by: The Bead Society
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
150 Artists
Deadline:  March 15

Booth Fee: $135/table

Our semiannual bead bazaars are the best and finest event of the west side of Los Angeles, and have been held for almost 35 years.

We feature antique and collectible beads, designer and artisan made beads, as well as jewelry designers, wearable artists, and gemstone artifact and bead vendors.  Many of our vendors are members of the Bead Society as well as other chapters throughout Southern California, and know their bead and gemstone provenance.  We also host demonstrations of jewelry making, glass treatment and creation, and gem identification.

Marketing:
We usually advertise on our web site, distribute flyers at other bead and design shows, and also give out post cards for members to mail to their customers. We also have a Facebook page where we post pictures and announcements. Vendors post the Bazaar details on their pages and/or web sites. In addition we submit advertising to the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, and other local newspapers and magazines.

I'm a Michigan artist working digitally. I sell limited edition prints. Gasparilla was my fifth show of my annual two month swing through Florida. I know a lot of artists who have winter homes down here and summer homes up north, but there are not that many of us who do it like we do. It's the tourist season down here and it is pretty expensive to rent rooms. That's especially true for us. My wife, Marcia is my most valuable resource. She helps in every way, rain or shine. But she has also make it clear that if I want to pursue this crazy lifestyle, she will be the one to pick the accommodations and restaurants. And some of those accommodations have to be on the beach. She's not the sleep in the car type.

So, in order to make this annual trip south profitable, we have to do pretty well at the art fairs. This year, Gasparilla in Tampa delivered. We started out our Florida adventure at ArtFest Ft Myers in early February. We did very well there, taking the edge off our anxiety. Next was ArtiGras in Jupiter where we also had some success. Naples National was OK, but rather disappointing, then Lake Wales (didn't get in to Key West), where we were, again. disappointed. Finally, Gasparilla: a big town art fair with 100,000 expected attendance. We had a great show there, putting our trip firmly in the black, financially.

This is our third time at Gasparilla, and we have always done well there. Last year we didn't get in. Lake Wales was the same weekend last year, so we did that one instead. Although it also poured buckets at Lake Wales, the show closed early and we got out of there without too much damage. Hearing the reports from Tampa last year, we considered ourselves fortunate that we missed that one.

Gasparilla is set up in a spacious park next to the Tampa Art Museum along the river. It's a beautiful location, gently sloping down to the river. Last year the slope turned into a waterfall and mudslide. This year the park was improved with drainage sewers that drain into the river underground instead of over the grass... a great idea. Although we didn't need that this year, it will certainly be appreciated the next time it rains at Gasparilla. The show gives a whopping $75,000 in awards and another $20,000 in purchase awards. It seemed as if there were enough awards to give at least one to each of us artists. We didn't win one, but we saw lots of ribbons around. We did, however, see lots of customers. It seemed as if the crowds were trying to make up for last year. The buying energy was high. I didn't talk to any artists who were disappointed. The weather was perfect, in the low 70s.

Because of the narrow aisles and walkways, loading in and out of this show is a challenge. The committee tries hard to organize it to the Nth degree. Artists have the option of setting up on Thursday with a two hour allotment to unload, or on Friday with a 75 minute allotment to unload. Each booth is assigned the times for unloading (either Thursday of Friday) and the time for packing up on Sunday. They caravan 30 or so vans into the fair at a tyime, organized in such a way as to avoid congestion. Not sure how well that worked, but we choose Thursday setup, and it went pretty well. Our booth had an assigned time of 8:30 on Sunday evening to bring our van into the park to load up. Since the show closed at 5pm, we started looking for an alternative. There is an underground parking garage right next to the park. Although artist parking is free about three blocks away, we decided to pay the $20 for the day on Sunday, with the intention of dollying our stuff to our van at closing. That worked well. Although it took a lot of trips back and forth, it was only about a half a block from our booth to the van. I'm a little stiff in the joints this morning from all the extra work (but, then again I always am after an art fair), but we were out of there by 7:30.

Marcia rented a condo on the beach at Indian Rocks Beach, about 45 minutes from Tampa. This is the vacation part of our trip. Watching the pelicans fish this morning and a sailboat ghost by on the gulf makes all the work we do seem worthwhile. We plan to relax and eat a lot of seafood this week, but we have one more show to do before heading back north. Leesburg is next. We wanted to do Vero Beach next week, but we didn't get in. And, we wanted to do Winter Park the following week, but, didn't get into that one either. We're hoping for a surprise at Leesburg, but we certainly don't expect a windfall. Our success last weekend at Gasparilla makes a successful show at Leesburg less urgent.

April 2 & 3

Earl Brown Park

This festival, which will celebrate its 51st year of continuous operation in 2016, has become a city-wide tradition for generations of residents in and around DeLand. Home to Stetson University, DeLand boasts an art-savvy public that embraces the event as their "hometown" show.  

Separation of fine art and craft from

traditional art and craft insures an interested public visiting each section.

Extensive media campaign and public relations support reach beyond the immediate market. 65% of our artists and crafters return every year.

The City of DeLand from 2013-2014 spent 5.5 million dollars to beautifully renovate Earl Brown Park with a new Wayne Sanborn Activity Center, Amphitheater, concessions and beautiful landscaping.

• Website: culturalfestivals.com 
• Avg. Sales: $8803 (AFSB), $10,617 (CF Survey)
• Jury Images:  4 Images of work plus one booth image
• Viewed:  simultaneously with images  horizontally across the screen (booth image is last image in the row)
• Jurors: The jury is made up of arts professionals, peer jurors, and local buyer/collector (all paid), a total of 5 jurors.
• Scoring:  yes, no, maybe
• Jury/Application Fee:  $40 non refundable
• Cash Awards: Up to $20,000
• Booth Space:  10'x10' with 2' buffer all around
• Electric:  500 watts provided free, no generators
• Produced by:  Cultural Festivals 501(c) 3 Non-profit corp.
• Artist Presence: Required
• Reproductions:  Not allowed
• No. of Applicants in 2015:  1230
• No. of Exhibitors from Jury Pool:  141 plus wait list
• No. of Exhibitors Exempt from Jury:  40
• Security:  24-Hour
• Parking:  Free/Reserved

In addition to the amazing visual art exhibition, the festival features live performing arts ensembles on three stages, the Creative Castle featuring educational art projects for children, street performers and fifteen of St. Louis' most delectable restaurants.

Apply: www.Zapplication.org 

For more information contact:

Cindy Lerick, President & Executive Director, Cultural Festivals

314-863-4485; CulturalFestivals.com 

For a quick look at the Saint Louis Art Fair: http://youtu.be/fLehA1RnOUQ

Please apply first to the Call for Entry. Artists and Host Venues will connect through the ESAS website, at the end of April and during the month of May for the right fit.

ESAS Art Fair: 

The ESAS Art Fair will take place Saturday, June 11th and Sunday, June 12th on the grounds of St. Clair Shores Adult & Community Education. Artists will have the opportunity to sell their creative work during the art fair.

East Side Art Show - Coming Soon

This unique blend of art exhibition and art fair will provide the artists and community members with a rare opportunity to experience wonderful art and great host venues, all in one extraordinary waterfront community!

Walking distance to a city park and beach, shuttle transportation to local venues, wide variety of cuisines offered at local restaurants and hotels.

This is my third year exhibiting at Lake Wales. It's a very pleasant show, set up in a park on the banks of a small lake. Nice old trees dripping with moss all around. Lots of room to set up and you can even leave your van parked behind your booth... very convenient. Setup is Friday afternoon. It's an easy show to do (except last year on Sunday when we got that same torrential downpour that freaked out Gasparilla).

There are some really good artists showing at this show. One reason may be the generous prize money they offer (I didn't win one). Unfortunately there are just not enough attendees, and not enough money to make this a must attend event for me.

The first two years I did this show, it was my second choice. I didn't get in to Gasparilla. This year it was also my second choice. I didn't get in to Key West. I'm from Michigan, so when I come down to Florida in the winter, I have to fill up every weekend to make the trip profitable. It's expensive to hang out in Florida waiting for that next show. I apply to multiple shows to make sure I don't have an open weekend.

Before leaving Michigan for Florida this year I had a lineup of six shows that accepted me, Ft. Myers, ArtiGras, Naples National, Lake Wales, Gasparilla and Leesburg. I put together a press release with some pictures and sent it off to a bunch of newspapers around the towns I would be exhibiting in. I also sent the same press release to the art fairs themselves. Lake Wales liked my press release so much that that made me their featured artist and ran the story I sent them on the art fair program. Nice surprise. And although many of the people who came into my booth made reference to the story, I'm wondering if it made any difference in my sales. I could be that without the story my sales would have been much less (I sold just over $1800 for the weekend).

I did well at Ft. Myers and Arti Gras, less so at Naples National, and even less at Lake Wales. I'm hoping for a comeback in Tampa for the Gasparilla show. And I don't know what to expect from Leesburg (I wasn't accepted to the Vero Beach show which was my first choice for that weekend). 

It's a big risk for us Northern artists to come down here to do shows. But, what choice do we have? It's hard to find an outdoor art fair in the frozen north during the winter. But this is where the shows are, and if we want to pay the mortgage and put some food on the table we have to go for it. We just have to make enough at the shows to put money in the bank as well as pay all the travel and accommodation expenses.

Oh yeah, the weather is better here too. That's another reason to travel south.

July 1 & 2
Muskegon, Michigan
downtown Muskegon
300 exhibitors
Deadline: March 1

Application fee: $35; Booth fee: $180-$250

Downtown Muskegon is an attractive, growing downtown, teeming with positive social and cultural activity 365 days-a-year. The downtown area is located in the heart of the city on the shores of Lake Muskegon, an inland lake connected to Lake Michigan.

On Wednesday, February 24 the Broad Ripple Art Fair conducted their open jury for the 2016 Indianapolis-area show held on May 21-22, 2016.  The jurying was held in the small auditorium of the Indianapolis Art Center, which has a raised stage and theater seating.  The jurors were placed at a table positioned in front of the first row of seats and at the left front corner of the stage. 

Three jurors viewed applications from "almost 500" applicants in order to fill approximately 230 spots.  The 3 work images and 1 booth image were displayed on a large screen suspended on the stage and were arranged in a 2x2 grid pattern -- a work image in the upper left and upper right, another work image in the lower left and the booth image in the lower right.  Obviously this arrangement negated any time spent arranging the order of images into a pleasing linear display on Zapp.  Oh well.

Judging by category followed the typical pattern.  First every image set in the category was shown briefly, about 2 seconds per entry, then the pace slowed for the actual judging.  Each set of images was displayed for 30 seconds while the artist's statement was read aloud.  Jurors were asked to assign a score of 1-7, with 7 the highest, and no 4.  There was no discussion among the jurors that I could see/hear.  The show director didn't say how many were accepted in each category, only that an algorithm worked it out.

Total number of entries in each category was sometimes announced; Digital was the smallest category at 5 entries and Jewelry was the largest, of course, at 149 (or thereabouts).  Most of the categories fell in the range of 35-45 entries.

Some interesting notes about jury instructions. 

1.  Jurors were told to judge based on the quality, innovation, originality, technical mastery, etc of the work.  The director stressed that they should NOT judge based on sellability.  "Selling the work is the artist's responsibility once they get to the show; you are judging the merits of the work only."  (Note:  At the Columbus Arts Festival open jury a couple of weeks ago their director said the opposite (I paraphrase): "Of course you're looking at the quality of the work, but you are deciding who will be in the show based on how well you believe their work will sell (emphasis his) to the patrons who attend in this Columbus, Ohio area.  You are not curating a museum exhibit, you are filling an art show."

2.  Broad Ripple show staff had reviewed all the applications ahead of time and if an entry seemed to them to be in the wrong category they moved it to what they felt was the more appropriate category.  (Note: at Columbus, getting into the correct category is seen as the artist's responsibility.  If they don't meet the definition of the category in the eyes of the jury when it's read aloud, they're disqualified rather than moved.)

3.  If the artist's name or logo is visible in the booth shot their score is deducted by one point (on the 1-7 scale with no 4).  As an aside, twice I heard the name included in the artist's statement, such as "Jane Smith's work is a combination of...".  Don't know if the jurors caught that, and if so whether they deducted points, but including your name seemed like a bad idea to me.

4.  Some booth shots were not booth shots, but rather a collection of work on a table or sculptures in a field.  The director stated that the purpose of the booth shot is to see how work will be displayed at the show, so if it's not a real booth shot "score accordingly." 

Finally, two observations about this particular jury, and these are strictly my opinion and I could be wrong. 

1.  The 3 jurors seemed well qualified in terms of art education and they specialized in a variety of specific mediums (which indicated to me that they were working artists or at least instructors, which is good, but of course many of the mediums were not represented on the jury).  They were all fairly young, maybe late twenties to mid 30s, and I always wonder about the depth and breadth of the juror's experience when they're under 40.  Then again they're probably more in touch with the new and innovative than a baby boomer might be.  Gross generalizations, I know. 

One juror in particular seemed to be very green; questions during instructions gave me the impression the juror had never done this before and probably had never even attended a jury before.  I know everyone has to learn somehow, and an Art Center is all about education after all, so perhaps jurying is part of their on-the-job training so to speak.  Still, I couldn't help but think of the hundreds of professional artists who do this for a living and who literally put their financial future in the hands of juries ... well, you get my drift.

2.  I accidentally heard two of the jurors talking during a break.  Juror 1: "I wonder if we'll get to see all the scores so we'll know how everybody rated each one."  Juror 2: "Yeah, it would be interesting to see how our tastes differ."  I'm prepared to give the jurors the benefit of the doubt and believe that when Juror 2 said "taste" it was actually just a poor choice of words and that the juror was well aware that images should be judged on merit and not on what a juror personally likes or doesn't like.  Sigh.

My overriding impression as I walked out the door?  Everybody seemed to be trying hard and taking it seriously.  Having said that, show applications are indeed a crap shoot.  You never really know what the show wants, what the jurors want, what the competition will be, ad nauseum. 

Too much knowledge about show jurying can be a depressing thing. 

This was my third year in Tubac, and it's been better every year. 

My dad and stepmom live in Tubac, so I do have a little bit of a different attitude toward this show than toward many others. It's a five-day show, and the booth fee is $600. My first two years, I basically tripled the booth fee, and I was OK with that. $1800 is a low-acceptable rate for me for a two-day show, but really pretty crummy for a five-day show.

Spending time with my dad and stepmother is primary in this trip. Secondary is plein-air painting. Third, getting out of winter. The show is fourth on my list, so I can live with $1800 - especially since I'm staying for free. 

That being said, my total for show and post-show sales this year was over $7K, so I was quite pleased. I'm a painter with large, bold pieces, not the type of work that you buy on a whim. I'm learning that sticking around after a show is a smart thing to do - and in this case, was what I had planned to do anyways. 

But let me start at the beginning. Tubac is a tiny golf and art village 40 miles south of Tucson. The show takes over the town, the second week in February, from Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Set-up is Tuesday - starting at 2 p.m., when you get your packet and find out your location. 

I've always been in the same spot, and it's a spot where it's easy to set up, where storage space behind the tent is plentiful, and where parking is close. My neighbors have generally been the same, all three years, and are very pleasant. It seems that most spots have some space, and that set-up is generally not too difficult.

The quality of work in the show is pretty high, though you should expect "vendors," i.e., people selling STUFF - soap, garlic-infused stuff, "All Artificial!!" cactus (actually, these were pretty amazing) candy apples, candles, etc. Some work that marketed itself as "handmade" clearly was not. But the Real Art and Craft is quite good. 

In my limited experience, buyers come out on Wednesday and again on the weekend. Thursday and Friday tend to be lookers, and people wanting low-end items. They are generally older, retired folks, of which there are many in the area. 

A jeweler friend had a good show, selling items from both high and low ends of her price range. A painter friend who has a lot of prints sold more than $2K on the first day, and had decent days afterwards, including selling an original after the show. A photographer friend had a lousy show, and some trouble with his booth placement. He'd threatened to leave Saturday night, but stayed, and had a good Sunday, though I don't know his $ total.

Though one year it was in the 50s-60s during the show, this year and last the temps were 70s-80s. There's a good artist dinner on Wednesday, and every year, there's been someone selling edibles at some point during the day. That said, the town is crowded during the show, and you're well advised to bring your lunch. Booth sitters were plentiful this year, and very helpful. There are port-a-potties in very convenient spots throughout the show. Lodging can be an issue, but artists say to try Rio Rico, which is south of Tubac.

This is a friendly, cheerful show, with a decent potential for sales. 

After searching Art Fair Reviews and this site we can find very little information on this show, other than one post that said the food was bad a couple of years ago. If anyone has done this show recently could you share you experiences?  Our medium is photography.