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On you schedual C, under what category to most of you report your show fee expense? )What we pay the promoter to rent a booth)The logical choices would either be Rent or lease business property,maybe advertising or other? Or am I missing a category?

July 11-14   
State College, Pennsylvania
Downtown State College & Penn State Campus
300 exhibitors
Deadline: January 25

Why should you apply to this festival?  Here is what its director, Rick Bryant, has to say:

• We're always ranked in the Top Ten in the Sunshine Artist Magazine rankings (#2 last time around!)
• We bring roughly 100,000 people to  State College over five days in July (the first day of our Festival is  Children's Day, and our artists set up at the end of the day, so that  they are there four days)
• The festival is in its 47th year and is on Penn State campus and the streets of the Borough of State College.  Actually,  we were founded by the State College Chamber of Commerce and Penn  State's College of Arts and Architecture as a "town/gown" event.
• Penn State alumni return for  "Arts Festival Alumni Weekend," a time to renew old college ties,  attend special programs, and, of course, the arts festival.  Some folks-those who are nostalgic for life before air conditioning-even opt to stay in dorms!  Artists can do that too.
• We hand out over $17,000 in prizes.  The top prize is $2,500
• Our  festival features the outdoor show, an indoor gallery exhibition, a  celebration of Italian Street Painting, performing arts on several  indoor stages and four outdoor stages, and a full day of activities for  children
• And if you're up for it, there's a 10k/5k run bright and early Sunday morning with over 500 entrants
• Notification is March 18
• Booth fee is $480 for 10x10, $960 for 10x20

For more info: www.arts-festival.com/sidewalk_sale.php

Apply: www.Zapplication.org 

Rick Bryant: email rbryant@arts-festival.com

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Find more art fairs looking for artists - new ones added daily - CallsforArtists.com

I just trying to figure if I am going a overboard.

How important is the framing of your 2d art.

I had see art with no frame, art frame with basic materials, art frame with basic conservation materials and the people like me that go all the way with museum quality framing.

What is your take. Does matter at the art shows?

Like any other year I ask myself what I can do better? The list is very long and I keep going back to improve my English. There is one thing that gave me bad taste.

When is good time to ask for advice. Let start that you do not have a group art fair artists near to you. You can not ask your regular friends about your work and presentation because they wont be honest with you.

If ask an artist at the show even when they do not have anyone in the booth is just a bad idea. So when is a good time to ask another artist for help?

Let assume you been told go more that direction with your work. Talk about your images. Print bigger and put less in the wall. Your work looks to uniform (this one is odd to me), you should take image of what people can not do (this is impossible in photography). the list keeps growing.

What I know I take pictures that I can relate and be emotional about them. I still like know if I am going in the correct direction but still when is good time to ask another artist. Even more if you like my work how I can improve my sales.  Please to do not tell me stay in your booth and dress with a tie.

Still when is good time to ask another artist?

Open Letter to Art Show Staff

Dear Art Show Personnel:

Admit it, even the best most forward thinking of you from time to time get lost down the slippery slope of what the jurying process means. Often it's presented as sort of a competition, and believe me, it sure can come across feeling that way from the artist's point of view. But it is healthier for all involved to take a broader view.

As an artist who has participated in many top shows I like to think of this process less as a competition and more as a jury's own creative project; building a beautiful array of excellence. Thus those that aren't included aren't identified as less or inferior but only as better suited to a different collection. See the difference? Better yet, feel the difference?

Respectfully,

Every Artist Who's Submitted an Application to Your Show

A Puzzling Process

The buzz is beginning to be generated for this season's shows - the includes, the excludes, the who's-ins, the who's-outs.....and I just wanted to go on record as saying I handle not being selected (AKA "Being Rejected") by a jury as simply my current body of work not being the perfect piece to the puzzle they're assembling. This frees me up to stay positive about my work and eliminate any need to hold a grudge for any reason. Heck it even lets me celebrate all who do get into a show!

Here's the weird thing about me and my art, last year I was surprised by three awards in three wonderful top notch shows - and while it felt simply amazing to have been so honored, the fact is I don't get it. How can one mindfully, competently and intentionally created body of work possibly be 'judged' as better than another? Isn't this all just a matter of taste?

Oh, sure, some artists create better booth presentations, have better slides and are superior business people when it comes to packaging their ideas, but on some pure level I just can't wrap my head around Art as a Competitive pursuit!

The Real Includes - the Genuine Prizes

Besides these prizes given to me presumably by my peers, I don't think there's any way I can plan nor prepare to repeat any of those this year. You know what winning situations I am looking forward to recreating this summer though? The ones where children came into my booth and spent their own birthday money on an actual piece of art. Yep, happened two times. I wrote about it here.

How do You Philosophize the Jurying Process?

I, and anyone who reads this post, would love to hear your thoughts on this too. I know there's a treasure trove of thoughts and ideas embodied by the various users throughout this site; I'm looking forward to reading some alternate views!

Inspired by Nels "Stepping Off the Cliffs Again"

I haven’t been at this very long
I find myself floating hither and yon
I shoot for profit
I shoot for fun
I’m glad for the prizes I’ve already won

I haven’t been at this very long
I study the masters they won’t be wrong
I like Nels
And Larry and Jim
Where would we be were it not for them

I haven’t been at this very long
Some day I’ll sing a different song
I’ll shoot for fun
I’ll make big money
I’ll sit on my porch raking in the honey

May 18 & 19
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing Art Festival
downtown East Lansing
200-220 Artists
Deadline: Jan. 31

#55 Sunshine Artist ranking

A non-profit event produced by Art Festival Board of Directors under the auspices of the East Lansing Arts Commission/City of East Lansing.

Established in 1964, The East Lansing Art Festival kicks off the festival season every Spring on the weekend prior to the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the beautiful streets of downtown East Lansing.  The popular Festival attracts an estimated 60,000 attendees from across the region.

East Lansing is a charming University town with a wide variety of shops, restaurants, galleries and the beautiful Michigan State University campus across the street. (Please note that the MSU UAB Spring Craft fair is not affiliated with the East Lansing Art Festival)

This long-standing non-profit event is beloved by the    community of Greater Lansing and attracts devoted art buyers from across the state.  Informally known as the "City of the Arts" the City of East Lansing welcomes the finest artists in North America to exhibit at this highly promoted event.

Here is what else you will like:

• well-educated visitors, including professional people from State government and the University
• dedicated volunteers who welcome artists with friendly smiles facilitation a smooth load in and out
• booth sitting services
• well-planned eclectic live music entertainment that enhances the art rather than distracts from it
• international flavors is a unique food court
• a festive mood as this is the kickoff of the art fair season
• affiliation with the Public TV and radio stations, bringing the right people to you

I attended the fair in 2012, see our YouTube video to get a little flavor (my first video):

East Lansing Art Fair

For more info: www.elartfest.com 

Apply : www.ZAPPlication.org  

Corinn VanWyck, Arts Program Coordinator

East Lansing Art Festival (517)319-6804

email: cvanwyck@cityofeastlansing.com

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Find more art fairs for your 2013 season: www.CallsforArtists.com

He just about covers all that is needed.  Click on the link to learn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDep9EX38Ik

There have been a lot of well written threads about how bad it is at shows. Thought you might like one about "hope."

It always takes a lot of courage to shift gears.  You know, like jets- ion your old style of art for something totally new.

I am doing again.

Done it about six times now in a career that has spanned 30 years in our biz.

I have watched people I know who did one discipline like clay for 20 years, and make oodles of dough at it, than change into something like photography.  Talk about "Profiles in Courage" (JFK, folks).  It takes a big leap of faith.

We all know the artist, who in his/her day was the hot one.  Selling and getting in everything.  Then 20 years later, they were still doing the same thing and they were dying.  They had exhausted their market.

Yes, there are a few very lucky ones, who come upon a unique style, and still kill them, year after year.  They are very rare like a good wine.

Most of us have to grind it out, year after year.  Tweaking it here, tweaking it there.  Yeah, we change colors, we stylize it a little, but do we really grow?  Do we ever try to stretch the box.

If you are smart, you live to grow new work.  It is what makes you excited about getting up in the morning and get into the studio.

I am taking that big step again.  I am already 400 feet, down off the cliff since November, when I found this new one.  Thank God!  It is a long cliff.  I can almost hear the parachute getting ready.

Early on, when I first started doing shows, I lived in Hawaii.  I was in the Army there in the 1970's.  Back then I shot pics of surfers on Banzai Pipeline (My backyard, where I lived at the time), I shot pics of guys growing monster Pakalolo plants (that's Hawaiian for ganga--literally, a "lolo" is a crazy person in Hawaiian, so Pakalolo, is weed that makes the head go crazy).  Also, I shot pictures of naked women.  I knew many who would pose nude, I just wasn't their lover.  All these pics were black and whites. Old school photography.  You know.  The trays with chemicals in them.  Drying them on lines.  Trying to be an Ansel Adams, or today, a Clyde Butcher.  We could only hope.

One day, back in that day, I had an interesting encounter, over a nude calendar that I had shot.  Lucky me, I got to live and tell about it.

Let me set the scene.

Cool Lindell Cedar home sitting back on the reef of Pipeline.  Cue in some Gabi Pahanui music (quintescent slide guitar player ). Wind blowing thru the palms.  Nels chilling on the porch with an Oly (Olympia beer).  A little whiff of Christmas in the air, if you get my drift.

Tempo changes, put on some Shaft music.  Here comes the Hawaiian mafia.  In this case, the North Shore boys.

Hawaiian dude, sans aloha shirt and well-muscled, walking with a big stick.  Looking very secure.  Followed by four guys that each make Shaquille O"Neill look like a runt.

The capo comes right up on the porch.  Nods at me, says, "Aloha, Nels.  I hear you are a reasonable dude.  So I am going to be reasonable with you.  I know you are pure of heart, but maybe a little naive."

I went WTF!  Never saw this guy in my life.

I got a quick wakeup call.

A little history.  A few months earlier, this girl I knew, lets call her Mara, asked me to do a nude calendar of her for her boyfriend.  She wasn't exactly built.  She wan't exactly cute--but, she had spunk.  Oh yeah.  She also paid me a $1000 to shoot this calendar.  It took two months of shooting, using ingenious props (she had stretch marks).  She was happy, I was happy.  I got paid. She gave it to Mr. hawaiian capo as a Christmas present.  Well, let's just say, he wasn't as happy as us.

Thus, cueing to the present, (A little Miami Vice music maybe) Mr. Capo paid me a visit.

He brought kuilanas(gifts).  Some very good smoke and a whole bunch of "Greenies".  That's what the locals called Heinekin in those days.  He also brought a dose of intimidating attitude.  I mean, where were my Army buddies with their gernade launchers when I needed them?

He continued, after a big inhale/exhale--it was Christmas all over the porch (editor's note:  In those days, the best Pakalolo smelled strongly of evervescent wintergreen.  You wanted to kiss Santa).

"Eh brah!, I want all the negatives of Mara."

Being no dummy, and badly outnumbered, I relented.  We drank, we smoked, he told jokes, I got the negs, he said Aloha, and I never saw him again.  End of my nude calendar career.  So many lovely bodies, so little time.

I changed, went landscape.  Won first place in four out of five sections of All Army Photography worldwide.  Managed to make $15 at my first outdoor art show.  Topic for another discussion.

In between then, 1978, and now, 2013, I have totally changed my direction of photography  six times.  Only once did it end in slight failure.  Every other time, I stepped forward, renewed, refreshed, and relishing the beginnings of a new day so I could practice my new art.

I am floating halfwy down the cliff.  I think  the sound I am hearing is a parachute opening.  It could be the sound of rocks below with big waves pounding upon them.  Nah!  It is not my time for that. 

They already sliced and diced me.  I am back.  I am stronger than when I was 27.  I am now 67. My new work carries me forward.  I sleep great dreams at night.  I fell that success will come.  It always has before.  So why not now!

Aloha, there is hope.  Believe.  Be open to change.  Be open to new directions.  What do you really have to lose?  Open that door, go down that new path.  There are parachute sales going on all over this world.

Nels Johnson, second night of our new cat.  Aloha--and don't smoke too much Pakalolo.

I have thought about using ZAPPlication for a very long time but my lack of photographic skills has always prevented me from taking that big step. I an run, rebuild, maintain, and service just about every sewing machine made including all of my industrials but put a camera in my hands and I fold. I have finally seen what my items look like when photographed professionally and what a difference it makes. I would like to thank Larry Berman at BermanGraphics for his generosity and taking the time to photograph my bags. I never knew they could look so good.

Wednesday - January 16 - 4 pm ET

You know that New Year's resolution you made about getting your website in order or figuring out what to do about that nagging social marketing question. Join us!

Artists - do you have a website, just for you? A site where you can

• post your pics,
• blog your thoughts
• sell your stuff
• and keep in touch with your audience, all in one place?

Is it time for you to find your home?

I'll be talking to Jennifer Rapp Peterson, whose company IndieMade.com specializes in creative websites for artists and entrepreneurs. Jennifer has spent 20 years as a serial creative entrepreneur as a cartoonist, book illustrator, software consultant and inventor.

Her unsuccessful search to find a friendly, easy and affordable way to build a branded website for her own endeavors that would include

• a store
• a content management system
• AND built-in marketing tools

was the seedling that grew into a web building system that is smart, easy and affordable for artists.

She'll have tips for everyone on social marketing and ideas for websites and marketing your work online. Bring us your questions. Call in to the show: (805) 243-1338 or leave them in the comments below. Let us help you find these answers and get your website in order!

Visit IndieMade.com now to get your questions ready.

Excuse the delay for reporting back on the Secret Santa project we've been working on. It turned into an international gift exchange when Annette Piper joined in so we were waiting for gifts to be sent and received from Australia.

I hope you enjoyed the Secret Santa as much as I did. Some great gifts were exchanged. Thanks to participants Larry Berman, Annette Piper, Steph Mader, Robert Wallis, Elle Heiligenstein, Vivian Leflore Mora, Annette Piper, Deborah Potash Brodie, Melanie Rolfes, Carrie Jacobson, Patricia DeMaria, Susan Kubira, Lida Arthaud, Patty Gamin, Marsha Scherer, Alesia Coppedge,  John Weller, Kathy Czopek, Pat Falk, Lois Anderson, Larry Raineri, Jackie Dunford, Sharon Jeter, Ellen Schneider and Maureen Roberts.

I received a gift that I prize from my Secret Santa and others did also as reported here: http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/topics/thank-you-secret-santa

As promised everyone who posted showing gifts will be receiving compliments of AFI my two e-books, "Getting Started at Art Fairs" and "Getting into Art Fairs: 20 Questions Answered." Look for them in your mailbox tomorrow.

In addition, everyone who participated will receive our famous Red Dot bumper sticker in the mail. Please email me your mailing address.

Then I had to find a judge to choose the Grand Prize Winner and it had to be someone with impeccable credentials in the art fair community. Thank you to Rick Bryant, Executive Director of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, who took on this daunting task.

Here are the judge's comments:

This was more difficult than I thought it would be!

But I’m going with the woman who got the blue glass ikebana plate.  She does a great job holding it like the lovely Carol Merrill from “The Price is Right” and there’s a photo of just the item, and also one of it in use. Oh and I liked the story about the leaf in the package. Points to both Santa for putting it in there and the recipient for mentioning it.

Honorable mention goes to the guy with the Pillow. A very simple Get er done aesthetic going there.

The winner of the is Ellen Schneider of St. Petersburg, FL. Ellen wins a portable Solar Charger for iPhones, iPads and other USB powered devices. Hope you can use it, Ellen. Please email me your mailing address: info@artfaircalendar.com.

You guys were great and I enjoyed organizing this. Do you want to do it again next year?

Cape Coral Festival of the Arts, located just across the ($2 toll) bridge from my S. Fort Myers home, is probably the easiest show I do all year, and it's certainly one of the most community-oriented.  Except for 2010, which featured bone-chilling cold and the never-before-experienced thrill of seeing ice fall off my flaps when I unzipped on Sunday morning, the crowds always turn out for this Rotary Club show along Cape Coral Parkway.

But are they here for the art, the food vendors, or just a couple hours' stroll in the sunshine?  As is often the case with this show, results were mixed.  Among the 15 or so artists I spoke with late on Sunday, nearly everyone  said their sales were down from 2012.  For the most part, the declines weren't catastrophic--most folks still made money--but shoppers were definitely not buying big.

My sales were near $2K, not great but a decent enough paycheck given the low booth fee ($276.80, if memory serves) and my ten-minute commute.  Crowds were pretty steady both days under warm, humid skies buffered occasionally by cool breezes.  But it can be a tough show to sell because of its large size (over 300 artists) and long end-to-end layout, which creates a long walk for the aging populace.  Entry points are at one end of Cape Coral Parkway or the other, and if you're located just inside one, as I am every year, you'll get lots of raves, but few sales, from folks who have just arrived and want to see everything else first.  "I'll see you again on the way out" is the phrase of the weekend--and although a few customers were true to their word, there weren't enough of 'em to make this the big payday it was in 2012. 

This is the third show in a row where sales lagged last year. And although it's tempting to say, "well, sales are going to suck in 2013", I'm gonna pass on that conclusion, for now.

First off: Jeez, it's early yet!  Two or three shows don't make a trend, let's at least wait 'til March before we push the panic button

That said, I suspect that this long-running show might be showing a few cracks in the foundation.  The fine folks at Rotary raise a lot of money from booth fees, and it's in their best interest to have the show be a big one.  That takes a toll on the show quality, which is several notches below the likes of Coconut Point, Estero (Miromar Outlets), and, most importantly, Bonita Springs, taking place on the same weekend a half-hour to the south.  A number of artists, particularly jewelers, commented on all the buy-sell lining the streets.  There was a very high percentage of photographers, including several whose work, IMHO, wasn't up to even a minimal professional standard. Other 2-D artists seemed to be under-represented. 

I think this would be a better show if it were smaller--maybe 200 artists--and more tightly juried.  That would make it easier on its customers and give the exhibitor list a needed pruning. But I don't think that's gonna happen.

Other notes:

* Logistics are well managed.  Setup, in particular, is surprisingly easy for such a large show.  It's a late-Friday setup, advertised to begin at 8 PM. You pick up your packet in a shopping center one block north of the show center and hang a colored tag on your dash, depending on whether your booth is on the north or south side of the median-divided parkway. When all is ready on the parkway (which turned out to be 45 minutes early this year), the barriers part, and you drive right to your space and set up with your back to the median.  There's minimal room for storage, but most of the parkway has a well-trimmed, woody hedge that will support empty boxes and bags with no worries.

* The show doesn't give artists their booth assignment until they arrive on Friday night, which even in these times of Twitter, doesn't give you much time to inform your fans, followers, and past customers.  On the other hand, the show has lots of repeat artists from year to year, and you'll usually get the same, or nearly the same, booth location.  So net/net, it's pretty easy for past customers to find you.

* Artist parking is located in two grassy lots adjacent to the parkway.  It's a tight space, but manageable.  It's pretty easy to stage your vehicle near your booth an hour or so before the show ends, too, which helps with tear-down. 

* Speaking of which, the show tells you that the parkway reopens at 7 PM, only 2 hours after show close.  That's cutting it tight for many of us. (When the Rotarians came by with a friendly "25 minute warning", I took stock of my situation and decided I wouldn't quite make it.  So I hauled my neatly-stacked stuff  across the street to a sidewalk, moved the van to a parking lot, then hauled my stuff yet again down- and up-hill through a drainage ditch to the van.   Imagine my irritation when I finally got everything packed at 7:25 and saw that the parkway was still closed.  Next year I'll tell them I'll need 10 more minutes, thenkyewveddymuch.)

* The food vendors are plentiful, so you won't go hungry.  But best of all, there are a plethora of fine Mom and Pop restaurants of every ethnic variety you can imagine lining the parkway, and a Perkins that's a favorite pre-show breakfast spot. 

I like this community a lot. Compared to the golf-centered, gated-community sameness of much of Southwest Florida, it's refreshingly independent, unpretentious, and multicultural.  Given the large number of artists that live in and around the area, it would be really cool if this show could develop a vibe to match. 

I am looking for a show the last 2 weeks in March and didn't see much in the show reviews about either, I'd love it if anyone could give me some feedback or suggest another one for this time period in March in Florida. I also wondered about "Mayfaire by the Lake" in May, it looks very interesting. I,m a potter live in FL so none of them are all that far for me. Thanks in advance, Jackie 

June 8 & 9

The  58th annual Talbot Street Art Fair is sponsored by Talbot Street Art  Fair, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts  and philanthropic endeavors; program grants, scholarship endowments and  awards.

270 fine art and fine craft artists from across the nation will participate in the oldest juried fair in Central Indiana.  The fair remains free to the public.

Media  categories are two dimension, two and three dimension mixed media,  clay, fiber, glass, jewelry, metal, photography, sculpture and wood.  Merit  Awards of $250 are given for each category and also a $500 Best of Show  Award. In addition to the Merit Awards, we also sponsor Purchase  Awards.

All of the fair's focus is on the artists.

• We do not have   commercial booths or performing musicians.
• We do extensive advertising to bring you the customers that buy.
• The fair has a dedicated following of patrons who show up rain or shine.
• Our  local and regional media coverage includes billboards, newspapers,  magazines, online ads and radio and television interviews.
• We provide 24 hour security with our Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers
• Free parking for both artists and RV's and cold water.  We also offer the option of Friday afternoon set-up.  Our Block Captains help us create an organized fair that runs smoothly.

The booth space sizes vary from the standard of 10'x12' to 10'x22'.  Fees: $25 Application Fee; Booth Fee of $295-$545.

Well, a show director suggested that to me recently.

Interesting statistics:

• the NRA has 100,000 new members since the Newtown, CT, school shootings*
• ArtFairInsiders.com had 67 new members join in the first 10 days of the New Year

Which headline do you like the best?

Welcome to Susanne Snyder, Karen Cress, Kelly Tygert, Linda Hann, Jill Ellen Chambers, Bernard Zalon, James Veenstra, Cheryl Beverly, John Smith, Sarah Powell, Andelina D'Arcy, Liane Crigler, Tiffany Nolan, Susan Bertino, Sara, Cheryl, Jan, James, Barbara, Helen, Lynda, Suzanne, Karen, Hope, Francisco, Sharon, Ann, Bruce, Suzette, Jeri, Amy, Christopher, Katherine, Ronald, Cindy and everyone else!

The main principles: Share, help others, invite your friends

All of us welcome you and look forward to hearing from you. This site only thrives when its members participate and not only do the "old" members have a lot of information they really appreciate it when you weigh in also and share your stories, adventures, questions, answers and reviews. It's all about helping one another.

Tell your friends about AFI and invite them to join.

You are new but that doesn't mean you can't welcome the other new members. Join in with a welcoming message and see if you can make a friend. This site has grown because of the interconnectivity of its members. Make a friend here and be next to them next weekend at an art fair.

A few other ways to participate:

• share interesting stories from shows you've participated in
• tell us about products that have made your art fair life easier
• share your best advice
• bring us the news about the latest relevant info in the business
• interview an artist you admire and post it here

Still getting your feet on the ground and overwhelmed with all the available information? Check out the Get Started Guide at the top of this page.

The "deans" of the site are the people who have Red Dots on their profile photos. These folks have been around a long time and are really helpful.

Now, tell us why you joined and what AFI can do for you and what you can do for us in the comments below.

Each person who comments receives our famous Red Dot bumper sticker.

Great to have you here!

P.S. Want to keep us in business without spending a penny? Check out the ads on the right hand side and in the supplier section at the top. You'll find even more helpful info.

I read this essay by Munks on another site and it really gave me something to think about.  I am posting this link with the permission of Munks.  Read it and see if it applies to your experiences with art fair attendees and the apathy we see toward art in general.  Enjoy!

http://wp.me/pSIUh-b7