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One of the hardest things for me being a full time artist is pricing work.  I try and look around and get an idea what everyone else is charging.  I listen to prospective clients to see how many are agreeable and how many put down my price sheet and walk away.  It's hard to know sometimes what the right price is.

I wrote my blog entry this week about a client who had an old price sheet.  Do you honor old prices or stick to the new?  I think it depends on the client.

http://www.pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/07/coming-to-america.html

Happy selling!!

Wendy

I've met a lot of crabby people lately which hasn't done a lot for my mood, so when I went looking for an artist to feature this month no one was quite what I was looking for, then voila! Marti McGinnis's fanciful colored "happy art" danced into view!

A lifetime of exploring, living the expected life and finally choosing the unexpected and expressing it exuberantly in an outpouring of color, Marti's current body of work focuses on the ancient art of fabric felting with a decidedly modern twist. Her self-styled "happy art" reflects her love of texture, coloration, friendly animals, cartoons, writing, designing -- this girl does it all! A Renaissance woman?

Marti is not only a visual artist, having explored wood, canvas, paint, pencil, aluminum she is also a blogger, website designer, social media leader and still she finds time to create one of a kind fanciful creatures and wearable art that pop your eyes out. I'm guessing the richness of her creativity informs it all. Now I'm happy and I think you will be also.

Her current body of work is felting, an ancient art, wherein a non-woven cloth is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woolen fibers. She is pleased to say she has met many of the animals whose fiber she uses to create clothing, pillows and many happy figurative animal shapes.

She does only a few art fairs so don't miss this opportunity to see her work and meet her this month at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, booth #A015. I'll be there, how about you?

Learn more about Marti:
     www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/featured-artist.html

Ann Arbor, the combined art shows, have just updated their iPhone/iPad app listing all the artists by medium with links to their location on a map of the combined shows.

Now if they would also give us contact information for each artists. But I'm not complaining that much. Cherry Creek never updated their app from last year that didn't run at all.

My article from last year:
http://www.bermangraphics.com/artshows/art-show-iphone-apps.htm

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

My very favorite "kids" activity at an art fair happened yesterday in State College, PA, at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale. At the CPFA 150 young people, from 8 to 18, compete, jury in and sell their own artwork, just like the big kids festival that runs the next four days.

I've heard executive director Rick Bryant's presentation on the event at a conference and it is such a model of involving children and a sense of "buying in" of the community to embrace the festival that it astounds me that more art fairs have not borrowed the concept.

Kirstin Floria who is now an exhibiting artist in the event had this to say of her seven year experience participating in the kids show: “I loved it,” she said. “Arts Fest is so important to my family. Instead of taking vacations, we would just go to Arts Fest every year. It was always a whole celebration for us.”

Here's the story from the Centre Daily Times: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/07/11/3257577/arts-festival-begins-today-with.html

Does anyone know of any other stellar programs to get kids and families involved in the arts at other festivals?

This Howard Alan show is held in Pioneer Court right in the middle of downtown, great visibility from both the street and the surrounding highrises. NBC studios is located on the property and they usually do a live report from the show.

This show has it's challenges, it's a dolly show but you can park fairly close on the surrounding streets without having to play Frogger, right Steve. I always rent a tent for this show from the company that travels with Howard, it makes life much easier. The layout is mostly single file with a few booths being btb, but all have very good back storage. Wind can be an issue, so bring plenty of weight as you're not allowed to stake down. Parking in surrounding garages is pentiful (but expensive), Howard has arranged fairly close parking for oversized vehicles and motorhomes for the entire weekend for I believe $65.

Last year the Gold Coast show was the same weekend which affected sales for most of us and while we didn't have that problem this year we did have 100+ degree temps to contend with on Friday which cut attendance by 50%. I was worried because for me this is a Friday show as I have built a good following from the ladies that work in the surrounding office buildings, but they just didn't want to brave the heat. Saturday morning early a front came in and dropped the heat into a more comfortable upper 70's which brought out all the people and I had my normal sales day. I went into to Sunday still being significantly down in sales due to losing Friday but the crowds started early and the show was packed all day, I ended up recouping the lost sales and with the after show orders my total was higher than last year.

Breakdown is tightly controlled by Debbie, Howard and Terry, you must be completly broken down and then you can get your car to load out. Debbie and Terry were working my street they kept people moving and co-ordinated parking for load out. My space is on the opposite end of the court from the street and I have an elaborate setup, but even having to dolly I was out in 45 minutes.

My medium is jewelry so it's an easy carry, but if you have larger items be prepared to ship as a lot of the people are tourists. As usual sales were across the board, my neighbors were Chicago themed photographers and they both did well, painter next to me with large high priced items sold a couple of originals, glass artist behind me with unusual wall pieces wasn't pleased with his sales but saw the potential with this show and said he will do it again.

This is one of my favorite shows to do, I drive from Tampa just for it.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in these two highly juried events.

The Des Moines Arts Festival was held on June 22-24 in downtown Des Moines with 185 participating artists

Best of Show: Joachim Knill
Joachim Knill of Hannibal, Missouri, displays his works in what looks like a shipping crate on the outside and an art museum on the inside

Best of Emerging Iowa Artists: Lindsay Burke

Merit Awards:

David Burton, 3-D Mixed Media

Chris Dahlquist, Photography

Cali Hobgood, Photography

Shadow May, Ceramics

Ella Richards, 2-D Mixed Media

Juror Awards:

Aaron Hequembourg, 2-D Mixed Media

Brian Mancl, Photography

Justin Robinson, 2-D Mixed Media

The Cherry Creek Arts Festival was held on July 6-8 in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver

Best of Show: Benjamin Frey, Drawing
2nd Place: Lissa Herschleb, Painting
3rd Place: Brianna Martray, Sculpture
Merit Award: Mark Traughber, Mixed Media
Merit Award: Heinrich Toh, Graphics & Printmaking
Merit Award: Eileen Sorg, Drawing
Merit Award: Harvey Brody, Painting
Merit Award: Ron Hoyle, Drawing
Juror’s Award: Aaron Hequembourg, Mixed Media
Juror’s Award: Loretta Petraitis, Painting
Juror’s Award: Gena Ollendieck, Mixed Media

Looks like Aaron Hequembourg was a double winner. Congratulations, Aaron! Well-deserved awards.

A brief introduction . I am Joseph Paratore a Nature Photographer from Michigan and have been photographing for over 20 years. My wife and I are new to the Art show adventure life style. We are in our 3^rd year. The first year ( are timing  couldn’t be at a worst time to start a business) we did two shows, last year six shows and this year it will be 13. So far this year we’ve  been rained on 3 times and suffered through 3 shows in a row with 95 to 100 degree heat. I don’t remember anyone telling us it was going to be this hard of work.

I want to share my experience on a new show called New Buffalo Artigras put on by Amdur productions. New buffalo is quaint Harbor village in Southwestern Michigan located on the shores of Lake Michigan near the Indiana border. This is another Hot spot for Chicago vacationers with second homes and cottages. It seemed to be a lot smaller to similar Harbor towns like Saugatuck, South Haven, and Grand Haven. There are many excellent restaurants in and around the Downtown area. One I highly recommend is Casey’s Bar & Grill, from the outside it doesn’t look like much and you  may think Bar and grill Hamburgers  Not!!!  I had the best mushroom stuffed Raviolis with garlic cream sauce ever. And I must admit I am a food snob. With the quality on the spices and sauces I would think this to be upscale restaurant.  Did I mention that the prices were very reasonable?

Now the Show.  This is my first time doing a show with Amdur. So I didn’t know what to expect. Setup was done with flight times and Drop and drive, first time doing that also .  My time was set for Friday at 2:30- 4:30.We arrived at two in hopes of setting up little sooner. The setup was u shape on three streets near the main part of town. One street  Thompson which we were on was a paved street with a severe slope in front of a huge condo complex .One street was dirt and sand and the other was somewhat paved. I got their at 2:00 hoping to get an early start along with a handful of other artists. I was about to set up when I was stop because the Main sponsor Amway didn’t like where their Tents station was at and had to be move to more level area. They took up about 15 booths so Amy had to relay out one quarter  of  our row of booths. Even though She was under a lot of pressure and very short with us (which she later apologized for) she handled the situation fast and professionally . The setup was brutal the temp was around 96 degrees and no breeze .By the end of our 3 hour setup I was weak and dizzy.                        Saturday  morning  was very warm. The show started slow with a few people visiting booths. From eleven to twelve thirty it pickup and we made some sales. The afternoon was real slow there were a fair amount of people but they weren’t buying. I talk to about 15 artist or more and they were all struggling. At about 4:30 a huge storm blew in and we were pelted with quarter size hail. We were fortunate we saw it coming and shut down the hatch early. Rained heavily for 30 minutes.

There was another storm overnight, so when we arrived on Sunday there were two tents completely pancaked on our row. I heard that photographer had lost $13,000 worth of images and inventory. Just heart  breaking.  Sunday didn’t fare any better for me and many artists. The leather purse maker next to me made a great rebound from Saturday and did ok by their standards. I thought they did well; they were making a lot of sales. Everyone else I talked too barely made expenses .We sold a couple of big images so we made booth fee but didn’t make expenses. The foils of a first time show I guess. Most agreed that $450 booth fee was way too much for a first time show. I’m not convinced that area will support an Art show of that status .Only time will tell I guess. I don’t think I will be doing New Buffalo Artigras!   show anytime soon . If the booth fees were $250 to $275 I may try it again.

It is about making a living isn’t ?

Anyone familiar with this show? July 21-22. Sheboygan Wisconsin.

Thinking about different shows for the summer and not sure about this one!

Ann Arbor goldsmith Scott Berry will be a one-man operation during Michigan's Ann Arbor Art Fairs this year. After working with his recently retired father, John, for 25 years, Scott will be visiting numerous art fairs alone. The father-son team had worked together since 1986.

To read more about the team and their products, click here.

Having liability insurance is a "good" thing for you the artist.  If someone gets hurt in your booth and they decide to "sue" you are covered.  Also, if for some reason you are out of work because your studio was broken into or whatever, or your art gets stolen you are covered.  The city is trying to protect themselves and you.  It's not that expensive so go for it.  I just had to make a claim because I sent $2200 worth of jewelry to Chicago and it was stolen from the lobby.  The insurance did not pay for the total value but they covered half so that I could at least buy more materials.  In this day and age, insurance is a good thing.

Can I make a request on blog posts? It would be really helpful if you would tell us the city and state of the art show you're blogging about. I don't have any idea where the XYZ Outdoor Art Show is located. But if you tell me Atlanta GA, I have a much better understanding. Thanks.

There has been a lot of talk on AFI about broken zippers, canopy panels that are too tight, etc.  I just had an extension put in the back panel of my canopy so that it isn't so tight and subject to torn zippers.  I had the zipper placed in the center of the panel so that I could open and close it just like the front.  This work was done by a lady named Jeanene Graham in Tucson, AZ and she did a beautiful job.  Anyone who is in need of this sort of thing would be wise to contact Jeanene.  Her prices are reasonable and, again, she did a beautiful job.  Just wanted to throw this out for anyone who is struggling with the above issues.

I am new to this site as a member although for a few months I have been periodically viewing some of the posts. I know that by many, we food vendors are considered necessary evils, however I really enjoy doing art festivals more than other festivals available througout the state of Florida. Having said that I would really appreciate some information as to which venues some of you believe would be of interest to me. While I understand that this is primarily an art related site all of you have to eat and we particularly enjoy feeding the various artist attending these events. We even provide special pricing to other show participants. We have managed to book about 20 weekends between September 1st and March 30th but need a dozen more to fill the schedule. We are a mom and pop operation but have been very successful in the past year and offer some foods that are different such as blackened shrimp po' boys and shrimp tacos. We also offer the standard hot dogs and sausages as well as fresh squeezed lemonade. Any suggestion would be greatley appreciated. I would be more than willing to share with you any events I encounter that may be off the main path.

This past weekend we were in Bloomington, IL ... actually Normal IL. The combination of the two cities can be a little confusing. Its a wonder show near the Campus. Last year, this was one of our top shows, so we were looking forward to a successful weekend. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Like many other parts of the country, she turned up the heat on Saturday and kept the attendance down, way down. My phone told me it was 100 degrees. Yikes! It was a marked difference from the prior year on foot traffic on Saturday. But there is nothing you can do, but tough it out.

The show organizers and volunteers did their best to help out. They came through the show at LEAST 7-times with water on Saturday. The first round was even before the show opened. They are top notch! On Sunday, the temperature was better ... only around 85 degrees. There was a bit of wind, but no one was complaining. Traffic and sales were better on Sunday. We were about half the total sales from 2010, which still makes it an average show for us.

The group from the McLean County Arts Center were great. They are to be commended for all their hard work in putting the show together and running it, under adverse conditions. We would love to return next year, if they will have us. Hopefully Mother Nature will be a little kinder.

All of you who love the Ann Arbor Art Fair, here is your last chance to visit with and collect the photography of stalwart original Guild members Ruth and Walter Pinkus at this month's Ann Arbor Art Fair. They've been in the business longer than many of us and as the Ann Arbor media roll out their stories about the fairs they've included a wonderful article about Ruth and Walter in the Ann Arbor Journal.

Couple to sell their photography for last year at Ann Arbor Art Fairs

This is an excellent capsule of the art fair life. Walt, who was employed at the University's Physics Lab, and loved photography, grabbed a booth in those early days and he and Ruth (both active in the Ann Arbor Camera Club) became fixtures at the show, as well as instrumental in the development of The Guild of Artists (formerly the Michigan Guild.)

Read the article and experience some of the adventures they've had as they battled weather, the economy, credit card fraud, vehicle breakdowns, belly dancers, famous politicians and so much more. A great summation for their career: "We'll miss the stimulation, but not the crises."

See you on the road Ruth and Walt. It's been a great trip!