Blog

September 16 & 17
Adrian, Michigan
80 Exhibitors
Deadline: June 17

Application fee: $20; Booth fee: $60, includes electricity

Artalicious is an outdoor event located in beautiful historic downtown Adrian, supported by numerous foundations and grants, a passionate committee and the businesses and the citizens of our community.

Our plans include:

• A layout that will concentrate the visual artists in the best locations.
• Enhanced artist amenities such as booth drive-up, security, close parking, lunch and break service, and Saturday morning breakfast.
• An aggressive regional marketing campaign including print, TV, radio, online, social media, and outdoor advertising to expand the fair's audience. 

From my inbox:

Connie

I am Michael Craven's older brother.

It appears I created an account on your site soon after my brother's passing, but today, my youngest granddaughter asked to see his picture online as she was to young to remember him and it's her way to "connect" to him to her memory. When I brought it up in a search, I saw your comment to members of your art community announcing his death and thought I'd just be sure to thank you for the mention and tell you that you were spot-on about his fastidous devotion to his art.

On June 19th, he would have marked his 60th birthday, and we still miss him. As his sole surviving family member, I wasn't ready to part with his collection at the time of his death by liquidating them through private or an estate sale so I brought them back with me to Florida. He had been preparing for another "road-trip" of art shows so he had prepared a large stock and even packed his trailer and RV. Hard to imagine he isn't still out there on the circuit he loved so much where his great delight was associating with his peers.

I miss his calls to relate his latest travels to shows and the overall experience.

I still have no real idea as to what I will eventually do with his collection although a number of his fans from his loyal customer base still ask to buy additional signed originals from the collection. I'm pleased his prints are timeless and still hold up well.

So, thanks to your members who knew him well and remember his unique art-style.

Sonny Craven

Michael died way too young. I'm posting this here because this is a community site. Michael was a member of this community and he was mourned by many at his untimely passing. I did a "search" for his name on AFI and came up with many moving tributes. I know you join me in not only honoring him but in honoring the creative spirit that makes life worth living for so many of us.

If you search for "obituary" of "In Memoriam" in the discussions on this site you'll find the names of many people who have enriched our business and our lives.

A friend gave me her old Pro-Panels minus the outside covers which means I will have to recover them myself. I know this won't be an easy fete, but one I can afford. What color do you all think I should use for my walls. I am a woman who makes glass jewelry. My hanging frames are either Fern green or black.

My husband thinks I should use light gray and I think a cream or oatmeal color.

I looked up some sites about how certain colors repel or attract certain customers. It says that blue, purple, and green attract women and that women hate gray, brown and orange.

In a workshop I had with Bruce Baker, he said to avoid orange or purple altogether because people either love or hate these colors.

What do you think?

Thank you in advance

Let me say first, this festival was well organized, easy in and out, and a lot of fun.  It is located in downtown Hampton, about a block from the waterfront and the marina.  The Pirate ship set off a lot of noise with it's canon.  There was a separate children's activity area across the street near the marina, which meant a lot of active kids were not near the vendors.  There were 2 blocks of vendors every 12' apart. 

We learned a lot about the people who attend the festival (who are all ages from college grads to retired).  They came from the Southeast region especially Baltimore.  We even met a retired couple from our small town of Bumpass, Va.  The people who attend this event dress up and even their children dress up.  A lot of them said they also do Renaissance festivals, Civil War re-enactments, and other dress-up events.

Unfortunately, we did not do well and made slightly more than our booth fee.  We  could not cover the other expenses.  Everyone there knew about chainmaill.  We make chainmaille jewelry.  But they said  they had it already or they made it themselves.  The people who did buy had no problems with our prices.   We would not do this event again.  There were no fine art vendors there.  The ones who did well there were those who made and sold costumes.  Like I said it was a lot of fun, but, unfortunately, not for us.

October 8 & 9

Newport News, Virginia

Presented by: Port Warwick Foundation

100 Artists

Deadline: June 15

Application Fee: $35/Booth fee: $300-$550

The Port Warwick Art and Sculpture Festival is celebrating its twelfth year this fall with world-class art by artists who demonstrate the highest levels of innovation and originality.

The arts festival is held outside, in beautiful Styron Square, surrounded by restaurants and shops. The vibrant atmosphere draws a great mix of art patrons with an average household income of $90,000+, College Educated, Married. 

Many patrons continue to return because they know they will see some of the best artwork around and be introduced to new artists. 

• Champagne Awards Breakfast; lunch provided both days for all artists
• VIP Dinner w/Sponsors & Art Buyers
• Discounted hotel rates
• 24-hour security & booth sitters
• Load in/out assistance
• Our guest judge will award prize money totaling $5,500

ESTES PARK, CO, ART MARKET, MAY 28-30, 2106

APPLICATION

This was the 15^th annual Art Market produced by the Art Center of Estes Park.  You can apply to the show on Zapp. The jury fee is $30 and standard booth fee is $300.  The application deadline is the first of March.

GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, DEMPOGRAPHICS

Estes Park is the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Access from Denver and I-25 is by US-34 through Big Thompson Canyon or US-36 up the St. Vrain River. The St. Vrain and Big Thompson Rivers flooded in the fall of 2013 and evidence of these major floods is still present.  Check the weather and road reports (www.cotrip.org) if the weather is bad.  Trail Ridge Road crosses the mountains in the National Park and the resort areas of Granby, Grand Lake and Winter Park are on the west side.  This year, the road opened on Saturday but was closed at night.      

“Parks” in Colorado refer to broad intermountain valleys.  You have all probably heard of South Park.  There are also North Park, Middle Park, Allens Park etc.  Estes Park is one of these valleys at an elevation of 7,522’.  Mountain weather can be unpredictable, and this is true of Estes Park.  During the show weekend, there were a few sprinkles during Friday set up and a good rain Friday night.  Saturday morning was chilly but it warmed up over the weekend. There were the usual brief afternoon thunderstorms that lasted less than 30 minutes.

There are many summer homes around Estes Park and in the foothills.  The area is a destination for metro Denver residents and both national and international tourists.  It is not unusual for tour buses to pull up an unload their passengers at the show, but they are not typically my clients. One can observe many nationalities and hear diverse languages being spoken at this show. I outfitted a young man from Tamil Nadu, India with a belt and buckle. The crowed is definitely middle class, many families with pre-teen kids, lots of dogs, with a large percent from the Midwest judging from college sweat shirts.

SETUP AND TAKE DOWN

Registration was listed as open at 9:00am Friday but volunteers were there at 8:00am to start check in, which was great. You check in, get your booth assignment, then unload in designated areas on the park perimeter. The procedure, which I like, is to park, unload your stuff, move your vehicle off site, then set up your booth.  There was none of this parking in front of your and your neighbors’ booths while you dink around unloading and setting up for several hours.  There was a designated trailer parking area with a shuttle back to the show.

Take Down was similar.  You took your booth down and then you were allowed to bring your vehicle into a parking area to load your stuff.  There was no congestion created by people parking vehicles in front of their booth site for hours while they took down and loaded. No one had to dolly farther than 40 yards. The late loaders could drive in for loading. There were lots of volunteers to help with unloading and loading.

SALES AND ANALYSIS

I have done the Estes Park Art Market in six of the last seven years.  It started out as a solid $2K sales show for me and in my best year sales were a little over $3K.  Therefore I went this year with financial expectations of $3K sales.  I missed this target by $21, so I still consider it a show I will apply to again.  The crowds were good Saturday and Sunday. Monday was a little slower as people were heading home, but it was still a good day. I had 45 sales and the average sale was $66.20. Individual sales ranged from $3 for a bandana for dogs to $155 for a canteen. It came to me this year that this show is good because every year there is a turnover in the clientele with the large tourist base.  In addition, I did have returning clients.

There was a good mix of mediums. Wild life photography is popular with western subjects. Photography and jewelry were the most abundant mediums.  

AMMENITIES ETC.

     The Art Center provided a very thorough pre-show information packet. Besides the usual check in and set up information, there were tips about the weather, wildlife and adjusting to the high altitude. They also provided maps of the Estes Park region.  An artists’ reception was held Saturday night at the Art Center Gallery. There was coffee every morning and booth sitters were available. There was a kid’s area with bubbles, hula-hoops, face painting, and art projects.  There was a silent auction of donated art.  If you completed the exit survey, there was a drawing for $100 off next year’s booth fee. Booth sitters were available, and there are clean accessible rest rooms in the City Hall.

     Sometimes we hike in the park after the show, but grand kids were due to arrive at home Tuesday afternoon this year.  An interesting event this year was a cow elk that gave birth behind the library adjacent to the show. On other mornings heading down the hill to the show, I saw deer, cow elk and one young bull elk with a little rack still in velvet.

Photos:

1. Lunch break during set up. I use my tan tent at Estes because it is heavier and will take the unpredictable weather better.

2. Typical crowd.

3. Mama elk and her baby

It's always a pleasure, when you drive up to load in for a show and three people say to you."How can we help". Kind of takes you aback...doesn't happen too often.

The Decatur Arts Festival is so well organized and is outfitted with such a great volunteer staff, that I knew from the moment I got there that this would be a show I would want to come back to. Once everything was unloaded and put on the sidewalk by the volunteers, I went to park and came back to set up. It was all very smooth.

Saturday morning the crowds came out and it was steady all day. It also was hot as Hades all day. The staff kept dropping off cold water and I didn't get out of my booth much -which is a good problem to have. So the time went fast. This is a town that has it's act together...packed with great and very different restaurants it's foodie heaven. I was lucky to have insiders (Atlanta residents Karen and Paul Fincannon ) next to me. This is the second time this has happened when we haven't requested it and from now on I just need to request it because we always have a great time. Karen knows everyone on the circuit and it's fun to meet and hang with all her creative and funny friends that are also showing. Kathleen Taylor the painter,who I have always wanted to know was there.  I also got to meet and hang with Melanie Rolfes who had just gotten back from a string of shows up North...and getting to know her was awesome. She said she was bequeathing this show to me to write about because she had hit the wall. I understand that because I can just do two shows and hit the wall, no less 4 in a row. It was great to get to know her. The day was good for me, heck it was beyond good and five minutes before the end of the day someone waltzed in and bought a big piece.....that always blows me away.

Saturday night we went to a wonderful restaurant called Leon's, an old service station that has been refurbished into a high end gastro pub/restaurant. The food was great, the drinks were unusual and the company was fun. One of their specialties is fries ( I know right....) but really good fries with about eight different sauces you would never think to dip them in. Excellent. Walking back to the car a great Prince cover band was playing on the Square, seemed like the whole town was there....

The next day was so hot I kept turning on my battery fan and holding it up to my face all day. It was like a model shoot but not a model shoot...not in the least....ugh. I was solo at this show so I didn't get to see the rest of the show much. I know there were awards brought to booths on Saturday but in our area there were none so I didn't see who got them. Those around me did well, the woodworker next to me made bank ( they usually do and deservedly so), Karen who does ceramic animals had a great serge at the end of the show, sort of like mine the day before. Everyone seemed to do pretty well from what I could see. My Sunday wasn't as great as the day before but I'm not complaining.

Load out was pretty smooth. It was well organized and again there were many volunteers to get you packed up. A little bit of a line and wait but not bad compared to others I have been in. I had some really great volunteer help and I was able to get on the road before 7pm (unusual ) which put me back in Knoxville three hours later. Well run, great volunteers and good crowds, not much more you could ask for. Worth a shot if you can put up with the Georgia heat.

Tuesday, May 31, 6 pm ET

Emily Peklo, senior event project coordinator for the Omaha Summer Arts Festival and its fall sister-festival ARTsarben in Omaha, Nebraska, joins Connie to draw the names of 40 contributors to the 7th Annual Pledge Drive. Did you pledge? Will you be a winner?

With nearly 70 prizes donated by friends around the country everyone who pledged has at least a 1 in 3 chance of being chosen. Thank you to everyone who has built our business, who attends art fairs and buys art, to the show organizers who bring these cool cultural events to their community and to the artists who take risks every day with the financial and weather vagaries of life.

The suggested pledge is $24. The minimum prize value is $40. Pledge by 5 pm ET to be included in today's drawing. Will you do that? Click here: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/pledgedrive.html

After the drawing any prizes not chosen will be available on a first come, first served basis to anyone who has sent us $$. That's right, everyone has a chance to win!

Hello artists and arts administrators,

ZAPPlication® is making an important security change, and we want to make sure you’re prepared. Some users may need to update their internet browsers to continue accessing ZAPPlication.org. We have outlined the changes below, and we have also notified ZAPP® artists and administrators via email.

Starting June 20, 2016, ZAPP® will only support Transport Layer Security (TLS) version 1.2. This means that with outdated internet browsers may not be able to access ZAPP® on or after June 20, 2016.  

To ensure you still have access to ZAPP®, please be sure to update your browser to the latest version. For more information, you can visit our Frequently Asked Questions.

ABOUT THE TLS TRANSITION

Websites use TLS to keep sensitive material, like your payment information, safe while you’re browsing the internet. ZAPP® is making this change in June 2016, to ensure that we maintain the highest security standards and align with industry-wide best practices. In the future, all companies that accept credit card payments will be required to retire early versions of TLS.

If you have questions about TLS or need assistance updating your browser to continue using ZAPP®, please email us at contactzapp@westaf.org. We’re happy to help you!

Regards,

The ZAPP® team

We are counting the days until the end of our 7th Annual Pledge Drive on May 31. We held the drawing for the top ten winners on Thursday, 5/26.

If your name is listed below you've just won a prize. Go to the pledge page, look over the options and send me your top two to three choices. We'll fulfill the win in the order your name was drawn.

In the order that the names are listed you can choose a prize from the listing on this page:

http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/pledgedrive.html

Some of our sponsors:

NEW PRICE!!!!!  $275!!!  FOUR USED 70 x 38.5 LIGHT GREY CARPETED PRO-PANELS FOR SALE!! In good condition. Former asking price $375. Has minimal Sharpie markings on the back sides. 4 black standard straight stiffeners included. 5 strap fasteners. GREAT FOR ART SHOW DISPLAYS! New set from company would cost $740. 
Cash deal only. No delivery. Pick up Northwest Lansing, MI area close to Lansing Mall.

Since 1988 Elizabeth Kubie/Crafts America LLC, has been a top independent presenter of fine craft shows. The organization presented three shows in very classy venues: the Washington Craft Show 1988 - 2014 at the Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC, the Westchester Craft Show, 1994 – 2012, in White Plains, NY, and the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show, since 2004 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, FL.

Many artists represented in these shows also have their work in prestigious galleries and museums in the U.S. They have depended on these fine events to meet their specialized market and collectors. In recent years two of those shows ended and close associates believed the Palm Beach show had also come to an end.

When these artists learned that the show dates at the PB Convention Center were no longer available they were very concerned about losing this venue and opportunity. Bill Underwood, the former publicist for the Palm Beach Craft Show, and who operates a contemporary art market in Charlotte, NC, was contacted by long time exhibitors of the event. He, along with them, did not want this marketplace to disappear and accordingly has established a new event at the Expo Center at the S. Florida Fairgrounds in W. Palm Beach to take place at the same time of the year as in the past, The Palm Beach Contemporary Art Show.

Subsequently, Elizabeth Kubie announced on May 16 that she has made arrangements with the Palm Beach Show Group that produces the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art and Antique Show to take over the management of the PB Fine Craft Show and they will now produce the it in conjunction with that event. Former artists have been invited to participate, jury exempt. 

Concerns brought to my attention:

• where is there room in the Convention Center to add another show to accommodate 135 craft artists?
• the letter the exhibitors received made no mention that it would be held in conjunction with an antique show
• a concern that  that young artists, looking for their first big break, would be misled by the lack of info on the PB call
• current online information has different dates for the craft show and the antiques show

Principals I spoke with said that this is very good news, akin to Art Basel, to bring these two events under one roof at the same time. The affluent collectors will get to meet the contemporary artists, in effect bringing them a new audience.

What do you think?

Many more details here:

Press release from Bill Underwood, May 13: http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/news/documents/2016/05/13/Craft_Show_News_Release.pdf

Article from Antiques and the Arts: Palm Beach Show Group Acquires Fine Craft Show, May  20

http://www.antiquesandthearts.com/palm-beach-show-groupacquires-fine-craft-show/