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When you read these art fair reviews you have to realize that every artist participating in a given show will have had a different experience... sometimes drastically different. I posted a mostly positive review of Arti Gras in Jupiter last week, and Nels posted a mostly negative one. Just goes to prove that every art fair is a crap shoot.

I ran into Ellen, Nels main squeeze, at Naples National yesterday and she told me she had a great day on Saturday. Huh? I had a terrible day on Saturday. You never know...

Naples has a lot of art fairs and this one is arguably their best one. It is set up in Cambier park, downtown, and along 8th street adjoining the park. Setup for this show is on Friday and the committee tries their best or schedule and organize a difficult situation. Most of the booths are in the park and these artists have to dolly in, and most of them have to park on 8th street to unload. So... us artists who are exhibiting on 8th street have to wait until the park artists have all unloaded. Our scheduled setup time was 7:30 pm (moan), but we did get in a little ahead of schedule. The committee rented lights on the street for setup so we didn't have to set up in the dark. Since we were among the last to get in, and our booth was toward the far south end of 8th street, we were able to leave our van on the street for the entire setup.

Artist parking for this show (and, I think, most of the Naples shows) is three miles away. The committee booked a closer parking lot about four blocks away, but at a $50 fee for both days. I paid the fee so I didn't experience the free artist parking. There was a shuttle that ferried artists back and forth, but I didn't hear about how successful this shuttle was for artists.

Saturday was not a good day for us. Lots of people, but slim sales. We sell small 5x10 inch prints for $28 each for the low end buyer, and that was all we sold on Saturday (I'm a digital artist/printmaker). Clientele was mostly retired Naples people who just "did not have any more room for art on their walls," or were "downsizing and not buying any more stuff." Sound familiar? Also, my work is kind of surrealistic and fantasy oriented, so, not a good style for the retired crowd.

Sunday started out the same, and I was getting more and more depressed, but about 1pm we got a flurry of sales that lasted until about 3:30. It seemed to me that the clinetele changed around then. More tourists and vacationers than residents and retirees. That saved the show for us and we wound up with just over $3K in sales. Disappointing, but not a disaster.

Weather was great for the weekend... dry for once. Pack up for us was pretty easy. We broke down and were able to bring the van in from the far south end of 8th street. We were out of there by 7:15.

Not sure what to think about this show. Marcia wants to drop it from the schedule next year, but, who knows? We had a pretty good show here in 2014 (didn't exhibit last year). But our booth was further north on 8th street closer to where Ellen was set up. Maybe a better booth location... or maybe the stars were just not aligned in the right pattern this year. Whatever... 

June 11 & 12

• Qualified buyers
• cash awards
• overnight security & free parking
• Artist breakfast

August 5-7
Crested Butte, Colorado
Presented by: Crested Butte Arts Festival
165 Artists
Deadline:  March 4

Jury fee: $35
Booth fee: $375 Standard; $450 Corner

New this year:

• CBAF will showcase our Emerging Artist Program
• Student Art Buying Program
• an amazing artist VIP area 
• an Artist Home Stay Program to off set the cost of lodging.

Apply:  www.zapplication.org

September 2-4
Lancaster, PA
Presented by Long's Park Amphitheater Foundation
225 Artists
Deadline: March 1

Application fee: $35; Booth fee: $540-680

Labor Day weekend finds 10,000 art lovers flocking to Long's Park in picturesque Lancaster, PA to shop for fine arts and crafts. This top-rated, award-winning show draws sophisticated, high income buyers from Philadelphia (and parts of NJ), Baltimore, Washington, D.C. (and into VA), Wilmington, DE and all across Central Pennsylvania thanks to the quality of its exhibitors and extensive traditional and digital marketing throughout the region.

Set in a tree-lined park where booths line walkways surrounded by a tranquil, freshwater lake, Long's Park treats its guests to a virtual outdoor gallery of the best work being created. 

The park is located in the outskirts of Lancaster City - a growing, vibrant arts destination in its own right! Lancaster City boasts Gallery Row along with cute coffee shops, restaurants, breweries and theaters. Attendees like to make a weekend out of the festival and all Lancaster has to offer.

For 37 years, Long's Park has fostered very special relationships with its exhibitors. Booth fees include two catered breakfasts, an exhibitor dinner, and advance mailing services (postcards and emails). In addition, there are RV accommodations and community hosts continue to offer exhibitor housing on a first-come/first served basis.

Marketing Plan:
Traditional and digital marketing/advertising will be placed in and around Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Wilmington, DE with some advertising in Central PA (Harrisburg, York, Lancaster and Lebanon). Additional direct mail and database marketing will be explored and included in the advertising mix.

What the Artists say:

“Keep up the good work! I only do several shows a year and this is by far and away the best. Great setting, good buyers, and excellent artist amenities. Who else feeds you and takes care of you like you do!”

“I thought the show was of high caliber ... Love the fact that you guys/gals make this show about the art, artists, and customers. So many great things ...”

Apply: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=4467
Learn more: http://longspark.org/art-festival/exhibitor-application/
Contact: Bill Wright, info@longspark.org, (717) 735-8883

Over the years, I have been as critical as anyone regarding the Howard Alan Shows. I think he has too many shows and has diluted the market, at least here in Florida. This is exacerbated by the fact that many other promoters saw HAE's success and have copied his business model leading to a further dilution of the market. No show is special now because there are so many of them.

To compound the problem, all the big shows in Florida have expanded their events to create circus like atmosphere's charging entry fees and adding more food, more sponsor booths, more music, and as many other things that distract from the thing that made those shows great, which is the art work.

Increasingly every year, I felt that we, the artists, were just the draw to get people to come and then the show tried everything they could to take their money with items that would make them money. Increasingly, I felt used as my gross sales declined and the attendance grew. Many of us have stopped coming down to Florida because it wasn't a viable market anymore. This could be difficult for some because we need the cash flow to pay for all the spring, summer, and fall shows that are due now and in the next couple of months. Enter the Howard Allan Shows.

The first thing you notice about the HA shows is that they haven't changed much over the years. He has a formula that works. Thirty years ago, we only did HA shows if we couldn't get into the blockbuster events. To their credit, they were and are loyal to their artists. If you supported them, they supported you by letting you have a space. That worked for a lot of people and artists preferred to do HA events because they could count on having a space in their shows.

Another word for not changing much is "consistency." That is a good thing. As shows got bigger and bigger adding more and more annoying distractions, HA stuck to the formula that the art is, not only the most important thing, it's the only thing. There are no food vendors, no music, no begging artists for donations for silent auctions, no t-shirt booths, no poster booths, no beer, etc., etc,. There is only the art. Ironically, as I was whining incessantly about all the crap at shows, I avoided Howard Allan events. I should have been paying closer attention.

I have done the Coconut Grove Arts Festival for over 30 years. I have won my share of awards there and numerous purchase prizes, when they made an effort to cultivate buyers. They used to have a pre-show event, starting at 8 AM on Saturday. The patrons would commit to supporting the artists by buying show bucks weeks before the show. They would get to see the images at pre-show events during the week and they would make notes as to who they wanted to buy from before the show started. This was fantastic.

For me, a few years in a row, I would have my best show ever before the show even opened at 10 AM on Saturday. CGAF has the record for my biggest single art fair day and it has been my best show ever. Sadly they cut this out a number of years ago, added a gate fee, brought the food vendors closer to the artists, added beer hawkers, replaced the appropriate live jazz with raucous music, appealing to a younger crowd that had no interest in buying art. Last year was the tipping point as they added a t-shirt/poster booth kitty corner to my space and parked a golf cart across from me and left it there all day. So, I didn't even bother to apply this year.

I had a choice to make to replace the Grove show. There was St Stephens. If I did that, I might as well go ahead and do CGAF because they are in the same area. I could have done Arti Gras, which I have never done. Arti Gras like CGAF, charges a ridiculous gate fee. Someone said it was $12. Someone else said it was $16. Either way, that was unacceptable. I wasn't about to support that. I could have done the rotary Sanibel Island show. I did that show once and I didn't like the fact that the show is run by ex-military types that were control freaks. I felt that I had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. So, that was out. That left the Howard Allan Sarasota Show. I'm glad I did it.

Set up is the morning of the show. This starts at 3:30 AM. You get to drive to your booth, unload your display and work, and then go park. If you arrive after 5:30, you have to dolly in. You are not supposed to start setting up your tent until 5:30. It takes me over an hour to unload, so, by the time I parked and got back to my booth, I could start setting up. Set up is really easy. There is plenty of space to drive in and unload.

There is more than enough free parking for artists. Since there are no vendors, there are no huge beer trucks, food trucks, etc. that you have to fight and work around. Take down is even easier, as there again is a lot of space and load out is staggered because everyone packs up at their own rate. One real pet peeve at a lot of shows is that the show tries to control load in and load out. I've often said that if you leave it up to the artists, it would only take a couple of hours to get in and out. If the show controls this, it will take 8 hours or more. HA allows the artists to control the set up and take down, so, of course, it is a quick pleasant experience.

The show opens at 10 AM. People start arriving at 9:30. There are only artists booths. As I said before there are no food booths, beer hawkers, etc. Consequently, there are no twenty somethings drinking and checking out the girls. There are only people who are serious about the art. I had many great conversations and a lot of compliments because, lo and behold, people were there to look at and buy the art work.

The one thing that everyone says about Howard Alan Events is that he brings in the crowds. I found this to be true. The streets are wide. Where I was, the booths faced each other. there is a section where booths are back to back. You get 11-12 feet, so, you aren't packed in like sardines. I'm guessing there are only 200 booths. Certainly, there aren't 400 booths. I saw everyone twice.

As a patron, it is an easy show to do. If you want eat something there are some really nice small restaurants around the show. The street is clean and wide so if the show had a lot of customers, there were no bottlenecks. A block away on a side street there is a farmers market with some great things to buy. You wouldn't know it was there unless you walked down the street. The area is upscale but not glitzy. Just my kind of place.

I never post numbers, but, everyone I talked to had a solid show. Some had a great show. My price points are $80-$800. I only sold only a few pieces under $200. I love making sculptural non-functional teapots. I used to sell 6-8 per show. The past few years I maybe sell 1 or 2 if I am lucky. Here I sold 6 teapots and all 3 sizes. Saturday, was kind of slow for me. On Sunday, I had a 3 hour period where I couldn't write fast enough. I will definitely do this show again next year.

In conclusion, this is a hassle free show, with plenty of patrons, free parking for artists and most importantly sales. Howard and Debbie have a strong presence at the show. They stop and talk to everyone numerous times. Debbie found it necessary to help fix up my booth with foliage, which I appreciated and enjoyed. When I think about how annoyed I was the past few years with the shows I did on this weekend, with how good I felt after this one, I had a good laugh. There were no negatives in Sarasota only positives. I liked it so well, I am going to do HA's Coconut Pointe show next weekend in Bonita Springs.

I only did the Grove one time many years ago. It was not a good experience. Miami is a tough city to get around in, the art fair is big and busy and confusing, and the sponsored booths take much away from the feeling of an art fair (my booth was across from Verizon, which hired a carnival barker to attract customers). I did ArtiGras in Jupiter last year, and again this year and I'm impressed with the civility and tasteful atmosphere. 

The art fair is laid out on two cross streets in the Abacao neighborhood next to "Dean" Stadium where the Marlins and the Cardinals play their spring training games. Nice neighborhood. The committee was wise in scheduling setup all day on Friday without over organizing and scheduling specific times. Artists tend to self-organize these things much better than a committee can. We got there mid-morning and had a leisurely set-up being able to leave our van next to our booth for the entire time. We moved the van a little to accommodate other artists a couple of times... no problem. Weather was cool at first, but got a little hot in the afternoon. Booth size is generous at about 12 feet wide by 12 feet deep. We had a corner booth but arranged our booth with our neighbor to share a second side wall with an aisle between... lots of exhibition space! The one negative was a storm drain in our booth that necessitated bringing the booth out toward the street about 18 inches. Since we were early in our setup we kind of set the tone for our neighbors who also set up our from the curb. We flagged down a committee member zooming by on a golf cart to make sure we were OK in our arrangement before hanging panels and artwork. Another negative that reminded me of Coconut Grove, was out booth location. This year they placed a string of sponsored booths at the beginning of the show on University Avenue where we were located. Last year these were all artist booths and our booth was maybe the 10th or 12th one down. This time we were the first artist booth with and investment company next to us. Unfortunately they were a bit aggressive about drawing people into their booth... a bit distracting. They tempered their approach after we asked them to ease up a bit, but I still don't like being that close to sponsored booths. Next year I'll ask for a different location.  

Saturday was the first day of this three day art fair (President's Day on Monday). In spite of the entry fee ($10-12, depending on discounts), the crowds were big. Lots of people coming in. Our booth was busy most of the day, and, although we didn't have a windfall, we did OK and I was happy with the sales total for the day. Weather was cool and pleasant; too cool for the beach.

Sunday was, again, nice weather and the people came again. Sales were about the same as Saturday, so we were happy again with our totals. About mid-morning we saw a parade of committee member with a trumpet player and a fog horn approaching our booth. They stopped in front of us and after a trumpet fanfare they made the announcement to all within hearing distance that we had won an award for best of category (Digital). I was presented with a custom made "helmut" decorated with digital artifacts and a $1000 check. Nice touch. Here's a picture of the crazy helmut I had to wear for all the promotional photos they took.

Helmut.JPG

Monday dawned a little cloudy and with fewer crowds. Most people still have to work on Monday, so we got mostly educators and bankers for customers. Sales were mild and pretty much dried up (HA) after the rains started. It rained off and on all afternoon and made the pack up very difficult. Since the committee left it up the the artists to "self-organize" the break down, trucks and vans streamed into the art fair grounds right after the show closed. We carefully packed up our artwork and kept the tent up to keep things dry. We took it slow and brought our van in when traffic eased a little. We packed slowly and waited until most things were in the van before breaking down the tent. We had to move the van a couple of times to accommodate other artists. The rain and darkness made the break down difficult, but we got out of there at about 7:30, abut 30 minutes longer than it usually takes us. Not too bad.

In spite of a couple of negatives, I like this art fair. I won an award (I won the same award last year), and had decent sales. Not as good as last year, but Monday's rain kept the crowds away. We booked an Airb&b for our stay in Jupiter so, we had a nice condo to stay in. We will do the same next year and look for a better booth location.

June 18
Madison, Wisconsin
Hilldale Shopping Center 
100 Artists
Deadline: March 4

Application fee: $10
Booth fee: $135

This outdoor event is now in its second year. Hilldale Shopping Center has gone through a major renovation in recent years and how now added upscale merchants including Macy's, kate spade new york, L'Occitane en Provence, Lucky Brand, lululemon athletica, Michael Kors, North Face, Sundance Cinemas, White House l Black Market and many more.

The area is near the UW Campus with many affluent students and Professors living in the area. Madison is also home to Epic Systems, who is known for attending and supporting Art Shows at Hilldale and buying "big" in Madison.

Hilldale is now an outdoor Shopping destination in Madison. The show takes place on the Main Street of the Shopping Center directly in front of the Stores.

The show is supported with advertising in a number of local print medias along with postcards, paid social media posts, event calendars, and posters around the shopping center.

Apply: www.artworksmadison.com

June 11 & 12 
Racine, Wisconsin

Downtown Racine
Sat. 10am-5pm; Sun. 10am-4pm

Monument Square Art Festival, one of Wisconsin's oldest and most respected juried fine art fairs presents 70 artists from around the country exhibiting works in a variety of media.

A new event will debut in conjunction with MSAF 2016. The Great Lakes Chalk Art Competition will feature 24 regional chalk artists, working on 4'x4' Masonite panels positioned along 5th Street between Wisconsin and Main Street.  Live music will also be featured throughout the festival.  The 2-day Festival is expected to attract in excess of 2,000 attendees.

 

Conveniently located between Chicago and Milwaukee, Monument Square is located in the heart of beautiful historic Downtown Racine.  It is adjacent to shops, condominiums, a marina, restaurants, historic home districts, a superb harbor and is just minutes away from breathtaking examples of the work of master architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

Online and print advertising and promotion is placed

throughout southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.

Learn more: www.monumentsquareartfest.com

Apply:  http://www.monumentsquareartfest.com/Artist-Registration.html

Contact:  Denise Roberts McKee,  drmckee@racineartscouncil.org (888)373-7608

"The kid is doing better than us, and, it is his first show here."
Anita Bauldorf, wife of painter, Steven
"Art shows are a lot like "Hotel California", you can check in, anytime, but you can never leave."
Photographer, Nels Johnson

Well, that probably, and succinctly, describes this year's Artigras held at Abacoa Town Center just south of Jupiter.
At least year's ago we got to ogle Lonnie Anderson on the arms of Burt Reynolds. She is now gone, he is pretty infirm, and the show is death-spiraling into just another fricking art show in Florida.
With the booth fee,gas,hotels,food,etc. most of us have $1K tied up in expenses before you make a dime. If you can't turn better than $3K here, it is not worth coming to.
Oh, I guess for you northern artists, you can write it off as a Florida weekend vacation--beats shoveling snow.
We had great weather til about 1pm on Monday (it is a three day show, same time as the Grove). Monday's at this show, if you make $300 you are doing good. So the rain did not cost us much.
But, Saturday and Sunday,the crowds were moderate, mostly uninterested in art. Some people killed them, but not most.
I know one photographer, who used to do mostly do B/W and now went color on canvas,went home with a nearly empty cAmper, they cleaned him out.
For the most part, sales were sluggishly,slow. No flurries (what's a flurry, anymore). Very few be-backs. Mostly low end numbers were sold.
For photos it was the "P's", palms, piers and Pelicans.
Florals and seascapes prevailed. Ad nauseum,ad nauseam. Forget about art outside the box--it does not reside here.
A lot of us did really good here last year and this year we did half.
So far this year, sales have been pretty static. I have been slugging it out for the last eight years barely keeping my head above water. Getting pretty tired of it. I keep hoping it will turn around.
About the two quotes at the top of the blog.
First, the Bauldorf's son was doing his first Artigras. He has done other shows. He is a young talented painter, just like his dad.
They did not have a kick-ass show, and junior was kicking their ass in sales--but it was still low figures.
As for me, I have always been an Eagles fan.
At my age, he'll, what else am I gonna do? Hustle old farts on the golf course. Not. Be a greeter at Walmart--double not. Do real estate--get real!
I guess you all are stuck with me.

 
Setup: Friday after 12 noon; show 10-5 Saturday and 9-4 (yes, you read that right) on Sunday. This is the third of four shows at the Community Center grounds, the only place on Sanibel that hosts an outdoor art show (Richard Sullivan of Boulderbrook Productions does shows on Thanksgiving weekend and--new this year--January; the local Lions Club has one coming up in exactly one month.) 

We got a break from the weather, and although it was a little crisp in early morning and just a bit breezy at times, you'd have to say it was near-perfect show weather. Quite a contrast to the Boulderbrook show last month, where we stood inside the Community Center and stared out the window as the howling wind took a few tents to the ground.

The water levels from that deluge and a few that followed have not yet dropped to their usual January marks, but Rotary did a good job amending the original booth layout so that everyone was on dry land.  Artist and patron parking locations were adjusted as well, which was a good thing: In the grassy lot across from the show, two vehicles that arrived Sat. night for a theatre production didn't heed the barriers and parked in low-lying areas that had been marked off-limits.  They couldn't extricate themselves at the end of the play, and by Sunday morning, their vehicles had sunk up to the axles. 

Anyway, back to the art show! Total attendance (I got this from a Rotary member during breakdown) was about 5600 for the two days...about par with last year, he said. This is one of those shows where they're lined up at opening bell, ready to see some art! Attendance always drops in the afternoon as folks head out to restaurants and beaches, so you want to bring your "A" game early. (Oh, and if you provide shipping, advertise it! Lots of vacationers, and only a few shipping locations on the island.) 

Nearly half the attendees, I'd say, are homeowners on Sanibel and Captiva; a few of my customers came from S. Fort Myers. This is peak tourism weekend here in SW Florida; traffic is heavy and there is a $6 toll to get on the island, so you're not going to lure folks from other FL towns to this show.

The Rotary does a good job communicating before the show and they are experienced with their check-in and setup rules on this postage-stamp-sized lot. It goes smoothly and efficiently: Check in across Periwinkle Dr. from the show, allow the Rotarians stop the traffic to help you get your vehicle into the show area, unload, move your vehicle if necessary back across the street, then set up.

Tip: Look at the show map when it's available and figure out if you are likely to have storage space. Not everyone does, but you can usually find a nearby artist that can let you "borrow" some of theirs. Tip 2: Get there as early as possible so that you can unload your stuff into the space next to yours and get your tent up and weighted before your neighbor arrives.

On show days, parking was in several locations, some within easy walking distance, others required a shuttle hired by the show. (I skipped the shuttle and grabbed a spot nearby each day). Storage space varies with your location. With booths to my right and behind me, I didn't have any.

Compared with next month's Lions event, this is a high-caliber show. Lots of good 2-D art and some fine craft, an abundance of jewelers and (mea culpa) wildlife/bird artists for this beach-loving community. A couple of junk stands, too, and the artists manufacturers from Hudson River Inlays.

Sales were pretty brisk, especially, it seemed, for painters. (Two of my nearby friends sold nearly all their big pieces at four-figure price points. Most of the other artists I talked with were at least satisfied, although many commented that the buying energy was a bit down compared with recent years. This was one of my more mediocre Sanibel shows--just a bit better than I did at the Thanksgiving show, before the tourists arrived-- no doubt because I had a ton of competition in the bird photography genre.  But that's cool, I get lots of post-show business from Sanibel, and I handed out about 150 business cards to locals.  By the time the post-show sales are delivered, I'll be just fine.

Load-out was managed as well as the setup. Environmentally-conscious Sanibel has minimal commercial lighting; thus the early stop on Sunday (4 PM) was instituted this year to help as many artists as possible get packed before dark (about 6:30). I was nearly the last one out, at 6:45.

The 4 PM end time on Sunday got rave reviews. The 9 AM start? Not sooo muuuchhhh.

Questions? Comments!

The Columbus Arts Festival is an A-tier show held in downtown Columbus, Ohio in early June.  Their jury process is a two-day affair and is open to the public.  Five paid jurors view projected artwork and booth images on five large screens, and each juror has a laptop where they can view thumbnail images and supporting information and mark their scores.  Each year the show receives in the neighborhood of 1100-1200 applications.

Last year I attended Day 1, when the jury slogs through all of the image sets, seeing each artist's 5 images projected simultaneously.  Last year the images were shown for just 3 seconds before switching to the next set.  I'm still unclear how a juror could see each of the images, make a Yes-No-Maybe decision, and select their decision on their laptop all within 3 seconds, but time marched on and by the end of the day all the apps had been seen.

This year I attended Day 2.  As an aside, due to time-wasting computer glitches on the first day, the last category -- painting -- still needed to go through round 1 so the day started with that leftover task.  I noticed that this year each slide set was projected for about 5 seconds rather than 3, and from my perspective that extra time made a big and welcomed difference.  It was much easier to really see and absorb the work.

On to Round 2.  At the beginning of each category a staff member read the definition/requirements of the category (as listed in the prospectus) and gave both the number of original entries and the number of remaining entries after Day 1's jurying.  In almost every case about half of the category remained for the second round.

This time the images were projected for about 10 seconds (what a luxury!) and the artist statement was read aloud.  Although the jurors were permitted to discuss what they were seeing, they didn't do so.  I had heard that in past years sometimes a juror would either advocate for a particular artist's work or try to dissuade others from accepting an artist, but I didn't see any of that.  The jurors were instructed to assign a rating of 1-7 for each artist, with no 4, and with 7 being the best.  Scores were not announced.

I noticed that there's definitely a difference from year-to-year in the overall flavor of the work being entered and also in the work each set of judges likes.  Not sure what to do with that info, rather than to think that here's yet another area where luck plays a role in whether you're accepted or not.  Who's to know who's applying, what they're entering and what the judges will put through?

Finally, if jurors noticed that an artist had entered in the wrong category -- presumably to get a better shot at acceptance or perhaps purely by mistake -- the artist was disqualified.  They were not reassigned to the appropriate category and juried there.  The artist statement (or "techniques and materials") is the giveaway.  If you're in mixed media, you'd better mention materials in several mediums as it's not always obvious by looking at the image.

The second round took about 3.5 hours to jury 500 +/- applications. 

June 25 & 26
Des Moines, Iowa
Iowa State Fairgrounds
Presented by: Stookey Companies
240 Artists
Deadline:  March 1

Application Fee: $25; Booth Fee: $305

Stookey Companies, an event coordination business, manages Iowa's largest fine art show: ArtFest Midwest 'The Other Art Show', an affordable/alternative show held the same weekend as the downtown outdoor show at the fairgrounds. 

Offered as complement to downtown show, there is a free shuttle between shows and free admission making it easy for the shoppers to travel easily between the events. 

Approximately 40% of the artists are from Iowa and 90% from the Midwest giving the show a distinctly Midwest flavor. Held indoors in air conditioned comfort at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  FREE wireless in the building!  We have discontinued the silent auction, so no request for auction donations. We hope you will join us for Iowa's best festival weekend!

                                 Website:  www.artfestmidwest.com

Day one of the two day open Jury for the Columbus Arts Festival has begun. Our Jurors are in the midst of round one of the jurying process. All are welcome to join us at the Sheraton Capitol Square in downtown Columbus. to watch the process.

The deadline for the Riverside Arts Weekend show is coming up and I cant find any information about it.  Has anyone had experience with it?  Its the one in Riverside, IL in May.  Thanks for any info.

• Large 12'x12' booth sizes
• Low fees
• An air conditioned hospitality suite for artists
• Wednesday set-up is available and encouraged
• Dedicated artist assistance for load-in and load-out; booth sitters
• Artists are invited to come early (Monday, June 13) and participate in our plein air paint out and photography contest, and to attend the awards ceremony and opening reception held on Wednesday evening
• Free parking and lodging discounts are also available

From an email I received from Andrea:

I along with several other artists make antique button, vintage button, vintage cameo and vintage glass jewelry.  I have been told before that although they like what I do with the buttons I do not make the buttons therefore I am disqualified.  

To me no one and I mean no one does not buy something to start their art with.  That would be like telling a painter he is disqualified because he does not make the canvas or the paints. How do I weed out shows that feel this way.  There is so much involved with button jewelry from finding, collecting, researching, restoring and this is all before I create them into a pieces of jewelry.  

I have spent a fortune applying to shows only to be turned down.  I have been in several fine art shows and have done well.  However I think for many shows they disqualify me and therefore I am wasting my time.

Andrea, I'd bet your work is lovely. In a recent podcast one of the first reasons stated by a show director about "why you didn't get in" was because the applicant didn't read the application well. No one is making all the parts of their work. That is a given. My best advice is to carefully read the applications for the shows you are interested in and then making a phone call to the show, perhaps even sending them an email with an image of your work attached and asking them if it meets that show's criteria. 

Does anyone else have other advice for Andrea?

I had a meeting with a local shop owner who has run a strong business for several years, and one I completely trust. She looked at some of my work ( I do sculptural and blown glass jewelry) and said she thought I'd be a great fit for The Rosen Show in Philadelphia. I have not done much in the way of wholesale, but am ready to put the effort into learning. Normally, I do juried art shows.

She also suggested ACRE.

Has anyone done either of these? I noticed that Rosen shows take place different times of the year and at different locations?

I'm a little scared about making this leap and could really use any input anyone would be kind enough to share.

Thank you in advance, Susan