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I do not know if i am the only one. but when i get on afi and put in groups One group comes up (organizers and directors).  I try to bring up other groups that i am in, but nothing comes up.  I get a message that says i am not in any groups.  how do i fix this problem and is anyone else having this problem

I've had my Nissan van - the tall one - for two years now. I've racked up 90,000 miles in those years, and until Saturday, never had a problem. But on Saturday, 30 miles or so from home, on my way back from Virginia Beach, I ran into and killed a deer. 

The event was awful. It was dusk, and it's hunting season, so I was watching. It didn't matter. One instant, the road ahead of me was open. The next minute, a large deer was there. She died instantly, and I think there's a small blessing in that. There were no cars around me, and that's another blessing. 

The biggest blessing is that I wasn't hurt. The big van took the hit. The front is high enough that the deer didn't crash over the roof and into the windshield, as she would have if I'd been in the Toyota minivan - or, I imagine, in a Sprinter. The grill is a mess, the bumper is hanging, and the radiator took a blow - but I was able to drive the van home. 

If you're thinking of buying a van, I can't say enough about my Nissan. I loved her before this - 90,000 miles and zero problems, zero - but I love her even more now. 

Just got back from Bling show in Highland Park..Amdur productions show..I don't know what to think about her shows.She did a nice show, had munchies for artists and if they needed anything, they were accommodating..can't complain about that.. Amy even went through and purchased a few things from cheaper artists to help out..

Jury fee was only $15, we paid $450 for the space and $75 for electricity, inside venue, but half the exhibit space you'd have in a normal set up.. Good thing I got electricity, because it was the "black hole of Calcutta" where I was, 40 watt can lights in selling..

I kid you not, they went around changing out 40 watt bulbs, to 75 watt on Sunday,  due to complaints.. Sadly we showed Friday and Saturday in low light..

I've done two of her Chicago area shows and sold absolutely "zipp, zero, nada".

The crowds at GoldCoast were bored stoller pushing folks , not a spending crowd..I even threw in a couple $30 items and couldn't sell..

Bling was at Highland Park, an affluent area, jewelry and accessories..at the golf club.. Houses the size of hotels nearby,so hoped for the best.. We got there, at the entrance was a guy on the right selling vacation packages, on the left was a guy selling Anderson Replacement windows..

The show ended up smaller than first anticipated.. lots of buy/sell again mixed in with high end..items that were assembled from supplies bought at Micheals or Hobby Lobby.. A lot of assembled component  jewelry,not real hand made..

Amy Amdur walked someone by and called the booth next to me "high end" jewelry,it was all assembled from mass produced components, chains and beads from Fire Mountain Gems... silver and gold fill...

I had 18kt and platinum.. she called mine "funky".. If the promoter doesn't know the difference, between high end and hobby, how can she promote fine art.

Also not adhering to their rules, buy sell in shows, but one exibitor called and asked about a space, she never applied though Juried Art Services, paid a jury fee, just got in.. It was a low jury fee , only $15, but the point is, all the rest of us paid,except a few and if buy sell gets in and others get in just by calling, she gouged the rest of us for jury fee..

The crowd was a mix of old and really old with an occasional soccer mom thrown in.. I heard people saying $50 was too much..Most people sold items in the $30-$50 range.. Most sold nothing,especially if they didn't have any low end..

I threw in an old tray of $30- $50 items and still heard "oh,I can't afford it"..I said I do lay away... just to see and she still walked away.. when you can't get a sale with offering lay away on a $45 ring, all hope is lost..

Most of the artists ended up congregating at tables nearby drinking coffee and talking about all the lack of sales at the shows..

Talked about how jury fees go up, booth fees are up, buy sell booths, increasing and fewer high end artists coming.. how so far, they've lost their asses at Amdur shows and won't be coming back to any of them..just can't afford to travel and pay and pay and not sell, no matter how nice the Amdurs treat us, we just can't afford it..

We were counting the wheel chairs and walkers and commenting on one woman who whipped through on a Segway! 

I know the Eastern Shore Chamber puts on the March Fairhope show but there is another run concurrently and I can't seem to find a link to it. Anyone know? I'm too late for the Chamber app, wondering about the other.....

Unless you are selling your artwork to an art museum of some kind, your artwork is probably destined for somebody’s living room. 

And, apparenty, this is what people want in their living rooms:

1. a couch, obviously
2. TV, novels, video games, all preferably featuring variations on  murder and war.
3. Art that is the opposite of murder and war.

Over the years, I notice what I can and cannot get away with: Animals are ok. People with animal heads no. Cats yes; rats no. Dragons yes; snakes no. Blue yes; green no. Female body parts maybe; male body parts no. Skeletons maybe; wormy skeletons no. Guitar yes; the head is the guitar no. More than 2 arms maybe; more than one head no.  Two eyes yes; three eyes no. (Do not mess with the head.) I happen to like things that are a bit twisted and alarming. Sigh.

People want their art to be maybe beautiful, maybe unique, amusing, perhaps a little thought-provoking. But nothing really unsettling, scary or revolting. I get that. I dont exactly want that stuff in my living room either. 

But take a look at what else is in the living room. The TV, with its ongoing anxiety-producing murders, autopsies, end of the world horrors. The News itself. Mayhem somehow make a better story than chickadees.  Novels on the coffee table feature murder torture and betrayal. Doesn't this all seem odd?  Wouldn’t you think the Stephen King fans would be a little more tolerant of a nice little autopsy sculpture??

We seem to love to  be faux-scared by novels, movies and video games, but we want our art to be safe… Is this because we think art is like furniture and should be comfortable to lie down

on?  Art seems unsuitable for profound exploration. Well, profoundly funny, or profoundly beautiful. But not profoundly upsetting.

Or do we recognize the potential for art to get right under our skins, right up next to our so-vulnerable hearts, where all that mayhem would be too damaging. OK for all that pretend murder in the periphery, but way too dangerous up close where we really live.

We do need to heal ourselves with positive imagery. We are starved for it really. But it is dangerous to try to deny the other side. Because our lives contain both. Maybe we are working out all our negative stuff via movies and video games. Building up our tolerance to disaster. But saving art for something simpler, kinder, more healing, more loveable….

This is a little disappointing to me. I am a big fan of multiple heads, doll eyes, the twisted, the dark side. I was recently very intent on a potential Vomit Series. Featuring heads spewing out beautiful swirls of beads, rhinestones etc. Or maybe mappified swirls. Or tinnified. Themes of regret, purging. Things coming in, but going out the wrong way.  I got sidetracked before I got  very far.  I am trying to make a living here, and I dont want to be making this room full of sculpture that I’ll have to maybe eventually take to the dump….Anyway, stay tuned. Its on the back burner for now but Im pretty attached to the idea still.

June 17-19
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Presented by the Milwaukee Art Museum
175 Artists
Deadline: November 24

The festival takes place inside the museum's spectacular Santiago Calatrava-designed building, as well as on the adjoining outdoor museum grounds featuring our state of the art Clearspan tents. Enjoy the festival rain or shine indoors AND outdoors! (Indoor booth availability limited, based on first come, first serve). This is the Museum's largest special event and is highly visible, with setup and parking close by.

Marketing:

Our Festival of Art has an aggressive public relations campaign including targeted online and print publications, TV, radio and social media vehicles within the Southeastern Wisconsin markets as well as regional publications, broadcasts and bloggers. In 2015 marketing and media coverage accounted for a total of 17.3 million impressions with social media posts reaching 2,524 LFOA Facebook friends, 6,466 Milwaukee Art Museum Instagram followers and 44,611 Twitter followers. The LFOA website saw 91,679 page views, with 21,811 unique users.

Awards:

A total of $10,500 in awards will be presented. Ten awards of $1,000 each to be given where excellence is determined by the jurors. Awards will be determined based on the artist's entire presentation. The top ten award-winning artists are automatically invited back to LFOA for the following year without jurying and will receive a commemorative piece of artwork specifically designed for them by a fellow LFOA exhibiting artist. 

Jurors will also select Honorable Mention award winners, all of whom are automatically invited back to LFOA for the next year without jurying.

Learn more: lfoa.mam.org

Apply: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=4390

And here's a video visit to the show: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYIDpIpjQho&feature=youtu.be

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find even more 2016 art fairs looking for you: www.CallsforArtists.com

Hi, Well I haven't updated my website in a long time and would now like to update it and also add the ability to sell from it? I would love any suggestions on what program to use and/or who to host it ? I need something easy to edit as I'm not a computer geek. 

 I got an e-mail from an artist that had their computer hijacked Wednesday by installing an Adobe Flash update that turned out to be a virus. There was a segment on the Today show about it this morning and they recommend paying the money to get your files back. All the files on the computer are encrypted and the hijackers want $500 within 96 hours to get everything back. 

She can't afford $500.

I've been working with her for over ten years and can provide a complete backup of her artwork images. But between her and her husband, they've lost all their financial data and her husband's complete business files.

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

Greg might be unaware of his fame today, but I was just visiting the Collectors of Wood Art website HERE HERE HERE and discovered he's the featured artist on their home page. I don't know how often that feature changes, but it doesn't really matter all that much. What does matter is that Greg is a member of Collectors of Wood Art and that his work is being featured.

I'm a fan of that site and organization anyway and certainly a fan of Greg and his work, and I may someday be a member of that group. There's awesome work in that group and it can be seen on their website.

So for those of you who like to look at fine work besides your own, check out the website. You'll better your work for doing it--if you're paying attention. And while you're there, check out Greg's wonderful work. WOOHOO!

Last weekend we participated in the Moss Rock Festival, a local show in Hoover, Alabama which is a suburb of Birmingham.  The venue is an upscale planned residential community.  The show is set up with artist's booths on the streets forming the perimeter of the town square, with food vendors, family activities and the beer and wine tent in the square.

We received frequent communication from the organizers leading up to the event.  The artist's coordinator was easy to contact via e-mail and provided quick responses to our questions.  Load in times were staggered as it was a tight fit with a large vehicle since the booths took up one lane of the two lane street. We were able to pull up to our assigned space and had plenty of time to unload before we had to move and make room for our neighbor.  

Despite a steady rain all day on Saturday, there was a surprising number of people who visited our booth.  We made some small sales which exceeded our very low expectations given the weather. We had a great time and expected a better result on Sunday when the weather was predicted to improve.

It was still cloudy and windy Sunday morning but no rain.  We opened early at about 9:30 and there were people already milling about looking at the art.  The crowd built as the day went on.  It started to drizzle again at 3:00pm but the crowd stayed.  Closing was set for 4:00pm and we had people in our booth well past that hour. It was our best sales day ever.  Given that this was our fifth show, we do not have much of a track record, but it was an over whelming success for us, especially considering the poor weather conditions.

Load out was in a steady rain, in the dark.  There were some portable lights set up but we used our flashlights for the most part. Load out tickets were distributed after taxes had been paid and booths were torn down ready to load. This process limited the number of vehicles in a tight space at the same time. Artist parking was in a nearby lot with frequent shuttles running all day.  Patrons from outside the neighborhood were shuttled in from a lot about two miles away.  

It seemed like a well run and organized show to us.  We most of all enjoyed the vibe of the event. The people we interacted with seemed appreciative for our participation and of our work. We did not have a lot of time to check with others on their sales, but based on what we saw walk by our booth, it appeared that folks were purchasing mainly small items with a few large pieces here and there. Overall a good event for us. 

I too was there and agree with the posted comments.  The rain was so hard and fast that the tents across from me were under water very fast.  They did allow us to leave early and it was a free for all!

I was on an outside edge so had an advantage in being able to back up to my spot,

I Was at Winter Springs and noted on the program who had won the year before.  when this year's winners were announced many of them (8) were the same as I had marked in my program.  Funny thing they also won at this show.  The elderly judge looked ready to collapse when he finally got around to our section very late in the day.

I was very lucky that a lovely woman came in late on Saturday and purchased 3 of my most pricy pieces for the new glass art museum in St. Petersburg, and wants more.  It was a huge sale and thank God for that, otherwise the show produced very few buyers, 

Does anyone have any feedback on the Dunelin show?

Andrea Olson fused,beaded,embroidered, glass on leather    

I'm sharing this because I suspect I'm not the only one who's ever done anything like this, and not the only one who's had ambivalent feelings about it. 

I had a very good summer of shows. I got into some top shows, my paintings generally sold well, and I enjoyed myself. I did 25 shows between February and September, and honestly, I was exhausted. 

In September, the dog of my heart died. She had liver cancer, and I had to euthanize her. This broke my heart and left me truly sad, deep inside. Two weeks afterwards, I rallied to attend a plein-air paintout in which I'd been invited to participate. I wasn't up to being social, but I painted and met nice painters, and enjoyed myself. The sadness ebbed. 

Right afterwards, I headed to Dayton, Ohio, for a show. I had a cheap Air BnB rental ($42 for an entire house), so I got there early, to rest and finish my taxes before starting the show. On Thursday, my husband called to tell me that another of our dogs had died.

I went home. Canceled out of the show (lost my booth fee, even though the show called someone from the wait list to take my place, but OK). I simply could not face people, could not interact, could not engage.

A month later, I realized I just needed a dog. I'd been painting, I'd been gearing up for my final three shows, in Texas, but I was still sad. Still lacking energy, drive, hope. My husband found a rescue dog who looked good, so I met her on my way to Texas and made arrangements to pick her up on the way home.

I got to Texas and drove to my first show, Huffhines Art Trails, in a total downpour. Cars were off the road the entire way. It poured, thundered, lightninged, and the show was canceled. I looked ahead to the weather and saw that hurricane-driven rain was predicted for the next weekend, too, when I was scheduled for a show in Houston. 

So there I was, stranger in a strange land, and all I wanted was to go home. I was tired. Spent. Staying with strangers who were nice, but with whom I couldn't be myself. I tried a couple different things, went to Austin (unbeknownst to me, there was a Formula 1 racing event there that weekend, traffic was horrible, there were no rooms to be had). I tried to paint, but everywhere I could have gone, it was raining. I thought about heading to Arizona to see my dad, but he was away for the week. Nothing worked. Nothing felt right. 

Finally, I just decided to go home. Blow off my two remaining shows, lose the booth fees, just check out. 

The moment I made the decision, my world righted itself. I headed east, got my little dog (photo below), and am happily, safely at home. 

I've since felt tremendous guilt about skipping those shows. I've felt that if I were really a tough, serious fair-going artist, I'd have stuck it out. But I have also felt tremendous power and freedom in my decision. One reason to work for yourself is to do just what I did, not work when I really, truly, in my heart didn't feel like working. 

Of course I worry about the money, but there were no guarantees that those other Texas shows would have been good ones for me. I have commissions to paint, I have a project to start, and people have begun to call me asking to buy the paintings I still have. 

I really wanted to share my experience, even though I suspect some artists might deride me for my decisions. It was hard to make these choices, but they were the right ones. And maybe my experience will help someone else. 

ps, Hi, Connie! 

just so everyone knows, this company uses shady language in their ZAPP application. This company has many other shows that are unsuccessful as well.

If anyone has had a similar experience please comment.

I'm fighting the charge right now.

Does anyone else agree that Zapplication is responsible for enabling unlawful activity?

Right after 9-11 I choose to get part time job. The Part job became a full time job and at the same time I start cutting the shows. Few years later, I hit shaking ground in the full time job but even if wanted to get out I could not because it was wrong time to do it. April 15, 2014 I left the job to do just shows again.

At this time almost the end of my second year I am waiting for applications respond from Florida, Arizona and Texas for the first four month of 2016 and I am reviewing my year. 

This year I found a lot hate or misinform people about my medium. You read and listen to people comments about photography and new rules to photographers and it make me wonder. Maybe the most intriguing was that they only let photographer to shows because the public want see photography. The other wrong perception is that we just go and press print or send to the lab to get print that we really do not work. Comment like this are common and really if you are a photographer in the art show this is nothing new but still does not make feel any better.

This year while I did not head to Florida because one show per month was not a good idea because I live in Chicago. This also create a dilemma with my income. Enter Postmates, this help me all the way until May. Working 36 hours delivering products it was giving a nice 700 per week as income without any stress. It had been so good for me that I make the effort to keep myself in the fleet because of the fear of no shows in a month or several months. It also help me to reduce the stress what to do when you are playing catch up because you have good and bad months in the art fairs. 

Another big surprise for me was the amount of calls for installing art work. This year that section of my business increase almost 1000%. 

So you wonder about the art fairs. The biggest lesson to remember is that no matter what people tell you need to trust yourself. I did bad choices by picking shows in my hometown (Chicago). I only did well at one small show in the area. My body work does not move in the area and people suggest that I was doing something wrong but I could not understand why because when I out of town I do well or least 10 times better than Chicago market. I only can said that I will apply to four or five shows in the area in 2016. If do not get into those shows I wont be doing any shows in Chicago. Several times during 2015, I was wishing I was doing Postmates over sitting in my booth hoping to just break even and losing hope as time pass.  The sad thing is that when I apply I was not aware about Postmates and I was  believing what other people suggest me. 

The biggest different for me and other is this my only income. I do not have a spouse helping me to cover the bills. This how I support myself and wont take hand out. Living in fear of loosing everything because you did not apply your own advice it was just stupid in my part, people that know me understand what I mean with that.

What had been great about this year. When I hit the road, I did shows that even when was not that much profit I notice while sitting in my booth I never lost hope. A lot small pieces move and adding the 36X51 frame pieces was successful as well 12X18 prints matted to 18X24. I realize that more red the state I tent to do better (could be because no to many shows in the area, who knows). Build my second cabinet to hold my prints and poles from my trimline was great idea. A full year with my little trailer had make things a lot easier. I keep seeing old friends and making new. I enjoy traveling the country. I enjoy doing shows. I had done things that I not crazy about (like sleeping my car because I was to tired to keep going and/or could not find a motel was not full or the price will put me out of budget). I had manage to produce more new work this year than any other year. 

There is no doubt in my mind it had been a really hard year for me but full with a lot of joy and hope. I feel more secure and start seeing path to self support. I accepting the fact to listen to people advice but trust my final judgement. If to many red flags come around stay away from that path. 

Life is to short to live in fear, anger and insecurity. All those feelings will crate lonely person. So today I just  figure my second fear in life. Keeping positive attitude is the best and what ever happen in the past stay in past and keep learning from my failures and keep enjoying all those special moments.

Happy Holidays!!!!!

There has been a bit of negativity on the sight lately and I totally understand...a few bad shows in a row will rock you, make you wonder if it's all worth it and make you question your sanity-Ha! I find that most of the time when that happens I just wait it out and pack up and head out to the next show. It sort of becomes an addiction I think....If I'm home for a while I get antsy and crave a road trip...but give me a few shows that suck and I just want to hunker down with a good book and get off the grid for a while. 

This post is about something that happened to me a while back that I just want to share, maybe it will help your outlook, maybe it won't, but it recently made me realize why I love doing shows so much and why I keep doing them. Believe me I am no big moneymaker. 

Three years ago I was exhibiting at Coconut Grove. I had a pretty good show and on the last day an artist came up to me and said she liked my work, we talked for a while and she said she was exhibiting in a different area and I loved the work on her card, so I said yes. She said to come down and trade and then she would come back and get the piece she was eyeing. I said, just take it now, I trust you. I wrapped it and gave it to her. I was by myself with limited help and I put her card in my pocket. Later when I had a bit of a slag, I pulled it out and by mistake I think I pulled out another card from someone else or else I lost her card.. Long story short...I could never find this artist and I just chalked the loss up to my stupidity and guilelessness of handing over my work to someone I didn't really know.

There have been many posts about scams on here and I have often thought about writing about this one but I never did. I somehow felt that if someone did this then I deserve it and also I thought that my usually good instincts just didn't follow the path I thought that day.

Fast forward to Kentuck this year, which by the way,  I reviewed last year, and is one of my favorite shows for a myriad of reasons.Great people, nice atmosphere, great combination of folk and contemporary art. A great director and support system running the show...and besides all that....I won a Merit Award...what more could you ask for.

Sunday morning as usual, I go to get some coffee from the artist's tent and when I come back there is a note on my display table. It says " I owe you a two hundred dollar painting" .Well, for the life of me I couldn't figure what this was about. When I got a break I went to the number on the piece of paper. I recognized the work right away.  Leslie Peeples is a wonderful printmaker and she explained that she owed me a piece from Coconut Grove and wondered why I never came to get the one she owed me. She had hoped that we would meet up on the road but this was the first time she had seen my name at a show she had been at. I was blown away....totally blown. I had put this to bed long ago thinking it was my mistake and karma had turned it full circle and made it right.

And the piece of art...oh my god, it was like she did a piece of art that was completely directed at me...it was a intaglio that said " I was blessed by cranes. I dreamed I had to train my replacement when I lost my job as an art teacher and decided to become an artist. They asked me to dance and we danced and I knew everything would be ok." There was a bit more to it than that... but that was my life on a piece of art. That happened to me five years ago....you know the drill...bring in a recent college grad, befriend and train her for a few years, she wants your job....you're out -she's in (at a lower salary). You get the gist. And sometimes believe it or not, in hindsight-it's the best thing that has ever happened to you... but during the upheaval you are broken for a while. This piece of art will be precious to me forever. 

Anyway....I guess I just wanted to say thank you to the universe and to Leslie who was and is a kindred soul and Kentuck and to Connie and the AFi community and this life blood lovely site.  I hope this makes you smile and makes  you believe that everything works out in the end as it should. I hope this isn't too convoluted or weird...it's a bit personal and this is not what this site is for... but I hope it's ok to post and that you too will realize that magic in life still and always will happen. 

Boca Raton "Artrageous" Art and Fine Craft show

This show took place October 10-11, 2015.

I was prompted to write this and another blog post and review these two shows after my return from the show today. 

First, I will say that I was in one of this promoter's shows in Kentucky and it was a very good day. I was encouraged to try another of their shows and it turned out this one was in South Florida. I was rejected from the "art" section and they suggested I apply to the "craft" section.

It was a twelve hour drive from Birmingham to Boca Raton, Florida.

Zero artist amenities: No water for artists unless you paid to rent their tents, no booth sitters, rude staff. Hard to load in and out. No evening before show setup, which means you have to set up starting at 5 am.  Three port-o-johns for 150 artists, all located in one spot.  Invisible line separating the "art" section from the "craft" section. The "artists" behind us were making us dizzy with the generator exhaust.  When I asked to move it, I was informed that "Oh, you're a crafter. Well, we artists use generators all the time at these shows." Poor attendance due to little publicity. Artist parking was more than half a mile away.

I was annoyed. Most shows consider my work art, but not this one. I can deal with that, but not the treatment. I had already signed up for another show, and it is too late to cancel. Hopefully that one will be better.

I tried to submit a review of this show at artfairreviews.com but the "submit" button won't click!  After all that typing...

Delray Beach Delray Marketplace Art & Fine Craft show

I can nearly copy and paste my previous post about the Boca Raton show for this one.

Zero artist amenities: No water for artists unless you paid to rent their tent. No booth sitters, rude staff. No evening before show setup, which means you have to set up starting at 5 am, and I had to go searching for someone to let me know where I would be setting up. No volunteers helping to unload to speed the process.

ONE male, one female bathroom for 150 artists, all located in a coffee shop. Invisible line separating the "art" section from the "craft" section.  Poor attendance due to little publicity. Artist parking was about a half a mile away.

Location was behind a strip mall.  Behind it. As in, not seen unless you are driving by on a side road. Publicity must have been limited to the three small white square signs I saw stuck on the median near the show location. One person mentioned he saw something on television, but he "came to get out of the retirement community for a while, I don't need anything."

The ONE plus I will give this show is that we had plenty of space behind our booth. My neighbors were great and helped watch my booth while I took a bathroom break.

I won't be doing shows with this promotion group again if I can help it -- I just can't drive twelve hours to a show to be treated this badly, whether I have a hole in my schedule or not. It would be time better spent working on filling inventory.