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Has anyone ever applied to be a featured artist by Artsy Shark?  Couldn't find any bad press about them, but wondering if it's safe to use a credit card for the jury fee and refer them to our web site.  Can't be too careful these days!!

MANDARIN ART FESTIVAL is a small show located in an affluent Jacksonville, Florida neighborhood, and it may be one of Florida's best kept secrets. This year 90 artists will exhibit on the grounds of MANDARIN COMMUNITY CLUB, which is the historical Freedom School site built by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1872. The St. Johns River can be seen behind the homes across the street, Mandarin Rd., in front of the school. 

Five years ago the all volunteer committee of Mandarin Art Festival decided to seek outside help to run their event. The show had been held every Easter weekend since 1968 and it had always been independently run by a local group. But the committee needed a break and thus decided if they were going to keep their show running, they'd need to contract their show with someone who knows how to run an art show. Welcome aboard, Howard Alan.

We'd been dong the Mandarin show for several years when the committee informed everyone of the change. We'd never done a Howard Alan event and decided that the new Mandarin show would not be the time to start doing them. The reasons we haven't done a Howard Alan show is that his shows don't have awards, they cost a little more, and setup is very early morning the first day of the show. Seems a number of the regular artists doing Mandarin decided also that they would quit the show despite there not being any other event held in the area on Easter weekend to fill the void. For folks like us who road trip for six to eight weeks, we'd just have an empty weekend. We'd just lay low.

I have no idea what happened with the show during the Howard Alan years so I cannot report about that. But last year the Mandarin Art Festival committee reclaimed their show for themselves. Good day, Howard Alan.

Thank you, Susie Scott, Mandarin Art Festival Show Director.

A quick call to Mandarin last year revealed that although the volunteer committee was once again running the show, they had not yet brought back the awards. All that's changed for 2015. Their awards aren't quite what they were before the Howard Alan years, but they are significant enough.

Set up today was a breeze. It was fun seeing some friends I hadn't seen since we last did the show. One of them told me he had been doing it through the Howard Alan years, too. The committee had lunch for us, plenty of deli sandwiches to go around with chips and pickles and cookies and tea. Sweet tea for me, or course. I had a delicious veggie wrap and my wife had egg salad on croissant. Delightful, really. We were set up in about two hours. Things just moved along nicely. It got a little warm today, but a cold front is moving through tomorrow afternoon and I'm looking forward to that. Easter sunday will be mid-70's and dry.

I'll post a review of the show later next week once we get to Chattanooga. WOOHOO!

I notice how show organizers promote how they keep similar styles or categories apart. I spoke to one show organizer last week and she said that the artists don't want to be adjacent to similar "competitor" artists.  I just don't get that. I may not be well versed in art shows but I do have over 30 years of business and marketing experience. This separation is harmful to sales. 

Here's why:

When people shop - they have some idea of what they want.  Jewelry, pottery, wood, paintings, etc. There is the occasional impulse buy but when you boost the quality and price to a professional or juried level that factor diminishes. When a show has 150 - 200 booths, the shopper has to search out their "category" preference and it is unlikely they will find all that fit. 

In reality a sale comes down to two things - whether they like the product or not and the price. Believe it or not, cheapest does not always win and sometimes a price too low can kill a sale. Sorry, I digressed.  Essentially, you think you have enough variety but when you step back your prices are consistent (within a range) and your work has your style.

Take away the isolation aspect and place another artist (same category) adjacent to you and now you have a true difference. What really happens - you now have a potential (even likely) buyer who is no longer in a "yes" or "no" situation; and placed them in an "either" "or" situation. It is now more likely that at least one of you will make a sale.

This is why more new car dealerships carry more than one line of cars.  The red versus blue is just not enough and the lowest price isn't the real issue, it is what they believe is value.

Tell me if you (pardon the pun) buy into this strategy or not, and if not, why not.

I have a display question for fiber artists.  I hand dye silk (Shibori) and have just decided to move to using pro panels with waterfall racks.  Initially i had thought of putting each piece on a hanger, and hanging them on the waterfall racks so they cascade down neatly revealing the pattern in the silk but my business partner suggested instead to just hang the silk from the waterfall hooks in loose knots, allowing me to place 2-3 waterfall racks per panel.  I should have taken pictures of my playing with the displays in my basement, but i did not, so these are pictures on the internet of examples of the ideas... hangers, vs loosely knot hung.  Which appeals more?  

I was ecstatic to get juried into Winter Park this year for the first time. I wasn't sure what to expect but was certainly aware of the reputation that precedes this show. 

I made the trek from Tennessee on Wednesday, spent the night in Gainesville, Florida then continued onto Winter Park on Thursday for load in.  I had looked at the map of the show beforehand so knew exactly where my booth placement  in Central Park was thanks to Google Street Maps. I was directly between two massive cedar trees. Shade for the entire weekend! 

Load in was fairly straightforward. Park on Park Avenue in front of Central Park and dolly to your space. I'm really happy that I had one of the booths with a sidewalk in front as opposed to a mulch walkway. I unloaded my truck, dollied everything to my space then moved my vehicle to the grass lot on the other side of the railroad tracks. I had all afternoon to set up so it was probably one of the more casual laid back set ups. Normally set up is about 1 hour for me but I took about 4 hours with lunch at a French bistro just off Park Ave. 

Friday was a great day for me. With a forecast of upper 80s for the duration of the show, the buying crowds came early, partially to avoid the heat of the afternoon. There were plenty of bags and going by  and I had a lot of purchases and  positive comments from patrons that they had not seen my work before. The heat of the afternoon took its toll on the crowds as it definitely thinned out mid-afternoon. I did have a burst of activity in the last hour to complete a $2.5K day. The judging came through and I did have a piece selected for judging. At the close of the show on Friday I carried my piece over to the Catholic Church a block away. I saw dozens of other artists carrying/dollying their pieces as well. I was informed that we had to pick up our pieces Saturday between 11:30am - 12:30pm. No worries though, I secured a booth sitter so I could make the run over to the church. 

Saturday promised another beautiful day and once again, the crowds came early and the free SunRail was dropping off customers by the trainload at the festival doorstep. I did see a bit of a different demographic with more families and the kettle corn crowd coming in. Sales did occur once again early in the day and once again late in the afternoon. Another 2K day for me. The music on the lawn in the North Central Park went on for most of the day. It wasn't too loud for me, although I did have a several booth buffer between me and the stage. At the close of the day I walked two blocks over to the Farmer's Market for the artists dinner/awards. I didn't win an award but the dinner was FANTASTIC. Catered by a local company and plenty of libations for us. Congrats to the winners! 

Sunday was basically a repeat of Saturday. Sales early before the heat set in, lots of people although I did have a four hour gap in the middle of the day without a sale. Then, once again, on cue...a flurry of sales in the last hour. That seemed to be the M.O. of the crowd. It was another 2K day for me.  One of the show volunteers came by late in the day and gave load out procedures. Police would open up the street about 6pm for load out. I had my egress already planned out though. Break down, dolly out across the tracks straight to the parking area. I was loaded up and on the road by 5:45, headed to Hollywood Florida for 5 days at the beach! 

Overall, I could not have asked for a better show. Winter Park lived up to the hype for me! Sales! Sales! Sales! A great volunteer staff and a beautiful city! I'm already looking forward to applying to the 2016 show and fingers crossed, that I get juried in! 

Artsy Shark needs 36 new artists to feature and promote in the coming months. Featured artists are juried through submissions, which are now being accepted. Deadline is midnight, April 10, 2015. 

Visual artists in any medium who would like to be considered may submit an application from April 1 through 10, 2015. This is a competitive juried submission process, and not all artists will be accepted.

Each selected artist is featured in an individual article on Artsy Shark, presenting their portfolio and sharing their story in their own words. Each feature also includes a link to drive traffic directly to the artist’s own website, where they can gain subscribers and social media followers, grow their network and make art sales.

Each featured artist article is emailed to thousands of subscribers, promoted extensively on social media, and seen by many of over 35,000 unique readers who visit ArtsyShark.com each month. It then becomes a permanent part of the Featured Artist Gallery, which contains more than 500 artist features at this time.

Artist features are permanent. The artist can use the link to their featured article for as long as they like and may consider it an extension of their marketing efforts.

There is a jury fee of $20.00 for each artist submission. Applicants will be juried by viewing the artist’s website and online presence.

Within a few weeks after the deadline, all artists will be notified as to whether or not they have been accepted. No fees or commissions are collected by Artsy Shark on resulting sales of artwork.

LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE

This show is not an easy one to report about.  Many artists plain hate it.  Some swear by it.  Others would not be caught dead going there.

I was there, so was my wife,Ellen.  So here is my take.

Truthfully, I am no great fan of this show, more-as, I am no great fan of the committee that runs it.

But, when it comes down to making a practical business decision (like, am I gonna make any real money here) you have to give this show some credit.  A lot of people made moola here--more than 5K.

I have been avidly following all the posts on Facebook the last three days.  I have read Amy Flynn's (good stuff, by the way), Will Conners (thought-provoking) and even Barely Bernstein's icy laments from the UP.

David Piper, a great showman and an even greater showman summed it up quite well. "They charge big bucks to ride the shuttle, then make the public wait almost an hour-an-a-half to get in the show, then charge $15 at the gate, charge $7 for draft beer, $8 in a skinny can, $4 for soda, and $3 for water.  Heck, a family of four has to shell out serious bucks before they even get a chance to look at the art.

Then they gotta walk all over Memorial Park in infinite directions on endless loops, sometimes the booths end for a while and you gotta walk 100 yards along the concrete before booths start again.  Then good luck getting back to an artist for a second look.  People are exhausted trying to walk this show once, let alone a second time.

450 booths, some with 6-foot sheer drop-offs behind them (I had one, luckily I had a corner to store stuff on--but what the heck, it only costs $750).  Other booths have oodles of level grass behind, even beckoning picnic benches. The drop off along the circular concrete drive is extreme at times.  One artist, at teardown, managed to slide off the edge of the walkway, meaning his van slid.  Pics on FB showed the van nosedown, endup sticking halfway out onto the walkway.  How would you like to maneuver around that.

The committee ran around putting band-aids as remedies for situations that were not well thought out.  For example, how do you get three artists into spaces that are only nine feet wide instead of ten?  Oh, you just set them up across the path from existing booths and create a choke point for the public to traverse.

You gotta love it when you get a guy who makes the kid's teepees gets called off the wait list a full month ahead of a very talented mixed media artist.

This show is not on a level playing field.  Everybody pays close to $500 for a 10x10.  Trouble is some some 10x10s are way better than others.

Like I said before, a lot of booths had no room for inventory storage behind, while others had mega-acres.

The booths at the beginning of the show, say the first 100 in each direction, got 100 per cent of the crowd coming by.  Booths in the add-on loop, had empty sidewalks a lot of the time.  Many patrons were just too wearied to make it back there.

OK, there are some of the knocks, many you have heard already.

Now look at the pluses.  There are several good ones.

Hey, Houston is either the third or fourth largest city in the USA.  There is lot of wealth here.

More than 12 corporations have moved their national headquarters from California to here.

There are not a lot of other competing art shows going on there.

There are a ton of young folks with disposable income here.

The show is held in early spring here, and most years the weather is wonderful--unlike Gasparilla's.

Many of the most talented artists and craftsman on the circuit come here--tells ya something.

If you build up a following you can make better than $5K here.

Many people this year made way better than that.  There were a lot of five-figure sales here.

Two artists who work in wood, killed them here.  One had to cancel Main Street Fort Worth, because they just did not have enough work left.

On Sunday morning, doing my walk-around before show, I heard variations on the same subject from at least 12 artists.  They all had one customer who had come in and blown $3K or better on a sale.

I heard it from two glass artists.  One guy told me he was wrapping up glass from a $2K sale, and the the guy kept adding on items, and he finally ended up with nearly a $4K sale.  And these guys still had Sunday to sell.

For every artist who made big moola, there were equally artists who barely covered expenses.

My wife was one of them.  They were virtually ignored, or not that many people wandered by.

This is a show where you have to show up and take your chances.  Some win, some lose.

Here are some relevant observations from this year's show.

Cowboy art, overall, is not a big seller here.  Houston is an international city with people from all over the world.  They don't necessarily embrace the Cowboy heritage like they do in Fort Worth.

People who depend on lots of multiple sales in the low to midrange levels did not do as well as people selling high end work.

I saw countless big paintings going out of the show.  Big sculpture, big glass, big clay--and yeah, lots of photo-giclees.

The line of people waiting at the shuttle with art in hand was very long.  There was lots of action.

Then you had the opposite effect too.  Two local painters who made five figures here last year, did not make expenses this year.  Go figure.

Abstract as well as realistic sells here.

For me, if I did not have my humor images, I would have been a dead doggie here.  I made most of my sales off 10 images.  I had a real good show.

This is the third time for me at the spring show--and it was my best, even though I had a shitty location on the back loop with a sheer drop off behind me.

It is a long drive for us.  Heck, from Tampa to Lafayette,LA is 13 hour drive and then another 5 hours the next day.

We took advantage of the option of tearing down on Monday morning, we were in there at 6:30 AM and on the road by 8AM just in time for morning rush hour.

This show is a tough call.  You are dealing with a committee that is not going to change much. I think they are very greedy.  They are trying to make up for losses from the fall show by putting it all on our backs.

Also, the lucky artist near the front of the show will be there again next year.  Good luck trying to get one of their spots.

Well, that's my story.

I am numero uno on the wait list for Fort Worth.  Ellen is in.  I am going with her Monday in my van hoping to get a spot.  It is a gamble and a lot of gas, but, I will take my chances because the show is worth it.  I have been in the last four years--hope to make it five.

Hey Terri, now you got some reading material while on the road.

Barely Bernstein, hope you were taking notes.

Adios, amigos.

Altamonte Springs, FL - March 28-29, Cranes Roost Park

Sponsored by: Pennsylvania Chautauqua
held in the wooded parks and streets of Mount Gretna

by Carolyn Edlund, guest blogger

Has this happened to you?

You’ve met people who absolutely love your artwork. It might be at an exhibit or a fair, or perhaps at a social event when you share an image of your art on your smartphone. They rave about your art, showing lots of interest, and you tell them you will stay in touch. They hand you a business card, or write down their name, email and phone number.

But you never got back to them. The opportunity was lost.

You meant to do it, but either you weren’t organized, or you didn’t know what to say, or didn’t have enough time. You end up with stacks of cards, and lists of people who want to see more of your work, but you haven’t taken any action to follow up with all those interested people who could turn into customers.

Perhaps you have an art website, which took a lot of time to put together. You want people to visit, and you might be putting in hours on social media to promote it – but you don’t know who likes your work or wants to see more unless someone fills out your contact form, which is rare. You don’t have a method of collecting names of visitors for your mailing list, or if you do, you haven’t contacted them.

All the effort you put into sharing your art has been wasted, unless you choose to take further action. You must put a system into place that will collect names of people who like your art, and want to know more. Then, you need to reach out to them over and over again, because one contact isn’t enough to make art sales. As people get to know you, and learn your story, and see your work, they feel that they know you and gain a comfortable level that can lead to making purchases.

Contacting your list is best accomplished through email marketing, which is the most effective tool you can use in reaching collectors who have shown an interest. It’s far more effective than social media alone. It puts you in control of your message and when you send it. You have permission to contact them; they want to hear from you. They are your prospective buyers, and as a business person, you are taking the next logical step to turn them into your newest art collectors.

Email marketing is an incredible way to drive repeat sales of artwork, too. Once you have sold a piece of work to a customer, it’s much easier to sell something else to that same person than it is to start out “cold” again.

A regular campaign of email marketing (once a month) reaches out to all of those people who indicated that they want to hear from you, as well as existing customers. This method of communication is low-stress, because you have a “friendly” audience. Introduce them to your portfolio, talk about upcoming events, and show new artwork you’ve created. If they don’t want to stay on the list, they simply unsubscribe. They can also forward your messages to friends and others who may buy from you. Watch as your list grows and you reach more people every month.

If you haven’t gotten started yet with an email marketing program, don’t worry. You can still reach out to old lists you have, and you can always begin collecting names of new people who want to find out more about your work. Start where you are now.

Email marketing campaigns are used by businesses around the world to drive billions of dollars in sales, because it works. You can take advantage of this, too. Email marketing doesn’t have to be a mystery. Templates are available to brand your messages, and let you share your personality, images of your art, and what makes each piece very special.

June 6
Jackson, Michigan

The Ella Sharp Museum presents the 11th Annual Art, Beer & Wine Festival.  The event will feature over 30 local wineries and beer tents, as well as 45 artists!

Festival goers can enjoy live music and artist booths nestled on the grounds of the Ella Sharp Museum and within the courtyard of the museum's historic Hillside Farm Lane.  

Adult tasting tickets include entry to live entertainment and artist booths, gallery access, ten sampling tickets, and a commemorative glass.  Tickets are $25 pre-sale and $30 at the door.  General admission tickets are $5 (no alcohol included). 

Artists will have an opportunity to present and sell their work to over 2,500 festival goers from south central Michigan as well as enjoy the festivities throughout the day that surround them at the event.

Learn more about our historic museum and events and apply:

 http://ellasharpmuseum.org/?page_id=886

For more information:

Kyle Liechty

Director, Art, Beer and Wine Festival

kyle@ellasharp.org

(517)787-2320

Cheers!

Learn even more about this event: 

www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/saturday-at-the-museum

There are just a few options for purchasing weights, commercially made. Sculptor Jim Eaton with an industrial design background made and sold the Eaton Weights, Happifeet was another product available for some time and every now and then those John Deere tractor weights show up. The weights made precisely for tents usually come with an attaching system specifically designed for tents.

1. Dumbbells:

2. I think this is an iron bar:

3. Weights from your John Deere tractor:

4. One Eaton weight:

5. Stack your Eaton weights:

6. Happifeet:

7. and if you're really worried about blowing away bring your barrel and to make it really nice wrap it up:

Do you own any of these? Any recommendations?

After having a banner year last year, I'm receiving a lot more rejections this year. I don't know what has changed? I was rejected for South University Art Fair, Crosby Festival of the Arts and now tonight Arts and Apples. It makes me wonder about my other applications. Will those be okay or will I see more rejections? I guess I am in a down year. Which I did not anticipate...

Arguably the best art festival in the country took place March 5-8 in La Quinta, CA. I've been promised by several people a review of the show (it was so good maybe they don't want to share), but an art fair patron sent me this because she wanted attention to be paid. Congrats to these artists!