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After retiring from teaching art for 32 years i have had the chance to get back into the studio. Last year I did three shows. Two were inside and the one outdoor show provided a tent for "emerging artists". So this June will be the first outdoor show on my own.  I purchased an eze up 10x10 tent last fall when eCanopy had some great sales. Used it Winterfair Columbus, an indoor show, worked great.  But I have not yet purchased/made weights that I will need for the June show.  This show is on parking lot surface so the tent can not be staked, just weights. I need some advice on weights to secure the tent. How many pounds? How to best tie to the tent? do I purchase the weights? Do I make something of my own? Would appreciate any advice.

August 8 & 9

Shelby Township, Michigan

Application deadline: April 1

The Shelby Township Art Fair Committee is seeking artists, fine crafters, and Michigan Made Products vendors for its 32nd Annual Shelby Township Art Fair, held on the township's municipal grounds on Van Dyke Avenue, just south of 24 Mile Road.

This juried fair is limited to 100 artists and 30 Michigan based product selling businesses. With quality and variety in mind, art and fine crafts in clay, wood, painting, printing, drawing, fibers, metal, glass and other 2D and 3D mediums are being sought. A limited number of jewelers will be accepted.

All booths are outdoors on grass, measure approximately 15'x15', and many have shade trees.  Some double booths are available.

• The jury fee is $10
• booth fees are $140 for artists and $60 for the MI Made area.  
• Cash prizes are awarded to artists and fine crafters.
• friendly, helpful, organized staff
• easy load-in & load-out, Friday night set-up, 
• plenty of free daytime & overnight parking close to exhibit areas
• overnight grounds security, and complimentary coffee and donuts each morning help to create a fun, friendly atmosphere.

Advertising in local and regional publications, internet social media, television and radio announcements, e-mail blasts, flyers, banners and signs throughout the community, and more bring over 10,000 visitors to the event.

Lots of prizes and big prize money was passed out this weekend at Winter Park. Congratulations to photographer Michael Cole, taking home the $10,000 top prize!

June 6 & 7
Denver, Colorado
CHUN (Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods)
Civic Center Park
200 artists
Deadline: April 3

Application Fee: $35

 

With over 200,000 fair-goers and numerous exhibitors, vendors and volunteers, Civic Center Park becomes Colorado's third largest city over the weekend of the festival.  For two days, the streets are closed and filled with music, juggling, wonderful arts and crafts, delicious food, families, friends and laughter as the people of Colorado celebrate this annual Rite of Summer!  

The fair is famous for bringing together a diverse population to celebrate community and enjoy the start to the summer festival season. 

The CHUN Capitol Hill People's Fair exists as a celebration of the diverse urbancommunity and benefits the community by returning to it the spirit, goodwill, and funds generated by the Fair.  

The uniqueness and magic of CHUN'S Capitol Hill People's Fair is created by the careful blending of:

• Family fun and excitement
• The exhibition and sale of the worlds of local, national and international artisans and crafters
• A wide variety of live entertainment
• Quality foods and beverages
• The time and efforts of hundreds of volunteers
• the participation of non-profit organizations sharing ideas for the purpose of promoting awareness and understanding of the issues and concerns affecting the people from all walks of life

Learn more & apply: www.peoplesfair.com 

Contact:  Andrea Furness, andreafurness@chundenver.org

Phone:  (303)830-1651

(Sponsored advertising)

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So many shows are held on the streets that artists need to improvise. How about these choices?

1. PVC in white:

2. PVC in black:

3. PVC used in another way (pretty sneaky, isn't it?)

4. Concrete block w/rope:

5. Concrete in 5 gallon tubs:

6. Double dipping:

7. Ye old mystery weight:

Most of these are artist made -- do you make your own. What is the best/safest way to attach these to the tents? Show us your version.

Show promoters- Puleeeeze stop calling for "vendors" in your prospectuses and advertising. It drives me nuts!

August 22 

small and large businesses.

  I went to the Broad Ripple Art Fair Open Jury in Indianapolis in February. I got to be a "fly on the wall," watching five judges as they decided the fate of 539 artists that had applied for the show.

   Because I am a jewelry artist who participates in juried art shows, and because the jury process has always been dark and mysterious to me, I decided to attend. It was a show to which I had applied, located an hour from my home, and an invitation had been emailed to all applicants.

     When I got there they were finishing up in the photography category. It was in a conference room with a large screen in the front, where the digital images were projected. The five judges sat at two long tables in the front row. Each judge had a laptop in front of them, seeing the same images that were being projected on the large screen. As they viewed the images - all three plus a booth image, the narrator read out loud the artist statement. There is very little interaction between the judges. The images would be up for about 30-40 seconds, the judges would mark their scores, and go on to the next artist.

   I found it fascinating to see the artist entries for photography. They ran the gamut from traditional to contemporary and realism to abstract. Seeing exactly what the judges saw, and in the short time given for each entry, I started to gain an appreciation for the challenge of judging an art show.

    It's all subjective, after all.

     After photography there was a break for lunch and then the jewelry category began. The host briefly showed images from each entry in the category. Then he went back through them, giving 30-40 seconds per artist, while the narrator read the artist statement. Since jewelry is my category, I was especially attentive to the images presented, the booth image, and what the artist said about his or her work. With 128 entries, the highest number of any category, it can all start looking the same after a while.

      "We should score down every time the term 'unique' or 'one of a kind' is used!" one of the judges jokingly said during a break.

I don't know if any of you have encountered this email, but apparently it is being sent out to artists:

"Hello,
I am Page Jocelyn, i came across  your items on the advert website and became interested in  ordering from you.
i will like to inquire on the items you have for sale  because i will be buying it for my new apartment.
I will like to see different pictures of the types of Items  available and my method of payment is by Bank Cheque.
Hope to hear back from you soon.
Regards
Page Jocelyn"

After several emails back & forth my husband made it clear to her that we have a website that she can look at and choose the art that she would like to purchase.  She decided on a painting and agreed to the price.  We gave her the address that she should mail the payment to, and she said that she would.  Then today we received an email from her saying that her financial administrator had sent us a  check that was meant for someone else, by mistake, but that we shouldn't destroy it or send it back but deposit it.  This put up a red flag for us, so we "googled" her name and a dialog came up indicating that there are several other aliases used for the same scheme.  If you deposit the check, they would have your bank information.  Of course we will not deposit it (if and when we receive it), but just wanted to know if anyone else has had this experience.

How to take better pictures with your iphone

I just completed an article about how to get better quality photographs from your iphone. It's a good follow up to my article on how to set your camera to photograph art.

Did you know that there's an app that allows saving as a TIF, offers exposure compensation and exposure bracketing.

http://bermangraphics.com/blog/iphone-camera-photography-tips/

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

90 seconds long

I spent a few hours with printmaker Ronna Katz at last summer's Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. While I was there she made several sizable sales. Her attention to her customers and clear knowledge of her media were apparent as the afternoon progressed.

I watched her sell several large pieces to a couple who had traveled from Cleveland to purchase, specifically collecting original prints. Ronna has been in the art fair business for quite some time, having grown up behind the booth when her parents sold their work at the shows.

It is people like Ronna that collectors come to the shows to meet. 

Arrow Electronics and the Cherry Creek Arts Festival are coming together to bring you the Arrow Five Years Out Art Challenge. Through it, we’re inspiring artists from throughout the world to explore the notion of thinking Five Years Out and express what innovation looks like through their medium.

Barry Witt's 3rd Bonita Springs art fair of the season took place in Riverside Park on March 14 & 15. This show is on the same weekend as the popular Vero Beach show. I applied to both but was not invited to Vero Beach. I'm a digital artist and I sell limited edition prints on both paper and canvas. 

I did Bonita Springs a few years ago when it was at the mall. I didn't do very well that year and I was skeptical about this new location, especially since Barry now has three art fairs at the same location (January, February and March). I was pleasantly surprised by the pleasant location, and by the ease of getting into the park and setting up. I was in a booth in a parking lot area on asphalt near the railroad tracks, one of three sections of the show. The main section is on old 41 with booths facing each other on both sides of the road. The third section is north of where I was in a grassy area with booths, again, facing each other. Artists are not assigned booths until the day of the show, so I didn't know in advance where my booth would be until I got there. I was happy with my location, being a corner space near one of the entry gates to the show. 

Friday was a setup day, starting at 12:30. We got there at about 1:30 and Marcia and I took our time setting up. It was hot so much water was consumed. We backed the van up right next to our booth and was able to leave it there for the duration (a much preferred option rather than having to unload everything, park the van, then set up). We had lots of room with spaces at least 12 feet wide and as deep as necessary. We took advantage of the space and extended our booth back about four feet giving us a covered booth 14 feet deep.

Walking the show on Saturday morning I saw some pretty good quality art, but I also saw a lot of unused spaces. I'm not sure why, but I later learned from another artist that there were 19 no-shows. That number may be hearsay, but there were lots of empty spaces. Later in the day a somewhat disappointed customer told me that the show advertised 200 artists, but she only counted 140. Since there is an entry fee of $5, she felt a little bit gypped. Not sure why there was such a light turnout of artists at this show, but it may be that the 3rd and final edition of this show was just one too many. 

Anyway, besides those few negatives, the patrons seemed to enjoy the show and seemed to be very engaged with the artists... at least at my booth. I didn't experience the "zombie walk" of patrons shuffling by without looking. People came into my booth and looked at my work, including the two jurors, who took the time to introduce themselves. I did not win an award. The turnout for the show was pretty light. It was never crowded, and, in fact, it got downright empty in the late afternoon as the temperatures continued to rise. I have a marine battery which I used to power a large fan. It kept Marcia and I a little cooler, and the customers liked it. 

My sales were brisk in the morning topped by a past customer who ordered a $950 canvas print to be delivered to Little Rock Arkansas in April. That sale made my day and I wound up with just over $2000 in sales Saturday. I was delighted and relieved by the response to my work, especially after such light sales in South Miami and Lake Wales, my two previous outings. We closed down at 5pm in a park populated only by us artists. Customers were gone by then.

Hoping for a continuation of good sales on Sunday, I was initially disappointed. I didn't make my first sale until about 1:30. But then, one of those sales spurts happened that is really hard to understand. I had two hours of brisk sales until the afternoon sun drove the customers away. I topped off the day with just under $2000, bringing my take for the show at just over $4K.

As in most shows, some artists did OK, and other artists were disappointed. I was happy with my sales, especially with such a light turnout of customers. More worrisome about this show is all the empty booth spaces. It makes me think that artists are giving up on this show. Maybe three shows in the same location is too many. Or, maybe it will just take some time to bring customers and artists to this new location. And, maybe Barry should consider scheduling the show on a different date so it doesn't conflict with the more popular Vero Beach show.

As I get older, I appreciate shows that make it easy for the artists. Setup and tear down were a breeze. Artist parking was a short block away in a nice grassy field. Booth size was generous. And, I made a nice paycheck for this show. I'll do it again next year. Next weekend I'm scheduled to do the downtown Naples art fair on 5th Avenue. I'm also on the wait list for Winter Park on the same weekend so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm not looking forward to that dreaded Saturday morning setup in Naples.

Just a few more days and counting until I leave for sunny Florida from Tennessee. I was juried into this year's Winter Park show and I see reviews that are all over the place for the event. Should I be concerned about Nels' review from last year? Hopefully I wont! I looking forward to posting a positive review myself.  That's why we do festivals, right?

I'm certainly looking forward to my first ever time in the Orlando area for a festival. Any suggestions on nice dinner spots in the area? Any others have tips for the show would be appreciated! 

Thanks in advance! 

Matt