Blog

Wow! What a difference the weather makes. Last year there was a lot of rain and I did only about $850. But the sky was clear this year and oh boy! Keep in mind that this is a one day show from 10 AM up until 5 PM on the first Sunday in October. The fair is celebrating it's 48th year.

But on the plus side, its a chance for my parents to visit me at an art fair. They live in the Cincinnati area. Hyde Park Square is an old neighborhood with a lot a wealth in Cincinnati.

The weather was gorgeous! A high around 60 and clear skies. Just a little passing shower around 5 PM. But, with this fair I marked my second $2K day of the year. (My first $2k day was Wednesday in Ann Arbor) And on top of that, I earned my third ribbon of my art career (My first for 2014).  I received an Honorable Mention Ribbon this year.

But I think the rain dampened my sales last year. I knew it was going to be a big day just at the number of sales I had at the begging of the show. Maybe people are noticing me more. After all this is the tail end of my third year doing art fairs. Two people came into my booth and said that my booth was the most awesome at the fair!

So, I do have to make a decision next year. Should I do St. James Court or Hyde Park Square? With the ribbon, I do not have to jury into Hyde Park Square for next year. But, since doing Ann Arbor, I want to get into bigger shows...

Has anyone been involved with the November Krasl Artisan Market? I was accepted to show there, but because my inventory is constantly rotating and I have an array of sizes, I am not sure if I should concentrate on small or have at least one statement piece and a few different pieces. So confused.

While working today I stumbled upon this job opening.  The Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival is looking for a new director.  They have 2 festivals a year.  This is a 12 month job and is part time.  They are taking applications until 10/31/2014. 

This festival is located in Crozet, Virginia.  This might be a great job for someone that still wants to participate as an artist themselves during a few weekends a year or needs some money but still is needed at home. 

To check out the job offer:

http://crozetfestival.com/now-hiring-festival-director/

You are invited to enter the 2^nd annual ENDANGERED Art & Photography Contest. 

This global, juried, online art contest aims to focus attention on the plight of endangered and threatened species/habitats.  The challenge is to interpret or reflect ENDANGERED through either a celebration of the beauty of endangered or threatened species/habitats or an Illustration of the threats faced. 

The Categories for entries are:

Fine Art (including Sculpture), 

Photography

& Wearable Art (including Jewelry)

Deadline for entry is Friday, October 10th, 2014.  Please see full details at http://www.art4apes.com

The Jurors are world famous wildlife photographer Joel Sartore, Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Thom Collins and Carolyn Benesh, Coeditor and Copublisher of Ornament Magazine.  Acclaimed artist, Bruce Helander, will judge the Young Artists category.

Cash prizes totaling $2,750 will be awarded in each category. Prizewinners plus an invited selection of other entries of significant merit will be exhibited in the Wynwood district of Miami December 4th-6th, 2014, during Art Basel week. 

Young Artists with birthdays on or after October 3rd, 1997, are encouraged to enter their work (in the Youth Category.  We will accept individual or class/group entries.  Please enter jpeg images of your work through the Juried Art Services website checking the category Young Artists/Youth. 

Cash prizes totaling $500 will be awarded in the Young Artists Contest.  First Prize will receive $250, Second Prize will receive $150 and Third Prize will receive $100.  

All proceeds, including entry fee will go directly to the Center for Great Apes, a sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees (http://www.centerforgreatapes.org).

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

Find more events/art fairs/competitions looking for artists: CallsforArtists.com

After 21 years of being a "Show Girl", or my hubby being a "Artist Slave", show time has come to The End!!

We decided to move back to "old country", in this case, Croatia. Not having kids or any member of family in this country, we always new we will go back home at the certain pint. My husband is going to retire soon, house prices went up, a bit, so we decided to try to sell it...and did it in a month and a half!!

 My September is always the busiest month and it was the same this year. I ended it in one of my favorite shows Peoria Fine Art Fair. It was very emotional for me to say good by to so many artists colleagues that I new for so many years. Most of them couldn't believe that we are  doing this, some of them envy us, all of them wish us luck and happiness.

It is hard for me too, it is hard to leave this beautiful country I lived 22 years in, my husband over 40 years. We had nice life, many great friends, lived in gorgeous, exciting, artsy city of Chicago. It will be hard to say good by.

My plan, after settling down in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, is to come, here and there for some shows. If I get accepted for 3-4 in a row, I plan to come once a year and get some $$. I'll see how will that work. I will leave all of my displays, my tent etc. here and do not want to close the door for myself for ever.

 So, I may be back, but for now, I want to thank you all for your reviews, comets for all of the years this blog exist, I learned a lot from this site.

Thank you Connie for handling this blog, I was dedicated reader. I think I will be able to follow you all and be updated with all the happenings in the art show scene.

Kiss to you all and have a great show, with sunny conditions, temperature of 75F, light wind and no rain in the forecast!!

Ana Buzancic Petercic,

Long time member Kathleen Caid, a jeweler from California, had her entire stock of jewelry stolen from her van before the St. James Court Art Show opened today.

More info: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/louisville-arts-bureau/2014/10/02/theft-keeps-artists-out-of-st-james-court-art-fair/16603711/

April 10-12, 2015 
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands Waterway and Town Green Park

The festival has grown from a quality regional festival to one that is nationally recognized and ranked among the top ten festivals in the U.S. by Art Fair Source Book.  The Woodlands area is home to major corporations and an affluent and growing population. With unprecedented growth in residential and office construction there is a continuing appetite for quality art and craftsmanship. 

The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council, Inc., a non-profit organization with Board of Directors, Advisory Committee and more than 700 community volunteers, presents the festival. The mission is to provide regional cultural enrichment opportunities that encourage, support and promote the performing and visual arts.

Proceeds from the festival benefit our local charity partners involved in bringing fine art and experiences to the community, as well as extend scholarship opportunities to many aspiring young artists. The community is supportive and involved, and we have the greatest corps of volunteers in Texas!

I know that this topic has been beat to death over the years, but in searching for the thread, I came up blank. I am about to embark on my first show in a couple of weeks and am looking for a "beginner's list" that I think I have seen before. If anyone could assist I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance. I look forward to my maiden voyage into the art/craft show, after so many years of being on the outside of the tent, looking in.

April 3-5, 2015  
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Deadline: October 14
(60 spaces held for second jury's Jan.6, 2015 deadline)

Accepted artists will be provided the promotional opportunity to meet with an audience of serious buyers and collectors.

The Indian Wells Arts Festival is open to all media artists and showcases a wide variety of  contemporary and traditional fine art and high quality craft selected by jury in categories including painting, drawing, ceramics, weaving, sculpture, jewelry, glass, photography and original hand-crafted wares.  Artists are required to be in attendance daily to explain or demonstrate the techniques that created original pieces of artwork which are available for purchase.

With both an aggressive online and traditional marketing campaign, professional experience and a strong reputation, the Indian Wells Arts festival seeks out and brings together a wide variety of high quality artists to delight our audience of residents and tourists alike.  Over 10,000 attendance and $750,000 in reported art sales in 2013, the Festival incorporates a number of local charities as Festival Partners and donates to their art scholarship funds.

August 30 & 31, 2014 - Portland, OR - Art in the Pearl

Opening the show in the Pearl District

Everything is "Green" in Portland - ready for the crowds

Loving this festive tent

Art in the Pearl is a volunteer run show - for artists by artists

This is Randy Sedlak, his wife Lynn Sedlak-Ford, is an artist but on the committee. I never caught her in the booth. Together they keep this show running.

Another artist on the committee is potter Natalie Warrens. I've seen her in Ann Arbor dressed to match her colorful pots. This time I was the one dressed to match the pots.

Great to see watercolor painter, Patrick Clark, formerly of Hutchinson, KS, but now a resident of the Northwest. We were both surprised to see each other.

and Lisa Burge of New Mexico who I last saw in Ann Arbor, MI

I'm used to attending shows where there are artists from a wide swath of the U.S., many states represented. Here I'd guess it was 80% Oregon, Washington, Idaho. A very regional show, that is not to denigrate the quality though.

AFI members Marty and Patty Hulsebos making the sale

A fine double booth -- on a platform! Talk about labor intensive for setting up.

Another nice double belonging to photographer Chris Dahlquist. Pristine setup.

Shelley Martin and her "minimal modern utilitarian ceramics". Such a clean and attractive display. Shelley says her main marketplace is on Etsy.

This shot is especially for jewelers, see all the different display levels. This was a very interesting to look at. I spent a long time here looking at the work, a wide range of price points. As a shopper do you see the appeal of this booth? The work is by Susan Frerichs.

Gia Whitlock gets extra points for dressing to match her mixed media work.

Amazingly beautiful enamel bowls from Jody Stone of El Cerrito, CA

Jewel-toned Glass bowls by Patty Roberts of Marysville, WA

Shoppers carrying out the goods (did anyone say "garbage bags?")

Show directors Liz Rundorff and Kerry Murphy of Artisphere in Greenville, SC, and Sara Shambarger of the Krasl Art Fair in St. Joseph, MI

Look at this! Just what we were recently preaching in our podcast on email marketing. Chicago photographer Xavier Nuez's email sign up notice.

Worth a post in itself -- doing all of it right.

This is a one day show in september in conjunction with fall fest. the lady who runs it is so unbelievably nice that its hard to write anything bad about the show, but Garden city is a shitbox.  the town is all grain elevators and feed lots and depending on the wind direction smells like rotting cow flesh.  I was there for about 30 hours and that was far too long.  There are a few people from what I've heard who have lots of cattle or oil money but i saw no evidence of it.  I mostly sold cheap prints.  I'd say if its geographically super convenient to do, maybe do it. the jury fee is only $10 and $60 for the booth fee which i actually didnt even pay til i was at the show. and they had prize money! not a ton but compared to the booth fee it was okay.  I got 2nd prize which was $200 so that was nice. 
Just a little info for anyone considering this show. 
Although the jewelers near me seemed to be really busy, but i dont know how well they did.

This past weekend, I did a small, one day, art/craft fair, “Art in the Park”, in St. Louis, Missouri.  This is a yearly art fair with the proceeds going towards the maintenance of the park where the art fair is held.  This fair is held in Francis Park with the booths being along the two sides of a long, rectangular water lily pool.  The fair is held in late September and I have been told that for the past 5-6 years, the weather has been almost perfection, although this year, it did get a bit warm.  The cost is low and the artists are mostly local to the area and it is just a fun day in the park.

This year, I had a visitor to my booth, a young lady of age about ten.  She immediately was drawn to one of my larger images, a 20x30 inch flower printed on aluminum.  The piece was several hundred and she offered me about three dollars and wanted to pay it off over time.  Shortly thereafter, her mother arrived and said that we have to talk about this.  The lass offered to clean the yard of dog droppings for a year if she could have the image. 

After a brief discussion, the mother left and the girl remained and attempted to protect the image from all potential buyers for over an hour.  I had promised the girl that I would not sell it to anyone else but she resumed her protective posture for about another half hour before saying that she would be back. 

Again, in about a half an hour, the girl and her mother returned and more discussion occurred and again, the mother departed and the girl remained.  About a half hour later, the girl said that she was going to get her father and would be back. 

At this time, I placed the image in the back replacing it with another picture.  About a half hour later, the girl’s mother returned and was horrified that the picture was gone.  I told her that it was in the back and retrieved it.  Shortly there after the girl returned and the mother and an aunt split the cost between them.  I offered the girl one of my smaller prints as a bonus and she was one happy little girl.

Was rather nice to see someone like one of my images this much and especially so, someone this young.  Makes a person enjoy being an artist.  I am not getting rich from art fairs, but it is quite enjoyable to meet the public and see the reactions ones work evokes.  More sales would also be nice but money is not my prime motivator.

Nashville has traditionally been a great market for me in the 18 months I've been doing shows here at Centennial Park near the Parthenon. It's a local show for me, only 40 minutes from my house so I just commute back and forth over the four day period (set up + 3 day show). 

Thursday set up was available from noon - 7 pm. I decided to wait until late in the day to set up and it was a sea of white tents completely closed up so I had no issue just backing up to my booth space and unloading 5 feet from my space. I like that a lot! No issues setting up at all. Even a constant police presence circling while I spent time getting ready for Friday's show. 

I left early from the house. 6:45 am on Friday morning hoping to beat the morning rush into Nashville. Yeah....about that. An hour and 35 minutes later I arrived into Centennial Park. Parking wasn't really an issue as they have designated parking on site. Most of the parking is a 5 -10 minute walk to the booths. Tennessee Craft is a stickler on parking. They take down your tag number on check in and make certain that you're in designated parking, not in the public parking areas. 

The Friday crowd was very light and the weather was perfect, sunny and in the low 80s. In the past three shows (Spring/Fall) I've done I've seen more folks in previous shows but for me it was a great sales day. I ended up grossing close to $1000. Others around me made right at the booth fee back. 

Saturday, I had no issues with traffic but the artist's hospitality had cleared out by 9am with a 10 o'clock show opening. There were a few slices of bread and some coffee left. My son who was helping me suggested we walk to a nearby fast food restaurant to get a breakfast sandwich. We got back to the booth by 9:30 and the crowds started filing into Centennial Park right after rolling up the sides. There was a crush of folks coming on site and the crowds didn't let up until mid-afternoon. I ended up grossing about $2200 and it was a constant stream of  buyers in the morning and early afternoon. I treated myself to a nice steak dinner at an upscale restaurant nearby. It was the perfect end to a fantastic day. Being able to enjoy a beautiful Tennessee evening on the patio made it special. 

Sunday,  an 11:00 opening made it a very casual morning, although I'm glad I got there extra early because buyers were on site by 9:45-10:00. The crowd was  close to the Saturday crowd but not as  many buyers. My sales were close to Friday's total.. I ended up running out of business cards and tt was the first show that's happened to me. I'll remember to have back ups next time! 

Load out is simple here. Breakdown at starts at 5:00 and you can drive right to your booth after 5:30, no waiting on booth passes. We had everything broken down and were completely loaded up by   5:40. I love being able to have dinner at home after a three day show! 

Overall this is a fantastic show. A great show, wonderful buyers and an incredible army of volunteers making the constant rounds of water and booth sitters. Kudos to the staff at Tennessee Craft for putting on an incredible show.....again! 

That great big carnival of art is well underway in Grand Rapids Michigan. The event started last Wednesday (September 24) and runs until October 12. This is my 5th year participating in this incredible experiment in art.

The crazy thing about ArtPrize is that one artist will be awarded a $200,000 prize determined by popular vote. (This year there is also a $200,000 prize awarded by a professional jury as well.) It's the popular vote aspect that brings out a lot of silly entries, but it is still an event not to be missed. There are over 1500 artists exhibiting at over 100 different locations throughout the city. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to Grand Rapids to see what us crazy artists have to offer. Artists get a lot of exposure at this event, but its not an art fair. It's not a place where you sell art to the throngs. Its just a place to show your best effort in hopes of getting some attention or winning a prize.

I created a 20-foot digital painting called "Outhouse Island" for ArtPrize this year. In keeping with the carnival atmosphere, I'm passing out sheets of toilet paper with my voting number on it. Get it? Toilet paper - Outhouses? So far I've gotten a lot of good vibes and a lot of smiles from the public. I'm having a good time at ArtPrize.

I'm exhibiting at a good location at 50 Monroe Street, in between the BOB and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. The wall my picture hangs from gets lots of natural light from huge windows and the traffic has been brisk. If you can make it to Grand Rapids, stop by and say hi. I guarantee you're gonna enjoy this crazy art exhibition.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
November 28 - December 23 

Brought to you by PHAIR, Philadelphia's weekly open-air maker market. Franklin Square's Electrical Spectacle is brought to you by Historic Philadelphia, Inc.

I was in the DC area for two shows in a row.  Alexandria King Street Art Festival and Arlington Festival of the Arts.  Both just across the Potomac River from DC.  What a great area for an artist to be for 10 days. 

First Alexandria.   This was my third year doing this show and my third review.  It had always been one of my top shows of the year.  This year it fell on the same weekend as Atlanta Arts Festival, Atlanta is my home town and that has also been a good show for me.  I chose Alexandria over a local show.  That is how much I love the Alexandria show.  I have gone into detail about lay out and area in past reviews so I will quickly run through it here.  If you want more detail just check out past reviews. 

Most booths are back to back with no room behind.  Most everyone has very very little room on the side.  Nothing can go on the sidewalks so go through your show crap and get rid of anything you don't need.  I always stay at The Monaco right at the show.   I keep ALOT of my stuff in my room and can just run up and get it if I need to.  There is a section where booths are not back to back, but set up in the middle of the street.  Both sides of your booth are open.  Set up is a dreaded early morning city street set up.  The city imposes a lot of rules for this show and the police enforce them.  If you do this show read your emails and follow the rules.  This is a big show, over 200 artists, and big crowds.  The homes in the area are older, many historic and not very big compared to Atlanta.

The show opens at 10am but patrons show up early. Be ready no later than 9am.  Saturday the forecast couldn't make up its mind if it was going to rain or not.  Finally decided to rain and it pretty much did all day off and on.  It was a light rain so lots of people  came out and those that come out in the rain are usually serious about buying something.  There was a lot of strong interest on Saturday.  People going home to measure or calling their husbands to come to the show.  People would come back 3 and 4 times to look at a piece.  This was not just my experience but the general experience from all the other artists I talked to.  We were all hopeful the be backs would be back on Sunday.  Sunday the weather was absolutely perfect.  Not too hot, not too cold and sunny.  Buyers did come back and buy but not as many as I expected.  Again this was the same experience for many artists.  It was a good show for me, but not a great show like past years.  I know some artists who had amazing shows, the rest of us had good to decent shows.  I haven't heard from anyone who had a bad show. 

Break down, the city wants you out of there asap.  I can do that no problem.  Show ended at 5pm.  I was loaded and out by 6pm.  There are a lot of police and people who keep everything flowing and we all worked together to make sure there weren't any issues. 

A few tips for this show.  Parking is a pain if you have an oversized vehicle and/or trailer.  Arrive on Friday and scope it out.  Alexandria is one of my favorite cities in America.  The history, restaurants, culture, shopping are all a great experience so try to take an extra day or two if you can.  Come with extra inventory and don't be afraid of price points.  The patrons buy and they don't care about cost.  They are very sophisticated and care more about the art than the price point.   

Now Alexandria is over and I had all week to enjoy the DC area.  I decided to rent a carriage house in Alexandria for the week.  Eating out in DC area can kill your budget so having a kitchen is a must.  I also wanted to be close by incase I could close some more sales with the folks "thinking" it over.  Glad I was in town that week and was able to close a few more sales.  Alexandria is also a quick metro ride to DC.  I was able to walk to the metro from my place and run into the city to enjoy all the wonderful FREE museums and monuments.  First class vacation in between shows.  Life as an artist is wonderful if you can take the time to enjoy the journey.

Now for Arlington.  This show is in its second year.  Much smaller show with around 100 artists.  The streets are huge.  The area is surrounded with condos, restaurants and bars.  Very lively area for young professionals, double income not to many folks had kids, and they all need art!!!!!  Again it was an early morning set up but since the street were so wide I decided to try something I never do and showed up at 7am instead of 4am.  What a great decision.  I was able to drive easily to my booth and set up.  Parking is a piece of cake.  The police were very nice and helpful.  This was one of the easiest and smoothest set ups ever.

Booths are set up across from each other with wide sidewalks behind the booth.  There wasn't much room between the booths but a ton of room behind.  My booth was in front of a Trader Joes so I didn't even pack a cooler.  This is an active community and folks were out early again. 

I had rare Saturday sales.  Most of my sales happen on Sunday. By the end of Saturday I was already thrilled with this show.  Plus people could WALK their large art pieces home!!!!  Oh and the weather was absolutely perfect both days, low 80s and sun.  I restocked the booth on Sunday morning.  Sunday was a repeat of Saturday.  First large sale was 9:30 am and continued.  The crowds were never huge, but since the streets are so wide it did make it difficult to tell if it was crowded or not.  I saw LOTS of art walking out besides just my own.  Not everyone had a good show.  Like I said this is a younger crowd than we are all use to.  They have the money and the wall space.   Some of us had excellent shows, some had bad shows.  This is a more contemporary crowd. 

Break down really easy.  Plenty of room to fit your stuff on the sidewalk.  Cars could come in at 6pm, show closed at 5pm.  Easy for everyone to get in and fit.  The only hard part about breakdown, and I have never experienced this before, were the patrons running through the tents as we were breaking down.  I had baby strollers in my tent as I was lowering my tent.  I can't tell you how many times I had to warn people to be careful.  Out of nowhere a patron would walk through or push a baby carriage through my tent as propanels and tents were being broken down.  Maybe it was because I was in front of Trader Joes.  Anyway I have an easy break down so I was broken down by 5:30 and went for a quick dinner.  Drove in at 6:15 and drove off by 6:30. 

Arlington was a treat to do.  The booth locations, the area, the patrons, the set up and breakdown and even the police were all wonderful.  Did I mention The Today show gave a shout out to us on Sunday morning? It was such a nice calm show.  Great Great show all around. 

Here are some pics.  The first one is Alexandria on the rainy day, good size crowds.  Second one on Sunday, really good crowds.  The third is Arlington.  Beautiful site for a show.  

As a contributing author for Creative Bead Chat I write at least one article a month for our online group.  So far all of them have been about business building.  I just shared my experience being a member of Art Fair Insiders.

Here is a link to the article:

Creative Bead Chat - Art Fair Insiders

March 20-22, 2015 
Winter Park, Florida
Central Park along Park Avenue
225 Artists
Deadline: September 26

Fine Arts and Fine Crafts categories:  Clay, Digital Art, Drawing and Pastels, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry, Leather, Metal, Mixed Media-2D, Mixed Media-3D, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Watercolor and Wood.

• Ranks #5 in the nation by Sunshine Artist magazine in their 2014 list of Best 200 Fine Art and Design Shows
• Ranks #1 in Art Fair Calendar's 2013 America's Best Art fairs poll
• Attracts more than 300,000 visitors each year
• Presents $72,500 in 63 cash awards including a $10,000 Best of show purchase award, a $5,000 Art of Philanthropy Award purchase award funded by the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, and a $2,500 Award for a Distinguished Work of Art given by the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
• is expected to exceed $50,000 this year in Patron Program "Art Bucks"
• Lists all artists' names, art image and contact information in Art Festival Magazine and on the website
• Promotes an Emerging Artist Program
• Offers booth sitting, free parking for artists, Artist Hospitality Tent
• Produces a Friday Night Jazz Concert
• Celebrates with a Saturday Night Artists' Award Dinner
• Provides a children's Workshop Village and encourages student art through the Leon Theodore Schools Art Exhibit
• Produced by an all-volunteer board that focuses on the artists' success

For more information:

Apply: www.Zapplication.org 

Festival's website:  www.wpsaf.org 

E-mail: WPSAFpr@yahoo.com

Phone: (407)644-7207