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I am competing in a fashion competition for the first time. Part of the competition is the Peoples' Choice Award. I would really like to win this so I am asking for your vote.

I learned about the MIT’s Descience project through one of the organizers, Claire Jarvis. The contest intrigued me because it was to be collaboration between a scientist and a designer. Inspired by the scientist’s work, the designer would create a garment that transformed the scientists’ ideas into a new and wearable form. The outcome would be a fashion show.

This four-part contest came at a time when I was beginning to feel the need to stretch my ideas and myself in my business, B. Felt. www.bfelt.com. The first part of the application process involved choosing three scientists, you would want to work with.

The second part is public voting through the Internet, at http://www.fashiondescience.com/ which will result in an award— the people’s choice— of $500 for both the designer and scientist.

The third will be the live, runway show which will take place on September 29 at the MIT Media Lab. Sadly the fashion show will not be open to the public. There is talk of it being simulcast and you and find out more at http://www.fashiondescience.com.

Fifteen finalists will be chosen for the final voting, with the top prize being $1500, for both the scientist and the designer. There are fifty scientists with projects ranging from the virtual to the biological and everything in between, such as Team: “Yahuan” with designer Xiaozhu Li and scientist Hui-Min Chen, or Team: Transmutation, with designer Arielle Gogh and scientist Esther Baena of the UK or Team:” Eaten to Death” with the designer Evelyn Jia and the scientist Eric Baehreke,

Having made it through part number one, I am collaborating with Amanda James of California who is documenting the loss of the Southern California Coastal Sage Scrub plant community and the destructive power of the Mediterranean species such as Summer Mustard and Red Brome. We are Team: ”Invasive Species/Unintended Consequences” Her project excited me for a number of reasons.

First, I collaborated with my son, Ian Poole, in 2011 on a similar project, which we titled Invasive Species/Unintended Consequences, which resulted in a large installation at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston, MA.

Second, my mother, an amateur gardener, ended up growing Purple Vetch (an invasive species itself) not just in our yard, but throughout the area, much to the chagrin of our neighbors.

Having been chosen from over 250 entries and partnered with my first choice scientist, the first challenge was working with someone on the ‘left’ coast while I reside on the ‘right’ coast. Undeterred by distance, Amanda and I have collaborated through Skype to design our garment. Right from the start we were of one mind— a garment that transformed from the golden yellow flowers that used to cover the California landscape to the Invasive species now seen across the California landscape. Amanda loved the idea of recycling the title from my show as she felt it truly embraced her beliefs.

I started with drawings of how I envisioned the garment. The model would walk onto and down the runway with a towering headdress of spikey vines and beautiful yellow flowers, her garment’s bodice and skirt would be festooned in the yellow and orange flowers and peaking out from the skirt and trailing behind long spiky vines with a few flowers clinging tenaciously. At the end of the runway she would remove the flowered skirt and with a flourish turn it over and cloak herself in spike vines, only the headdress and the train would retain a precious few of the flowers.

The many components of the garment created an engineering challenge. I created a scaled version of the garment to work out structural problems. I then scaled my pattern up to a size 10 and created the components. I hand dyed the silk for the garment using a modified Shibori technique, known as Arashi. All the flowers and vines were individually created using merino wool. I then bound and dyed the flowers and vines twice, once for the dark and the second time for the lighter shades. To create the hat, I bent a lampshade frame into an oval shape and felted over it. I then made a separate hat covered in spikes and inserted it into the frame. Then I sewed on all the flowers and vines individually by hand and machine.

It soon became apparent that my model, when scaled to size was not going to function as planned. My original plan was for the model to lift her skirt, slide her arms through holes and drawstring it closed, thereby covering the flowered bodice and exposing the vined underskirt. The weight of the finished skirt scuttled that Idea. My assistant, Monika Pilioplyte, (also my model) and I brainstormed and the eureka moment came when we put the skirt over the mannequins head and it was stopped at the shoulders; we turned to each other and said “Cape!”.

With the final photo session behind me, I am ready to return to the making of garments for my company B. Felt, www.bfelt.com. Whatever the outcome, Descience, http://www.fashiondescience.com, has been an experience that has pushed me to expand my lexicon and to seek out unlikely sources for inspiration in my future work.

What I took away from this project was the powerful connection between science and art. In my Skype conversations with Amanda James, the scientist of “invasive Species/Unintended Consequences, I discovered that scientists and artists work from the same place and ask the same questions. The overriding question is “What If?” Scientists and artists at every stage of a project will ask this question over and over.

For both scientist and the artists it is the balance of the control with the random that determines the outcome. “Why and Why Not” are also constant companions of both artists and scientists. It is equally important to know why as it is to know why not. Though, I do not practice a truly scientific method when creating my wearable art, I do always begin from the place of, why, why not and what if. This is what keeps my work alive and fresh and it is the same for scientists.

For those interested in the statistics, the project took 2 people, 3 weeks and six hours per day. We used 15 pounds of merino wool, six yards of silk, 4 spools of thread, 5 machine needles, one lamp shade, 10 yards of wire, 2 days dyeing and 3 days photographing.

I was ecstatic that I was juried into this show having fellow artists saying what a solid show this is. It after all is billed as one of the largest one day shows in the States and "Indiana's nicest day"! This was my first show ever in the state of Indiana. 

I made the trek from Tennessee to Indianapolis in about 5 hours. I was in the "Yellow" section which was the area for the Evening at Penrod preview party. I entered onto the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) off 38th Street West. I was greeted by the first of what seemed to be a minimum of one hundred volunteers. At check in they handed me a manila envelope and directed me to the unload area. There were several volunteers there with golf carts with the bed on the back to cart items to my booth space. That was nice even though I was only about 5 booths from the unload area. It was very efficient.

After my truck was unloaded I was required to park at a church building about a quarter mile away. The volunteer at the lot asked for my parking pass. I checked the manila envelope and there was my YELLOW SECTION parking pass along with the booth number tag to hang outside. Every festival I've done to date has at least the booth number and artist name. This was a 8 1/2 x 11" sheet with Y89 printed on it and nothing else. Perhaps a little advice to the Penrod folks next year. I'm not just a number. ;) After making the walk back to the festival site I set up in the 92 degree heat and became soaking wet with sweat. Additional volunteers came by while I was setting up with bottles of water. That was nice! 

After set up I made my walk back to my truck then drove to my hotel to check-in and shower. I made it back to the IMA about 5:30 and the Evening at Penrod event started promptly at 6. The artists were to be open from 6-8ish as directed in the emailed instructions. A steady stream of patrons came onto the festival area and the booze started flowing freely for the guests. I felt that were were the entertainment rather than the focus. It was definitely a social event. I spoke with a neighboring artist and his friends that did the inaugural preview party last year said that sales were slow. I didn't have any sales for the first 1.5 hours but had three quick sales near the end. The event was scheduled to to go until 10 pm with live music, food and alcohol. I wished there had been electricity for the artists so we could have stayed open past dark (8:15). 

I got back to the hotel about 8:45 and anxiously watch a line of thunderstorms that appeared on the radar from the west. There was no way that these were going to miss Indy. I stayed awake until about 11 and the thunder, lightning and rain were all around the area. Would my canopy be ok? Certainly my weights and structure would hold! Positive thoughts! zzzzzz.....zzzzzzzzzz

The festival opened at 9am and I was on site about 8:15 for the continental breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, fruit, coffee and juice. That's always a nice perk. My canopy held up, but there were several EZ ups that had crumpled from the overnight storms. 

The weather was cool compared to the day before. 68 degrees and a light mist/drizzle. Patrons started onto the festival grounds about 8:45 and my first sale was about 5 minutes later. Sales and patrons with umbrellas were slow for the first 90 minutes but then the drizzle stopped and the crowds came. Sales were brisk after that and were steady for the until about 4 pm. The show ran until 5 at which point the sun promptly came out but it was still very comfortable at 74 degrees.

Two neighbors of mine were potters. One still had not made back his booth fee by mid afternoon and the other said she was slow most of the day. The other artist next to me was a water color painter that was glad to be doing her final outdoor show of her long career. I had my 3rd best single day ever with a steady stream of folks in my booth and many more saying "I don't recall ever seeing you here before!" I gave out close to 500 business cards and this show exceeded many of my two day festivals I've done.  Another friend from Tennessee that was across from me made over 5K for the day. The same that he normally makes in a two day show.

For load out I broke down, walked back to my truck then waited in line about 35 minutes before I got on site. After I got parked volunteers were there to assist in getting my belongings to my truck and get me on my way. I decided to take a 5 hour energy drink about 7 pm, drive straight thru back to Tennessee & made it home about midnight.

 I am looking forward to applying to a few more festivals in Indy next year. Perhaps Broad Ripple and Talbot Street? Even though it was a whirlwind trip there and back, it was very profitable! 

The Bad: 

• Bring a helper with you. I never got a bathroom or lunch break.
• Prepare for a little bit longer load out. Limited access to the site.
• A little better communication about load out procedure.

The Good/Great:

• Tons of volunteers
• Help with load in and load out
• Large crowds, despite the less than ideal weather.
• Strong sales for my art. 
• Great live music all day long. 

OMG! Need a show review? Then you'll love these four posts:

• Nels Johnson - 8/5/2014, "The Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis -- Some Sweet and Some Sour"
• Bill McLauchlan - 8/12/2014, "Lewiston Art Festival, Lewiston, NY 2014 Review"
• Melanie Rolfes - 8/20/2014, "Colorado, Go West!!!!"
• Megan McKinnon - 8/26/2014, "My personal show experiences to date"

Vote today for the best - Deadline: Sept. 14 6 pm

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Has anyone done Stuart Craft fair in October?  I have hear from some people that Howard Alan craft fairs are essentially the same as the fine art fairs but I've heard from others to stay as far away from anything "craft" as possible.  I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone who has done this show.
THanks

I just did the first year of Mile High art and Jazz and was pleasantly surprised.  I have not been doing well in Colorado (if you've read my other reviews you'll see) I didnt have high expectations for the show but it was by far my best Colorado show and all of the other artists seemed to be happy. I didnt talk to anyone who said it was a blowout show for them, but everyone seemed generally happy. So especially since it was a first year show I totally recommend it.  It is in conjunction with Taste of colorado which is 10 blocks away, and I guess brings hundreds of thousands of people.  The traffic at the show which is in Skyline park, a fenced in park (atleast during the show for security purposes i suppose) was steady all day both days and people seemed to be buying.  I almost sold my biggest piece, and I'm a little upset with myself for not selling either of the two times I had serious interest, but although I didnt sell anything over $1000 individually, the two people who loved my big piece didnt flinch at the $5000 price tag. So I think there is money walking around for sure. 
The promoter is named Liz Gore, her mom is Ruth gore who does Balloon fiesta in New mexico so although i think it was liz's first show, it seemed well planned, she has a good role model. 
So anyways, I'd love to hear anyone else's feedback that did the show and see if its in alignment with mine and the other artists I spoke with's idea of the show

ESTES PARK ARTS AND CRAFTS SHOW

August 30 – September 1, 2014

Estes Park is the gateway to the east side of Rocky Mountain Park. There are many summer homes in the area and it is a destination for a broad spectrum of nationalities, income levels, and interests.  I started doing this show in 2010 after, and I have done it every year since then. I also do the Memorial Day show in Estes park. Gross sales at the September Labor Day show since 2010 have been in the $3-$5K range, and I have considered it a good solid show.  The show is produced by the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary, Inc. and they do an all-around EXCELLENT job!!!!  The town is packed for the weekend, and leading up to the show there was a lot of promotion on Facebook.  The show is setup with 103 booths set up around the perimeter of Bond Park and in the parking lot for the town hall.  Clean indoor restrooms are in the town hall.

SETUP AND TAKE DOWN.  Set up officially begins at 9:00am on Friday but Rotarians are present to check you in as early as 8:00am. If you are early you can park at your site to unload. Street parking is available within a block of the show, but oversize vehicle and trailers have to park at the fairgrounds. Free shuttle service is available from there, and in town. Volunteers are available to assist with set up.

     Takedown begins at 3:00pm on Monday and volunteers were there to help.  The Rotarians who helped me with carrying merchandise tubs to my truck cut 15 minutes off standard knock down time.  Like set up, traffic was controlled and vehicles were not allowed in until you were ready to load. After paying your sales tax, you get a yellow ticket. When your booth is knocked down and you are ready to load you get a blue pass to b ring your vehicle in. We loaded around 6:45pm and Rotarians were still there to help.

WEATHER.  Temperatures were in the low 70s to mid-60’s. There were brief afternoon shows Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning was on the chilly side with rain showers off and on all morning. Fresh snow fell on Longs Peak down to about 12’000’.  Four unweighted booths went over in a gust of wind Friday afternoon.  There was a breeze most days with a few gusts.    The fleece jacket felt good when the showers were over. The rain Sunday thinned out the crowds somewhat, but they were back when the sun came out.

THE SHOW.  The town was packed with people and thousands went through the art show. There was seldom a time when people were not in my booth, and I had several repeat clients. Belts were my top seller, with holsters, suspenders, spur straps, and several custom orders thrown in. My sales were in the $4-5K range.  There was a good balance of all art mediums including edibles like jellies and salsas.  No buy/sell at this show.  Nuts and bolts for the show are in www.artsdhowreviews.com.

ANALYSIS.  I have come close to hitting the “home run” of $5K gross sales at this show a couple times. To make that happen, I will have to adjust my inventory to products people asked for which I currently don’t stock. This includes various little soft leather cases that can be made from “scrap” leather.  Another are small handbags with internal holsters for gals carrying concealed handguns. My inventory of billfolds and wallets was pretty lean by this, the last shown of the season.

THE OTHER FUN STUFF.  We were able to rent our favorite cabin that is just up the hill from Bond Park.  It was built in 1898 but it is modern and cozy. The hot tub is great after a day on the street. Our son and his family came up for a cook out Saturday and we got to visit with our college and high school age grandsons. Tuesday after the show we headed for Brainard Lake on the advice of a wildlife photographer as a good place to spot moose. We didn’t see any moose and the parking lots at the trail heads for the alpine lakes were full. For plan B, we just took off on some trails thought the woods at 10,000 feet for some exercise. The trip home was in a longer roundabout way but we saw some new country, even though we have been living in Colorado for 33 years.

PHOTOS: Brainard Lake and 13,000’ peaks in Indian Peaks  Wilderness area
Other show photos posted under "what are you doing this weekend" and " how scenic is your set up.

February 7 & 8, 2015 

I was looking forward to this show. Coming in from MA, I'd planned to take a brief vacation taking in a few of Chicago's museums and this show was on the right weekend to do so. The event was held Friday, August 22nd (evening hours, art show only open from 4-8 pm with performances to 10), Saturday, 8/23 (10-10, with the art show going to 6) and Sunday, 8/24 (10-5). About half of the 200 or so exhibitors are able to participate on Friday (for a small increase in booth fee). I only exhibited on the weekend.

I hadn't been to Green Bay in years but Artstreet had always been a strong show for me; unfortunately, my expectations weren't met this year. The show is located in downtown Green Bay-small, Midwestern appearance-over a several block area. Saturday morning's set-up begins at 6 am but I'd gotten there about a half-hour earlier to get the lay of the land, as the map of the show looked different from years ago. It is a very casual show to do, as I was able to locate my booth number to unload and check-in later. The street I was located on (Jefferson) was wide and the booth spaces were extremely generous with several feet on either side to play with. With parking lots all over the place (free), set-up could not be any easier (on Jefferson-one of the quieter locations). A few of the other streets looked tighter.

All roads led to the "art raffle" where donated works by participating artists were placed in a large tent with small boxes for the raffle tickets, in front of them...a free T-shirt for a donation. This seemed to be the center hub of the show. The artists booths lined nearly two full city blocks plus a community/non-profit row of booths, a guild/demonstrating artists row of booths, a parking lot filled with kid's activities and a super large parking lot with "edible arts" (food trucks and a few local restaurants' stalls) and a music stage to complete the show's offerings.

During Saturday's set-up, a generous supply of Texas-sized, yummy donuts and coffee were offered. (I needed the sugar buzz.) The day was humid and overcast...not too bad. The crowds started to build before 10 am and I promptly made my first sale at my booth's opening. This is what I'd remembered from year's back...busy the day through, only this time, the next sale was a half-hour later. Not great. It was a slow trickle into the booth, despite a lot of walkers passing by. Still, not what I'd remembered which was so many people that the streets were packed. By 1 pm, the rain came and cleared about 80% of the street. In no way was it a storm but enough to send 'em home. Another group came in around 3:30 or so for the evening's festivities. Few sales were made after the 1 pm rain. At the end of the day, I was down 50-60% of what I'd normally have done and my neighbors seemed less optimistic about Sunday. I told them "Sunday's going to be great....I'd done one of my best days ever on a Sunday here, after a washout of a Saturday".

Sunday's weather was lovely, albeit windy. Some booths suffered damage but they weren't well weighted. Sadly, I saw a repeat of Saturday with few passersby holding anything. I talked with my neighbors (a lovely WI couple) who said it had been nothing like this last year and even the attendance looked "off". Apparently it had been packed the year before (80,000 estimated) and sales-wise, it had been very good. So, maybe it was just an "OFF" year. At the end of the day, I did have a better Sunday but still 50% down from my last participation there. About 85% of my sales were for jewelry (porcelain) and 15% were in ceramics, though the ceramics sales were of higher value than the jewelry. I'd overheard at the bathrooms that "no-one was touching anything near $100"...and I would concur. My highest single item sale was only $60, so overwhelmingly, a price-conscious crowd from my point-of-view and more conservative than other parts of WI. Most of my sales were only single item sales.

We did notice that other things were different, too. The quality of the art was all over the place. Some fine work and some horrible. Some booths within the artists' rows looked more like they were part of a merchant's sidewalk sale and several of the artists took note of that. Jurying needs some tightening! However, the awarding judge's selections seemed appropriate, IMHO. There was an artists' award reception at 7 pm on Saturday evening, which I did not attend, as it takes me a long time to break down for the night. Other than the one judge, no one else from the show management ever came by my booth, as far as I know. 

I'd give it a try if you are in the region, have a range of prices and your work appeals to a wide audience...and hope for the best.

Just read this article on Art Biz Coach which is the website of Alyson Stanfield regarding her experience at the Portland Arts Festival Conference sponsored by Zapp. I am posting it with her permission.

The full text of her article can be seen at:

http://www.artbizblog.com/2014/09/improve-slide-submissions.html?inf_contact_key=7808bf4cc1bfc020f05ddd5ead424260e1baa3e59e8f2e2e69b4fc5cbb5f6878http://

It is a good basic primer on what juries see and what they shouldn't see as well. I know there has been a lot of discussion on this topic...I'm just pass'n it on!

By the way, the first image in the article features a double wide display at an indoor venue. I've read on many a show prospectus that most shows/juries, especially for outdoor shows, only want to see a single size booth displayed in an outdoor setting.

Alyson Stanfield is an artist advocate and business mentor at ArtBizCoach.com. This article was originally published in her Art Biz Insider, which is sent weekly to thousands of artists who are elevating their businesses.

Several years ago, I wrote a tutorial for Step by Step Wire Magazine on how to make a cat out of wire that can be worn as a pendant, earrings, or what have you. I was told by Denice Peck, the editor, that I would still own the rights and I have no problem with her at all. I did, however, find where someone was directly copying my pattern, selling the cat online with out so much as a mention of me, the author.

I sent this person two e-mails. I told her I was glad she could use my pattern, but I was not happy that she didn't give me credit for the original idea. And, I wrote her saying she should have asked me before selling it and  that she should have only used it for her personal use, not monetary as it was my intellectual property. (She's making a direct copy--no variations at all to my original design).

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance.

So earlier this summer, I was looking to fill a hole or two in my schedule. In checking on eventlister.com/craftlister.com and a couple other sites, I saw an opportunity for an event slightly northwest of Philadelphia.

It was an event billed as a medium sized one day arts and craft event put on by the Borough of Lansdale, called the Lansdale Festival of the Arts. It was very inexpensive for a booth (Under 100$).

The event is held in a small park which also has sports fields. Parking was available onsite for exhibitors. Staff were very well organized and cheerful...

The exhibit is billed as rain or shine, with a rain location indoors at a nearby school.. But it would appear that it has to raining pretty good night before/day of in order for event staff to move the event inside. Setup started at 7 AM. I was looking at the radar before we left as the weather had been pretty iffy the night before - and .... yes, just as we left, rain was starting to move into the event area. However, it seemed limited in size/duration and looked like it would pass through by the time the show started.

We drove into the rain and got to the event site from Wilmington in about an hour.. It was still raining when we got there and the event staff were signing people in as we arrived. You could drive onto the site and you were assigned a spot partially by the order of arrival and partially as they balanced the show exhibitor positioning by discipline on the fly.. ie no assigned booth positions as far as I could tell. The check in person was under a pop-up canopy and remarked that when she left to get to the event, the rain was not on her radar, but sure was now. There was no move however to re-locate to the indoor school location..

We were directed to our spot and my wife and I proceeded to get rolling on the set-up. The event staff were very flexible in allowing us to keep vehicles at our spots while doing the wet set-up; rather than doing the traditional dump/park and then set up.. There was a pottery exhibitor who had assumed that since it was raining, that the event was going to move indoors. She stood in the rain with no canopy while her husband ran for her pop-up tent. Tents ranged from the very expensive to the splayed leg type with non-white canopies..  

Since the show was to be judged and prizes awarded, we had two entry cards in out welcome packet that we were to fill out for pieces we wished judged for the event. Got everything set-up in time and parked.. The rain let up just as the event was starting.. Surprisingly, there were early-birds who ignored the rain. I noted Steve Oliver, the event director for the Rittenhouse Square Art Festival was exhibiting. He didn't remember who I was... which is probably good given the disagreement we have had over giving artists jury scores....

For being a wet day, the event was pretty well attended by a fairly eclectic and international crowd. It spit rain off and on during the course of the entire event. but while the sun peeked out a couple times, it remained mostly overcast and dreary. I was very glad I had my lighting set-up with me as this helped a lot...

What I didn't have during the day were sales.... There was buying energy for the typical wearables categories... But I only saw a moderate amount of fine art being hauled away and a lot of prints. The judges came saw and recorded; then left without much in the way of conversation. I sold one small piece during the day for net sales under 100$. It covered show costs and mileage.

An hour or two before show close staff came wandering through to hand out ribbons. They passed us by and we thought that was that.... But then they came back asking if we knew where booth 38 was... Why yes, you are standing in it.... Well, that was when they asked about my painting "Gaffer at the Bench" - a painting depicting master glass artist Mark Rosenbaum of Rosetree Glass in Algiers Point, Louisiana.. I pointed it out to them with the entry card.. They then said congrats and handed me my second blue ribbon in two weeks.  It comes with a check, which I have not seen yet, but they said would be in the mail. The prize money was gracefully donated by National Penn Bank.

As the show closed, it began to rain again....this time more steadily and we had to do a wet teardown.. Thankfully, we were able to get vehicles onto the wet site and nobody got stuck. Teardown was uneventful

All in all, I think I would do the event again.

First let me say, I have never done a Chicago show, so I have nothing to compare it to and beyond that Saturday was a rain out......but it certainly was not what I expected. After having a good solid show at Lexington the week before I headed to Chicago to hit the big leagues. Port Clinton is a huge show, over three hundred artists and spread out all over Highland Park in a- great for some, not so great for others, configuration.

I was by the train station at the dead end of the show where I listened to "If I could save time in a bottle" right next to my booth for two days strait (that could have had something to do with my mood). Set up was pretty good I have to say-  but the temps were high and the humidity was off the charts.

The next morning started off strong, the crowds were coming in and it looked to be a good day. Unfortunately, by 11am the torrential rains came and I swear I have never seen so many people just disappear in a matter of seconds. It was on and off for the remainder of the day and and like the day sales were dismal.

But hey, I'm a trooper, I know that can happen at shows and take it in stride. So I, and my other fellow comrades stuck it out all day and couldn't wait to leave at 6pm. Yes, we did have to stay there- there was no closing up and leaving. Sunday morning was a wonderful breakfast and awards, quite elegant I heard. I didn't go, that extra hour meant more to me. That isn't usual for me but I had driven a long way and was still pretty tired.

When I came to my booth I asked the guy next to me (glass) if he had gotten an award. I was really asking him- his work was beautiful. He said, "Yea, I got an award, worst booth in the show, and you got runner up" That kind of sums it up. Sunday was one of the worst days I have ever had at a show. I don't know if it was the layout or me or my lack of energy dwindling though out the day....I know others did well.

An artist I met last week at the Lexington show who had done this show many times, said I would kill it up in Chicago...maybe he did, but I sure didn't. Amy came by and introduced herself on her rounds. People were carrying things out but in my area it was a lot less crowded than up the street. Break down was organized and pretty easy. I headed home...pretty defeated.

Who knows what makes a show good....I'm still trying to figure it out. Sometimes I kill it and sometimes I go home almost empty handed, like this show. I have the same stuff at each show. I can't figure it out for the life of me. Does anyone else feel like this sometimes? This business leaves you scratching your head more times than not.... But you just have to pick yourself up and do it again. But Chicago again? That, I'm not quite sure of.

I guess this is a little belated since I've already signed up for these shows, but has anyone done

Zona Rosa in Missouri,
Art in the park, garden city, Kansas

Georgetown Art and Wine, Georgetown, TX

Art in the Park, Dallas

Any info would be great.
Thanks!

Odd question, but something we have been pondering more and more recently.  Do you feel that shows that use services like zapplication offer a higher end experience, higher proportion of buyers, larger crowds?  We have done three shows that are zapplication, and initially i believed the statement that the show was higher end, brought large amounts of buyers, but the last one or two were not so much so. While they were lovely events, well organized, and drew nice crowds, the ratio of crowd to buyer was less than expected.  I would love to hear your feedback, and value any thoughts you have to offer.