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This was a first time show for me. I had heard of it for the last several years and thought incorrectly it was a continuation of the Chautauqua of the Arts shows held in Columbus for several years. No connection as I found out later, this is a fifth year show started by a local photographer. The previous 4 years this has been a one day show, and this was the first year for it to go two days.

Set up is a little rough on this one, starting on Saturday morning at 6:00 AM. Things started off with a bit of a hiccup with about a half hour delay when the spaces weren't marked off yet as we arrived. The booths were arranged down the middle of the street arranged in clusters of four so everyone had a corner booth, and the clusters were about 18-20 feet apart. The spaces were 12x12, so adequate storage space was behind your booth. Some of the artists set their tents up on the back edge of the space instead of the front which cramped the storage space somewhat but the extra two feet was adequate for the most part.

The weather was warm and sticky with fog hanging in low areas on the way in to the show. Even setting up in the dark it was hot sweaty work, and it got worse as the sun came up. We've had cool pleasant weather for virtually the entire summer and Murphy's Law decided this would be the first weekend that a typical Midwest August would return. It returned with a vengeance. Traffic picked up and there was a decent rush of people early on, but by early afternoon the heat was oppressive and the crowds thinned out. Sales were low for me, and the jeweler behind me said that she had sold enough to pay for one night's stay at her motel and part of her gas, The other jeweler next to me was doing better and was happy with her sales. For the most part it seemed the heat and humidity was taking a toll on sales. A few artists had either paid for power or brought battery systems, but even those with fans still had uncomfortable tents to be in and those without fans suffered.

The weather was supposed to rain overnight, but nothing was supposed to be inclement. We met our daughter and her family at a restaurant about 15 miles north of Columbus, and we could see heavy lightning off in the west, and someone mentioned driving through high winds on the way to the restaurant. I realized I had not fastened one of my weights to the tent leg, and decided to go back and anchor it properly. By the time I got back to the show site it was starting to rain, and three tents were already collapsed and damaged. The show organizers were out in the rain covering art work with tarps trying to protect what they could. One artist had NO weights on their tent and another had gallon jugs of water tied to the top corners of their EZ-Up.

Sunday started off slowly, picked up a little around noon time, and just sort of fizzled out after that. I eked out a couple sales of small inexpensive work, but not enough to make booth fee. I sold enough to pay for the gas for the two trips back and forth to the show. The drive time was not quite an hour for me so we went home on Saturday night. The weather was even worse on Sunday with temps in the 90's and the heat index pushing 100 according to the weather reports, but the show was on asphalt with little shade on the booths. Most artists moved their chairs underneath the trees along the street or under store overhangs. Jewelers were the ones who stayed in their booths and probably lost 10 pounds from sweating. It was bad enough just sitting there in the heat, moving around was worse.

I didn't see any large packages being carried around, just little things. I decided to try a gamble and focused on doing some lowball $20 letter sized prints in inexpensive Format frames just a few days earlier. Heaven forbid, that was the only things that moved. Had I not done that, I would have zeroed out. Between now and the next show I'll do a few more of those and have them in a table top flip rack.

The show organizers were everywhere during the show, bringing cold bottles of water to the artists, checking if you needed a break, and in particular securing the damaged tents and art work during the Saturday evening storm that came through. Tear down started at 5:00 PM on Sunday and we were almost the last ones to leave at 7:20. Some of the show staff stayed on site keeping an eye on everyone, and bringing us cold water before we were done.

Despite taking a loss on this show,  I'll give it another chance. It's "local" and I sleep in my own bed, and the booth fee is reasonable. Had I been a resident in Columbus, I wouldn't have ventured out in that heat to see an art show. Some of the artists around me said they wouldn't return, but there are some times that despite having good show organization, and good artists in the show, the weather is going to sap all the energy out of the fair-goers and artists alike.

This past weekend Lu and I did the Hottest show that we have done in years. The show had setup on Friday morning with a Preview that night. The people came out and that was a surprize to most of the artist. And again on Saturday they came out again. And on Sunday there were even more people out and about.

The show I am talking about was the Midwest Salute to the Arts in Fairview Heights, IL.

The tempeture was 97 on Friday, 98 on Saturday and 99 on Sunday with the heat index over 105 and 115 on Sunday so you can see what I mean about one HOT show.

Sales reports that we heard were way down with several we know with zero sales. This is usally a good show but the heat put a real damper on the show. We had a hard time believing that people would even come out for the show. the local TV (St. Louis) was advising people to stay in there house or in any air conditioning they could find.

October 11 & 12

Ocean View Beach Park
100+ Artists
Deadline:  September 11

Kick off "Visual Arts Week in Norfolk" with the Ocean View Art Show. 

The City of Norfolk has recognized the importance of art, and of local art events.  They have proclaimed October 11-19 as "Visual Arts Week in Norfolk":

• The 52nd Annual Ocean View Art Show kicks off the week  
• joined by the Colonial Place/Riverview Art Walk on October 12
• and the Stockley Gardens Fall Art show October 18 & 19.   
• Mid-week events will take place throughout the city celebrating the Visual Arts.

The Chesapeake Bay Art Association (CBAA) is celebrating its 52nd year of hosting the Art Show.  Enjoy the friendly, relaxed nature of the show, along the beautiful Chesapeake Bay beach.  Our show features a high quality of art with a wide variety of styles and tastes in oil, watercolor, jewelry, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, photography, glass, wood, sculpture and more.  Cash and other awards for the artists will total over $2,000.

The show features a Student Tent where 2013 saw over 60 local students displaying and selling their work. The show is free for middle and high school students, the work is judged, and awards are given to the students.  In addition an excellent cast of local music acts will fill the stage, and delicious smells from our local food vendors will fill the air.

The Ocean View Art show is one of the oldest art shows in Virginia and is put on by the member artists of the Chesapeake Bay Art Association.  The Art Association was formed in the Ocean View Area in 1961 and has been actively promoting and helping artists since its inception. Each year the Ocean View Art Show directs its proceeds to the John B. Tenney Memorial Scholarship Fund.  The Fund awards scholarships to area high school art students. 

Join us in the nice grassy park, with roomy spaces for each artist. 

Learn more & apply: www.oceanviewartshow.com
 

Feel free to contact us for more information.

Show Director:  Dave Hinde
(757)461-7222 or email: ov2014@oceanviewartshow.com

This was my first time showing in Pittsburgh, or anywhere in Pennsylvania.  Coming from Atlanta I must say the drive was beautiful.  This is a Saturday and Sunday show along a high end shopping street in a wealthy neighborhood.  The homes I delivered to were some of the most amazing homes I have ever been in and that is saying a lot.  IMO the weather was perfect.  Mid 80s and no rain with some sun mixed with clouds.  Pittsburgh claimed it was a heat wave:)

Set up was a dreaded early Saturday morning kind.  This is a narrow street.  Try very hard to go the night before and scope your space out.  The show runs along Walnut St and it is closed to traffic so you need to find the nearest cross street or alley and dolley in.  I am not a fan of the dolley but you can get pretty close to your spot and it really wasn't as bad as I expected.  I stayed a couple blocks away so was able to go back to my hotel to clean up and rest before the show opened.  Worth every extra penny so I can be fresh to show all day Saturday and make some money. 

Most booths are back to back with a couple blocks the booths are across from each other.  Mine was a back to back.  There isn't any space behind but it seemed most of us had room on the sides for storage. 

Advertising was excellent for this show.  There was even a spot on The Today Show on Sunday morning for The Shadyside Art Festival in Pittsburgh!!! The crowds came out on Saturday and started buying.  It wasn't a huge crowd but they were ready to spend and higher price points were not a problem.   Since this is a narrow street and it can be tight it was nice that the crowds weren't too crazy big.  The show goes until 7pm and lights were suggested but it didn't get dark so even if you didn't have them it wasn't a problem.   Sunday the crowds were even better.  Saw lots of art work big and small walking by.  The demographics for this show was amazing, all age groups.  All my sales were from people who could walk to the show.   Even the older age group were buying original large art work.  The kids that came to the show with their parents were really into it and excited about the art.  I was very impressed with the sophistication of the crowd for art.   I only had a few husbands walk into my booth on Saturday night who didn't "get" abstract art.  Those who bought on Saturday came back on Sunday to give hugs and gush again about their new art work.  The patrons here love their art.  Sales for me were great as were for other 2D artists around me.  Of course some did not do well and some did OK.  Just like any show, but I can't wait to go back to Pittsburgh. 

Breakdown went extremely smooth for a tight city street breakdown where a dolly is needed.  The show ended at 5 pm and I was loaded and driving to my first delivery by 5:45pm.

I wanted to write reviews of the shows that I've done to help other artists potentially make decisions of whether they want to apply or not but its kind of a pain to get the shows onto to the reviews page so I thought i would just share my information on here.

Key Biscayne, Florida

Hyde Park, Tampa, Florida

Altamonte Springs, Orlando, Florida

Marco Island, Florida

Old town Art Fair, Saint Augustine, Florida

St Armands Key, Sarasota, Florida

Lawton Arts Festival, Oklahoma

Blue Dome Arts Festival, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Deerfield, Illinois

Hinsdale, Illinois

Wells Street Arts Festival, Chicago

Northville Arts festival, Michigan

Fountain Square, Evanston, Illinois

Salida Arts Festival, Salida, Colorado

Salida Riverside Arts Festival, Colorado

Downtown Aspen, Colorado

Beaver Creek, Colorado

Sloan's Lake Arts Festival, Denver, Colorado

Evergreen arts festival, Colorado

March -

Key Biscayne (Howard alan)

    I personally will never do this show again, I did terrible.  it was my first show so i was working out some kinks for sure and I cant completely discredit this show. The artists I spoke to who seemed to do well were glass or 3-d artists and miami artists.  A cuban/miami local who does pretty much only pop art style of cuban coffee pots and american coffee pots that say "cuban" and "american" I would have to assume did awesome because I saw those paintings walking all over. 

Its a very hispanic population so those who are fluent speakers also have an advantage, I speak spanish at a conversational level, but I'm not as confident "telling my story" or selling in spanish so I certainly had a disadvantage.  Anyways, there were a fair amount of people walking around, the show wasnt dead, it wasnt hugely busy though. Easy Friday set up but I will absolutely never ever do it again.  Overnight parking is in a park a mile or two away and there is a sparsely running shuttle to bring people from A to B. 

Hyde park (Howard alan)
     This show is in an awesome location in Tampa.  My target clientele is younger with money and this is who populates this show.  Its a Saturday morning set up so that's kind of a pain in the ass, but I did luck out on being able to pull right up to my booth to drop stuff off and set up.  I would entertain the idea of doing this show again, I think  a lot of people do well here. 

Altamonte springs

      This is in an interesting location north of orlando in an expensive town home development with a similar demographic as Hyde park.  A majority of Saturday got shut down because of a tornado warning but i think it would have been a pretty good show for me had that not been the case.  I would probably do this show again.  

April -

Marco Island (howard alan)

     This was the first show that I felt I did well at. now after having done months of shows my idea of "well" is certainly different than it was then but Marco Island was good for me.  I think it was a first year show of HA promoting it. I think some seasoned artists said there used to be a show run there but there have been a few years sans show making it essentially a first year so, So i would have higher expectations for this show in the future. 

Set up/Break down was cake.  you can drive onto the grassy area to set up. unfortunately parking is miles from the show, there is a trolly to shuttle people back and forth.  There are no bathrooms or any amenties near the parking, I walked over to the beach and poached showers at the hotels on the beach in the evening. 

St Augustine (Old town I think its called, its run by Lynne something)

      Same set up as Marco Island, in a big open field, you drive up to it, super easy.  Parking is right next to the show which is really nice and my family lives in St augustine so i was able to get a shower there.  The location isnt great, not a ton of traffic. I did okay because my grandma passed out the little art show promo cards provided free by the show to everyone in her neighborhood and told everyone if they didnt atleast come to the show and see me they would be off of her christmas card list. I'm not joking. haha. So that was a big help.  I dont think its a great show.  its a mediocre show at best but I will do it again because of my family. 

St Armands (paragon)

     This show also has a fairly easy set up, you drive into the middle of the circle and drop off your stuff then parking is maybe a quarter mile away on the beach which is pretty nice. there are nice bathrooms there (they're locked at night) and beach showers so that's good. 

I didnt have a very good show there, one of my neighbors was a painter and he didnt do well either, but a jeweler that was near us did awesome.  Ohh and a guy who made crazy huge outdoor bronze sculptures killed it. He must have sold 3 pieces at 5-7 grand each. 

Bill Kinney, the promoter, comes by at the end of the show asks what your sales were and comes out with series of graphs by media etc and shows what the average sales of each were so that's really nice (assuming that they're accurate) according to the file that he sent the average sales were just under 4K per artist.  I did below that but I had not yet gotten my Trimline, so i was rocking an EZup and I think with the fancy vacationers of St armands. 

Also, Howard alan had a show close by that weekend and sent Helaine over to this show to try and get the vendor list, when paragon refused to give it to her she walked around and wrote everyones name down. I guess to discriminate against us? art show politics....

May- off to oklahoma!

Lawton -

    Wow, that's an interesting demographic there.  Fairly easy set up if you have a spot next to the road, less so if you're deeper in the park.  There are lots of food vendors here and the show certainly attracts a lot of people, a large portion of them are toothless, inbred looking carnival going turkey leg eaters. and the other side of that are Army people stationed at Ft Sill. 

I do hawaiian style art so many of them had been to hawaii and really connected with my work so I sold a lot of pieces in the 100-250 range. I dont think I had any sales from a higher price range, but i did sell quite a bit of pieces there.  A neighbor of mine that made wall sculptures out of square nails was NOT happy at all, but he has higher expectations than I do, he's been at it for like 30 years, and I probably did better there than him. 

its a 3 day show, set up friday am/midday and show is open friday like 4-7 or something then normal weekend hours.  The promoter was super accomodating and even set up for host families to stay with in town.  They also arranged for all of us to be able to use the YMCA gym, pool, sauna, and showers which is right next to the show. I was really stoked about that, and parking is a few blocks away at a library ergo free wifi.

The weather can be really unpredictable, there were tornado warnings on thursday, not terrible throughout the weekend until breakdown and shit got crazy windy. I didnt get any damage though. 

Blue dome in Tulsa

       So this show started as a boycott of local artists to Mayfest's policy of only accepting 10% local artists.  I was only able to do this show because my buddy is from there and we split a triple booth, which was probably the best location in the entire show right in front of the oldest bar in Tulsa. Most of blue dome is crafty or buy/sell low end stuff, which can go both ways, but i'd say it worked in our favor.

there are a lot of serious buyers in Tulsa who boycott mayfest because of the aformentioned reason and they had very little choices of fine art in this show, us being one.  So we totally killed it and were pretty drunk the whole time.  Also, the booth fee is like $100 for 3 days, so thats awesome. If its geographically convenient at all I will absolutely be doing this show again. It was a blast. I imagine Mayfest is lucrative for artists as well.

June-

Deerfield, IL

     I will absolutely not be doing this show again.  Its in a heavily jewish area so saturday was completely dead and sunday was not a whole hell of a lot better.  A few people did okay, but its not my crowd, nor was there a crowd at all. It was a fairly easy show to do, I met a couple who became my closest "art tour" friends who i subsequently did shows with for the next 2 months.

I also by crazy chance got my top collector there. He is a young guy and avid art collector but had no clue of the show. he had gotten off the train and saw the show so walked down in the last few minutes before closing sunday. He bought a small original and said he would be getting my biggest piece at Wells street show in 2 weeks which he did.  He has since bought a few more originals for me.  That made Deerfield worth it, but I wont do that show again. No one was really happy. I do not recommend it.  It is next to whole foods though which made me happy

Hinsdale, IL

    Not my cup of tea either.  I didnt really speak to anyone who had a good show.  Its in a hugely upscale area, but I did not see anyone buying expensive pieces.  Thats about all I have to say. ohh the breakfast they had was the best muffins I'd had yet at a show-they were from a local bakery

Wells Street - downtown chicago

     That show is a big drinking party. I was right across from Benchmark bar, which seemed to be one of the swankiest busiest bars.  I heard that some serious buyers dont walk to that area because there are too many drunk people, but I did really well there, partially because of my deerfield collector buying my biggest piece.  It was a good time, I will apply to Old town next year and if I get in I will certainly do that, but I would do wells street again. Set up/ breakdown has potential to be a complete nightmare. 

Northville, Michigan

    This is a 3 day show, which it probably shouldn't be, but its in a small downtown in an upscale suburb.  Friday am we set up then the afternoon was open for business. The weather sucked friday and I didnt sell a single thing, but I didnt really care, I was hungover and didnt want to talk to anyone anyways. So i just stood in my booth and painted all day as it rained outside. 

Saturday was a different story, weather was great and I killed it. It was another show that had a lot of lower end stuff so i think that helped me stand out.  That was a $100-300 price point show for me atleast, but I sold enough to definitely be willing to do it again. especially if i can do ann arbor which is only 2 weeks away i think. 

The promoter is new to running the show but she's so awesome. I asked her if there were any showers we could use near by and she offered her house which is only a block away so I showered there and then hung out with her and her husband for hours. 

I will definitely put this show on the list for next year if its geographically convenient.  Its a good filler show at best, but it was worlds better than other filler shows that I had done.

Fountain Square, Evanston IL

     I heard from artists who had done this show for a number of years that they keep changing it around and thats definitely affecting the show in a negative way.  I expected more from this show than I got. I had a last minute sale that took me to the number I wanted to make for the show just before breakdown, but... ehh.... I think this show is going down hill for sure.  I would do it as a filler show maybe.  I made money, but it just seemed like kind of a buzzkill. 

Lunch was catered by wholefoods though which was nice.  Parking is free, but is sort of far away and they said they had a shuttle, but that company is a shit show and no one knew they were supposed to even have a shuttle. an employee gave me a ride so it was all okay, but still, unorganized. and parking is miles away so its not really walkable before/after a show.

July

Salida Arts Festival

    This was a first year show so I had low expectations.  I didnt do well by any means but as it turns out, I did worse at a number of colorado shows. Jerry, the promoter, I think, worked really hard to promote this first year show which isnt in a great location.  Load in is harder than it should be for being in a park, in my opinion. 

I will not be doing any shows in colorado again probably, and the only person I spoke to who was stoked was this really amazing older Korean man who makes Cajon drums who sold on saturday alone 14 drums that are priced between $400 -$700. He did awesome. Salida is a lower income artist community, and also a place where other Coloradans come on mini Stay-cations So if your art sells well here, maybe entertain this show.

Salida Riverside

    This show is run by Danna Tullis and I will NEVER do another show run by this woman. this seasoned show was in a far better location than the prior and I did way worse, as did everyone.  The owner of an art gallery less than 1 block from the show came by and told me he had no clue the show was happening.  Danna does no promotion for shows, she just takes the booth fees I guess.  She also does Sloans lake in denver which was terrible and I will mention later.  DO NOT DO THIS SHOW.

Downtown Aspen (Howard Alan)

     I did not do as well as expected at this show, which is an understatement,  but I think many people did do really well. They put a few artists on this weird little off shoot of the show, I was not one of them, I had a decent location, but I felt terrible for them, they got no traffic. I also heard other artists tell me that the art galleries had united and had gotten an article in the paper discouraging people from patronizing the show, and instead, going to art galleries who pay taxes etc all year, rather than these foreign artists who just come in for one weekend. 

I was next to a knife maker who did awesome. His stuff was really cool and he and his wife were great and made a super unique product, so I can see why they did awesome, also a glass artist who I heard of and didnt meet until the following weekend did like 20K from one collector at the show.  Most of the people buying art here are on vacation. 

Also Mountain fair was going on the same weekend in carbondale, less than an hour away and I think that detracted from the people at this show somewhat.  This show can be good for some, it wasnt for me.  I think also that booth appearance is extremely important at these shows, as these people are accustomed to buying at high end stores.  So the fact that I still had an EZup probably hurt meas well.

August

Beaver Creek (Howard Alan)

    Set up can be a complete nightmare, although it wasn't really for me.  Same as Aspen where I think i probably would have done better with a nicer booth set up, So its on the agenda.

A neighbor of mine who did big abstract paintings and had a large tall trimline tent sold 2 pieces at 7k each and got a huge commission.  Across from me a fiber artist did pretty well selling womens sweater things.  the glass artist I mentioned from Aspen straight killed it here too. He has some really awesome stuff and larger pieces are in the 6K-7K range and he must have sold 5 of those alone among lots of smaller stuff. 

You also run the risk (probably 50%) of being stuck in an area thats a huge pain in the ass to set up as well so far of the beaten trail that it has little to no foot traffic. This can be a fantastic show for some though, that's for sure

Denver Sloan's Lake

     Also run by Danna Tullis.  Last year was supposed to be the first year show, but that was when Denver was having crazy floods so this was the first year.  Very little foot traffic, also more of a pain in the ass to set up than it should be.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SHOW TO ANYONE. no one I spoke to did well.

Evergreen

    This was one of the most accomodating shows I have done, although Beth, the current promoter, did announce she was resigning this year.  They have a pretty awesome artist dinner on saturday a few miles away.  Some people did well at this show, not me though, nor one of my neighbors. Its in a park so they had to design the map around trees and such so I was in a weird offshoot which was a lower foot traffic area for sure.

This was the worst show I had in a long time, but people out here, especially these retired, upper middle-upper class just weren't into my stuff.  I think its worth doing for others, but i will not be doing it again. 

To be continued .....

For those not familiar Piedmont Park in Atlanta is an amazing park that attracts the movers and shakers and everyone else in the city. There is an event almost every weekend here. Three of the weeks hosts art shows. Dogwood, Atlanta Arts Fest and Piedmont Park Arts Festival. Dogwood is probably the best well known and attracts a huge crowd from the surrounding metro Atlanta area and focuses on the music and other attractions. Atlanta Arts Festival is a fine art festival that attracts mainly the Atlanta crowd. Piedmont Park Arts Festival is a mix of arts and crafts that attracts the Atlanta area and concentrates on the artists and the park. All three have a different foot print at the park. I have done all three for many years and this one is consistantly the favorite for me.

Load in, many artist get intimidated doing a show in this park. Dogwood and ATL Fest marshall the artist in. Most artist are a fan of marshalling in but I am not. Marshalling in involves a staging area where we line up at an appointed time and we are driven through the streets of Atlanta with police like the president. Then given a certain amount of time to set up with out moving your vehicle then all being moved out. The reason I am not a fan, it is a firm set up time, then waiting around for staging then slowly driving in then being stuck until set up time is over. This is usually a 3-4 hour ordeal without any wiggle room. This show allows set up all day on Friday and it goes smoothly and I can be in and out in 1.5 hours. Everyone is set up on one side of the pavement street and most booths have lots of room in the back. There is also a decent amount of room from side to side of the booths. This is held in August in Atlanta, but most of the area kept cool by the trees.

This year the show also held a fund raiser for The Piedmont Park Conservancy on Friday night before the show. It was extremely well advertised on TV and all over the city as was the show and it was packed. Great place to invite clients and patrons and enjoy an evening of art. It was also wonderful to see everyone dressed up:)
Saturday all set up and ready to go. The crowds were there and weather was good for Atlanta in August. Lots of art going by. Sunday sales, like always, original only large abstracts, were even better. Both days I walked the art to the streets to wait to load up cars and as I waited I watched other art being toted out and loaded into cars. Follow up sales even better. I was leaving for an out of town show right after and had to squeeze studio visits in. Now back in town and have more visits to set up.

Break down, normal get all your stuff to the side then get a pass and come on in. Show over at 6pm and I was driving out before 7pm. See no reason to be intimidated by Piedmont Park folks.

What can I say, this show has a great mix of amazing fine art, fine craft and a bit in between and the Atlanta folks love it. The food trucks are at a higher end than funnel cakes and food on sticks. This year Nuloo was there. How excited was I? VERY!!! This is a company that offered highend a/c trailer bathrooms with a lounge area WITH wifi. What more can a female artist ask for?!!

As an Atlanta artist resident I love showing in Piedmont Park and this is my favorite of all three shows.Sorry dont have more pics but too busy selling, but really this is the most impressive pic.

Has anyone done this show?? or know any history about the show ,it is held on the the 2nd week of September. 

Thank You-Steve Jones

Chastain Park Arts Festival

November 1 & 2     

Atlanta, Georgia

Chastain Park

200 Artists

Deadline: August 29

NOTEWORTHY:

• Juried Art Show Presented by Kia
• Winner of 2014 Top 20 Event by Southeast Tourism Society
• Named "Best Local Festival" by Best Self Atlanta Magazine
• Intimate Art Show featuring no more than 200 fine artists
• Extensive advertising, Promotions and Social Media presence
• Oversized 10x10 space (many of the booths have extra space behind the booths that permit larger set-up)
• Ribbon Awards
• Attendance: 50,000+ as measured by APD
• 24-hour security/overnight security by Atlanta Police Department
• Jury $25 (zapp)/$35 (mail in)
• Booth Fees: $275 regular/$350 corner

The Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces is proud to announce the Sixth Annual Chastain Park Arts Festival.  Named Best Self Magazines's "Best Local Festival," the Chastain Park Arts Festival will transform the park into an outdoor art gallery to the backdrop of vibrant fall hues.   

This two-day event will feature up to 200 fine local and regional artists and artisans along tree lined Park Drive.  This is definitely an event that you do not want to miss!

The Chastain Park area is rich with one of the largest and most enthusiastic art buying communities in the Atlanta area.  More then 50,000 visitors are expected over the weekend to view the many painters, photographers, sculptors, leather and metal craft persons, glass blowers, jewelers and more!  The Festival will also offer visitors the opportunity to view artist demonstrations, enjoy live entertainment, participate in hands-on art activities, and enjoy festival foods and beverages.     

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS 

Deadline: August 29

Notification: September 5

Booth Fees Due: October 3

FEES

Application: $25 Online/$35 Mail in

Standard Booth: $275

Double Booth $550 (limited availability)

Corner Upgrade: $75 (limited availability)

Electricity: $50

To download an application please visit  www.chastainparkartsfestival.com   

Application also available at  www.Zapplication.org 

This video portrait is about as captivating as they come; a sharply-cut 10 minutes of footage that lets you into Nick's world, shows off his skills and captivates you with the lyrical way he discusses his artistic passions. Even if you don't give a monkey --s about printmaking, Nick's got enough enthusiasm about it to turn you into a convert.

Learn more about Nick and his woodcuts: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/featured-artist.html

November 7 & 8

Elmhurst, Illinois

4th Annual Wilder Mansion Holiday Market
presented by Edward Jones 

Friday 4-9pm 

Saturday 10am-4pm

60 Exhibitors

Deadline: September 1

60 artisans will be selling their one of a kind art, gifts, and culinary treats inside the 9,000 square foot landmark Wilder Mansion.  

Please join us at this historic property that hosts the areas most elegant events. The Wilder Mansion is in the heart of affluent Elmhurst, IL, and is a place where people know they will find only the best. 

Roz Long and RGL Marketing are well known in this community as a producer of fine events, specializing in the arts. 

Coming up Labor Day weekend is Art in the Pearl in Portland, OR. This show originated in 1997 after the demise of the big deal, big sponsor, Artquake. Artquake relied heavily on corporate sponsorship and drew 200,000 people to the Pearl neighborhood where it was envisioned as "a massive ticketed spectacle that featured international performances alongside local jugglers and mimes."

The money did not materialize to sustain Artquake (we're talking 100's of 1000's of dollars to support an event like this), so it folded in 1996. Bob Hicks reported in The Oregonian at that time:

If the city needs an arts festival at all, it needs one that blends the local with the national and international – one that both showcases and challenges Oregon's artists," he suggested. "For an arts festival to succeed here, it needs either a sharp focus or the kind of broad support that Artquake has never had."

What happened next:

But while discussion raged on, a group of 17 artists, long disenfranchised with the direction of Artquake, was gathering to craft the Portland arts festival they always wanted – one that focused solely on Portland art.What then did materialize was a grass-roots event led by local artists.

The result, folks, is a well loved event "owned by the locals" and frequently cited as an artist's favorite show (as cited in this video we published in June).

Here's an article that details the story: http://www.oregonlive.com/events/index.ssf/2014/08/how_portlands_anti-corporate_pro-local_festival_de.html

I hope a bunch of art festival folks will read it and learn the lessons they learned in Portland.

How to Photograph Your Booth

The September (200 best shows) issue of Sunshine Artist came out this week. It contains a four page article I wrote on how to photograph your booth. It also has some examples of clean booth photographs I've taken for artists in different mediums.

The article isn't on my web site yet as per my deal with Sunshine Artist, but I do have the example booth photos I've submitted. All booth pictures were submitted with permission from the artists.

http://bermangraphics.com/artshows/photograph-your-booth-article.htm

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

Nick Wroblewski is a Midwest based printmaker specializing in hand cut wood block prints with an aesthetic reminiscent of the stylized Japanese masters, yet uniquely his own. Standing in his booth you know why you love art fairs. Not only do you see fresh exciting fine work but you also get a glimpse into the lives of the creators.

In his childhood Nick traveled with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. The group toured down the Mississippi River, performing in every state from Minnesota to Louisiana. He grew up in a community that supported the arts and is still deeply connected to the artists that inspired and encouraged his development. He is still an accomplished stiltwalker.

He has worked with Jim Henson Productions; traveled to Brazil with a jungle tour company where his experiences there caused him to a commitment to printmaking. Nick developed a series of prints of the local flora and fauna that ultimately were used in a tour guide book.

He has continually refined his printmaking skills while working with a timber company, the Neu Erth Worm Farm and in the Northwest Territories of Canada producing many woodcuts of the landscape and its inhabitants. His work is usually derived from the natural world and he is deeply committed to the continual exploration and development of his artistic growth.

This is what he says the traveling artist's life is:

• taking the initiative to learn about how things come together, honing the skill, tackling it and finishing the work in the studio
• the final process is the opportunity to travel and share the imagery with new folks, a satisfying component of the entire process and the final step
  

He not only creates images for sale at the nation's best art fairs he teaches workshops, has gallery shows, designs images for t-shirts, illustrates magazines and has found many commercial uses for the images he loves to create. In the midst of this he is deeply committed to the continual exploration and development of his artistic growth.

Nick was the poster artist for the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair in July 2014 and the t-shirts with his images were great sellers.

Meet him this month:
Aug. 22-24 - Art in the High Desert, Bend, OR 

Aug. 30-Sept. 1 - Art In The Pearl, Portland, OR

Learn more about Nick and his work 

I recently returned from a month in Colorado doing art shows and only have time to do a combo review.  This was my first time showing in Colorado and what a great experience.  The three shows I was a part of was Cherry Creek, Open Arts in Boulder and Cheesman Park in Denver.  Here we go.

I have lived in Atlanta for 16 years and I haven't spent one summer here.  Way too hot, so I always found somewhere else to go to enjoy the summer months.  This year I decided to try Colorado.   On the drive out we decided to enjoy the journey and spent a night in Nashville enjoying the nightlife and then a night in Kansas City which was a good place to recover from the nightlife in Nashville.

First  stop was Cherry Creek.  I was a roadie for my partner and it was the first time either of us had gone to the show.  Obviously we were excited to be part of this one.  I am not sure how much needs to be reported on this show as far as layout and such since this is a rather famous show, but I will do a quick rundown.  Big Big show.  Streets run parallel to each other with booths down each street and a perimeter of booths around.   Booth lay out is on the street against the curb with no booth across from you. The area has chain stores, boutiques, restaurants and galleries.  Depending on what is behind you may have a lot of room or just a little but it seemed most had a decent amount of room in the back on the side walk. The booths were not too tight IMO so we weren't packed in. 

This year there was A LOT of construction.   Many of the streets are one way and dead end so between all these obstacles is was confusing to get around.  Three day show, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday set up during the day for most unless you were on the dreaded Columbine St and yes we were on Columbine, more on that one later. Set up was after 5pm for that street.  Luckily all the artists that do this show are pros and the police seemed to know that and let us all work it out.  The outer perimeter streets are wide and easy for all of us to fit, unload, set up and get around each other.  All in all a relatively easy set up considering. 

Friday this year was the 4th of July.  It was hot.  People came early.  Patrons didn't seem to care about prices and wanted art.  This is a big show and most of the people will walk the entire show before they make a decision.  There is a lot of competition for the sale because everyone in this show has amazing work.  Starting at lunch and between 4pm the show seemed to come to a lull.  It was hot and I think it was siesta time.  This was true all 3 days in our area.  After 4pm the patrons came back out and would get serious. 

Now back to Columbine Street.  There was some controversy with the artist and this area.  Many of the people didn't know there were booths on this street.  There was a lot of construction on the street and construction on the streets that lead to Columbine so it looked like the show was over.  This street definitely had about a third of the traffic that the rest of the show received.  BUT I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing depending on what type of art you sell.  This show gets huge crowds.  Often when there are big crowds people just shuffle thru the herd.  We didn't have that problem because our street was never crowded and if you walked down our street then those people saw every booth.  Also many of the popular streets had distractions like women in feather bikinis doing acrobats on ropes and  big vendors and other performances that distracted from the art.  Again we didn't have this problem on Columbine.  And finally those patron who were serious about spending thousands on fine art were going to make the rounds.  So if you are not a spontaneous seller than being on Columbine wasn't a bad thing.  Since it is an art show and there are artists there complaining will happen no matter what.  Personally I would be happy to show on this street again.  Pros and Cons to all spots.   

Sales, they were all over the board just like any other show.  Most people were happy.  Many were ecstatic.  Some wouldn't come back.   All of our sales happened between 4pm and 6pm on Friday and it was an AMAZING show for us.  Go figure, but people were ready to drop big bucks.   It is Cherry Creek folks.  If it is your market you are going to make some money. 

Ok on to Boulder.  Open Arts Fest.  What artist wouldn't love Boulder where even if you have a bad show you can smoke it (as long as it isn't tobacco), drink it or hula hoop it out.  Great town and great group who runs it.  This is a college town, reminds me of Berkeley but with people who would rather have fine art than fancy cars.  The main part of the show runs along a bricked outdoor mall.  Funky stores, some higher end stores and restaurants.  Booths are laid out here and there.  You pay more to be on the mall.  There is one street that cost less on the actual street.  Set up for that is on Friday after 5pm, booths against the curb across from each other.  Room in back on the sidewalk.  Since it is on the black top it is about 20 degrees hotter and it is an off shoot from the show but a traditional set up.  On the mall the booths are set up here and there depending on the planters and kiosks and benches, etc.  Depending on where you are you may or may not have extra space.  You set up early Saturday morning.  Again pros and cons to each spot.  Still can't decide which area is the place to be.   Not a small show but not too big.  The organization who runs this show took it over 4 years ago and have turned it around to a fine art show. 

Since it is Boulder you get all types of people.  There is ALOT of street performance.  Some who have permission some who don't and most of it is very distracting to the arts but it is all entertaining.  Every booth is subject to it.    Luckily I had THE ABSOLUTE  BEST both Saturday and Sunday.  Evidently this is not a new thing for the area but it is new to me.  The Silent Disco!!!  This involves a wonderful women named Jody who likes to dance and her husband just want to get her out of the house.  All good clean fun.  So he bought her 20  high end head sets that blue tooth together and a bunch of hula hoops.  The headsets all synch to the perfect dance music.  It is free.  Folks put on the head sets and all dance together, in silence for  the rest of us, and you can add the hula hoops if you  want to.  PERFECT IMO!!!! if your booth has to compete with fire breather, a brass band, drummers or feather bikini acrobatics I pick the silent disco every time.

It was a VERY hot weekend for the area again,  And if you were from Colorado you would say humid but come on they don't  know what humid means in Colorado.   Ice cold water was served to the artists like nobody's business and the artist breakfast was first class.  Load out was a free for all.

Sales, well I don't know of anyone who had a killer show.  I was disappointed but will consider it for next years run.  Sales seemed to be down,  maybe it was the heat.  If you go treat yourself to The Black Cat reataurant, one of the best in the world.

Next up Denver again, Cheesman Park.  Second year for this show and not an easy show to get into.  Artists accepted into Cherry Creek were rejected from this one.  Go figure. Beautiful park and wonderful people to work with.  The show was small and most of the work was good.  Friday set up on the street that runs through the park.  Decent amount of space between each other and room on the grass behind.  Booths on one side.  The set up was on Friday and the show was Saturday and Sunday.   Parking a bit tricky, it is a big city.  You had to park about a mile or so away but they had shuttles to run us back and forth.  The patrons were similar to the Cherry Creek folks just not as many of them.  Again great people to work with.  All the Colorado people are so nice and that is coming from a southern women.  Break down not too bad for a park setting.  Just parked on a nearby street and dollied out, but if you were a tiny bit patient you could drive up to your booth and load then drive out. 

All in all the Colorado tour was a success.  IMO it is like doing Florida in the winter.  I try to escape the heat of the summer and go to higher ground.  There wasn't a drop of rain at any of the shows.  We enjoyed the Rocky mountains and all it had to offer including hiking, white water rafting and of course the amazing happy hours that include food and drink at all the fine restaurants.  You can live like royalty out there in the summer without spending too much $$$.  I love the healthy life style even at the food trucks.  Every show had recycle, trash  AND compost.  It made it easy to keep on track while on the road.

Finally Love and prayers  to the Teilhet family.  Rebecca brought joy into all our lives. We are all heart broken.

After a month of delays in notification from Disney Festival Of The Masters, I just received this email.

As you may be aware, Downtown Disney is undergoing the largest expansion in its history as it transitions into Disney Springs. While it certainly is an exciting time for us, it has presented challenges as we attempt to stage the 2014 Festival of the Masters. Much of the area that traditionally houses the Festival is unavailable due to the expansion work, and so I must share that we have made the difficult decision to not host the event.

We are sorry for any inconvenience or disruption to your schedule. Please be assured that if you paid an application fee, you will promptly be reimbursed. The enthusiastic support of the arts community has contributed to the long-running success of the Festival of the Masters. Therefore, we wanted everyone who submitted an application to be the first to know of this decision.

We value and appreciate all of your hard work, dedication and commitment to your art, the arts community and to this Festival. Walt Disney World Resort has long been an advocate and strong supporter of the arts and we remain committed to nurturing the arts.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time of growth.  

Keith Bradford

Vice President Downtown Disney

This is a review of the 39th Annual Sono Arts Celebration, held on Connecticut's "Gold Coast" town of South Norwalk, on Sat/Sun, August 16-17, 2014. The "celebration" consists of an art show, several music stages, food court and children's activities, all contained within two cross streets that juncture at the SoNo train trestle overpass.

I had been hearing mostly bad things about this show for several years but jeweler acquaintances supported it and said with the large crowds, it was still a "good selling show" for them. I decided to give it another shot, "jurying in" with both my line of porcelain jewelry and decorative porcelain wares. I had exhibited at this show many years ago, mostly in the nineties with my last participation being around 2004/2005. It was never a stellar show for me but yielded a decent profit and good times with its regular stable of artists and the ever popular "Puppet Parade". It was fun. There used to be great art by 200 or so artists run by very capable artist-organizers, even awards and a "somewhat" buying public. None of this remains. Partly due to the "somewhat" buying public but largely due to the state of things in general. South Norwalk has seen better days and this event has morphed into nothing but a crowded street fair.

I was impressed with the show's "Pre-show" materials that the management company emailed. The info was clear, well organized and alluded to some perks which led me to be very optimistic about the event. Not much of it proved to be all that accurate. I had the earliest set-up time of 5:30-6 am and the line of cars to get into the festival street hadn't moved until after 6 am because no one could find the staff to let us all in. With the light of day, the vacant storefronts and the homeless sitting on the benches were unsettling but nothing proved as maddening as the unswept streets, littered by several days' worth of refuse. Several other inconsistencies came into light as well: parking fees, no vegetarian option with Sat/Sun's free lunch, artist hospitality tent not well stocked. But this is the small stuff.

There were about 65 "artist" booths with only 60% really qualifying. The remaining were filled with buy-sell (cut-rate at that), DIY booths (henna, silk scarves, etc) and designer booths (work designed by them, made elsewhere). One such designer booth was the hit of the show with an under $10 product neither constructed nor decorated by them (it says it on their website). Quality overall was abysmal and clearly NOT juried at all. The music was not suitable for any art show with very loud hard rock throughout both days. Two days of nice weather (sun/clouds, temp's in the upper seventies, low eighties) brought out the crowds but sadly they were not there for the art fair, rather just to walk the streets.

Though, I did make a small profit (80% jewelry sales, 20% ceramic sales; $65 the highest priced item sold), I would not return to this event. It was uncomfortable. The puppet parade wasn't even fun anymore, with only a handful of puppets making the rounds...if you blinked, you missed it. For anyone who remembers, this used to be a huge draw, as art organizations, clubs, high schoolers, etc., would construct life-size puppets to parade with accompanying drums throughout the festival streets. It would last 20 minutes or so. I was so bummed. And yes, the jewelers who had done so well in years past, were complaining about how dreadful sales were this year, too. Even a couple of painters who had enjoyed "great" sales last year, echoed the jewelers' sentiments. In the end, it's a street fair in a with an expensive buy-in. So sad.

What are your thoughts about judging at art festivals? 

BlackTree Studio Pottery just completed a weekend at the Lakeshore Arts Festival in Michigan City, Indiana, organized by the Lubeznik Center for the Arts. 

I'm always perplexed by this art fair's categories which are:2-dimenisional | Fine Craft | Jewelry | Photography | Sculptural Objects | Wearable Art. I don't understand the logic behind their categories when judging the best works in this show. Here's why...with 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place in each category, there are 6 winners representing 2-d and photographer. While they distinguish these mediums, as well as jewelry, and wearable art, the "fine craft" category packs in pottery, glass, wood, metal and any medium that does not fit into the other categories. 

As a result, some years there may be not pottery or glass for example, but no matter what the quality there will always be 3 photographers who are awarded a prize.

What's the best way to judge an art festival? Do you think judges should have specific qualifications? Please share your opinion. 

Robert Wallis has already contributed to this one in a previous blog, please read it.

I love this show.

When I think of this show, this is what immediately comes to mind.

Enthusiastic crowds, lots of them on the young side.

Good Kentucky bourbon, a measured shot of 24-year-old Pappy Van Winkles now goes for $64--yikes!  Hot Browns and Pecan Pie.

People are happy to see us, and actually look at the art--how refreshing.

It is a mellow setup on Friday.  I was at the bandstand before noon checkin, knew where my spot was, number 6.  I was out of there by 3 pm, had a leisurely lunch at a restaurant  in between setting up and stocking the booth.

The show is held at Woodland Park just outside of downtown center.

Lots of old trees with lots of shade, some booths like mine are in direct sunlit, but most are shady.  You can tie-down into the ground.  Ample storage behind the booth.

Committee is mellow, helpers are helpful, all the artists are cordial to each other.  This show is the kind that I started doing in the late 70's, it is why I stayed in the biz.

What was really exciting was to see a crowd that actually looked at the art in the booths.  There was none of this herd instinct with everybody milling down the center aisle without looking in the booths.  Which we saw lots of recently at Minneapolis and Ann Arbor, among others.

And they bought art.

Mostly lowend, but they bought.

My new hand-colored work resonated with this crowd.  My neighbor with his woodcuts did a spectacular biz all days.  The clay people behind me were wrapping steadily.

This crowd buys mostly traditional work.

I have done this show at least six times and have never had a bad show.

At Saturday end, I was quite happy with the day's sales.

We all knew by the forecast that Sunday would be iffy.

Sure enough, Sunday started out grey and then turned to rain.  I actually made some of my best sales while it rained.  It did not drive the crowd away, but attendance was half of Saturday's.

Around noon, the rain was done and people started looking more seriously.  We expected another deluge to hit us by teardown, but we lucked out.

The belly-dancers did their usual show from 3:30-5pm and the crowds whooped and hollered.

I was torn down in an hour-and-a-half (Normal for me) and out of there with some nice loot.

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHOW AND SALES.

They threw out HRI, good riddance and kudos to the committee.

There were not as many scab booths set up around the park as in past years.

Overall, the show was well-juried.  Not a lot of B/S to be seen.

There were not a lot of big 2-D packages going out of there, but that has been the pattern everywhere lately.

Prices under $100 seemed to be the rule of the day.

We actually got "be-backs" at this show--how refreshing.

The committee listens to us and is very helpful.  Kudos to Kelly and her staff for a well-run show.

I would come back in a heartbeat for this show.

On the CLC card I got Red Roof for $37 per nite out by the interstate.

Gas was at $3.28 in most places.

Pappy's was $100 at some restaurants (that's for a shot--not kidding)  I did not partake of any.

Being a college town (UK) there are many great choices for food.  Think Hot Browns, Pecan Pie, chopped salads, good barbecue, and great chops and steaks.

Malones, out by the interstate off of Man-o- War  Blvd. is a must.  

They have sports bar with 20 million TVs, also they have sushi as well as burgers.  Then they have chop house inside, then they have an outdoor covered patio bar.  You can eat cheap, or you can spend a lot.  They sell Pappy's there for $100.  I did not imbibe.

I love the Kentucky shows (St. James too) I just wish there were several more I could do.  It is a seven hour ride for me from Saugatuck, Michigan.  I see lots of red barns and endless corn fields.  I just crank up the Sirius Radio and set the speed and off I go.

Hope this post was helpful.  Jump in with any concerns or remembrances of your own.

Lots of AFI-ers at the show.  Lots of named  exhibitors who do shows nationwide there.

It is not an easy jury as Robert Wallis noted, but well worth striving for.

I just wish we had more shows like this one to do on the circuit.

Later, Gators, Nels.