May 22, 5 pm ET: Listen live and call in at 805-243-1338

As the new interim executive director took on the reins at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston late last year, it became apparent to Susan Fowler that the organization was stretched beyond financial viability. This is a festival that depends on an admission charge that had been negatively impacted by the weather.

Four festivals back to back with rain had drained their savings  that were in fact a literal rainy day fund because the Bayou City Art Festivals are outdoor events.

The Art Colony Association, which hosts the Bayou City shows, needed to do something fast to keep the popular festivals alive and well.

When the Board of the Art Colony met in January they put the wheels in motion to expand the event from 300 artists to 450 artists plus several other changes that they hoped would lead to financial stability.

We'll be speaking with the Executive Director Susan Fowler and Kelly Kindred, Director of Operations to learn

    •    how a board of directors oversees an organization and its' fiscal responsibility
    •    how the decision to increase the size of the show was made
    •    how successful were the changes that they made to the Spring show
    •    what they learned from this experience
    •    what to expect next from this festival

and lots more.

Listen live at 5 pm ET. Call in with your questions: 805-243-1338. Email me with questions and comments. Leave questions for me to ask them in the comments below.

This podcast is sponsored by our 5th Annual Birthday Pledge Drive to support our art fair websites. Learn more: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/pledgedrive.html

Belleville, IL - May 16-19, 2014 - Art on the Square

Maybe you were at this show. It is one of the goodies. 

We all complain about the music, the food, the kids activities, the sponsor booths that are ubiquitous at the art fairs, so I just found the schedule of activities for last week's Art on the Square that to my mind turns that griping on its head.

Besides the kids activities and the stages look what else they are doing:

Saturday

10:30-11 a.m. Framing and Matting: Enhancing Your Artwork with Colin Shaw of Arch Framing in St. Louis

11:30 a.m-noon I Loved It! I Bought It! Now What Do I Do with It? with Deb Bokemper of Ageless Design in St. Louis

12:30-1 p.m. -- The Art of Lighting Art -- Making It Come Alive, with Carol Hiatt or Carol Hiatt Design Associates of Belleville.

1:15-1:45 -- Inside/Outside Show on KTRS-AM 550, with John Shea and Jim McMillan

2-2:20 p.m. Green Design -- The Fingerprints of Art in Your Environment with Diane Rosen of Diane Rosen Interiors in St. Louis.

3-3:30 -- Traditional-Contemporary -- You Can Mix It Up! with Gigi Lombrano of Gigi Lombrano Interiors in St. Louis.

4-4:30 p.m. -- Coloring Your Home with Kara Osthoff of Kara Osthoff Designs in Belleville.

Sunday

Noon-1 p.m. -- Tiffany Brooks, designer and host of HGTV's 2014 "Smart Home Giveaway."

1:15-2 p.m. -- Coloring Your Home with Kara Osthoff of Kara Osthoff Designs of Belleville.

2:30-3:15 p.m. Tiffany Brooks

3:30-4:15 p.m. Tiffany Brooks

There will be question-and-answer sessions following all seminars.

P.s. You can listen to a podcast that I did with the show organizer, Patty Gregory, right here: http://my.blogtalkradio.com/artfairs/2013/08/14/how-to-bring-buyers-to-the-art-fairs

It is full of helpful information for show organizers.

Besides exhibiting at art fairs in the Midwest and Florida, I have exhibited at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the past four years. I love this event. It brings tons of art-loving people into Grand Rapids every fall to see the work of 1800 artist in 200 different locations around the city. It turns the city into a huge art gallery. There are two top prizes this year. $200,000 awarded to one artist by popular vote, and $200,000 awarded by a committee of art experts. There are also many other awards. Anyway, big is usually better for this competition, but big is also, usually, more expensive as well. My daughter, who is a video producer, helped a friend fund the publication of a children's book using Kickstarter, and she suggested that I consider Kickstarter as a way to finance a BIG entry into ArtPrize. Her friend raised $20,000. Wow, I thought, maybe this is a good idea.

I started investigating Kickstarter and learned that this website is a conduit for raising money for creative projects through "crowd-funding." The idea is for lots and lots of people to give small amounts of money in support of projects they think are interesting and worthwhile. I also learned (and this is a key concept) that a typical Kickstarter campaign does not ask for handouts or charity. The idea is for supporters to receive rewards for their help that can be as valuable (or more valuable) than the amount of money pledged. I also learned that a Kickstarter project only gets funded if the fund-raising goal is met or exceeded. Kickstarter projects are never partially funded.

The entry I had in mind for ArtPrize is a 20-foot tall version of a digital painting called "Outhouse Island." After pouring over the Kickstarter website, which is very helpful and easy to navigate, I determined that I needed to raise $5000 to create my 20-foot picture. This budget includes $3500 to create the picture, and another $1500 to fulfill my promise of "awards" for people who help my campaign. In my Kickstarter application, I created a description of the project, uploaded a video (which my daughter helped me create) and established a list of 11 "awards" for different dollar amounts which included a thank you card with an image from my ArtPrize entry, a t-shirt with the same image, and an assortment of limited edition prints from my digital paintings. After a quick review by the Kickstarter people, my 30-day campaign went online and my work had only just begun.

I got lots of advice from other Kickstarter successes, but the most important advice was to be persistent in my appeals for help. I'm sure there were many people out there who were annoyed by my persistent pleas for help. But there were a lot more that were intrigued by my project, and became cheerleaders for my campaign. I used the extensive email list of people who have purchased my work over the years, as well as email lists of friends and neighbors. I pointed out that by helping in this campaign they could add to their collections of my work at lower than retail prices. In retrospect, I now realize that I overused these lists. During the month I sent them four messages. I did get lots of supporters through these efforts, but I also got lots of people who opted off of my lists.

I used this blog to promote my campaign, as well as a few other blogs that relate to my subject and my medium. I received three pledges directly from Artfairinsiders, and some valuable advice from Connie and others with experience mounting Kickstarter campaigns. My best source of pledges came from Facebook. I posted appeals and updates every day either on my personal Facebook page or my business (LebenArt) Facebook page. I encouraged all my Facebook friends to share my posts and wound up reaching thousands of people with information about my crazy outhouse project.

Pledges trickled in at first. After two weeks I was only about 1/3 of the way toward reaching my goal of $5000. I began rationalizing the limited success of my campaign. I thought, even if I don't reach my goal, I can contact the people who pledged and offer to sell them the "awards" they specified. At least I would make some sales through Kickstarter. Then, I doubled my efforts. I added some creative awards that I hoped would attract more backers. I began investing in the "boost" function on my business Facebook page. I encouraged everyone to share my posts more vigorously. One key lesson I learned a couple weeks into the campaign, was that some people, who might want to support my project, were shy about Kickstarter's method of collecting funds. To make a pledge on Kickstarter, you have to establish an "Amazon Payments" account. Your pledge goes into "escrow" until the campaign is over and the goal is reached. If the goal is not reached the funds go right back to you. If the goal is reached Amazon Payments withdraws the money from a credit card you have on file with them. I learned that some people didn't want to put a credit card on file with Amazon. My solution was to accept pledges by check from those shy people and add their pledges to my campaign through a third party (my wife, Marcia). Several people took advantage of this option.

During the third week, pledges started coming in more frequently. And a good many of them were from people I didn't even know. The fourth week continued to see lots of pledges with two coming all the way from Australia, and one coming from Paris. I reached my goal with four or five days to go, but pledges continued to come in. With my Kickstarter iPhone app, I spent a lot of time checking my phone to see who was pledging next. It was exciting and exhilarating to open the phone and see two or three new pledges coming in. Even after the campaign officially ended I got direct calls from a few people who wanted to pledge. When the dust finally settled I had raised $5908 from 93 different people. I was blown away and humbled by all this support. People were genuinely inspired by my project and wanted to be a part of it. I called them my "Outhouse Islanders" and assured everyone that wanted to pledge that there was still plenty of room on the "island."

Kickstarter continues to be a great resource now that my campaign is over and successful. Through the Kickstarter website I sent out a survey to all my backers requesting pertinent information about the awards I would be sending them (specific artwork titles, t-shirt sizes, addresses, etc.). I am able to track each supporter's info online and also keep track of the awards I send out to each backer. Of course, now that the campaign is over, I'm a little overwhelmed by the task of creating and sending out all these awards to all 93 of my backers. It will be a lot of busy work, but, well worth the effort. I now have the money I need to create my ArtPrize entry (which makes my wife, Marcia very happy).

As of this writing, I've been invited to exhibit "Outhouse Island" at 50 Monroe Street (the building that houses the Huntington Bank that is right between the BOB and the Grand Rapids Art Museum). I'm still waiting to hear from a couple of other venues that I am interested in.

Kickstarter is probably not for everyone, but its a great way to finance a special project. To run a successful campaign takes a lot of work, and the funds you receive at the end are not free. Its not a charity. You have to offer some value in the form of awards for the pledges you receive. And the more value and the more appealing your awards are, the more chance you have for success.

September 13 & 14
Deer Park, Illinois
Deer Park Town Center
Sat. 10am-5pm; Sun. 11pm-5pm
80 Exhibitors maximum
Deadline: June 1

This juried fine art festival takes place in the thriving Deer Park Town Center.  The festival is held around a charming gazebo in the center of everything.  The average home value in Deer Park and the surrounding areas is $850,000!  There are, on average, 40,000 visitors to this lifestyle center every weekend.

The Village of Deer Park and DDR Corp are thrilled to host this 3rd year, artist focused festival and are committed to its success. Deer Park Town Center is a high end lifestyle center. In addition to the amazing shopping experience, the center offers a spa, book store, restaurants, high end retailers and electronics store. 

Our commitment to artists includes:

• Aggressive marketing campaigns-print, radio, posters and internet
• Shows located in areas of high income and traffic
• Best of Show and First Place Awards
• Professional jury and judging with enforcement of all Standards and Rules
• Overnight Security-contracted through a professional security company
• End of show feedback survey to help us continually improve the artist experience
• Discounted hotel options
• Drive to spaces for easy load in and out
• Free day and overnight parking, booth sitters, cold bottled water delivered to your booth, indoor restroom facilities
• Continental breakfast both days plus afternoon snacks

• Jury fee: $35, Booth fee: $300 (10x10) 
  
  

Learn more: DWEvents.org

Apply on line:  www.Zapplication.org

or: paper application

August 23 
Green, Ohio
Green Arts Council and the City of Green
Boettler Park, 5300 Massillon Rd.
10am-5pm
60 Exhibitors
Deadline: May 31

Art-A-palooza is a juried art and fine craft show celebrating its tenth year in 2014.  The City of Green is growing exponentially with the recent opening of the Akron General Medical Center and Summa Health Systems facilities, the new Market Districts of Giant Eagle, as well as significant Fortune 500 companies.  The City of Green is also adjacent to several other upscale communities, and is easily accessed by I-77 and I-76.
The location of the show at Boettler Park provides drive-up accessibility for artist site set-up, and easy parking for RV's and trailers. 

Artists tents are situated around a picturesque pond with a fountain.  You can set-up on Friday the 22nd, and overnight security is provided.  The Green Arts Council provides an artist breakfast snack, and complimentary water.  Booth sitting is available.

Event promoters cast a wide net of public advertising via social media, target websites and print media, postcard mailing and distribution, radio broadcast, posted notice and piggyback advertising.  Sponsors include local and regional small and large businesses.
Children's art activities and food are available.  Artist surveys prove that the event is a profitable one for most of them.  There are artist cash prizes totaling $700 and amazing booth fees starting at $100.

For more info & to apply: www.greenartscouncil.org, click "art-A-palooza" in menu

Hi all, been busy, busy, busy here downunder with my autumn shows - as a rule they've been nothing spectacular either in organisation or sales... but last weekend a regular annual one day show had a new co-ordinator and I'm sure she had been reading AFI ... it was just so.... ORGANISED!

The event was a one day show run by a private school about 2 hours drive from me.   It has been slowly dropping off in sales over the years - last year there was an explosion in the number of booths and the result was that no-one was happy with their sales - there just wasn't enough $$ to go around.

Anyway, this year, it had reduced to about 2/3 of last year's numbers - a happy amount I think with a good variety and quality and this resulted in a slight increase in sales over last year.

This is one of the few shows that actually sends out a map with your booth allocated prior to the show.  (The high majority just tell you when you arrive, or its a jumble of waiting in line and you get the next spot on the ring...)  If you have been before they will give you the same spot, which is a relief as repeat customers can find you!

However this year

*each booth was allocated a time slot to drive in and unload, then the car had to be moved pronto and parked away from the show area.  (Previously there was just a time frame to set up in and many would park and leave their cars there, leisurely unpacking from the car and only move the car just prior to the show starting which caused a few dramas).

*helpers were on hand to unload each car, erect tents and tables.  This meant you were in and out of the show precinct in under 10 minutes.  The helpers had put your tent up before you walked back from parking your car! 

*booth sitters were available if you were manning your booth alone, by phoning the co-ordinator.

*every booth was a corner booth - two booths were next to each other with a wide walkway before the next set of two booths.    AND the stall space was generous at around 4mx4m (a tent is about 3mx3m).

Now these may not seem momentous... but with the very casual arrangements most shows have down here, these were very different.   Of course some people complained as their allocated unloading time didn't suit them, however you were able to park away from the show and dolly your items in at any time, providing you were set up before the show started.

On the downside, the co-ordinator really wanted everything to be ready on time... and so we all were... by about 2 hours BEFORE the show opened.   (This speed was assisted by not spending time erecting our tents)  And whilst they had a coffee van and BBQ set up so we could buy breakfast, it didn't open early enough so there were many cold and hungry people wandering around!   I managed to do quite a bit of shopping in the other booths waiting for the show to open, although many of the booth holders just looked around - hoping for a sale or two first, to fund their wanted purchases!

Unfortunately crowds were down substantially this year which everyone noted, and with the early set up time, this meant for a very long, dragging sort of day (especially when I added on the 2 hour drive each way).  Whilst my sales were acceptable, most of these were to previous clients and if I didn't have those, I would have been very disappointed.

The high note for me was experiencing co-ordination that I have only ever read about here and which you may all take for granted!

No one would have guessed when we started our first art fair website 10 years ago that they'd expand to five! That we'd have nearly 50,000 nationwide subscribers and have top Google ratings! If you're online and you love art fairs, you found your way to one of our sites and we thank you!

Have our sites and newsletters helped you

• find a new art fair to sell your work?
• taught you some tricks for jurying that got you into a better class of shows?
• helped you understand why you need a "booth shot and what to do about that?
• taught you how to evaluate whether or not to apply to a particular show?
• make some new friends and help you build relationships with other artists?
• given you a place to turn to put perspective into the life of an artist?
• used our podcasts to learn more about the business?
• loved our videos?

Heck yes!

Learn more about how you can support our art fair websites and win prizes too:   

P.S. besides this site with all its helpful information that I know you love (I see the "page views"), the prizes this year are really generous, from some of your favorite shows, artists, consultants -- and we're doing two special podcasts with special guests. The first one will be next week where we'll do a flashback on our five years online with this community site.

August 24
Littleton, Colorado
Denver Metro area
10am-4pm
125 Artists
Deadline:  May 29

Thanks and more thanks to all of our friends. Good themes and helpful information poured onto the site in April. Please give a thumbs up to these people whose contributions made you laugh, gave you helpful information, made you scratch your head, or decide maybe you need a different profession!

The winners of the "post of the week" are:

• Elle Heiligenstein - 4/10/2014 "The Distraction Factor" (and welcome back, Elle!)

• Christine Cadorette - 4/16/2014 "First time festival, first time blogger, a great weekend at Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival."
  
  
• Nels Johnson - 4/21/2014 "MAIN STREET FORT WORTH - - FINALLY, I HAVE TIME TO TELL ABOUT IT''
  
  
• Greg Strachov - 4/25/2014 "Picture imperfect - Taking aim at stealthy intellectual property theft at art & craft shows"

Deadline for voting: 6 pm, May 19

Click here to take survey

Overall, this was an excellent well run show and an excellent weekend for us. 

We applied to this show in 2013 and were rejected.  We usually have our best shows in the mid-Atlantic so we decided to try again. Happily, we were accepted.

Bethesda is just inside the DC Beltway and traffic in and around the area is usually a nightmare.  But, that also means lots of people in the area.

The show stretches over portions of two streets that make up part of the Woodmont Triangle area.  The show is produced by the Bethesda Urban Partnership (non-profit) and is not affiliated with the also well-known/respected Bethesda Row festival in the fall.

We arrived on Friday to scope out the layout and look for our spot.  We park the van, turned the corner onto the closest festival street, and started looking for space numbers.  After staring at the curb for a few seconds, we looked up toward the middle of the street and discovered we were standing in front of our space!

And a perfect space it was.  We were a few feet from the entrance to a parking garage that had plenty of clearance for the van, a few more feet to a building that had really clean, artist-friendly bathrooms, and a few more feet to the breakfast/lunch/show info desk. 

We also noticed that the space next to us near a fire hydrant was not marked.  A miracle – a free corner booth.  The next day when the tents were all up, we realized the practically every booth was a corner with the tents set in pairs and empty space on each side.  What a great way to set up a show.  (The booth fee was on the high side - $425 – so I guess that corner wasn’t really free.)

Each artist was given a set-up time.  Ours was 7AM, which meant we would have to hustle to get ready for the folks that showed up before the official 10AM start.  We decided to test the waters and arrived at the site at 6:40.  We were promptly told that 7AM meant 7AM.  Good for them.

Observant folks that we were having noticed that fine parking garage, we asked if we could park and dolly in.  The volunteers were thrilled that we were willing to do that.  One less van on the street.

We got a prime parking spot at the top of the ramp into the garage and rolled it all downhill to our space just a few feet away.

We setup pretty quickly and were ready to go.  Unfortunately, it was a slow start for us.  The painter next to us had a $2500 sale in just minutes after 10AM and other large pieces started walking out as well.  We had a lot of lookers and the promise of the never to be seen again be-backs.

As the day wore on, the crowd was steady but not overwhelming.  All week the weather forecasters were predicting rain from dawn Saturday until late Saturday night.  As it turned out, it didn’t rain at all until late afternoon and then only for about an hour.  Still, I think a lot of patrons were holding out for Sunday, which was forecast (and correctly so) to be gorgeous.

This is an "originals only on the walls" show and people were clearly buying 2D. The matted prints/repros that were carried out seemed pretty big too.  There was a glass artist across from us who seemed happy as well.

We were not happy on Saturday but the Sunday crowd was thick and buying and saved the weekend.  We sold a couple of decent size canvases and a bunch of small ($125) framed pieces.  We also had success with small repros (8x10 matted to 11x14).  No one complained about tax and no one pushed back on prices.

We could have snared a very big sale if we only had the piece available.  The customer wanted a specific size of one of our digital works.  Sadly, they weren’t willing to wait and we saw them later walking out with somebody else’s very nice piece.

There are also decent prospects for after show sales once some measurements are taken.

Load-out was a very easy dolly.  We thought that the garage ramp would have been a real strain uphill so we got to the venue early Sunday and got a prime spot on the street just about 100 feet from our space.  We were loaded up and out by 6:15PM

The “Nels” data:

About 130-140 booths.  Spaces are 10x10 but each has an open side.  On our block there was plenty of sidewalk storage behind.

Breakfast (bagels/coffee) was provided both days, as was lunch (pizza, chili, BBQ).

Boothsitters checked in regularly.

Overall quality was excellent and the competition for patron dollars was tough.

There was music but we never heard much of it where our booth was.  No stiltwalkers and no kettle corn that I could see.

There were three judges and some nice awards.  Pet peeve – two of the judges were very interested in talking about our work.  The third opened with “Do you make your own batiks?”  When we said no, any interest disappeared.  We use purchased fabrics the same way that other artists use purchased materials (paint, metal, etc.) to create their art yet we seem to get dinged for doing so.

Bottom line, we loved doing this show and will certainly apply again next year.  We’re hoping to get Bethesda Row too as this is clearly a great market for quality art. 

Nothing but the highest praise for the Urban Partnership, the show director, staff and volunteers. 

We also got to meet AFIer Courtney Gillen who stopped by and practically guaranteed a great show!

Final unrelated self-initiated blog-jacking:  I know some AFIers did Rockville a couple of weeks ago.  We were waitlisted and never called.  How about a review of this second year show???

Uprintondemand.com

(a sponsored listing from Uprintondemand.com)

The Complete Turnkey Art and Framing E-commerce Website for the Artist, Art Groups & Gift/Art Retailer.

Company Profile

The creators of the Uprintondemand.com online art software have been building Internet solutions for more than 10 years. They have plenty of Art and Gift Retail experience too,  over 10 years,  through parent Company MacJac Consultants Corp. Uprintondemand.com strives to offer all of our customers the solution that will best fit their internet needs. We are always pushing the envelope of cutting-edge technology to provide our customers with the ability to lead the pack. Online framing is quickly becoming standard in the world today.

Company Mission

Our mission at Uprintondemand.com is to focus on the changing needs of the Artist, Artist Groups and Gift/Art Retailer with our picture software. We pride ourselves on keeping our clients at the cutting edge. With the online world today it is hard for a retail or home run business to compete without an online presence. More and more consumers are using the Internet for purchasing because of easy price comparison. This number will only grow bigger as new generations of consumers enter the world.

Uprintondemand.com is dedicated to bringing Artists,  Artist Groups and Gift/Art Retailers into this market and support them along the way. We provide a complete turnkey ecommerce website with picture framing software integrated into the site so, customers can frame items and purchase online.

Once the site is built you will be able to offer a large database of art without needing to keep inventory, offer the frames and mats you want. All sales are managed by you, and processed through your banking. See a list of standard features below.

• Website design with your colors and logo
• Uprintondemand.com application that let’s users frame their selections and then purchase online.
• Complete database of Art products that we will keep current with the updates provided by supplier for as long as you have the site.
• Newsletter signup.
• Promotions manager that will allow you to create promotions and market to your clients.
• Real-time shipping calculations.
• Credit Card processing through Authorize.net and PayPal checkout.
• Hosting.
• Robust but simple admin that will give you complete control of your site. You will be able to manage Orders, frames, products, and much much more.

This is a website you will never outgrow. We offer continued support for as long as you have the site.

The Uprintondemand.com Difference

At Uprintondemand.com our goal is simple... we want to help you grow your business by providing you with cutting-edge ‘bolt-on’ business technology and an all embracing manufacturing capability in the eyes of your customers and competitors alike.  This capability immediately produces turn- key sales, ordering, and production solution so that you can start offering your customers exciting custom printed products from their digital images, photographs, or from our wonderful in-house product ranges such as Sand Writing, Creative letter Art and even Masterpieces from our ever growing stable of ‘Artists’ and also your own Art.  Through Uprintondemand.com you will now be able to tap into the multi billion dollar market for high demand custom printed items such as giclee canvas prints, Metal Art Prints, Acrylic mounts, large format printing and much-much more.

Our bolt on turnkey solution is simple to use, easy to learn, and most of all profitable.  There are minimal upfront costs and we assist you with presenting to your customers the right point of purchase displays, samples and sales aides.  All you have to do is offer the service, take the orders, enjoy the profits and then leave the rest to us!  It’s really that simple!!
 
Here is how it works...

High quality production and materials

Shipping

Your artwork is shipped via courier either to your location or dropped shipped direct to your customer's.  All shipments to third parties arrive in a non-branded box and can even include your company's label and packing information.

What a difference a new director can make.  The paint your own picture people were gone.  The dye your own scarf people that had been heavily advertised for last year’s fall show were gone.  It was better organized this year, as in the booth spaces were marked when I arrived at the appointed set up time.  Any artwork used in advertising was credited.  They have come a long way from a few years back when they used the artwork of an artist who wasn’t even in the show on their website.  I don’t know if it was my location or the fact that I had a bigger booth but lighting in the big tent seemed to be improved. 

It is still an arts and crafts festival.  There is primarily low end art and craft but I did hear of some high end work selling.  There are bouncy houses and train rides for the kids and sit down music.  No zip lines though.  I still wouldn’t recommend traveling far to do this show and bring a range of price points.  It is shaping up to be a good filler show if you happen to be in the area.  Jim Spillane (out of retirement) with his exceptional photography was disappointed in his sales.  Tim Moran and his wife Janet with exceptional pottery across from me seemed to do well but with lower price items.  I did below average for my shows in general but not as badly as last year and this is a local show for me so it is as much about advertising as it is for sales. 

The artists are in either a big tent or in three smaller pole barns.  You are allowed to put up your tent frame but not your tent top.  Securing your work against rain is very difficult in the outside spaces of the pole barns and the outside spaces of the big tent.  I usually opt for an inside row of the big tent for that reason but setup and breakdown is easier on the outside spots and you have some extra storage room.  This year I opted for the extra 5’ of booth space as well as a corner.  A single 10’ booth space in the inside row can get claustrophobic especially if, like happened to me last year, you are across from a very popular booth.  If you are in the inside rows setup and breakdown will most likely need some dollying but it is not bad.  Electricity is provided and some spots can be dark so be sure and bring lights.

In this tech-driven society, mobile devices play a huge part in improving art appreciation. In the nonprofit sector alone, npENGAGE ranked mobile as the most influential factor to improve operations of art organizations. Citing a PR Web study, writer Ryan King said 28% of the web traffic comes from mobile, saying it’s a great opportunity to offer ticketing options by “offering visitors and patrons the opportunity to buy tickets on their smartphone and then use their phone as their ticket for admission.”

Last year, we saw how online art went mainstream. Today, as mobile technology gets more innovative, there are more ways to improve art appreciation:

Google Open Gallery

Late last year, the Google Open Gallery was opened to the public, allowing you to host and publish your own mobile exhibit. A part of Google’s Cultural Institute, it showcases any of your vintage artwork and historical documents. Similar to Google+ previously, you’ll ask for an invite to maximize the Open Gallery. Then, all of the platform services are free to use, including the culturalspot.org domain.

You can customize your whole mobile web page and upload multimedia files such as images, videos, and the Street View imagery. Anyone accessing your exhibit on a smartphone is able to zoom content for high-resolution images. There’s a mounted advanced search feature to locate cultural content. As Forbes proclaims Google as the most visited website, with 7% mobile-only visitors, the Open Gallery is a good opportunity to spark engagement among art novices.    

Mobile applications

The prelude to museum visits involves a specific amount of time, as they need to canvass for cheaper ones or consult with their friends. Mobile applications aim to shorten these long processes. For instance, The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC has the Infinity of Nations app, which provides mobile tours, videos, and slideshow presentations of a specific exhibit.

Among its selection of apps, the LeafSnap is one of the most intuitive, as it uses your smartphone camera to identify plant species. After snapping a specific leaf, it uses GPS coordinates to identify the tree from a vast database. For accurate results, you need to use a quality smartphone camera, which the latest mobile phones are already equipped with. One of which is the new HTC One M8, which O2 revealed has a “clever” snapper that captures just the right amount of light. With this, you’ll be able to capture leaf elements vividly – the blade, edges, pattern, and veins.

Amazon Art

Amazon takes advantage of the mobile retail trend with the Amazon Art, considered as the ultimate online marketplace of fine art. When purchasing an artwork, patrons tend to find cheaper alternatives, with easier interface. With Amazon Art, collectors are compelled to buy from the portal with its easier mechanism and its reasonably priced resources.

This is not Amazon’s first venture into the art industry. There was a pilot scheme in 2001 wherein Amazon partnered with auctioneer Sotheby’s with a project that only lasted for 16 months. But today, it seems that the company is poised to persuade interested art novices to sign up. The portal exhibits around 40,000 pieces of fine art, a result of Amazon’s partnership with 150 art galleries across the United States, including the Paddle8 in New York and the Catherin Pearson Gallery in Seattle. VentureBeat reported that it features pieces from over 4,500 artists, such as Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and Damien Hirst.

Art Startups: Where art and tech meet

Today, there’s a boatload of art startups, employing mobile technology to redefine their line of work. The Globe and Mail believes it’s a high time for these types of companies, saying that “creative people are linked to economic growth.” Here are some of them:

· S[edition]

When it comes to digital art, S[edition] is making a big name. Founded by Harry Blain and Robert Norton, it can be your online resource of digital artworks coming from contemporary artists such as Yoko Ono and Jenny Holzer.

· ARTFLAKES

ARTFLAKES has its own way of sparking engagement by allowing art novices to interact with artists. It also houses around 620,000 designs, photographs, and paintings.

· ART:ICULATE

Established in March 2013, ART:I:CULATE is a platform tasked to “organize exhibitions for you and with you.” The main attraction of the sites is its social aspect wherein you can discover new artists, collect pieces, and expand your creative network.

Whether you’re an art novice or professional, the techniques used by these institutions help you develop that artistic freedom and independence.

 About the Author:

Despite being a mobile tech blogger, you can also talk to Allie Cooper about everything and anything art-related. On Sundays, one of her recreational activities is painting in her backyard. For more stories, contact Allie on Twitter and Google+.    

Buckhead Spring Art Festival was this mother's day weekend.  I think it was the fifth year for this show and I have done them all and should have reviewed them all.   Lots of past info written about this show.  I will quickly go thru the logistics again but if you want greater detail just search past reviews.

Set up is on Friday in a beautiful park in Chastain Park Atlanta.  You can drive up to your booth spot, drop off, then go park your car then come back and take your time setting up.   Booths are along one side of the street and most people have room behind their tents.  Many of the artists sit across from their tents and some can blow out.  They have golf carts to run the artists back and forth from parking to their cars if needed.  My booth isn't far from parking so I usually don't need a cart. 

Saturday predicated rain and it was cloudy most of the day.  The crowds weren't too big, I think the forecast scared everyone but it never really rained on us.  This is the first time I brought lights to my booth and they made a difference in my opinion on the cloudy day.  I had two big pieces leave that day and usually Sunday is my big day at this show.    So I was happy.  

The layout was a little different this year because there were concerts scheduled at the park in the evenings.   Less booths at the beginning of the show, so instead of my booth being about 50 booths in I was about the fifth booth in.  It was fun on Saturday afternoon getting to hear and peak at Il Divo warm up, especially considering how expensive tickets are to actually go into the amphitheatre to watch.  Also David Bromstad  from HGTV Color Splash came to the show and filmed and visited with all the artists.  That was fun.  I am a fan of his being a colorist.  Tons of advertising for this event.  It was all over the place, every magazine, website, newspaper, billboard, news channel on and on.  Every AFFPS show there is lots of press on featured artists. Jenny Hennley made the AJC, I was featured in the buckhead newspaper and MArc Villanueva was featured in David magazine.It also happened to be my birthday on Saturday so I was very spoiled by the other artists and staff with lots of gifts from artists especially designed and created for me and even a flash mob preformed a shimmy bellydance routine  with happy birthday around my tent, lol.  Also the food trucks at this event are top notch. No funnel cakes to be found. I eat from the sushi truck, an ahi tuna salad that was amazing. I love that. Usually I don't buy festival food. But AFFPS shows always have high end food because they attract a higher end of patrons

Sunday the rain left us and it was sunny and warm.  Tons of people and lots of buyers.  I had great sales and pages of people I have to follow up within the next few weeks for custom work.  This will keep me very very busy for the next few months.  If you have read my other posts on this show, this is the norm.  Good sales and great follow up sales. 

Load out was the easiest yet at my end.  This can be a difficult show to get out of because of the long narrow road the show runs along.  I am pretty fast to break down, and I had my double booth.  Break down started at 6.  Broken down with a pass by 6:20.  Fully loaded by 6:40 and driving out and off to deliveries. 

This was my 5th show in 6 weeks.  I have next weekend off, really need it but so far all shows except for Dogwood have been great this spring.

September 20 & 21, 2014

CenterFest is a competitive, juried festival attracting high-quality fine art and fine crafts.  In its 40th year, CenterFest is the longest running outdoor juried arts festival in North Carolina. Located in Durham's lively downtown district, the event is a favorite among visual artists, performing artists and visitors. 

Durham's recent Creative Vitality Index score indicates Durham has grown to be a top creative community in the U.S. CenterFest 2014 will leverage the extraordinary assets of the downtown district, including culinary arts components, exciting entertainment and historic districts, and a cutting edge creative community, to highlight the high quality of the visual artists and the sophistication of the creative class demographic. The festival will feature 65 performing acts and locally sourced food vendors.  In 2013 Durham won the title of "Tastiest Town in the South" by Southern Living Magazine and the downtown district features many of the restaurants that helped earn that title. 

DAC's expanded marketing campaign, support from the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Durham, Inc. and radio, television and regional newspaper sponsors will continue to build an audience from a strong and growing regional market. 

Artist Amenities:

* Easy Load in/Load out, Free parking, 24 hour security

* Discounted rates at sponsor hotel

* 1 complimentary breakfast and lunch per booth per day

* Merit awards totaling $2,500

* Artists and images listed and linked on CenterFest website for 11 months

* Friendly and supportive staff, Booth sitting 

* Limited to 140 artists.   

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS: www.zapplication.org/event-info-public.php?fair_id=3065 

APPLY TODAY - DEADLINE 5/15

My "Visitors to my House" project is five years old this month. I've been photographing everyone who comes to my house with something they brought. Most are artists who have brought their artwork for me to photograph.


The latest pictures in the gallery are two artists who brought their work to be photographed just the other day.
my gallery on Zenfolio:
http://larryberman.com/p83235154

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

Artisphere, Greenville, SC - May 9-11, 2014

Over $15,000 Distributed to Winning Artists

One of the nation's best shows, that really knows "what artists want" and that also excels at PR just sent me this:

Best of Show winner was Aaron Hequembourg (2D Mixed Media)
2nd place winner was Tai Taeoalii(2D Mixed Media)
3rd place winner was Paveen “Beer” Chunhaswasdikul (Ceramics)

The four merit award winners were:

Suzy Shultz (Oil/Acrylic Painting)
Chris Coffey (Photography)
Amber Mahler (Precious Jewelry)
Santiago Gutierrez (Ceramics)

The Mayors Choice Award, sponsored Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. was given to Greenville’s own Kent Ambler (Printmaking), designer of this year’s commemorative 10th Anniversary poster.

This year’s 10th Anniversary Artisphere festival features 125 artists from across the country that were selected from a record-breaking 934 submissions.  On Friday, artist booths were judged by jurors Angela Bubash (jeweler and professor of jewelry/metalsmithing at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC) and Stacy Huggins (executive director at Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston). Seven prizes totaling over $15,000 were distributed on Saturday morning at the Artists Awards Breakfast.

My surveys for the new Palmer Park Art Fair have been coming it.  It was a beautiful show, and, the only thing that most of the artists mentioned as negative was that the wind on Saturday was problematic.  All but one of my surveys came in with positive comments.  The remaining one had nothing but negatives.  According to this one artist absolutely everything that others said was completely untrue.  Their parking was convenient, his was not.  Their setting was beautiful, his was not.  It goes on and on.  Sigh.