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I just wanted to let all the AFI members know that last Saturday, The Cotton South Fine Arts Festival became the first "A" list show in the country to hit 100% of those artists requesting Homestay accommodations through our Artist Homestay Program. This year we're accommodating 40 artists and their spouse/guests in private homes here in Madison as a way to help offset the cost burden of participation... and as a way to engage our community in an effort to develop friendships within the community with those who support the arts. We did it in our first year... and with 2 months still to go till the actual Festival date.
The Cotton South is innovating a number of Programs in the Festival industry... so stay tuned. T
Creative Energies with the Lightdome canopies in Ocala Fl sells these tops also. lightdomecanopies.com
Waxahachie's Holiday Showcase
Waxahachie, Texas
November 15 - 17
Apply now!
 Click here for more info: www.gga1.org/Waxahachie%20Holiday%20Showcase
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Any one know who might be making and selling waterproof vinyl canopy tops for pop up style frame now that John Mee canopy CO is out of business? All I can find are the 600D polyester replacement tops that fit.
This show has been going for more than 30 years. Up until the last few years it was in a parking lot in the middle of this resort town. One of the local galleries complained that the show was hurting sales so the city no longer leases the lot on the fourth of July weekend. Instead, the show is held in the open area of a mall and around a lake. The load-in and load out is not fun. You dolly to almost every location.
Here's the good news - It is a fabulous show - huge crowds and really good sales. While I'm sure that having collectors and working my email list helped, most artists had good sales. The location is beautiful. There is a high end hotel right next to the site. Many second home owners too.
I did one wholesale account but all the rest were retail. It was a $10k show. Hard to leave that kind of income, but I had promised myself that this was the last show. And some very nice orders not included in that number. The promoter is Mark Beling, show is mountainartfestivals.com. You have to go to his website to apply, no Zapp.
It seems a bit odd to post this since this show is the last outdoor show that i will do. I"ve done the circuit for 20 years and it is just not what i want to do any more. I'm one of the 'older' artists and when it is just too hard to drag the tent out of the SUV and the weights and the cases and bases and walls, it doesn't matter how much I make.
Show is worth doing.
If you're not aware of what the "orphan rights bill" is, it's a proposed law that if the copyright owner of a image isn't easily found, it's free to use. All creative groups are opposed to this law passing.
But here's the thing I'm taking issue with. What the detested orphan rights bill would make legal is already happening illegally. There are companies that are grabbing images from Google Images and using them for commercial use, thinking (or not thinking because they are incapable of rational thought) that what they're doing is just fine.
The prevailing attitude seems to be not getting caught means no foul.
Here's a picture of sneakers that were designed with one of my images.
Here's an article I wrote outing the company that provided the image.
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/the-orphan-rights-bill-our-greatest-fear/
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 14 - 5 PM ET
What can an art fair do to bring serious buyers to attend their events to buy art?
Our guests today are from two of the top rated shows in the country. Tne La Quinta Arts Festival is a large festival held in an affluent area in California. Art on the Square is in Belleville, Illinois, a small town near St. Louis with nearly the opposite demographics, yet both shows excel at bringing collectors to their events and their sales figures are "above average."
How do they do it?
The guests are:
- Christi Salamone, Executive Director, La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA
- Kathleen Hughes, Events Manager, La Quinta Arts Festival
- Patty Gregory, Director, Art on the Square, Belleville, IL
Anyone who has ever run an art fair, or thought they wanted to run an art fair, will learn a lot from these experienced guests. Do you want lots of applications to your show? The most important thing an event can do is bring in those committed buyers.
Learn more: blogtalkradio.com/artfairs/2013/08/14/how-to-bring-buyers-to-the-art-fairs
Call in to speak with the host: 805-243-1338
This should be a "must listen" podcast for any art show directors. If you have questions you would like me to ask the guests please post them in the comments below, or call in! The second half of the show we will take live calls.
Now that the dust has settled, and I'm back in the relative comfort of my home studio, I thought it would be a good time to share with you some of my thoughts on three of the biggest shows in the country. You all have heard of Des Moines, Cherry Creek (in Denver) and Ann Arbor. Many of you may have applied, and probably a few have done these shows in the past.
I was excited to be accepted into Cherry Creek. I'd applied every year since I began doing shows, and this year my work was top-notch. The new booth shot shows my work just exactly as it appears in shows where I exhibit with a single booth. My jury images are compelling, and represent my current body of work well. And I'd already had a good season lined up: Gasparilla, Vero Beach, Winter Park in Florida; Bayou City and the Woodlands in Texas; Brookside, in Kansas City (where it snowed and was 39 degrees)… so I was pumped for this best-in-class summer schedule.
I left a big hole in my schedule in June to prepare for these shows. Luckily I only made it to #13 on the wait list for Columbus, so I didn't have to make the trek to Ohio and wrestle with any Buckeyes for their hard-earned dollars. I made sure that I had enough inventory for four shows in a row, since I wouldn't be in studio but a couple of days from the time I left for Des Moines to the Tuesday setup for Ann Arbor.
So, on to the meat.
Des Moines Art Festival
A big show, the Des Moines Art Festival (DMAF) is spread out over several city blocks in downtown Des Moines. My location, at the very end of the show, was easy to access, and had plenty of room to park the trailer and pickup while unloading. Parking for artists is an easy two block walk away, with lots of space, guarded by a high cyclone fence. It was windy during setup, and for most of the show, but we had very little precip. Des Moines is noted for big storms, one of which took out several booths and a large tent a couple of years back. Crowds were good all three days, but Friday seemed slow.
We had a small tree behind our booth blow over with a loud crack, but luckily it didn't hit anything. Sold more work on Saturday and Sunday, many matted photographs, and a few larger framed pieces. I was happy with my sales, in the end, although many artists did not meet their expectations. DMAF is one of those shows with music, food, stilt walkers and other street entertainment, although none of it really gets in the way.
Awards were handed out on Friday night by Steven King, the director. Hours on Friday and Saturday are perhaps a tad long, with the show opening at 11 on Friday, and closing at 10PM. Saturday was even longer, opening at 10 and closing at 10PM. Sunday's hours are more reasonable, with an opening at 10 and breakdown at 5PM. All told, it's a well-run show, profitable, with many restaurants and hotels nearby.
We got acquainted with several of the microbreweries in the downtown area, most notably, Exile Brewing (http://exilebrewing.com/), near the artists' parking lot; and Court Avenue Brewing (http://www.courtavebrew.com/), the signature brew of the show. (Chris Vance did the t-shirts for the Court Ave./DMAF brews, and they are very very original.) We didn't get a chance to go in Raccoon River, also downtown. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the edge of downtown, and there are a couple other hotels nearby as well, a Hyatt Place and a Marriott, both with discounted prices for artists (still pricey, though).
The "Other Show", an alternative to the DMAF, runs concurrently out at the fairgrounds, and since the weather was warm, not hot; and not rainy, attendance and sales there suffered. I imagine it would be the other way around if the weather were nasty.
Cherry Creek Art Festival
Arguably the best festival in the country, Cherry Creek knows it, and charges booth fees accordingly. While I was happy to have been accepted, a single corner booth at Cherry Creek runs a whopping $950! Electricity is another $50, and parking for an oversize vehicle is yet another $50. And you have to pony up for a State of Colorado Special Events Tax License ($8) and a City/County of Denver Special Events Tax License ($5). That out of the way, you do stand a pretty good chance of making your expenses back on top of a tidy profit at Cherry Creek.
The show is set on several long blocks around Cherry Creek North, an upscale shopping center in the Glendale area, southeast of downtown Denver. Access to freeways is good, and hotels are plentiful along Colorado Avenue, just a couple miles away from the show. Lots of restaurants at Cherry Creek, and down Colorado, too.
I got there a couple days early, and went hiking up in the Rockies, at Estes Park. Managed to see several alpine lakes and waterfalls on a ten-mile jaunt up to Sky Pond. It was nice to get out into the woods and just walk for a change. I also shot out on the prairie one evening, and put a few extra miles on the truck looking for interesting subjects.
Setup for the show is relaxed on Thursday. Get your booth packet in the morning at the show office on Steele St. (park in the Safeway parking lot across the street), and then setup according to your assigned time. We were never rushed, and got the tent up and the art hung in calm, very warm weather. Our neighbors were from New Mexico on the one side (a very nice woman with absolutely gorgeous hand-made woven fabrics, scarves and shawls) and a painter who I'd seen on the forums before on the other, with a double booth.
We got done with the setup and went to park the trailer in the "oversize" lot. Parking for our section was behind the street, in a narrow parking ramp that could not accommodate a trailer over a certain size, so I paid to park it in a surface lot a block away. But oversize was a misnomer. My assigned, paid spot, was barely large enough to fit a trailer into, and if the space next to me hadn't been vacant, there would have been NO way I could have maneuvered my trailer into the very very tight spot. I was blocked in the front by vendor refrigerated trailers, and had to jackknife the trailer to even come close to sliding it into the spot. Luckily, it did fit, and we left it there for the duration of the show. Other parking looks to be available on the residential streets, but some of it is permitted parking only, and some it is time-restricted.
The show runs three days -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While it never seemed as if we were slammed with traffic, we were constantly busy wrapping, selling and talking with customers. I've never sold so many matted prints at a show. Karyn, my wife, was kept busy running between the tent and the trailer to restock images that we sold. When we pulled out of the show on Sunday night, we had only sold one large framed piece and one small one. All the rest of our sales were matted prints, in multiples and singly. But it was the best show, sales-wise, I've done to date. We definitely made money there.
The crowd has money, and I suspect that larger work might do well there, especially big wall-filler decor pieces. John Scanlan had a big booth right in the thick of things, for example. Our fiber neighbor had a great show, but the painter next to me on the other side did not fare so well. He had two walls with a single triptych on each. Beautiful work, well-executed, but he couldn't find a market this weekend. We did have a good time there, however, when we had time to chat.
The awards ceremony was very nice, held in the culinary demonstration area. Aaron Hequembourg won Best of Show here, as well as at Des Moines the week before. Crazy. Food was barely adequate, however, and we went back to the hotel and grabbed a quick bite before hitting the sack. (We stayed at the Courtyard which has a decent sized surface lot, and was fairly inexpensive, compared to the Marriott at the show site. It was still not cheap to stay in downtown Denver. Other hotels are out by the airport, but a bit of a drive).
Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff
Technically not part of the trifecta, nevertheless Krasl is a fine show, well-juried and pleasant to do. I drove home from Denver through Kansas, along I-70, looking for agrarian subjects, and had a day to prepare for Krasl before heading back to setup at St. Joseph, MI. The show is on the bluff, overlooking Lake Michigan. Very well-run by Sara Shambarger and staff, we were across the way from jeweler friends Marc & Wendy Zoschke. I won't go into detail about this show, but I was disappointed after Cherry Creek. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?
And, by the way, NEVER NEVER eat at El Cozumel in St. Joseph. OMG. Worst Mexican ever. And the hotels are an absolutely rip-off during high season in St. Joe. I paid an exorbitant amount to stay at the Comfort Suites in Benton Harbor for two nights. The show does have an artist housing program that we did not take advantage of. Perhaps next time. I would do the show again, however, as it is perhaps the nicest show in Western Michigan. A lot less work than the show I'm going to talk about next.
Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair (The Original)
The grandaddy of all summer art festivals, Ann Arbor is well-known in the industry for its long hours, wacky four-day schedule (Wednesday-Saturday), many vendor booths and kling-on shows (Kings Chosen, merchant booths) and general junkieness. Still, it's a show that many aspire to get into, and if you're going to do Ann Arbor, the Original is the best-juried. The Guild show on Main Street has its proponents; some folks swear buy (and at) Maggie Ladd's South U show, and the State Street show is the easiest to get into as an entry level show. If you want to be in the cream of the crop, the Original is the show you want to do. Many patrons only visit this show, since the crush of tourists and shoppers can be overwhelming at the other venues.
But this year, it didn't happen. The weather was beastly beastly hot, almost 100 degrees on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Crowds were anemic at best, and the Original and South U shows attract less lookers, since they are a bit further away from the downtown show. It was shocking how few people attended on the first three days of the show. Sales understandably were slow to non-existent. Saturday the dam finally burst, and I sold enough to make a decent profit. But for a show with five full days of work (a setup day and four selling days with hours from 10-9PM), the amount of work vastly exceeds the money made.
I love Ann Arbor dearly. My wife works in Ann Arbor, and we have a place to park the trailer and the truck. We drive 55 miles each way, every day, to sleep at home in our own bed. But after Des Moines, Cherry Creek and Krasl, we were absolutely tapped out.
Much has been said about the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. They are too big. The hours are too long. They could move the schedule from W-Sat to Th-Sun. They could close the show a little earlier. They could have fewer artists. They could have it in a cooler month. Blah, blah, blah. It's not going to happen. The merchants have pretty much killed the golden goose here. At least the Original is around the University, so there are no t-shirt and cheap jewelry booths to contend with. OMG. If I see one more Urban Outfitter bag I'm going to throw up in my mouth. It's the saddest thing. And many of the patrons agree. Too long, too much junk, too hot, too bad.
So there you have it. My impressions of the Trifecta + One. I have another killer schedule come fall. Arts, Beats & Eats, followed by Art & Apples, here in Michigan. Hometown shows. Then another road trip, including Plaza in Kansas City, Riverwalk in Naperville, IL, and two Texas shows. Maybe after that, I can rest. I'm gonna be needin' it.
This post is too long to add pictures -- when I finally get the shots off my iPhone and out of my camera, I'll do a pictorial essay. If you'd like that, let me know in the comments.
TTFN.
This isn't a long rant....just upset at very rude public who have NO idea what it takes to be an exhibitor. I am disgusted by the people who stand and examine a piece to death then talk about how THEY can make it!! At least walk away from in front of me and talk amongst yourselves!!
I lost my temper and said " I CAN HEAR YOU!! You do that and let me know how it goes!" I apologized to the others folks...which had them ALL agreeing with us (my daughter was included in this) and bought like crazy.
Sometimes...you just have to say whats on your mind!
Now back to your regularly scheduled program...
September 28 
Chesterton, Indiana
Thomas Centennial Park
109 Broadway
Presented by: Frontline Foundations, Inc.
9am-5pm
Deadline: August 20
Pack your unique creations and join us on Saturday, September 28, in Chesterton, Indiana, where the Second Annual Frontline Foundations "Hooked on Art" live street art festival will be in full swing.
We would like to extend an invitation to all chalk artists, graffiti artists, acrylic artists, sculptors, and more. Artists must be comfortable working in a "live" format with a work of art completed by the close of the festival. Also, live artists will be eligible to win prizes such as "People's Choice" or "Best in Show", as examples. Details will follow. Don't delay, space is limited.
Follow this link: www.hookedonartfestival.com/#!calling-all-artists and click "Download Live Artist Application."
- Read carefully and be sure to include all supplemental materials such as photos, sketches, etc...
- Incomplete or late applications will NOT be eligible for review.
- Applications will be reviewed by the Hooked on Art Committee and if approved y
ou will be notified within 30-days of receipt of your application, but no later than August 20.
- Please note: all materials submitted for review will NOT be returned.
For more info or questions please follow: www.hookedonartfestival.com or contact Derek Frazier at (219)728-1638
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Find even more art fairs to fill up your 2013 season: www.CallsforArtists.com
We had some great writing and discussions in July with much food for thought and comment. Please vote for this month's winners:
- June 30 - Deborah Potash Brodie, "It's the Law"
- July 4 - Valerie Tyler, "Being Respectful of All Buyers"
- July 14 - Lisa Foster, "Edmonds Art Festival Review 2013, Perspective of a Painter"
- July 22 - Alison Thomas, "Blowing Rock Review"
- July 24 - Mary Johnston, "OUCH - the Zero Show"
Also, please choose someone who was especially helpful on AFI this month to win the Community Leader Award.
Nominees: Kay Cummins, Pat Finney, Chris Pawlik, Scott Pakulski, Mary Johnston, Gloria Marlow and Joan Tweedell
Deadline for voting: August 14, 6 pm ET
Brighton’s Fine Art & Acoustic Music Festival and Milford Memories... curious...
Has anyone have review information on either of these fairs? I am working on my art fair wish list for 2014. I've had two different shoppers ask me if I would be going Brighton and one asked about Milford, so I am curious. This is my first summer, but I have noticed that I do better at fairs that are less craft oriented.
Thanks!!
I’m beat!, Exhausted, fried, wiped out... pick your adjective... I just finished the West Linn Fine Art Festival, Aug. 3-5. I did this show in 2011 and it was BAD (it was deserted), so you can’t say I didn’t know better. However, this year they were in a new venue which should have been better. And in some ways it was better. This year there were more people and they were buying. However, as has been the trend for me this year, all of my sales were of small items. And in this case, very small sales, with many single card sales. My average sale was $30 and my largest sale was $118. For me, it wasn’t a large enough attendance to make it on small ticket sales. I did make money, but only because it’s a local show for me. As I was tearing down on Sunday in 95 deg heat, I was wondering why I decided to try this show again.
This is a show that I want to work. It’s a show that ought to work. This year, it was on a new date and in a new venue set on a field on the Marylhurst University campus, set between the upscale Portland suburbs of West Linn and Lake Oswego. Booth fee is $200. It’s well organized, with lots of volunteers, snacks, water, coffee and juice for the artists. The majority of the show is laid out in quads, giving the artists plenty of room to set up and tear down. My set up time was 4pm. I decided to arrive early to beat the rush hour traffic and was allowed on the field early to set up. There was enough space that I could leisurely set up from my vehicle. It was cool during Friday setup. The show ran from 10-6 on Sat and 10-5 on Sunday.
There were two artist shuttle lots, one for smaller and one for larger vehicles. Shuttles were supposed to run every 15 mins but I waited over 30 mins on Sat morning. Saturday started out overcast and cool but heated up once the clouds disappeared. The buying energy was different than when I did this show two years ago. Or maybe I should say there actually was buying energy this year. I left on Sat evening with hopes for good Sunday sales. Sunday started out hot and got hotter. By 3:30 PM I was about done for. People did show up but I sold considerably less on Sunday than Saturday. A few of my neighbors had large late Sunday sales. Most of the artists I talked to were disappointed with their sales overall.
Load out was similar to load in. I partially dismantled my display and packed up what I could and took the shuttle to get my car and the rest of my packing materials. At that point, around 6pm, my car said it was 95 degrees. I had planned on parking and bringing in the rest of my packing materials before taking my car onto the field, but there was ample space so I finished packing and loading directly into my vehicle. It saved me at least 40 mins load out time.
The organizers of this show may be on the right track with changing the venue and they are trying. There were definitely qualified buyers at this event and the art was good. A number of buyers were confused which show this was. They weren’t sure if it was the West Linn Fine Art Festival or another local show called Art in the Forest (which was cancelled for this year.) It will be a show I will watch and hope it takes off in this new location, but for the next couple of years, at least, it’s not one I’ll apply for.
So, I am past the halfway point of this season. Seven shows down and six to go... But being this just my second year on the art fair scene, I see a positive trend. Yes, for the year I am still in the red at this point; but that amount is coming down significantly with each show! I honestly think I will be in the black by year end (for 2013).
I know I've been averaging about $1000 a show. If this keeps up, I will end the year on a positive note! This is a business! Yes, art is my passion but seeing the amount in the red shrink with each show is encouraging!
So, a question to the veterans out there, how long before you made it into the black? I think this is a good question to ask for all the newbies out there...
Hello gang! This year was my second time doing the University of Toledo's (Ohio) Alumni Association's Art on the Mall art fair. Last year was not so great. I only sold one 5x7 print for $25 in the prior edition. But since I am a University of Toledo alum, I consider my booth fee a donation to my Alma Mater...
However, this year was totally different. I sold $835 this year! Which the show is a one day event from 10AM to 5PM on the last Sunday of July. If you do the math, yes I was over a $100 per hour... Plus, I sold two large framed pieces. First show in which I've sold two large pieces. The arrows show the two that sold...
The fair is easy to set up and tear down. You can drive your vehicle to your tent location. And the volunteers that help out during the show were fabulous. They delivered water to your booth through the day and even asked me multiple times if I need someone to watch my booth for a restroom break. Since the show is now more than 20 years old, yes they have figured out how to treat an artist with an army of volunteers. Yes, there was that many! Probably fellow alums like myself.
But, I do have one issue about the show. My booth location was 53. I was slightly off the beaten path. What we noticed was that the food court is at the end of the main entrance to the fair. The booths by University Hall and Stranaham Hall saw a whole lot more traffic than mine. That's because the path (highlighted in green) would start at the green arrow and get to the food court and double back at the red arrow. I had little foot traffic where I was. So it was amazing that I made $835. I would think a better location for the food court would be at the middle of the mall (wonder why food courts are always at the middle of a shopping mall?)
Well, one of my purchasers drove from Cleveland to get a specific framed piece. He saw it at Crocker Park (early June - suburban Cleveland) on a date. He came to this show by himself. So yes, I guess I have a following too. Something else that I learned at this show! And yes, I will be asking for a different booth location next year!
Greetings,
Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where I've recently arrived after exhibiting at the Geneva (Illinois) Fine Arts Fair.
Do you remember a month or so ago, when on these very pages, I posted a blog article titled A Walk Through At The Des Moines Summer Arts Festival? No? Well, here's a link:
Basically, I gave the good folk at the Des Moines Arts Festival a bit of grief for the carnival-like atmosphere I encountered there, just as a visitor. Maybe you thought I was targeting them, but no, they were just a convenient example. In fact, in that very blog post, I contrasted the Des Moines Arts Festival with events like Krasl Art Fair On The Bluff, and Geneva Fine Arts Fair. I said both Krasl and Geneva seem to be successful art events focused strictly on visual art. No two blocks of food court, no Habitat For Humanity House being built at the art fair, no beer garden, no big stage music venues.
In that same blog post, I said I was concerned that too many art fairs are turning into carnival settings where the artists are just another facet of the entertainment collected to treat people who no longer come to buy art. But rather just to be entertained.
One commentor on the post said that we have to "educate the next generation of art buyers". Another commentor called Krasl and Geneva "regional shows". (Did I detect scoffing? Yes.)
And now you are all pumped and primed for the afore promised review, eh?
The Geneva Fine Arts Fair, ably managed by Erin Melloy, and crew, was professionally organized from check in until check out. Load in and out was simple - drive right up to the booth, drive out, and park in closely located (1 block from my booth) free parking. The normal artist breakfast of bagels and coffee, an ample supply of artist awards. Booth sitters available, although I did have a time mid afternoon on Saturday where I struggled to find one. One came just before I resorted to calling one of the numbers included in the check in info. For all painters, note that Geneva is an all originals event, no reproductions, giclees, none of that stuff. (thank you Erin, I truly appreciate that factor - it's how you first got my attention, back when) There are several cafes/restaurants on the street where the event happen. Probably a few more dogs in attendance than necessary.
Should we talk about patrons now? You know, they were pretty focused on seeing the art. Lots of good conversations, some people wanted to talk art styles, some people wanted to ask questions about what they were seeing, how it was done, why it was done that way. A nice mix. Lots of adults/parents/grandparents with kids in tow, taking time to point out interesting tidbits to said kiddos.
Did I mention that art was being sold? Much art. Large paintings walked out, both days, and yes, thank you, several of them mine. I was pleased with sales for the first time all summer.
For the commentor on the original Des Moines art festival review insisting that we needed to entertain people, draw a crowd, to educate young art buyers, I would like to say there were young people in good attendance. In my booth at least, they seemingly came to buy art rather than drink beer. Surprise, surprise. And it causes me to ask, what better way to educate future art patrons than to give them good art to look at, rather a food court or a big stage music event?
Time to close. Thank you Erin for a well run art fair. I hope to exhibit with you again next summer. To art fair directors elsewhere, please take a good hard look at your events. Are you running a carnival, or an art fair? Maybe next year, pare down the size of that food court. Remove that lottery wheel corporate sponsor. Yay for sponsoring a Habitat For Humanity House build, but do it where it belongs. Think about it. And thanks for reading.
KCooper
The Sleep Inn on Preston Hwy is offering a discounted rate for artists $59.00 a night. They are sold out for Wed. but have 25 rooms left for Thur, Fri & Sat. If you are interested call Judy Osborne she is the sales director at the hotel and is giving us this rate, her number is 502-368-9597 she is in Mon-Fri and she'll book you directly, or contact her through e-mail @ josborne@hamisterhospitality.com All the hotels in the area are either sold out or close to it so take advantage of this offer quickly as it's almost sold out too.
This was my first time doing this Art Festival. From the start with detailed advance information and active advertising I felt that it would be a terrifically well-organized event. My initial reaction proved to be true.
The event is held in downtown Salt Lake City on the narrow one-way streets within an outdoor, high-end mall (The Gateway). Each artist was assigned a load-in time, given 15 minutes to off-load their booth materials and artwork. A booth-sitter showed up at about the 10-minute point and watched everything while the artist parked his/her car. For those of us with cars, parking was less than 2 blocks away in an attended lot for which we were provided an all-day pass. For artists with trailers, parking was in a large dirt lot about 3-4 blocks away.
The festival day dawned in the 80s and rapidly shot up to over 100. There were a reasonable number of pedestrians who showed interest in the art between the 10 am start and 6 pm; however the heat tended to encourage them to move to indoor film festival and other cooler venues (outdoor stage near misting fountain). So, sales didn't pick-up until the sun was low in the sky and everyone felt cooler. Even in the heat of the day, when no one felt like trying on my jewelry or my neighbor's fiber art, I had great interest in picking up my printed schedule for identifying future "cooler" days--a number of those folks showed up a week later at another Sat. venue and bought items.
During this HOT day, volunteers strolled the venue with cold water for the artists. As soon as I hung my (provided) "Booth-sitter Needed" sign, a volunteer would materialize so I could take a break in the air-conditioned VIP (artists and volunteers) room. Water and snacks were provided there as well as a convenient restroom.
At the end of the festival (8 pm), an orderly "evacuation" plan was staged. We were only allowed to bring our car in to load up as the artist a specific number of booths "upstream" (relative to one-way direction) left.
Thoughtful anticipation of artists' needs showed from start to finish in this festival.
BTW, I 'm a jewelry artist, designing with natural materials--wire-wrapped pendants, gemstones, pearls, and wood used in necklaces and bracelets. I make unique designs--lots of time spent selecting materials and ordering beads to make the piece. Some of you would call me a "stringer" but I consider that a term for those crafters who buy beads and string them as is. I am an artist--but that's for another discussion, not this review.
