This is a wonderful resource for archival framing advice for my 2D artist peeps. There are videos, as well as photos and text to assist you in properly framing your projects. Metroframe also designed the wonderful frame profile for my architectural paintings on panels.              

http://www.metroframe.com/framing-advice/

Let's reward the people who wrote the best content on ArtFairInsiders.com in May.

1. "Top Ten Lessons Learned from our First Show or Learning to Swim By Jumping in the Pool", John Smith, May 8
2. "2nd Annual Dewey Beach ArtsFest - The Rain Date May 12, 2013", Mark V. Turner, May 15
3. "Broad Ripple Review," Margaret Luttrell, May 22
4. "Musings from Mulvane .. in Topeka, KS", Brian Berkun, June 2

Also, many people keep this site helpful and the rewards are few. Let's reward some of the people who give so generously of their time. Who has been especially helpful to you this month? They will receive a fabulous Red Dot on their profile picture.

Choose 2:

1. Maryllis Wolfgang
2. Mark V. Turner
3. Bill McLauchlan
4. Kay Cummings
5. Pat Falk
6. Carrie Jacobson
7. John Smith
8. Brian Billings
9. Chris Pawlik

Many thanks to them specifically and to all the rest of you who make this site useful to so many.

Click here to take survey

Court the Arts, Castle Rock, Colorado is a new show established this year by the Greater  Castle Rock Art Guild.  In part, the show was established because of dissatisfaction and expense of the September show produced by the Chamber of Commerce.  I won’t go into everything I heard about the latter except “every horror story you hear is true”.   I normally do not do first time shows but I was personally invited and I wanted to support a local event.  Also, I had trim to do a June show that was needed on my schedule.  The guild has also opened a gallery on Wilcox Street which has a classroom for workshops.  

Castle Rock is the County Seat for Douglas County, which is often cited as one of the wealthiest counties in the US.  It also has one of the country’s highest per capita horse ownerships (horses go with money).  Other than government, the town provides the usual service businesses to a wealthy suburban bedroom community that commutes to Denver or Colorado Springs.  Much of the residential property is rural.  The town is in the I-25 Corridor about midway between Denver and Colorado Springs.

The show was held on the Court House lawn which is on the main street through town providing good visibility to street traffic.  Booth fees were $100 but mine, being late, was $175.  Set up and take down were easy but you did have to dolly on sidewalks from your site to parking.  I don’t think anyone had to dolly farther than about ½  block and there were wheelchair slopes on the curbs. Set up started Friday afternoon at 4:00 which is a little late but employees had to leave the Court House.  The show ran from 10:00am the 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9.  From my studio, the show was about 15 miles away or a 20 minute commute on a rural highway.  Sunday morning was spectacular with clear blue sky and snowcapped peaks  of the Front Range from Longs Peak to the north and Pikes Peak to the south; about half of Colorado.  Thunderstorms were forecast for Friday afternoon, but they blew through around 2:00-3:00 before set up.  Saturday was in the 80’s except when cloud cover came over and then it was a bit chilly.  Sunday was clear and in the 80’s.

There was a good selection of art but it was heavy on the painting side reflecting guild membership I believe.  The crowd was small (fewer than 2000) but they were spending money.   Some artists did not do well, yet I did see some large pieces of wall art going out to cars.  I did not make the $2K minimum for my rule of returning, but our expenses were nil and proximity to home are the factors leading to wanting to do this one again.  My sales were in the $1-$1.5K range, and the average sale was $76.  A custom saddle client from twenty years ago bought a $235 belt.  I also made a lot of contacts with locals for gun leathers, special order work and saddle repairs.  All of this stuff materializes throughout the year after shows are over

THE FUN STUFF:  My booth faced Wilcox Street, the main street through town.  Castle Rock, Franktown, Sedalia  and Palmer Lake are  watering holes for bikers from Denver on their weekend rides (doctors and lawyers playing bad boys) so we saw lots of EXPESIVE Harleys and custom bikes with lots of custom paint and chrome.  There were lots of clubs showing their colors and a few hard core guys with beards flowing back over their shoulders.  Next were the restored vintage car guys and street rods cruising town.  Finally the retirees in their BMW, Audi, Jag, Porsche et. al. convertibles with the tops down plus or minus trophy wives.  The good looking tattooed biker gal with the long blond ponytail who waved at this old coot, made my day. LOL. Nuts and bolts of the show are in Art Show Reviews on this site.

Photos:  Castle Rock butte and new Veterans Memorial

                 Wilcox Street  booths, mine is in the shade

                 Court House booths

I just posted a new painting - Lavender on a Blue Chair. I came across a similar photo on-line and decided to paint my own version of it. You might like to purchase a mug with this image from Zazzle

This is my first year doing outdoor venue shows, and I have about 10 I am doing this summer. I've been pretty excited thus far, and have had to go through quite a bit of horrific weather for the first 3 shows I had been in, but still managed to make booth and over at each of those despite the bad weather. I was in hinsdale the weekend though, and finally lucked out because there was beautiful weather. HOWEVER... even though the weather was beautiful, the people were not in the buying mood, or at least not on my end of the pond.

I was told that this show would have a lot of buyers, and I would do amazing since I do abstract oil paintings. I was actually told at a show before this one that I might want to up my prices because people in hinsdale have a lot of money and would think my work was too cheap and not want to buy it on principal. I took that advice with a grain of salt, but upped them just a little bit, nothing outrageous. I was also told that this was an artsy town with a lot of money to spend, big homes (million dollars +) and an appreciation for local artists.

The traffic was fair to poor, the people were seemed as though they were just taking an afternoon walk, not even looking in the tents to see what there was, OR bee-lining it to jewelry booths only, or photography booths only, and no looking at anything else, which I've come to find pretty normal at most shows, but the lack of engaging in conversation with anyone is what threw me for a loop. I also only saw one volunteer for the entire two days I was there. The girl brought water around one time each full day. (not that this is the volunteer's fault, she's just doing what she is told). I didn't even meet the person who ran the event until halfway through the second day, and it was a quick, hellothankyoubye. Very nice woman, understandably busy, but not what I was expecting really.

I have reasonably priced work ranging from $100-$1,000, the $1,000 being a 4'x5'x1.5" original oil painting, and I had some people look at my prices (from the outside of my booth) make faces then smile at me, and continue on. This is always disappointing, pricing I have come to find is the hardest part of this whole deal, and unfortunately people do not understand. I am all about original work, the buying is the only person who has that piece of art, and that is it, no prints, no remakes, all by hand. To me, that is fine art, that is what the people should be paying for. I barely saw anyone leaving with anything at all come to think of it except for maybe a little bag of jewelry every 50 people?

I was overall just very disappointed, and felt the trip was a complete waste of time. With amazing weather, and slow traffic, it was a bit mind boggling. The other artists around me were great, very nice, all said were kind of in the same boat of shock to the lack of people buying or even being there period.

Everyone I talked to was ready to pack up and leave halfway through the second day, and all of the artists were lined up to pull their cars in at exactly 5pm, but were stuck waiting for the Rotary Club to pack up and leave before the artists could even get their cars into the spots by the booths, completely rude and ridiculous and unorganized. And I've heard some artists tell me they had to move before we could get in there, but honestly, I walked all the way down there from my end to help my car get through, and they did not need to move first, the could have let the artists in before packing up, there was plenty of room before they got their stuff together. Needless to say, I didn't sell a thing, not a single thing, which to me was baffling.

I understand that I am a baby at this art show thing, but to leave completely empty handed when I had taken off work this weekend to make money was just not what I was wanting to have happen. I do not recommend this show to anyone who has original one of a kind work and does not live within the chicago area, it is just too much of a crapshoot to make it worth it, and I have traveled 7 hours away to bumble oklahoma and somehow still made booth and above at a much smaller show, so this, was just sad.

I'll keep my chin up though, there is always another show, another weekend, this one just wasn't my time. :/

I preface this review by saying that I absolutely love doing Paragon shows...  I have a lot of respect for Bill as a director and appreciate what he was trying to do for New Jersey by offering a free booth space to all the artists who got juried in this year.  I've done 4 other Paragon shows since last year and my average sales is over $3000 at each show, so needless to say I went into this weekend with high expectations.  Sadly they were not to come to fruition.  I wasnt even going to do the show being a 10.5 hour drive for me and I've never done a festival in Jersey before, but I was lured in with the free booth space and thought I would give it a shot.  Sales-wise, this was my worst show yet.  In fact, I came very close to zeroing out for the weekend!

Friday started off badly with Tropical Storm Andrea hitting the east coast hard.  Flooding and horrible traffic caused my GPS to divert us off the highway in eastern PA and we ended up in downtown Philly, in torrential rain, on a Friday night, towing a trailer through the roundabouts.  A road closure even took us further off the beaten path and into some sort of concert venue where we had to talk our way out of having to pay for parking to get through and back to the main road.  I think the trailer should have made it obvious enough that we were not there for a concert... anyway, after an additional 1.5 hours we made it back to the highway and yet another toll road (over $95 just on toll roads this weekend!). 

Bill had sent out an email earlier in the day that there might be a break in the rain from 4-8p and setup would be available at that time but warning it would still be very windy.  After all our diversions, we arrived much too late to even attempt to set up, which I was just fine with as the weather had taken another toll for the worse and was causing mass flooding again.  We opted to wake up at 3:30am and set up super early. 

We arrived at the festival location at 5am.  Unlike most Paragon shows, this one is in a big field, which unfortunately was still incredibly flooded from the night before.  Literally giant pools of water were all over, making it impossible to drive up (like we were supposed to) or to even dolly in so we had to carry everything.  The booths seemed rather oddly spaced out and didnt follow a great order (although almost everyone got a corner).  One tent had blown over during the night and was completely upside down.  There were quite a few empty spaces where artists apparantly decided not to come due to the weather.  We laid out as many tarps as possible, set up all our tables, and sacrificed a couple extra propanels in water to have places to lay out the paintings.  Surprisingly we were still able to set up everything in about 4 hours and were ready to sell!  Our booth had a large puddle at the front but we were one of the luckier ones.  One artist had so much water in front of her booth that it was impossible for people to get into it.  She did an amazing job though with finding wood planks down by the beach and created her own boardwalk in front of her tent.  I should have taken a picture.  It was absolutely ingenious and looked beautiful!

And then we waited.  And we waited.  And we waited.... all day.  Where were the people?  We waited in rain, we waited in wind, we waited in a tiny sun.  People just didnt come.  There were some, and some were carrying good sized packages, but there sure werent many.  I could wait 5-10 minutes sometimes before even one person would walk by my booth.  The people who did come sure werent interested in my more modern paintings.  The only work I really saw selling were landscape photographs of LBI beach, other traditional beach/ocean related art, and silk scarves patrons made themselves (thats another story... I'm not sure if scarves patrons themselves make should be allowed in a fine art festival).  The silk scarf guy had patrons surrounding his booth all day watching others make scarves and waiting in line to make their own.  The majority of us just sat there.  It was my first day to ever zero out.  The fiber artist behind me zeroed out.  The people on both sides of them also zeroed out.  The photographer next to me made one sale.  The wooden instrument artist across from me also zeroed out.  After all day in bleak weather, 13 hours in soaked and ruined shoes, and no sales I was thoroughly disappointed and regretting my decision to try out the show.  However after a good meal at Red Lobster and a tall beer, I was able to put on a more positive attitude and forced myself to believe good things were in store for Sunday.

Sunday the weather was much better.  Beautiful sun and low 80s.  If for nothing else, it would be good for tanning.  I made one $300 sale early and so did my neighbors behind me and across from me, so we were all thinking today would be a vindicating day!  A furniture maker who made beautiful chairs sold a $2000 piece.  The crowds were good in the morning and there was decent buying energy, but very soon the crowds died down and energy went back to a zero.  Again, the only work I saw being bought was very traditional beach related art.  Even the "beach art" that was more modern wasnt selling.  There was one booth that I thought was really great with found objects they used to create ocean animals, like helmets for sea turtles shells, and driftwood for bird nests.  It was really unique and ingenous, but I didnt see much leave their booth.  I guess if you have traditional beach art then it might be a good venue to try, but otherwise it seemed like a bust for most people.  In the last hour, I managed to pull out one good $600 sale, which after expenses brought my profit to just over $200.  So I didnt loose money on the show, but I sure did come scary close.  If I'd had to pay for the booth fee I certainly would have.  I think the people on all sides of me ended up loosing money.  Really disappointing as I said, I love Paragon shows and I've never done a bad show with them before.  First for everything I guess.  I'm just glad it wasnt my first loss!  It sure did come close!

Any suggestions on how best to water proof my canopy?  Favorite products, application methods, any advice is appreciated!

I had a show in Salina, KS this weekend. Friday night, I was t-boned in the driver's side front by a drunk driver, though below legal limit, so he was not arrested. I was on a main road and he did not even stop at the cross street stop sign before plowing right into me full speed. How does one miss seeing a large white van with blue stripes running down it!? My driver’s side front suspension needs to be placed and door repaired or replaced. Frame appears to fine according to wrecker mechanic. Will find out more today. I am praying insurance will not total it out since it is '97, but it is highly customized, so not easily replaced especially on the road. I only suffered severe whiplash since I was in a large van and hit by a small sedan. His car is totaled. Thankfully, I was at a well-run caring community show (Smoky Hill River Festival) that has helped me store my artwork until things get sorted out. The director actually saw my van on the wrecker Friday night.

I have not been a car accident in 22 years back in college, so I am unfamiliar will what I should do, especially since this will affect my business. I was in a dull haze most of the weekend, so my sales were not great, while most others were. I could not communicate well at all especially on Saturday. The whiplash was worse on Sunday. I could not lift my right arm up very far. I am seeing a doctor today for it. I will be on the road until late October. My van/home is out of commission for an unspecified amount of time (will find out more on that today). I have a full schedule with only a couple weekends off this summer.  My next show is in South Bend, IN, then Columbus, OH, and then Chicago. Right after that, I fly home for 1.5 weeks. How do I determine lost wages for a job that fluctuates so much? What records do I keep? Do I contact a lawyer or just let insurance handle it (I have USAA with comprehensive and his is Nationwide)? Should I rent a van to do my next two shows then drive the 12 hours back? I stay in South Bend as a home base for most of the rest of the summer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Our first show of the year was a bomb. Not "da bomb", but a stink bomb, so we were really hoping that the Allentown Art Festival here in Buffalo would make up for it. Since we live in the neighborhood, it is way too easy to do and one tends to be more forgiving of so-so sales when one can bike home to walk the dogs in the middle of the day. 

Our assigned spot had a small parking lot right behind us, so we wanted to be up early to make sure we had a spot there. At 5:30, I jumped/staggered out of bed and made my way downstairs. Our big dog, Quincy, leapt up and raced me down which was unusual, but when he galloped to the couch and began to kiss Russell's face  I realized Russ must have had a restless night and come downstairs to watch TV.

"So, there you are" I said as I approached the couch, then, as I got closer "You're not Russell"

I didn't panic at first. We live in in the neighborhood where a big art festival was happening and it would not have been unusual for my guy to invite random artists to crash at our house. I went upstairs and asked him who was sleeping on the couch, his eyes popped wide and he said "Someone's sleeping on the couch?" I told him he needed to put his pants on and get downstairs.

Brave me waited halfway down the stairs, cell phone in hand, while Russ turned on some lights and stared down ant the sleeping guy. When he started nudging him and asking, "Who are you? hey, wake up, who are you" I got nervous. The guy eventually came around and slurred "I'm Kevin". Russ asked "Do I know you?" and the guy said that sure we knew him and when Russ advised him otherwise, brave me on the stairs with the cell phone called down "I have the phone in my hand and I am calling the cops if you don't leave this minute!"

He shuffled off to the kitchen to put his shoes on and started to apologize and which point I shook my big scary iPhone at him, advising him that I was sure he was sorry but we did not know him and he had to leave right now. I was amused inside that he was polite enough to shuck his shoes at the door.

Apparently, this lanky 20 something kid from the suburbs had been partying during the night and friends directed him to their house to sleep it off instead of driving and he got the wrong house and we had neglected the lock up during the pre show craziness.

"Kevin" became the punchline of the weekend. "where's the bag of bungee cords?" Kevin borrowed them. "I'm going to bike home and walk Quincy" Ask Kevin to do it. "Who got Best of Show?" Kevin for Confused Media. And on and on.

The show turned out to be decent for us, thanks to a beautiful, sunny Sunday.  Allentown is a huge show that spawned an adjacent non-juried show and more yard sales than you can count. Lots of competition for that mythical "20 dollar bill". 

Now I just need to rest my weary bones and train Quincy how to be a watch dog. Maybe Kevin can do it.

Yay! Had my biggest sales day ever at the Crocker Park Fine Art Fair and my highest total in my year and a half of art fairs. I know my art fair career is short but I had a really good show. I had my first $1000 day!

So, thus far my experiment into getting into bigger shows is encouraging. Maybe it was being outside the Baby Gap, maybe it was the kids who brought their parents into the booth or maybe people like my minifigure photographs. I had a lot of compliments and chuckles by those viewing my minifigure photos. But my traditional (non-minifigure shots) sold too. So, I feel validated as an artist.Well, from this weekend at least...

But my experiment will continue this year as I attend Crosby, West Shore (Ludington, MI), Wyandotte, Univ. of Toledo Alumni Show (yes, I am a Rocket alum) and Hyde Park. We will see the results of these fairs too and then decide if shows like the Ann Arbor Art Fairs or Plymouth's Art in the Park are right for me. Just starting out but what a weekend!

Sorry for the delay posting this. As soon as we returned from Roanoke and spent Monday making sure all of our equipment was clean and dry, I had to leave for a three day research conference in Athens, Georgia. Lets see, a phenomenological research conference or an art festival. Which do you think was more fun? Anyway here is the roadie’s review of our second show, the Taubman Sidewalk Art Show from June 1st and 2nd in Roanoke, Virginia.  

If one of you starts attaching sidewalls while the other is still attaching the weights...well... do you remember the parasail story from our first show. Fortunately, although the buildings around us helped serve as a wind tunnel, the wind was not as strong as our first show and Sherry was able to keep her feet on the ground. Of course there immediately ensued some strong philosophical disagreement over the need to attach weights before the sidewalls. I am planning to ask my MacGyver in-laws to help me assemble some wire cables that will allow for quicker attachment of the tent weights. Give them a roll of duct tape and they will build you the space shuttle.

Thanks to the arrival of the camper top for our truck, navigating downtown streets without a trailer, loading, unloading and storing the equipment was much easier. Even though we had cut down the amount of stuff (from 5 pages to 4 pages). We still had too much. That being said our setup time was shortened to a combined 3 1/2 to 4 hours between Friday night and Saturday morning. Since we were able to set up the tent, display panels, and lighting Friday night, we originally were in no rush Saturday morning hanging the art. Then people started coming early to see the art, creating a new sense of urgency. The lesson learned is just because the show may not officially start until 10:00 or 11:00 am, it behooves you to be ready to go much earlier.

We are beginning to feel like Joe Btfsplk from the Lil Abner Comic strip. After enduring and surviving very difficult, rainy weather in Fernandina Beach, Florida a few weeks back, we lost most of Sunday in Roanoke, Virginia to series of storms that moved in to the area. The good news, our equipment held up well. One minor tent leak in the middle of the tent that only landed on us while we were taking things down. One more coating of seam sealer should do the trick. A couple of the miniature paintings that were on the bottom shelf became wet from rain splashing up off the pavement from under the tent during the downpour. We will know not to use that shelf during downpours.

Do not assume that storing things under a building canopy will keep them dry. Do you know that place where the canopy connects to the building. You know, that place that provides that little opening for rain to run down the building all over the stuff stored below. Well, we now know about that too. Fortunately, our containers had solid waterproof lids that kept nearly everything inside dry. Things could have been much worse.

If you are fortunate enough on the first day to secure a good parking place in your assigned loading and unloading area,  be prepared to return to that spot very early the next morning, if you hope to park there again. Loading and unloading zones appear to be more of a suggestion on the last day of a show.

Again we were fortunate to have two art show veterans next to and across from us. They were very complimentary of Sherry’s work and our set up. The comment was made that our setup looked like we had been doing shows for ten years. Of course they missed the philosophical disagreement regarding sidewalls and tent weights before their arrival. When one of the artists made the comment to Sherry at how organized I was. She could only stare incredulously. 

Our 12 V electrical system did very well. I did charge the batteries Saturday night, but this proved to be unnecessary. Running 9 LED lights and two fans used very little of our available power. AFIer Leo Charette gave me some great advice on how to use indirect lighting. I should be able to incorporate his suggestions into our lighting system. A few artists came down to check out our electrical system.

The fans increasing the comfort level in your booth is a two edged swords when people happen to bump into old friends and decide to have a reunion in your booth, preventing people who may want to...uhhhh...maybe buy some art from getting into the booth.   A 125 pound Great Pyrenees dog might just lie down in the center of your booth and decide this is a very comfortable place to be, soon to be joined by two little boys sitting with him on the ground and playing with their toy cars and trucks. This is not a problem unless you are hoping to...uhhhh...sell some art. Actually, the dog was hilarious. I was trying to get a clear picture to post with the caption “another satisfied customer”.

I was impressed with the Taubman Museum of Art, their staff, and the volunteers. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and considerate of the artists. Our thanks to them for making our first visit to Roanoke enjoyable. There were many very talented artists participating in the show. Sherry was impressed with many of the artists. Commercially, we did not have a successful show, but two of the artists near us did well. One was selling originals and prints of pen and ink drawings, and watercolors, the other was selling beach and sea themed ceramics. The prints were selling and the ceramics were flying off the shelf. I did not see very many original paintings leave for new homes, although we were in the next to last booth, so perhaps some of the other painters had a few sales. There were some sale attendees moving through the tents taking notes. I believe there were a sales lost due to the bad weather moving in. 

AFIers are real people. It was great to met AFIer Leo Charette in person. He graciously took the time to come down to our booth and provided some great feedback. I found out after the fact that Alison Thomas was there, so we did not get to meet her. However, we did come across our first real jerk of an artist. He ended up making access difficult for many people with his vehicle and trailer during setup. There were more than a few folks annoyed with him. He had very little to say to me, when I tried to be friendly. Later, while I was away on walkabout, he went out of his way to insult Sherry when she tried to be friendly. We try to be polite, friendly and helpful to everyone, apparently this was a problem for him. I have reason to believe Karma caught up with him on Sunday when someone opened a gate in front of which he had stored either glass or ceramics. The crash we heard could not have been good.

So after two shows we have learned much, and have been provided with much positive feedback on Sherry’s work and our display. I was teasing Sherry that she appears to be the artist’s artist. I believe I will be able to cut another hour off of our setup time. However as someone else has pointed out, you cannot spend oohs and ahhs. The bad news for us is, we are not set up to do any more shows in June, July, or August. We have applied to several shows in September, October, and November. Sherry is participating in a Plein Air Workshop this weekend in Nashville, and we will be in Ireland for 19 days (July 23-August 8) where Sherry will be participating in workshops and paint-outs at Art in the Open, a plein air festival based in and around Wexford on the southeast coast (Yes, I get to carry the suitcases). We had hoped to do one more show before our trip to Ireland, but this does not appear to be in the cards. So now I do not have much of reason to continue stalling on the dissertation.

September 7 & 8      

Mundelein, Illinois 

Kracklaure Park

What to expect: Great turnout, Free breakfast, purchase awards (around $1,000),      judge's awards (4 awards totaling $475), village purchase ($500), emerging artist award ($500). Our volunteers are great, we do everything possible to make it a nice  experience for our artists.  Most artists come back.  We have received  excellent feedback from our end of show survey.

• drive in set-up, help setting up booth
• free breakfast and water 
• booth sitting
• easy parking
• Mundelein police security Saturday night

The demographics: The local economy average income is around $91,000, very diverse community, lots of community spirit and support.

Sponsor partners:  McDonalds is our major sponsor with a lot of support from individual businesses in Mundelein.   

For more information: www.mundeleinartsfestival.com or email Mundelein Community Connection at mundeleincc@tds.net or call (847)970-9235

Download application: www.mundeleinartsfestival.com  

or contact Christa Lawrence at: christa.lawrence@mac.com

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

Find even more art fairs looking for artists: www.CallsforArtists.com

Norfolk, Virginia - Hurry, this Plein Air opportunity organized by artist Karen Kinser with $8000 in awards wants you now!

Saturday morning, what is a person to do? Time for an art fair fix.

Maple & Main Art Fair, Sylvania, OH, May 31 & June 1

About a 2 hour drive down the toll road delivers me onto one of those small town main streets that you see in the movies. I travel often to Los Angeles to visit my kids so whenever I find myself in a town like Sylvania I think "who even knows that these places are still here in our country?" Yes, artists know because we get to many idyllic places: think Madison (IN & WI), Lafayette (IN & LA), Columbia  (SC & MO), Cedar Key (FL), Northhampton (MA), Cape May (NJ), Estes Park (CO), etc. But people who are in the midst of large cities don't have this sense of discovery and renewal that artists encounter many weekends throughout the year. Another perk of our business, being in the heart of America.

Maple & Main is an art fair sponsored by the Sylvania Arts Commission and the Sylvania Chamber of Commerce. Frankly, I'm so used to seeing empty storefronts in the towns of the upper Midwest that it is a thrill to walk down a street with nice restaurants, high end clothing shops, a fine gallery (Hudson Art Gallery), no chain stores in a historic district that the trip was worth it just for that. 

This was the second year for the show and there were approximately 70 artists. Someone had done their homework because it had all the artists on the main drag with a stage at one end and sponsors and food tents on the side streets. Just what an artist wants and what makes a show work. 

Reported to me by participants:

• easy drive up to load in and out
• hotel a block away with easy parking and a quick walk to the booth
• streets cleared and ready for set up
• at early morning check in everyone received a breakfast bag with a bagel, etc.
• plentiful volunteers

There were heavy rains (maybe 5") the night before so people were glad they had not set up on Friday night.

A few AFI members:

Kathy Funderberg                                                and Lou Ann Frey who does cool sgraffito glass

photographer Scott Pakulski                                         & his cool fan...

Although many of the artists were pretty local there were folks from Virginia and Tennessee, etc. 

On Saturday night they have a gala ticketed affair to honor a prominent artist from the region, drawing people late in the day to visit the show prior to the event. 

Easy to do, inexpensive, worth keeping an eye on for next year?

As a gardener I was fascinated by this shrub. Anyone know what it is?

Woo hoo! Don't you just love it when you see the Wall Street Journal with a headline like this:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel Declares Old Town Triangle Art Fair Weekend Throughout Chicago

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - June 05, 2013) - Summer has arrived in Chicago! To celebrate, the Old Town Triangle Association is excited to announce that Mayor Emanuel and the City Council have officially declared June 8th & 9th, 2013 as the "Old Town Triangle Art Fair Weekend" throughout Chicago. We hope our fellow Chicagoans will show their support next weekend and attend the unmistakable Old Town Art Fair, a historic, non-profit, volunteer-led event that supports community charities and the preservation of Chicago's historic Old Town Triangle.

We participated in the Old Town Art Fair for 15 years. In our second year of doing art fairs my husband, photographer Norm Darwish, juried for the show and got it! We had no idea about the legend behind the show but it quickly became a favorite and the show still holds our two day record for sales. 

The first year we did the show the TV weather person introduced the weekend weather forecast with the words, "it's going to be a great weekend for the Old Town Art Fair", and we knew in Chicago we were ready for something good.

Congrats to the Old Town media people for getting this article into the WSJ. Best wishes to everyone this weekend. Many of our members will be there, including the poster child Helen Gotlib.

The rest of the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130605-908875.html

Anyone else going to be there?

Hello fellow artists! I thought after 4 years in the art show "circuit" I have enough experience to write a review of some shows I'm doing this year. :-) 

I tried to find some information on the Washington Square Park show in NYC before I went and I wasn't able to find anything recent so I figured I should share my experience with the show this year.  

First, it was an easy choice to do this show for me, I'm a native NYC girl that now lives in Columbus, OH. For me, this was an excuse to go home for the long weekend and possibly make some money doing it. I stayed with friends and family so no hotel bills, just gas from OH and 10 hours of travel.

Sadly, Saturday (May 25th) was a wash out, they were expecting 35mph gale force winds so the suggested no one set up.  Finding out this information was a bit tricky. Since it was "canceled" per say, there was no information booth set up. I found another artist wondering around looking for the booth as well and working together we figured out you need to check in on your block. Each block had a monitor that takes care of the artists on their block the whole show. Cool! :-)  Find him, get my packet, good to go. Some people decided to risk it and set up, but if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all, so I'm not chancing it!

Sunday & Monday were beautiful! Thank the Gods for that! I had a spot right at the start of the show on Schwartz Ave, in the "courtyard" of NYU. Great area, lots of room, picnic tables and benches. I had read that you can't have a tent, but that's not true. Just let them know you do have a tent and the coordinators will make sure you have a spot that fits one. There were a lot of painters and photographers. Being a jeweler I'm used to being one of 50+, but this is definitely a more painters heavy show.  I had no problem with the locals, but then again, I kinda AM one. Most seemed excited to see the show and a few told me they look forward to it every year.   It was a very fun show to do, I met some great people!  It did suck having to set up and breakdown everyday.  The show started at noon. I checked in at about 10:00, I was able to park pretty close to my spot on 3rd street which was very nice. We were allowed to start setting up at 10 (I had read that you weren't allowed till 11, and that wasn't the case). Our mentor checked up on us though out the day to see if we are OK and if we needed anything.  Sales were great! Lots of people of course, it's Washington Square Park on Memorial Day weekend!

I will certainly do the Fall show as well. Again, I have free room and board so the costs are much lower for me then someone having to travel into NYC. Also I know the city well which is a big help. I can see someone coming from a small town in the mid-west not knowing a thing about NYC being very overwhelmed. If you go, grab a local or email me! :-)

I hope this helps shed some light on the show!

Our 4th Birthday was our best with a record number of pledges and wonderful prizes for all of you who support our mission to enable artists to earn a living at the nation's art fairs. Your pledge really makes a difference. Not only was the response great - the personal messages to me about how helpful our websites have been for you was a wonderful reward. Thank you.

The prizewinners were thrilled, especially the top winner Carol Wilson who won the TrimLine Canopy. Carol promises to send us a picture of the TrimLine at work and promises to "love that tent like a baby."

If you didn't win one of the 80+ prizes we have already announced, please visit our prize page to see if there is something you would like. Let me know asap (info@artfaircalendar.com) and it will be yours. 

Everyone who contributed will have our special Award image added to their page here on ArtFairInsiders.com in recognition of their special status in our community. In addition they all win our AFI red bumper sticker for their art fair vehicle. Stick this on your bumper and everyone will know you are headed to an art fair and follow you there!

If your name is listed below please email me your mailing address so we can send the Red Dots out to you asap! Click here: info@artfaircalendar.com now.

Who do we thank?

Friends: Terri Anderson, Archie Vandermast, Susan Cherry, Devin 

Johnson, Sandy Accuosti, Brian Billings, John Kennington

Supporters: Stefan Duncan, Layl McDill, Weldon Lee, Jeff Goodwin, Renee Crum, Delpfine Welch, Suzanne Bellows, Lanora Hartway (for the 4th time!), Kay Cummins, Victoria Heisler, Brian Berkun, Melanie Cech, Robert Johnson, Clee Wilson, Jane Meade, Linda Mitchell, Lisa Hilquist, Patricia Plasko, Br. Xavier Pankovits, Jin Powell, Joel Frader, Tom McGurn, Alison Fox, Stephen McCrea, Evan Reinheimer and Ernest Brown

Gary Willcock, Judith Peterson, Bonnie Eastwood, Jacqueline Gomez, Suzanne Ens, Christine Noah-Cooper, Pat Falk, Violet Deemer, Heidi Sonsteby, Lindsay Field, Phyllis Minnery, James Curry, Carol at River's Edge Weaving Studio, Mari Quick, Walden's Ridge Gallery, North Shore Michigan, Robin Rebeck, Jen Ward, Megan Horan, Jeff Owen and Joyce Wathen

Miguel Wong, Scott Pakulski, Don Lake (4 years in a row for Don), Nancy Kennedy and Audrey Warren, Kale Van Leeuwen, Audrey Warren, Monika Green, Pat Finney (4th time!), Jean Block, Chris Mason, Carla Nee, Jim Norton, John McHale, Chris Jones, Dick Dahlstrom, Marie DesJardins-Grussing, Lynn Fisher, Jim McCollum, Weldon Lee, Rich Horner, Ernest Brown, Laurie Leonard, Artwear Design, Tara Dalga and our good friend, Colin Murray

Brett Hall, Stephen Cebula, Greer Peters, Linda McAdams, Lorrie Dallek, Beth Tivol, Stephanie Gutzman, Ruthie Schulz, Business Brainwave Training, Carrie Zippull, Chuck Bruce, Mary Gwyneth, Ellen Schneider, Frederick Swarr, Karen Sconyers, Mike Leedom, Jackie Gedrose, Paula Grill, Kelly Bort, Karen O'Lone-Hahn, Jan Tunnell, Kate Qualley Peterson, Susan Thornton, Barb Machulis, Greentree Creations, Kind Designs, Liza Scheffer, Clark Howard, Margie Luttrell, Britt Hallowell, Paul Flack, Darien Bogart, Dave Hinde, Alison Thomas, Rose Duffy, Alexis Barbeau, Snazzy Beads, Christine Rodriguez, Peggy Lonsway, Tamra Morris, Deborah Connolly, Teresa Howes, Susan lambert, Jacqueline Bradley, Michelle Bende, Dale Yakaites, Alan Anderson, Finny Lazarus, Mary Staby, Roberta Starbird, Ann Light and Bobby Harr

Sherry Curtis, Michael Tingley, J. Ivory, Jay Brill, Muffy Young, Lois Anderson, Marjorie Camelet, Teresa Haag, Beth Keenan, Carol Joy Shannon, Anne Von Ehr, Renee Snell, Tim Longwell, Jennie Viers, Julia Friis, Amy Miller, Kristi Kelly, Candyce Glaze, Beth @ Studio42, Dina Leona, Dever Originals, Wayne Hayden, Connie Thatcher, Claire Ruf, Barbara Bisker, Judy Zeddies, Kathleen Alpert, Roxanna Santoro, Jacquelyn Zajac and Barry Bernstein

Harrison Otalor, Tamara Kelly, Lisa Berry, Pat Sorbini, Kaleidovisions, Rhonda Grover, Andrew Shea, Noma Freeman, Pepper Run Studio, Angela Howard, Kathryn Ottman, Joyce McAdams, K.S. Funderburg, S. William Bishop, Jerry Maschinot, Donna Wallace, Nancy Basinski, Elizabeth Williams, James Parker, Laurie Hein, Darren Plante, Susan Parry and John Leben, Marianne Shepardson, Ann Fee and Bill Moore

Patrons: Carol S. Miller, Tonya Hardy, Dean Myton, Carol Papay, Patricia DeMaria, Joanna McCoy, Stacy & Bill McLauchlan, Pat Falk, Melanie Rolfes Leonard, Vic Barr, Michael Hamilton, Vicki Ryer & James Bird, Greg Little, Carrie Jacobson, Barbara Berney, Lucy Clark, Gerry Cousins and Ginny Herzog, Francine Schwartz, Stephen Schubert, Megan Martin, Margaret Park, Ilisa Millermoon and Greg Sobanski, Susan Kubira, Jenny Henley and Douglas Farrar

Angels: Elle Heiligenstein, Richard Sherer, Ralph Sharp, Candiss Cole, Keith Wilkie and Jim Cryan 

The Prize Donors:

Luke Block at Flourish.com, Howard Alan at Howard Alan Events, Amy Amdur at Amdur Productions, Lida Arthaud of Pandache Scarves, Jonathan at ArtisanScents.com, Miriam Ball at ACTIns.com, Leslie Belcher of accessoreez.com, Zach Bennett at ArtsyHome.com, Larry Berman at BermanGraphics.com, Melanie Cech at melaniecechglass.com, Lucy Clark at Lucyclarkpottery.com and Julie Cochrane at festivalnet.com.

Jay Daniels of icthuspens.com, Carolyn Edlund  from artsbusinessinstitute.com, Mary Ann Einarson from ChangeofArt.com, Patrick Flaherty from the Indianapolis Art Center, Randall Fox and Patrick Dennis at AFFPS.com, Jennifer Harris at voodoo-vixen.com, Rich Horner from handturnedfountainpens.com, Bill Kinney at paragonartfest.com, Ernie Kleven, Carolyn Landis, carolynlandisphotographs.net, Greg Lawler at the Art Fair Sourcebook, Katalin Luczay, www.seascapesandlandscapes.com, Layl McDill from claysquared.com and Bill Merritt, ozarklake.net.

Carol Miller, carolsmillerhandbags.com; Colin Murray of Art Works; Scarlet Phoenix of TurtleCoveTreasures; Delphine Pontvieux, of www.missnyet.com; Mark Rogers from Framedestination.com; Esther Rogoway at www.erogoway.com; Janet & Howard Rose from Rosesquared.com; Richard Rothbard from www.AmericanArtMarketing.com; Teresa Saborsky at the NAIA; and Dabanga dos Santos from Dabangajewelry.com. 

Steve Sawusch at tptpro.com; Susan Sharps at Pinoodles; Charlie & Paula Shoulders at LivingOnTheEtch; Richard Sullivan at boulderbrook.net; Allan Teger, www.bodyscapes.com; Michael Terra at terracottageceramics.com and Lynn Wettach at www.holidayartshows.com.

See the prizes: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/pledgedrive.html

See all the prize winners here: http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/prizes-winners-the-list-begins

Once more -- if you pledged and haven't won a prize yet, visit this link, choose a prize and email me asap. Thank you everyone for your pledges and your kind words for our work. 

P.S. I've gotten several questions on "how do those people get those Red Dots" on their profile pictures? The people with the Red Dots are members who have been generous on the site commenting and helping others and providing help. Want to have one on your picture? Now you know the answer. The community looks forward to all of your helpful information.