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This was the first for the Leesburg Fine Arts Festival in Leesburg, VA (Sept 15-16).  It was also my first Paragon art festival.  It was ALSO my first festival out of state, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous about choosing a first year festival as my first overnighter.  My husband had to work last weekend, so my mom very graciously offered to come and help me.

We got there a couple hours early and decided to stroll around the historic town of Leesburg.  What a cute area!  I loved the brick sidewalks and old fashioned buildings.  Yep, the roads were very tiny too, so we had a staggered setup with every third booth getting 45 minutes to drive in, unload, and move to the parking area.  Bill Kinney, the promoter, sent out an email afterwards apologizing for the difficulties with the setup, but I thought it went as smoothly as could be!  Everyone in my section at least followed the rules and I didnt see anyone have a hard time.

The only bad thing about the setup was that you either set up at 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm.  I was in the 7pm group, and by the time we unloaded it was already getting dark.  And it got really dark!  There were street lights, but not many, and the one by our area was flickering ominously like something out of of horror movie.  We were also on a hill and I had never set up my propanels before (I had mesh walls before), and learning to set them up on a hill in the dark was not the way I hoped to learn!  Fortunately my friend Russ Shaffer ran over and helped us idiots out.  After 4 hours of fumbling in the flickering darkness, we headed to the DoubleTree Hotel in Sterling.  If anyone ever needs a hotel in the area, STAY THERE!  It was awesome!  Hot cookies at check out, robes, a real hairdryer... ladies, need I say more?

The next morning, we headed back over and started hanging paintings.  I had got the impression from the show essentials paperwork that maybe the businesses were not really happy with us being there, but that didnt seem to be the case at all.  At least where we were on King Street, the owners kept coming out and offering us drinks and access to their bathrooms (were were supposed to use designated bathrooms that I never saw).  I was amazing how much time they spent getting to know us and making sure we were taken care of.  Once we even got coffee served on a platter!  Talk about royal treatment!

The show started at 10am, and by 11am I was getting worried.  There didnt seem to be much happening.  But then from noon till 3 the floodgates opened and a rush of people came through!  At one point I had a line of people holding paintings with their credit cards in hand while I processed the cards and my mom was wrapping paintings!  I had read about this happening but had never seen it myself!  And I was seeing many people walking by with large paintings or furniture as well.  It really was a sight to behold.  Being a newbie (this is my second year), I had not participated in a festival where so much fine art was moving and I thought "this must be what art festivals used to be like!  This is what they should be like!"  During that 3 hour period I made about $2300!  More than enough to cover all my expenses and still have extra!  I was a happy girl!

After 3pm, it really slowed down, but I still saw plenty of art go by.  There was an artist reception party at 6:30 after the festival closed that evening, but I was still pooped from the long drive and late setup the day before, so we went back to the hotel and vegged out.  Would have loved to have been able to meet and greet with the other artists though.

Sunday was definitely down in traffic from Saturday, but I had a couple be backs and at the end of the day I had a $800 sale and some smaller ones during the day too, which brought my sales to just under $4000 for the weekend! 

I don't have one single complaint about this venue or Paragon.  It was a very well run and well put together show.  Bill was there all weekend with us and came by a couple times to check in, which I appreciated.  I had plenty of people mention the advertising and I saw fliers up all around.  For a first year show, I was blown away.  It has incredible potential and I'm super glad I got in on the ground floor.  And I'm looking forward to the Silver Springs show with Paragon next month now too!!

Chicago September 6-7 the 4th Annual Arts Festival Conference presented by ZAPP and WESTAF was held in downtown Chicago. To correct some assumptions, the conference is not "about" ZAPP, its purpose is to bring artists, art fair organizers and other arts professionals together to share information about culture and arts festivals in the U.S. I've attended a bunch of arts conferences and there is always great energy around them as people in the business meet face to face those they've only known online or reconnect with old friends. 

There was a solid agenda full of information that painted a bigger picture of the arts and broadens ways of thinking about the place of the arts in our society and presented fresh ideas on how arts professionals can expand their events, artists can find new markets and we all can work together.

Highlights for me:

• Presentations by artists Toby Fraley on his art career, Casey Sheppard's use of Kickstarter.com to find money to fund her business and Ali and Dolan Geiman's thorough use of social media to build an audience for Dolan's artwork.

• Learning about art initiatives beyond the art fair business from John Spokes, director of development for United States Artists that invests in artists in society; Sam Bowers' ArtHERE.org that places art in public places; Barbara Goldstein's use of public art in San Jose that benefits arts festivals and artists.

• Spending time with old friends and meeting show directors from Florida to California. Priceless.
  
  Dolan & Ali speaking about marketing art

Keynote: Cole Nussbaumer from Google.com presenting Storytelling with Data

Art fairs do you want to wow your audience and sponsors with the data you've gathered for your event? Cole led us through an exercise that taught how to make the most of your data to influence your audience and get your most important information out. Learn more: StorytellingwithData.com.

Session I

Who? Who? You: Building Your Brand

This was a diverse panel discussion with branding/marketing expert (Mark Rowland), show director (Kelly Kindred of the Bayou City Arts Festival) and wrapped up by Ali and Dolan Geiman, artists who are the quintessential marketing specialists online for Dolan's art. 

Mark Rowland of YourSimpleTruth.com was the lead as he spoke about branding on a universal level that is of use to everyone in the art business with the goal of getting their message across to the appropriate audience.

Kelly Kindred took the information a step further and spoke about how the Bayou City Art Festivals uses branding to increase the reach of her shows, from the website to their media outreach to the way they communicate with their audience, one voice speaks for the organization and the message is carried through in all their communications.

Dolan and Ali Geiman are a husband and wife team. Dolan is the artist and Ali is the media expert. Their presentation was about how an artist can brand him/herself using social media to amplify the message as a way to present dynamic content that is ever changing and relevant. Their marketing newsletters go way beyond their website DolanGeiman.com, as they use them to stay in touch with customers and expand their story beyond what is new. Dolan is an active birdwatcher and he blogs about that topic, using keywords and tags.  His posts get picked up by Google and it brings him new customers. Tired of writing about yourself and your work? Another example they showed was that of a car salesman who uses his Facebook page to write about cars including photos of car shows he attends.

Lunch: Terry Adams, director of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival introduces Kathleen Eaton, new artist representative to the Zapplication board and Leah Charney presents ZAPP 2.0 with many upgrades to the system that will be helpful to both show directors and artists.

Afternoon

There were two presentations simultaneously:

Ingenious Innovation: What Shows do Right - a solid list of strategic information and insider tips on making your art fair "best in class", presented by Ann Ostermann from the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County and photographer Michael Brown. I did not attend this one but later that day as I was speaking with Michell Middleton and Nancy Zinkofsky of the Mount Dora Center for the Arts I asked them what they had learned. They said there were many suggestions they could not implement such as nearby parking for artists and an ocean or lake view but definitely were interested in adding a wine bar to their event.

Art IS my Real Job: Art Business for Artists

I attended this one and the panel was dynamic. The first speaker was potter Neil Estrick who laid out what an artist does to make a living. Besides making pots and selling them at art fairs he has a gallery, teaches pottery classes, repairs kilns and I'm thinking there were other jobs too. No slacker here, Neil is hustling and loving all the disparate parts of his lifestyle.

Adrienne, Teresa and Daniel

Next came Adrienne Outlaw from Nashville, TN, where she is involved in the Nashville Cultural Arts Project, writes, curates, run programs for artists, a lab for artists, Seed Space and participates in high end gallery events such as Scope. In addition she runs Insight? Outta Site a participatory potluck forum whereby artists meet nationally known critic curators.  She confessed to continually reinventing herself and looking everywhere to find the next exciting opportunity. 

You may have met Teresa Merriman at an art fair as she is one of the long distance haulers, a road warrior and loving it. From her home in Colorado she travels to 30 shows a year selling her handcrafted leather journals, Using traditional methods, she binds handmade papers and leather together to create personal journals. The most impressive thing about Teresa was her open and friendly manner and her obvious love of meeting people at the shows and selling her work. She spoke about salesmanship and the use of social networking as her main tools for earning her living.

I was very impressed to meet Daniel Grant an arts writer for the Huffington Post and author of numerous books including The Business of Being an Artist and The Fine Artist's Career Guide. He lives in Massachusetts and leads career workshops at educational institutions. There wasn't enough time to even begin to assimilate all of his good information.

Time for a break with my head spinning. I need to interview each of these people for my podcasts. Neil is the classic guy who keeps his eyes open for opportunities around him, not traveling far. Adrienne is brave and does a lot of work connecting people and expanding her experiences. Teresa, great fun and the perfect personality for the art fair business. Daniel, full of helpful information from a lifetime of experience.

Next session:

Extending the Exhibit: How Public Art Can Benefit Artists and the Arts Festival

Presenters Sam Bower of ArtHERE.org, a website for matching underutilized spaces with art; Barbara Goldstein, from the City of San Jose's Office of Cultural Affairs who has published with Americans for the Arts; Toby Fraley - artist

I loved Toby Fraley's presentation and his story. Short version: lost his job at a photo printing lab; decides to become a potter; is wildly successful creating and selling pots through the wholesale marketplace but he began to feel like a machine; started looking around and thinking, "is this all there is?" Then decided to go for being an installation artist. He was a great storyteller and had solid tips on how to move into the public arts space. See his installation in downtown Pittsburgh: http://pghrobotrepair.com/

Last session of the day:

Tech Trends and New Tools to Benefit You

Connie learns how to Instagram (yes, I took these photos with my iPhone and sent them through Instagram to my Facebook page. As you can see not recommended for great resolution, but a new trick).

Kasey Sheppard tells how she used Kickstarter.com to fund her art fair business

You've got to imagine that there was lots of information about social media and how shows and artists can take advantage of them. Loved this presentation that included Beth Hayden, an expert on Pinterest (think I'm a Luddite, can't figure this one out yet, or its purpose), Jennifer Rapp Peterson's solid interactive presentation on her site www.IndieMade.com. Jennifer is an artist and a technician so has really put together a site that will work for artists. Casey Sheppard's information on using Kickstarter.com to fund her art fair business was an eye opener for me. Check this out here. John Spokes most recent career move is development director with United States Artists, a nonprofit arts organization that works to invest in America's finest artists.

End of day

Reception at Jean Albano Gallery in the River North neighborhood, then dinner at a nearby restaurant with Sara Shambarger, Larry Oliverson, Kerry Murphy, Krista Renfrew, Jennifer Kobe, Connie Mettler, Elizabeth Regner, Karla Prickett and Dionne Wachowiak. Photographer Michael Brown took the photo.

Day Two

ZAPP Symposium: Community, Collaboration and the Creative.
Stephen King (Des Moines Arts Festival) moderated a round table discussion around trends and industry changes and the larger arts and culture landscape. On the panel were Sam Bower, ArtHere.org; Amelia Northrop, TRG Arts; Adrienne Outlaw, Seed Space and John Spokes, United States Artists.

I had to leave early to drive to St. Louis to visit the St. Louis Art Fair but the last part of the day was a Public Portfolio Critique run by Terry Adams with jurors Jerry Gilmore, David Rench and Dionne Wachowiak. Artists brought their images to show the jurors and received direct feedback, plus could see their work in the mix of others work.

The best part of the conference was spending time with old friends and meeting new people. Thanks to Leah Charney, Christina and the Zapp staff for this varied look at the state of the arts from public arts to Pinterest experience.

To everyone who is interested in these conferences, they are always worth your time and money to learn more about the business that is our livelihood and to make connections with other artists and show directors, as well as to learn about new public initiatives in the arts and be inspired by others.

Who was there:

Terry Adams, Cherry Creek Arts Festival

Janet Anderson, Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce

Paul Anderson, Sausalito Art Festival

Deb Bailey, Marion Arts Festival

Bonnie Blandford, Garage Sale Art Fair

Sam Bower, ArtHERE

Susan Bowers, Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts

Michael Brown, artist

Cory Cope, Three Rivers Arts Festival

Angela Cozby, Arts Council of Oklahoma City

Dick Dahlstrom, artist

Perry Douglass, artist

Kathleen Eaton, artist

Shoshana England-Falconer, artist

Neil Estrick, artist

Patrick Flaherty, Broad Ripple Art Fair

Iris Fragoso, artist

Toby Fraley, artist

Katrina Gallegos, Coconut Grove Arts Festival

Stephen King moderates the Symposium

Anne Gary, artist

Ali & Dolan Geiman, artist

Jerry Gillmore, juror

Barbara Goldstein, City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs

Daniel Grant, author

Beth Hayden, Social Media & Pinterest Consultant

Jean Keiffer, artist

Michael Kifer, Garage Sale Art Fair

Stephen King, Des Moines Arts Festival

Jennifer Kobe, Milwaukee Art Festival

Linnea Lahlum, artist

Susan Lukas, artist

Ellen McConnell, artist

Ashley McNabney, Omaha Summer Arts Festival

Teresa Merriman, artist

Terri Messing, Art in the Square

Michell Middleton, Mount Dora Center for the Arts

Kerry Murphy, Artisphere

Jeff Nadler, artist

Amelia Northrup, TRG Arts

Cole Nussbaumer, Google

Larry Oliverson, artist

Ann Ostermann, Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County

Adrienne Outlaw, artist

Jennifer Owen, Three Rivers Arts Festival

Joseph Persfull, Special Events Management

Jennifer Peterson, IndieMade.com

Karla Prickett, Smoky Hill River Arts Festival

Jerry Placek, artist

Elizabeth Regner, Lubbock Arts Alliance

David Rench, artist

Krista Renfrew, Milwaukee Art Museum

Heather Ricketts, Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts

Maureen Riley, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair

Georgia Ross, artist

Here you can see the screens set up for the jury critique, all images projected and lots of new things learned by everyone attending on what to look for in jury images and what the jurors are looking for

Mark Rowland, Simple Truth

Teresa Saborsky, NAIA

Derek Scalzott, Three Rivers Arts Festival

Sara Shambarger, Krasl Art Fair

Casey Sheppard, artist

Robin Snyder, Art in the Square

John Spokes, United States Artists

Jennifer Steele, Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County

Linda Strickland, artist

Jeffrey Van der Koon, artist

Dionne Wachowiak, Milwaukee Art Museum

Nancy Zinkofsky, Mount Dora Center for the Arts

Munks won the pass to attend the Zapp Conference and he was unable to attend. Sue Lukas from Wisconsin attended in his place. Great to meet you, Sue, and spend some time together.

One of the great things about being an artist is learning and refining your techinque. So I decided in October I would begin a watercolors class to teach me all about the basics that I sorely need. When I picked up painting, it was after I quit my job at Smith Barney and decided to go back to graduate school. No decision in my life has been as liberating and as important in forming the path of my destiny. Its wonderful to pursue your dreams when your talent is stifled in corporate America. So that being said I'm looking forward to the next stage in life of growth within sales and planning shows.

Selling has spiked this week and I have managed to sell 3 paintings after a stagnation in the last month. Isn't it funny how you can go a period of time without a sale and then everyone buys your product at once. It makes you feel so happy and justified. Anyone can say what they want about an artist's work but when it sells that's the justification one needs to say there! Someone likes my work and is paying me for it! Its based on the work alone and it stands alone especially since the sales are online and the purchase is based on the work. Not if the person likes you, not if you're popular,not on how its displayed but on a photograph of the work itself. That is powerful. So I want to increase the sales volume and I thought about it and the only way to increase sales volume is to have more product available for sale and to promote that product. I'm going to paint more of the best sellers and best seller concepts ie. nudes, abstract, sunsets.

Creation is part of the process, selling and creating best sellers is another part of the process. Lastly I am going to be planning the choice selection of the next show. Its going to be local, tristate or NYC area and I think I"m going to pursue the Micro with local fairs rather then the Macro of large expensive fairs. Mastery should be based on trail and error and I'd rather sell at small shows and master that first before undertaking larger shows where I have to invest more and may not make the money back on the return.

So that's all for now. Painting tonight, going back to BWAC on Weds to swap out a painting that sold and getting married on Saturday. Enough to keep a gal busy for a while.

Daniela

This was a pretty good show for me. After my "Heaven and Hell" show in St. Louis, this one was pretty uneventful. My tent did not get destroyed by a storm and my sales were moderate ($2800). But I enjoyed the show.

Setup was a little awkward on Friday. I was glad we had a lot of time to set up because my tent was showing the adverse effects of its knockdown the previous week. The tent is a heavy duty EZ-Up that is heavily customized with roof beams and custom corner weights. Although it has survived many storms, the wind took it down in St. Louis and "torqued" the whole thing so that it is more like a parallelogram as it sits on the floor instead of a square. We managed to make it work OK, but now I'm seriously considering a Trimline to replace it... preferably an eight footer (let me know if you've got one for sale).  

There were good crowds on Saturday and Sunday and sales were consistent. Deb, the show organizer, used one of my images for the program cover and on banners hanging from light posts all over town. This added exposure generated some additional sales for me, which I really appreciated. We were able to pack up on Sunday in record time because we had our trailer parked in a lot 100 feet from our tent... very convenient. We stayed with friends in nearby West Chicago, and they fed Marcia and I well, so our expenses were minimal. 

Most booths were set up on both sides of the street, with additional booths along a pleasant riverwalk. My booth was on the street.  I think there was more traffic on the street. there seemed to be some dead areas along the riverwalk. Other artists had mixed reviews about the show. Some had poor sales, but most did OK, if not great. With my friends inviting us to stay with them again next year, I'll do the show again if I'm accepted.   

This show was put on by Paragon art event, in the historic town of Leesburg VA. We were happy to have as perfect a weather as one can ask for on both days. 

Load In: Load in was very organised, for a moment i thought the show was being held in front of the white house, some numbers were called and we all line up behind Bill and was led to our booth spots almost like a funeral procession, we had 45 mins to unload and park our cars, the garage was a short drive from the show and it was free parking.

Load out: Was pretty much as easy as it can get, once broken down we are allowed to bring in our car and pull up beside our booth. I was out in 1hr.

Saturday: Started slow for me no sale up till 12pm and I started questioning my decision to give this first time show a try. And then the crowd really started to come in and sales gradually grew, for ones in the past couple of shows my nurit never went to sleep (its a credit card machine and some of us still have it) sales was steady all day and i did see a lot of bigger items pass by my booth. Most of the other artist I spoke with seem to be doing well and I for sure was very happy with my sales.

Sunday: Was not as strong as Saturday but I will take this Sunday over the past two show Saturdays past. Sales was not as strong but again my nurit was working all day, I sold mostly smaller priced items ($75) and about 4 bigger items, I also noticed items being carried out a suggestion that others are selling bigger items. I finished the day very happy and broke down with a huge smile on my face.

The crowd was very friendly and I actually enjoyed talking to most people knowing that at anytime you might actually be talking to someone that will buy your work and not a thank you and walk away.

I am very happy with this show and the way it was put together, The restuarant in front of me was surprised as to how many people showed up on Sunday as they were not used to seeing this much crowd in the area, I guess some serious ads were sent out. Will I do it again? CAPITAL YES, if accepted, I had used this as a filler show, next year it will be my number one choice. Hope others had similar experience for me it was a success. 

It's a great idea to have a little demo area in a booth.  But we have to deal with other issues in our booth - the first is that Jay uses a wheelchair - it takes 5 ft for him to make a turn.  So we have to set up a booth based on the wheelchair,.  We don't want to block aisles and intrude on neighbors.  We have had to get a booth and a half when the booths are  8 x 10 or smaller -- to accommodate the wheelchair.  We've asked for ADA accommodations - LOL -- that isn't going to happen.  And before we can consider doing a show, I am emailing to find out if the venue is accessible.  You'd be surprised how many times I have received answers of 'no - this would not be a good venue for you.'  Scary in 2012 but our reality.  The other thing is that I've had my hip replaced.  I'm not supposed to be shlepping, lifting, moving, pulling, carrying anything over 10 pounds.  OK - stop laughing.  We know that's not a reality when doing shows.  And I have all the 'itis's' -- bursitis, tendenitis, arthritis -- who happily let me know that they are all having a fine time partying in my body when doing shows.  I have to be sitting some of the time - because of this.  So we try to figure out the best in/out - lifting/shlepping that we can so that I don't do any damage to myself.  If it's too far for us to get in/ouit; if there are steps or obstacles -- then we have to negate that show -- because we physically cannot deal with those kinds of parameters. 

It's pretty incredible that we are able to set up the way we do.  It can get squishy ... and every inch counts when knocking off 5 fee to start.

If you can't get into the shows you can't earn a living, the bottom line. For those of you looking for even more details visit Carolyn Edlund's Arts Business Institute blog where she explores in depth many of the business aspects of the fine art and fine craft business.

I'm liking this blog post there especially: http://www.artsbusinessinstitute.org/blog/how-to-get-juried-in-retail-and-wholesale-shows/ because she explores ideas for positioning your work for the wholesale business and appealing to galleries as well professionally as how to fill out that application so the shows want you.

Carolyn's been in the business for a long time and I interviewed her last Spring on ArtFairRadio.com where we talked about buy/sell and what show organizers can do about it.

I've always described myself as painfully shy.  Then I read an article on Who Is an Introvert? and I saw myself -- plain as can be.

So, selling is hard.  Very hard.  I can smile -- I'm great at that -- and have no problem.  I can say 'hi.'  I've gotten pretty good at that.  Then I'm in trouble.  Do I talk when someone is looking?  Do I let the person look and say nothing?  Do I ask if I can explain a few of the designs?  If the person says yes -- do I explain one or a few.  If the person says no - I understand (believe me -- the person who says I understand - usually has no clue that there are hidden words within each piece), do I just say nothing.  Do I try to find out what the person is into - music, love, light, peace?  And how do I do that?  How do I engage the person in 'small talk' when that's not what is comfortable for an introvert?  And how will that small talk get the person to make a purchase?

And then we have another issue.  The designs (please go see them - DorLDor.com) - are using Hebrew letters manipulated into different shapes to form the design.  So, for example, the word 'ahava' means love -- and that design is using the 4 Hebrew letters forming a heart.  The word 'light' takes the 3 Hebrew letters and shaped into a torch.  The apple has the word 'teacher -- in Hebrew) within it -- giving an apple for the teacher.  So some people will walk by - and say -- oh, that's Jewish - I'm not - and walk away.  How do we get them to see 'beyond' -- that the messages are universal spiritual messages (we have a banner saying 'spiritual messages' (not massages) that can be given to anyone.  We don't have to be Japanese to love the beautiful stroking of Japanese art.   

And when someone asks for 'just a star' or 'just a hamsa -- keeping the evil eye away' - how do I steer them into something more contemporary and possibly connected.

I've never been one comfortable 'tooting my own horn.'  And here I am, trying to toot my own horn.  It's taken me a bunch of years to call myself an 'artist' -- I'm more comfortable calling myself a Judaic special educator and a doodlist.  But ok, I'm an artist.  How do I show quiet enthusiasm as an introvert? 

Last Call Starving Artist show in Highwood, IL,  Sept 15 & 16 was an unmitigated disaster.

The show had to move because of street construction so it wasn't on a main street as it had been in the past.  In fact, you couldn't even see the show from a main street although there were plenty of signs directing you to the show.  Because of this, the promoter offered the artists a chance to withdraw from the show.  I would have to say that a lot of the artists took advantage.  

Becky Bibro was in town so we dragged the husbands and met at the show.  It was held in a park that had a sidewalk around the perimeter so getting around was easy.  The booths were generously spaced about 10 feet apart.  There were tables and chairs in the middle because there was supposed to be a Taste of Highwood going on during the show.  There was a stage for music and the music was appropriate to the venue.  We were able to make it through the entire show in about an hour. 

So how did we make it through in such a short time?  Well, it seems as if every third booth was a sponsor booth.  The Amway guys did have a microphone but it was not loud at first and I believe it was turned off completely.  A lot of the booths were not what anyone here would consider art worthy of an art festival.  It was the kind of stuff you would find at flea markets.  We left at noon but there was no Taste of Highwood that we could see.

This has been a weak show since it started a few years ago but this year was the absolute worst.  I feel very badly for the real artists who participated.  It was a sparse crowd when we left but I hope it was a buying crowd so the artists can make some  money.  

One thing that did impress me was that I saw the promoter sweeping leaves off the sidewalk and she was also very visible, visiting all the booths and speaking with the artists. 

Saturday, February 23

You've  heard how fun it is. This is your chance to find out for yourself! This  is the show to sell your seconds, overstock, duds or things you're just  tired of looking at in your booth, even your art supplies or art you've  traded for!

It's  only 6½ hours long with morning set-up. Make it easy on yourself, rent  some tables and forget the normal time consuming display.

It's  run by Bonnie Blandford (jeweler) and Michael Kifer (potter) who both  make their living doing art fairs so hopefully we know how to make it  more fun! Besides, who doesn't need money in February?

The scoop:

• $15 application fee
• Booth fees are $110-same as last year
• Very few rules (no buy/sell)
• Share a booth if you'd like, but all parties must apply
• Mark things down and move them out! 

        Applications, more information and pictures are at:

Ok its always wonderful how life all seems to happen at once. I am getting married in a week from Saturday on Sept. 22. This is an amazing, great time in my life and I love how art fits into it. I sold 2 paintings on line one yesterday and one today which makes me extremely happy. My depressed, drunk loose abstract vagina and blue mermaid vagina both now will have new homes. I will miss them. Today I had to get hair, makeup and a final fitting done and I'm going tonight for the final tasting.

Tomorrow I have to drop off art work at BWAC for the gallery show that begins on Sept. 22 and my work to BWS to be critiqued and see if I can be "good enough" for acceptance. Its all so nerve wracking, wedding, painting, juries deciding if they like your work. I'm thankful I have a spa day scheduled next week.

What I love though is that art and life mix together so perfectly. Imagine all the stress from the wedding and all of the stress of the shows combined together. My only regret is I can not be there for the opening day of the BWAC show. One of my most prized paintings "Endless Summer" is going to be a part of the Coming to Brooklyn show and this painting is 6 feet across and 4 feet high and just embodies everything I love about the summer since its an abstract beach scene with hand painted sea shells and a sunset in the piece. It reminds people of the beauty in this urban jungle and I think will be one of a kind. Between that and being critiqued for BWS I'm pretty stressed. Watercolors is a new frontier for me and BWS is a watercolor society in brooklyn that prides itself on the mastery of this medium. I hope that they like my work and I hope all goes well.

Art and life are truly partnered in this week and I can only hope for the best.

Here is our latest podcast from September 13 where I spoke with art marketing consultant Barney Davey. Barney has been active in art marketing since 1988 and began his career with Decor magazine and the Decor Expo tradeshows in New York City. This podcast is about business, not art. According to Barney if you are not selling your art being an artist is a hobby.

Listen to it here:

You'll learn how to position yourself and sell your art with these tips:

• learn not to sell not what is in your wallet but your customer's wallet

• how to cultivate high end customers

• how to make the BIG sale

• when to shut up

• what "kaizen" means to an artist

• how to move a buyer to purchase

Barney gives many references for further reading and study. Listen to this one over and over again. He really has a wealth of information to share and make you look at your business with a fresh eye. Learn more about Barney and how he can help you in your art career: www.artprintissues.com

Check out the rest of our podcasts by clicking on the "Radio" button on the toolbar at the top of this page, or visiting the Art Fair Radio Show page here.

Did you learn anything from this podcast? Tell your friends.

Sorry, first of all for being ten days post event to share a new Art Fair. My new hip has been acting up.

That aside, this was the first Amdur event in my home town of Milwaukee, WI. I was excited. The weather proved to be stunning, with cool breezes off Lake michigan three blocks away and the sun had taken on an autumn brilliance.

The setting was the Historic Third Ward. Originally a manufacturing district due to its proximity to the waterways, the buildings were all originally fine brick with striking architecture. The roads were meant for horses and were faceted with red rick patterns.

This once bustling area became abandoned when it became more economical to manufacture overseas. Due to its location it was never vandalized but remained a pristine reminder of Milwaukee's past.

I can not pin point the years, but suddenly the yuppies were building fabulous condos on those vacant floors with their 12 foot ceilings and small, smart restaurtants, bistros and boutiques became the places to invest in and be seen..

The "new" Third Ward had become a happening place.

I was thrilled to see the white tents amid the late summers lush profusion of huge flowering tubs.

We checked in at 7:30 pm and set up to a full moon. We were the second Flight and half the tents were secured for the night. Since we lived a half hour away, we were home and sleeping early.

I will tell you something about my fellow statesmen:they work very hard for a buck and I knew they parted with it reluctantly. So Ill tell you the so-so news first: cash was not rolling out of our pockets on Sunday night. I made $1200. The great painter next door sold nothing.

One of the things I heard a lot was, "Gee, I didn't know you were having a Fair." And yet my husband heard advertisements on two radio stations.

It was the first year.

I walked the show from end to end: no buy/sell and some great artists! Hope they give us a second chance.

I loved every minute of being back!

Everyone I've talked with mentions shims and leveling as one of the biggest priorities at Belgravia.  I've had to do minor leveling before but Belgravia sounds like a major construction project.  Can anyone offer some tips on what I need in the way of shims, tools, etc.  I always carry a few short 2x4's and some smaller pieces and a decent tool box but info on any additional requirements would be appreciated.  For instance, something better than 2x4's?  Longer pieces, bricks, concrete blocks, etc.?  Thanks to all.

I've been reading so much on this site about people staying away from first year shows. In a way I can't blame them, you obviously want to go where the money is. But, how are new shows suppose to get started if quality artists don't participate? There are lots of artists out there and new ones starting every day. When the economy gets better these current shows are going to attract more artists and become more competitive. Whats going to happen years from now if there aren't any new shows being created? Just curious what people's thoughts are on this.

Eagerly I drove down I-55 through the corn fields of Illinois from Chicago. For someone who loves to be on the road I was nearly ecstatic to be seeing the country again and also anticipating seeing friends in St. Louis. As I pulled into St. Louis at 5:10 pm the skies opened up with heavy rain and the wind roared between the buildings. No art fair for me or anyone else that night.

vans lined up in the hotel parking lot ready for the next day

Luckily I was spotted by artist Amy Flynn and her partner Phil Crone as I was unloading my car so the evening wasn't lost as they invited me to join them for a drink and a lot of catching up on their art fair travels.

Phil and Amy

Cindy Lerick, executive director, is a seasoned event promoter, whose background includes organizing marathons where she has had to make many weather-related calls. She quickly assessed the weather and shut the show down for the night. More details on this on John Leben's post.

Saturday and Sunday both dawned to beautiful weather, perfect for an art fair.

Long time Operations Director Laura Miller

Commemorative posters with artwork by Jeffrey Cannon who has beautiful pastels, but I really want an original.

What is special about this event:

• they received around 1400 applications for 180 spaces
• the jury took three days to make their choices, assuring a fair look for all applicants
• they operate on a small budget and yet are generous to exhibitors, booth spaces looked to be about 15 x 15 with many generously sized corners. They could fit a lot more artists in and profit from it for their bottom line yet decline to do so. It was very comfortable for visitors as well as artists.
• the artist hospitality area was open to VIP's as well, with no one checking ID, a nice place to rest
• I know there were sponsors somewhere but obviously not intrusive as I never ran into their spaces
• children's activities looked varied but lively, in a huge parking lot far from artists booths
• lots of nice restaurants with outdoor eating areas so patrons could sit down, eat and drink and keep an eye on the show

I know more about photography than any other media so was interested to see who had been chosen. The photography in the show was quite good, most of the photographers still going to the darkroom, or its digital equivalent; studio work prevailed with interesting processes and fiber paper used by many. Especially loved the work of Chris Dahlquist, Randy Dana, Mark MacKinnon, Janet Woodcock and Michael Cole, and a pleasure to see the reappearance of Jill Bedford, who had left the business for a while.

Photographer Mark MacKinnon

Loved meeting some of AFI members

and contributors David Bjurstrom, Daryl Thetford, John Leben, Jack Brumbaugh, Michael Wommack, Ana Petercic, Paul Willsea, John Costin (looking for a new tent on the site after his experiences), Marina Terauds, Gregg Rasmussen, Terry Evans and so many of you other "lurkers." (You know who you are!)

Great to meet David Bjurstrom!

Greetings to all my old friends, such a treat to see and visit again with Tom McGurrin, Matthew Naftzger, Dawn Adams, Charles Gatewood (my date for the artist award breakfast-thanks, Charlie), Joachim Knill, Stephen Sebastian, Marian Steen (so sorry I couldn't stick around for your party), Scott and Kathrine Allen-Coleman, Andrew Shea, Aaron Hequembourg, Sally Bright, Mark & Julie Glocke, Mark Sudduth, Xavier Nuez, Michael Hamilton, Matthew Hatala. 

Scott Coleman helps Scott Swezy move a new painting to replace the one he sold

Daryl Thetford makes the sale

Paul Willsea sends a piece of glass to a new home

Don't think Matthew Hatala could have gotten more people into his booth, do you?

Helen Gotlib wins the award for best hat ;)

Joe DeCamillis & Sally Bright

Artwork by Daniela Ovtcharov, Sam Stang and Nathan Grubich & Amanda St. Hilaire-Grubich

Would you like to be in this art fair next year? Best suggestion is to visit their site: culturalfestivals.com and examine the artist images there in your category and see where you can fit in and compete. Many thanks to Cindy Lerick for her hospitality and to all her Board who make this art fair one of the best in the nation.

Connie Mettler, operations director Laura Miller, artist Gilliam Kemper, artist Joe DeCamillis, director Cindy Lerick,
artist Marian Steen, Ann Geister, judge Sarah Rishel

Here's even more! My YouTube video -- please don't criticize the "production values"

Check Your ZAPP Images

If you've uploaded images to ZAPP since the upgrade, or had anyone upload them for you, check them to make sure they enlarge.

I've been experiencing two issues with uploaded images. I've experienced thumbnails not appearing but the space where the thumbnail should be enlarges when clicking on it. Deleting the file and uploading again corrects the issue.

The other issue is where the thumbnail appears normally but doesn't enlarge when clicking on it. Instead I get an error message, "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later." This is something I've experienced multiple times in the last 24 hours. Again deleting the file and uploading again corrects the issue. But how many times do you test to see if your images enlarge after you upload them and see the thumbnail. at this point I recommend testing every image after upload.
 
Though the person I spoke to at Westaf couldn't duplicate the problems, it took me under a half hour to set up a new ZAPP profile where I uploaded the same image multiple times and experienced the same two problems, including one time where I experienced both problems on the same upload.

To see the results of my recreation of the problems, log into ZAPP and enter the number 1 as both the username and password. Please do not change anything about the images so I can report it to them later today.

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

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?n=leslie-benda-jensen&pid=159757013#fbLoggedOut

I applied to the Paragon Dallas Festival(new venue) and was supposed to be notified on the 4th of Sept. Nothing. On the 7th I sent an email and was told that night or the next morning. Nothing. Are these guys a scam? I'm not going no matter what.

This was our first time participating in this show and we combined it with a vacation in Yosemite and had a wonderful time!  In fact this blog was delayed due to the fact that we were on vacation, I was having too much fun hiking, biking and exploring to want to log onto the computer and write a blog.   We planned this show right in the middle of vacation so we had a few days to enjoy Yosemite before the show, complete the show and explore Mammoth Lakes and continue our Yosemite explorations the week after the show.  

We had heard great things about this show from a  few artists that we knew out of the Pacific NW.  When we received our acceptance for this show we received a personal note written by the director, asking us if we really wanted to drive that far for one show.  Wow, that has never ever happened to us before.  She also did not cash the booth fee check until AFTER the event.  The paperwork indicated it would be cashed the week before, and I thought that was extremely generous to wait that long, but until after the event?  That is new to my show experience.  I really can’t say enough great things about this director, Gaye was readily available, willing to help, answer questions, rearrange booths that didn’t work due to height of the booth vs. tree branches, etc.  It was apparent that she cared about the artists, wanted us to be successful and really wanted to bring high quality arts to the Mammoth area.

The show is held in a wooded area, right next to a golf course.  You are warned at load in not to leave any food in your booth and if you are parking your RV on site over the weekend, to not be out after dark due to the bears that wander through each night.  We kind of laughed about this, but quit laughing after Saturday night when we went for a stroll after the show and as we were coming back to the trailer, my husband remarked that the "brown tree stump" on the golf course was moving.  Yep, it was a large brown bear, about 200 yards from our RV, munching on something.  So, I went to grab the camera and he wandered over to warn another artist couple who were outside of their RV, closer to the bear and preparing dinner.  They were grilling trout!  Crazy artists:)  We took a few photos and went inside the RV for the night.   The night before I thought something had “bumped” the RV, my husband thought I was imagining things. After viewing the bear he decided that maybe my imagination wasn’t quite so overactive. (BTW - no photo critique necessary, low light and I know I should have gotten my tripod out, but wanted to get the photo and get back safely inside the RV as quick as possible).

Load in was all day Friday and you were shown exactly where your booth location by the show director.  Load in for us was a little tricky due to the trees.  Since this show is held in a wooded area, many of the booths back up into the pine trees and we had to use our canopy to move a few of the branches out of the way.  We also had to maneuver carefully through the trees and rocks to set up.  As I mentioned, we had combined this trip with a vacation and had our bikes on the bike rack on top of the truck.  So, our extra tall rig was a little challenge with the trees in the show area. 

The trees also caused the layout to be a little strange in some places, but it’s not a huge show so most of the patrons didn’t seem to have a lot of difficulty navigating the show.  We did see some of the same attendees all 3 days, so it’s definitely a show where some of the patrons walk the show multiple times before making their buying decisions.

Mammoth Lakes is a popular ski destination in the winter, a popular place to have a second home for residents from the LA / Southern Cal area.  Almost all of our sales were to people who were not locals, most were the second home owners.   So, how were sales?  Well, for us Saturday was slow, very slow. We were really disappointed.  The guy across from us had a 5K day selling sculpted onyx lamps.  Sunday we more than doubled our sales from Saturday, so I was feeling a bit better about this show.  Our Monday sales were not as good as Sunday, but better than Friday.  Overall our sales for a 3 day show resembled a more typical 2 day show for us. Mixed reviews from other artists we knew, although since this was outside of our normal show area, we didn’t know near as many of the artists.  I did take the time to find James Shelago, the AFI’er who started the Southwest and Pacific Artists Group on this website.  James was having a good show, much better than we were.  Others had mixed reviews.  2 of the jewelers and a photographer we know from our Pacific NW shows all said they were down from prior years.  A few returning artists mentioned that they thought the crowds were smaller than usual, not sure if that was impacted by the Hanta Virus concerns that were coming out of Yosemite.  We had been very surprised at the lack of crowds in the park the week before Labor Day.  In fact, we felt like it was more crowded the week after the show when we resumed our vacation.

Monday morning they had a breakfast for the artists and awarded prizes.  Load out was relatively easy, we were 90% broken down when we noticed the jewelers near us getting ready to leave so my husband was able to back our truck in right when they pulled out.  We were on the road to our next campground within 70 minutes of the show ending.  Not bad for us.

Will we do this show again?  Maybe.  It’s a very long drive for us from Seattle to Mammoth Lakes, if we weren’t combining it with vacation or other shows, it’s a long drive for the sales we achieved.  We do have 2 more shows in the Bay Area, but while the map may say it’s only 300 miles from Mammoth Lakes to Mountain View, it’s a loooong drive with steep passes to climb and descend with a large travel trailer in tow.  It was an all day drive to get to the next show when we finally ended our vacation.  We will consider this show again, heard from so many artists that sales were lower and attendance was lower than last year, so it still feels like a show with a lot of potential.