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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.

Hi All:  We are Contemporary Artists traveling to Florida last January and staying the month of February.

What shows offer the rather easy set up and lots of medium income traffic between the ages of

25 and 50?   Thanks in advance for any input.  Best Robert

This is the first time I have been to Alexandria and I feel in love with the town as I was driving in.   I always get anxious when I do a show for the first time.  I worry about set up, logistics, lots of other stuff but I arrived early on Friday so I had all day to play before I had to start my worrying.    I was able to have the best tourist day  in  Alexandria and even took the water taxi over to Maryland (I  had  been to 45 of the States and Maryland was one I needed to add to my list, so now I am at 46 :)   On the water taxi  ride and from many of the rooms at the hotel you  can see the Monument, the Capitol, the Memorial and probably a bunch of other land marks I didn't recognize.  A very smart and extremely talented artist told me that I had to stay at Hotel Monaco when doing this show, so I did.  Best advice ever.  What a treat and it made my life and doing the show so much easier.  It is located on King Street in the middle of the show.  To make it even better my booth was right at the main entrance to the hotel.    The Monaco has a 5pm Wine Hour and on Friday evening the place was packed with artists.  It was great to see some familiar faces and to get some tips on set up for the next day.  What a wonderful way to start the show.

Saturday morning started EARLY.  I woke up at 2:45am and couldn't go back to sleep so I figured I might as well line up.  We were allowed to start as early as 3:30 am.  Everything was rather calm and went as smoothly as an early morning set up can go.    The booth set up is tight.  Most of the booths are back to back, with a couple blocks being single row of tents.  I was in the back to back section.   The double yellow lines of the street separated the backs of the booths (so maybe 6” to 10” apart) and  if everyone set up on their tape each person had about 18"-24" (depending on your neighbor) side storage space on one side of your tent.   No storage of anything allowed on the sidewalks and most tents were not allowed awnings.    I had a bunch of stuff I couldn't store so I grabbed a luggage cart and brought it up to my hotel room.  I was all set up and back in my hotel room showered and taking a nap by 6 am.  Thank goodness for the on sight shower because it was one of those really humid morning set ups.  Getting back up at 9am and practically rolling out of my bed into my booth was priceless.

At 9am there was already a decent amount of people walking around.  Sales started right away.   At 11:15 am I had a chance to look around and all 5 booths next to me were swiping cards at the same time.   I wish I would have had my camera out, but it was buried in the tiny storage area and I couldn’t physically get to it :)  Everything was going great, lots of people, art lover and buyers.  Even though this was my first time doing a show in this area I ran into some clients from Florida and Atlanta.  After hugs and kisses they gave me serious warnings about the storm that was coming.  All of my clients were doing this starting after lunch.   Around 3pm I overheard a police radio and asked the officer what the real report was and he told me that they would make an official call in 10 minutes but it looked bad.    About 30 minutes later the Alan team was telling us to baton down.   I was a corner booth in the direction the storm was coming so I was extra worried.  I don't know the exact time but sirens went off and the police evacuated the streets and we were told to take cover.  The sirens and the police over the loud speakers make it much scarier.  Even my cell phone was blinking red and texting me that there was a tornado warning.  The wind and rain hit fast and we all zipped up and got the heck out.   The feeling of standing shoulder to shoulder with everyone staring at their tents through the lobby windows and saying Hail Marys in my head is one of the worst.      It seemed like forever, but actually was not that long, maybe 20 minutes I guess, the tornado warning was over.  My tent and everyone else’s held!!!!! We still had some wind and rain but the worst seemed to have passed.   I didn't realize until the next day that my tent was a bit twisted.  I probably will have to replace a couple of metal trimline parts, but that shouldn't cost me more than $100.   We were told we could go back to our booths if we wanted and open up, but if we didn't want to then we didn't have to.   It was 4:45 pm, the Wine Hour was about to start, I had gotten up that morning at 2:45 am and had just had a minor  panic attack from the storm, so I decided to go upstairs, take a shower and go to the Wine Hour and most of the other artist did the same.  So the first day got cut short but it was still a pretty good day sales wise considering.

Sunday we woke up to the best art show weather day possible.  The perfect temperature, sunny and no humidity.   People came out again.  Both days the crowds were exactly what I like, lots of people but not too crowded that people can't see or get to the booths.  Again lots of art was walking away from the show.   At the end of the show everyone around me was happy.

Break down starts exactly at 5pm.  The patrons have to get off the street and you are not allowed to make any more sales past 5:15pm.  This is taken very seriously and the patrons are told to get out.  I know it is a bummer because people might have been able to make a few more sales at the end of the show but it really makes break down much easier.   I planned on staying the night at the hotel, so I was just going to break down then go to my room and wait for everything to die down but everything was going so smoothly that by the time I had broken down I was clear to drive in.  I was completely finished, had run to the store and back in my fancy hotel room by 6:45pm and I was taking my time.   It felt so civilized.  Really the whole weekend did, except for the storm. 

The only difficult thing about this show is parking.  That is tricky if you have an oversized vehicle.  If you decide to do this show get some tips from others before you go.  I was going to post some pics but if you really are interested the Howard Alan facebook pages has the best ones, unless anyone would like me to post my tourist pics from Friday :)

I've had my head down working hard for a few weeks and haven't written in my blog much. I finally took some time to write. I think we artistic types often have more than one area of interest. I draw for a living, but it's telling the stories behind the pictures that really moves me.

This story is about one example from a very challenging group of clients. I take a deep breath before I work with each one because I know it won't be easy. But very fulfilling..

http://pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/09/finding-noah.html

Hope you all sold lots this past weekend. It was BEAUTIFUL in the midwest... I can't believe I didn't have a show. What a WASTE!!!

So from my experience in life in general one thing stands out and that is presentation so here is a short list of what to do when presenting your art at shows.

1. Do keep a uniform idea in mind. Paintings work best if they flow together as otherwise they may clash too much and confuse the potential buyer.

2. Do have wonderful stands that you test before a show. Nothing worse then finding out a painting is going to fall over because the stand can not sustain the paintings weight.

3. Do talk to people ahead of time about a show. Nothing worse then finding out the show is terrible and has poor traffic if you can be told that by another person who has "been there and done that"

4. Make sure you have all equipment, sales tax licenses etc ahead of time.

5. Book accomdations ahead of time and if you can stay with friends great. Who knows you may even make friends for the next show and not have to use a hotel.

6. Do have a positive attitude even if the show sucks. Being negative does nothing but bring you down.

7. Do read the the art fair reviews and look even on yelp for reviews. You never know where your non biased feedback will come from.

8. Do think about your target market group ie. I brought psychadelic paintings to conservative clients. That just is not going to work. Think about who you are selling too and plan your products accordingly.

9. Never spend more on a show then you can afford to lose.

10. Have fun and embrace selling, meeting people and learning. Your worst critics sometimes can show you that your work is great if it envokes that strong of a reaction.

;.)

I had applied to this premiere event several times in the past, but this was the first time I was accepted. Marcia and I loaded up the trailer and hit the road on Thursday. After driving for six hours we were ab out ten miles short of our hotel. The sky was darkening and it looked like it might rain. It didn't (luckily), but looking in the rear view mirror I saw that a driver behind me was flashing his lights. I slowed down, he came up to my side and started gesticulating wildly and pointing at my trailer. I thought about that scene in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" when Steve Martin and John Candy were driving the wrong way on the highway in their rental car.

I pulled over to the side to see what they were wav ing ab out and found that the plastic top of my top of the line Wells Cargo trailer was gone. It apparently ripped off in the wind and all my artwork was flopping around, exposed to the elements. Being the resourceful art fair artist that I am, I dug out a tarp and some rope and hastily covered it up. We made it to the hotel without a further mishap.

Next morning I tried finding a replacement top or something to cover the gaping hole but without success. Finally, a little late, we made it to the art fair grounds and untied the tarp. In 90 degree heat and heavy humidity, we set up all afternoon and spent a good hour working on a more permanent solution to the trailer top problem. We would have to drive seven hours back to Saugatuck on Monday. With lots of rope and duct tape, I thought it would probably work. Of course, as I write this, I am still at the Hotel and haven't tested the tarp arrangement on the road home yet.

At 5pm, as I was opening up the booth for the opening of the show, one of the show volunteers informed me that the police had cancelled the show for the evening and I was instructed to batten down the hatches and leave the fair grounds within the next 30 minutes because there was a big storm on the way. Nervously, I tied everything down and we hurried back to the hotel before the rain started. I wasn't concerned about the tent. I have a heavy duty EZ up that is heavily customized with roof beams, and corner weights that all the exhibit panels rest on and are tied to. Everything in the booth is designed to act as a weight to hold everything down. This design has served me well in several past storms including the microburst in Columbus that took out several dome-type tents a couple of years ago. I was cocky about my customized EZ-up.

We made it back to the hotel before the storm it, and it was a good one. Lots of rain and wind. We were totally exhausted by that time after working all day in the heat and humidity. We slept like babies.

At 7am I got a call on my cell from the art fair. They told me my tent was damaged and that I should try to get there right away to try to fix it. No details were offered. Being the optimist that I am, I thought it was just a little mis alignment and maybe a stray side wall or something. On the way to the art fair grounds we got another call from the art fair informing us that they had ordered us a new tent and that there were some volunteers at our booth waiting to help out. Now I was really nervous. Ordered me a new tent?

When we finally got there we were astonished by the devastation. It was just a heap of panels and canvas and artwork all arranged in a random pile of stuff. Marcia cried. It looked like a total loss. Our booth was directly opposite a wind tunnel alleyway next to the county police department on Central. Several booths around us were also down, including craft huts and trimlines. The wind must have been a formidable force to do that kind of damage. It looked like a tornado had set down on top of our booth.

After the initial shock wore off, we looked around and saw a virtual army of volunteers waiting for instructions on how they could help. And help they did. We carefully disassembled all the panels and pulled artwork out of the mess. I'm a digital artist and most of my work is printed on paper, either framed behind plexiglass or wrapped in plastic bags. We slowly disentangled the mess and started recovering artwork. A group of volunteers sat on the sidewalk with towels carefully wiping down wrapped art, one pice at a time and separating the pieces that had obvious rain damage. I learned later that a couple of other artists who were on site at the height of the storm saw my devastated booth and lowered the canopy down so that most of the artwork was covered by the top.

The art fair committee was GREAT! They worked with me all morning until a good collection of artwork was saved and ready for exhibit. They brought me a new tent and the helped straighten bent display panels. They got permission from the police to allow me to bring my car and trailer in to the fair grounds and leave it there for the day. I parked it in the wind tunnel alley and Marcia spent a good part of the day organizing the destruction and loading damaged stuff into the car and trailer.

At 11am the art fair opened and I actually had a decent display set up. Amazingly, most of the artwork was undamaged and "sellable." Thanks to a very responsive art fair committee, I was able to salvage a disaster and participate in one of the best art fairs in the country.

And participate I did! Saturday was my best single day ever with sales over $5000. I couldn't believe the crowd. It seemed like everyone who came into the booth bought something. Two TV stations interviewed me and I got lots of media exposure, so some of the purchases were probably sympathy buyers.

Sunday, at the artist breakfast and awards ceremony, Marcia and I sat down to a great breakfast of bacon and eggs and fruit and watched a slide show projected on the stage of the storm's devastation. There we were on the big screen, pulling artwork out of a heap of tangled panels. I hadn't noticed a photograper while we were working the previous day, but there was our booth and an army of great volunteers pulling things together.

Sunday continued with very good sales totaling over $3000, so we wound up grossing $8400 for the weekend. These great sales helped to offset the losses of my damaged artwork and display. And my EZ up? Still works. Just a little bend in one of the legs that I think I can repair.

I can't say enough good things about this art fair. The people of St. Louis support this fair big time. And the committee sprang into action to help us artists salvage a disaster. I'm hoping to get into this art fair again next year, but I think I'll request a different location away from that wind tunnel that took me down.