I reviewed the Haddonfield Crafts and Fine Arts show, put on by Marcy & Barbara Boroff of Renaissance Craftables,last year.  Rarely have I done a show two years running with such carbon-copy result. The show is held along two streets (Kings Highway and Tanner Ave.) that comprise the bulk of Haddonfield's business district. Haddonfield is a lovely, well-kept, history-rich Jersey-side suburb of Philadelphia. 

Early Saturday setup featured a moderately steady rain that we would have been grateful for at the time, had we realized it was going to rain even harder and more steadily once the show opened.  You aren't allowed to just come in and set up, though: You first stack your stuff along the sidewalk anytime between 5:30 am and 7 and head for the parking lots.  The cops and the barricades keep other traffic off the two main streets of the festival while you unload and stack.  Then, once all vehicles are off the streets, you set up your tent in the middle of the street, facing the sidewalks.  In a sense, this unusual procedure helped us stay a bit drier in the rain, since some of us could stack stuff under the doorways and eaves of the little shops and restaurants that line the streets, instead of having everything exposed to the elements.

The Boroffs remind you frequently in the pre-show literature that if you arrive after 7 am you are out of luck and will have to dolly from the artist parking lots, but every year I've done this show someone thinks they are exempt.  Marcy did a really good job being firm about this with one artist near me who stomped his foot repeatedly while the rest of us, well into our setup, shrugged our collective shoulders.

The rain caused a bit of a delay because it washed the chalk marks from the street, so it took a bit of work for staff to remark them, then abandon that plan entirely when the rains hit again.  I am not sure why the Boroffs don't just use tape or (like Cape Coral FA in Florida) get some wire numbered signs made.  In any event there was plenty of time, since the show doesn't open until 11 on Saturday morning. (It doesn't wrap up until 7 pm on Saturday.)  No generators are allowed and no electricity is available, so good battery-operated fans are a must.

Despite the rain, a fair number of folks browsed the show on Saturday, but sales were light.  Things for me picked up somewhat when the rain stopped in mid-afternoon.  But the extra sales hours didn't help much; I didn't make a single sale after about 5:15. 

Sunday was rain-free but still humid and quite a bit warmer.  And the show didn't officially open until noon (perhaps because of the abundance of churches along the show site) but many artists opened up between 10 and 11 and reported lots of traffic and brisk sales. That continued past the opening bell, so to speak, and throughout most of the day.  In contrast to Saturday's browse mode, folks on Sunday, as they did last year, came ready to buy.  I had an OK, but not super, sales day, which sure beat the Saturday doldrums.  Overall it was a profitable show and a paycheck, but not quite up to the $2K-plus mark I'd been hoping for. 

I didn't have much time to leave the booth, but several AFI'ers and a few friends from Sunshine Artist came by to chat and report in.  No one reported gangbuster results, but only two of about a dozen artists said their sales were poor (both were on Tanner St., where traffic was light compared with Kings Highway). 

All in all, this show gets solid community support, and many of the artists and crafters have cultivated regular followings. The "mix" is a bit heavy on jewelry and photography, and definitely skews to crafts over 2-D art, with a surprising number of wood carvers and hand-made furniture.  Although I probably wouldn't do Haddonfield as a stand-alone show unless I lived within an hour's drive, it's a nice show to have in the middle of my annual July swing through the Jersey shore resorts. 

So, it was Chautauqua weekend and I have nattered on about what an awesome show it is in the past, so I won't bore you with superlatives. This is about an opening sale the likes of which I'll never see again.

I am a book artist, but with the economy the way it is, I had wandered into "trinket" territory, using my scraps to make collage cards and magnets which sold very well but made me depressed when I made them. It also rankled when customer after customer would wander in, exclaim about my wonderful creations and then leave with a five dollar card.  After about a bazillion of them told me they were going to frame them, I had one of those wowza moments and thought that if they were going to frame them, so could I.

With some encouragement and advice from the fine folks here, I started making "real" collage and framing them. I also bagged a bunch of matted ones. They started to sell. I love making them.  As Chautauqua rolled around, I made the leap and put away the card and magnet making paraphernalia and focused on "real" collage. This took courage because those trinkets pay my expenses. But, you know, if I wanted to spend my time doing something I hate, I would have stayed in the government job.

So, I had a lot of collage. (what is he plural of collage anyway?) They hung on the back wall and the sides and I had a come-hither set up with a few in the very front. I had about 30 unframed. (I am not charging a fortune for these things. $30 and $40 for the matted ones, 60-80 framed. They cost me pennies to make and I enjoy it)

OK, so here is what happened. Around 10:30 a gentleman in tennis whites strolled in, looked at all the framed pieces and told me he really liked them. I thanked him. Then he perused the unframed, smiling and nodding. And then, with a huge grin, he said "I'll take everything" I laughed. He asked if he got a discount if he bought them all and I laughed and said "sure, if you buy them all!". I was still laughing. This went on for a bit until he started to take the pieces down and hand them to me. He truly wanted to buy them all.

Turns out he is a doctor practicing Chinese medicine who is opening a new facility in New York and he thought the collage with their inspirational and amusing quotes would be a great decorating theme. Russell helped him carry the pieces to his condo on the grounds and they had a great discussion about herbs and ancient medicine and acupuncture. He missed a couple of pieces I had hung on the front wall, so I moved them to the back and re-did the display.

He came back a few hours later with his wife to show her some things in the next booth he thought she might like for their home and he stopped in to say Hi. Noticed the pieces he missed. Bought them. I spent the rest of the weekend studying the one framed and one unframed he didn't buy, wondering what was wrong with them. I know you understand. Both of the eventually sold.

You know the best part? Word of this spread through the show and other artisans either came in to congratulate me or stopped me on the grounds to say "way to go" Some wanted me to touch them for good luck.

I doubt I will ever sell 2 grand in the opening moments of a show again, but the memory of that morning in Chautauqua will make me smile for a really long time.

An artist was kind enough to add me as an assistant to this wonderful festival and it was a wonderful benefit.  At a lot if shows, this wouldn't mean anything but at Krasl it meant I was fed and watered!!

This was a totally different show for me.  I was staying with a friend who prefers the beach to art shows so I had two full days to do whatever I wanted and I wanted to spend it at Krasl.

We actually walked through the area on Friday while people were setting up.  There were three highlights--I got to meet Holly Olinger, Connie Mettler and Patricia McCleery.   Connie joined my friend and I for drinks and snacks at the local hangout, Schu's.   They were really wonderful about letting us sit in the a/c.

On Saturday, we got to Krasl at about 9am and that was not a unique idea.  I usually get to a festival a little early and I have never seen this many people arrive at a festival an hour before.  Most of the art was very good.  There are always a few hits and misses and my hits and misses are not necessarily the same as someone else's which I think helps to explain how they got in the show.  That and they may have had really good jury pics that enhance the work or their booth display is bad, making the work look poor.  I found a lot to buy and had to slow myself down and take a step back so as not to make any mistakes.  Like an artist, I can report my highest spending day in several years. 

I have an expression, "so many artists, so little money"  I have a certain dollar amount that I feel comfortable spending on a piece and I don't go over that.  I also usually have a weekend limit.  There were so many things that I wanted to buy that I had to raise the weekend limit.  I happily purchased things from people I had never purchased from before so I was able to add different looks to my collection.  Sadly for the artists, I am not that 'big get' that makes a show.  I just try to let artists know that I really appreciate their work and want to own a small piece of it.  I am also running out of room in my house and my body.  Don't tell me to rotate my collection, I buy what I really like and want to look at it, all of the time!

Except for the back row at one end of the festival (the lost sales row, as one artist put it) this is an easy show to navigate.  It is pretty long and the main walk can get crowded but it is easy to get between booths and walk in the street.  The festival even provides two name signs with booth numbers and the back of most booths had the signs up.  This helps after you have seen the entire show and want to fulfill your "be back" commitments!!

The one artist area that I can speak to is the food.  My badge allowed me to eat lunch in the artist's lounge and it was great.  Also allowed to eat there were the sponsors and Krasl Buck Patrons.  I had lunch with a wide variety of people:  artists, patrons, helpers, policemen and NAIA members.  When the NAIA member told me who she was with, the first thing I said was:  "what are you doing about buy/sell"  We had a good discussion about what could be done about it.  My badge also included 2 bottles of water which were greatly appreciated because it was hot among the booths.  

The best thing about the art festivals is meeting people who I have been reading online.  I don't think I have ever been disappointed when I met an artist yet.   Leo Charette is as wonderful as his photography.  He has a unique way of seeing an object and getting a fantastic shot.  He also has great captions for some of his pieces that are very clever.  I also got to meet Dave Nagel who has a wonderful touch with wood.  Holly makes really cool wood and glass pieces and wall pieces that are both works of art and filled with symbolism.  I had never met her before and we had a great time.  I finally met John Leben while I was at Nels' booth but left while those two 'discussed' the merits of Florida photos and shows.  Bob and Patti Stern were there and the times I saw Bob out of the booth, he was walking one of their wonderful pieces to someone's car.  I had lunch with both Amy Flynn and Phil Crone which pretty much means I spent a lot of time in the artist's lounge!   Patricia McCleery was nice enough to let me hang a while at her booth and help her with her beautiful jewelry.  I met lots of other artists with wonderful work I had never seen before.

St. Joseph, Michigan is a wonderful little beach town.  The water is beautiful, the beach is lovely, the town has galleries, shops and restaurants in a small, compact, easy to walk area, the traffic wasn't too bad, the houses run the gamut from small bungalows to big mansions.  I can see why people love to visit there. 

It was a wonderful show that knows art is the main thing.  There was a food area and an entertainment area (that was only too loud for a little while on Sunday, otherwise it was unobtrusive ) that was separated from the art area.  This show is bigger than Lakefront in Milwaukee but they both have the same sensibilities when it comes to running a festival.  Krasl seems to have a more personal touch with the artists.  

It was a wonderful weekend and I would like to thank everyone who was so nice to me.  

I'm posting this as an attempt to pass on a request from another artist and inform as many people as may want to be informed and perhaps help out. Many of you may know Rick and Linda Bachman, two of the nicest people I've met, from various art fairs. On June 23rd their house, as-well-as the neighbors house, caught on fire. Apparently due to some wayward fireworks, which, by the way are illegal in Colorado! The request from Jim DeLutes follows:

Artists needing our help

Greetings,

Thank you and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions,

Jim DeLutes
Director
Colorado Artist Tour
www.ColoradoArtistTour.com

Someone on the street captured a video of the fire and you can see Rick at 1:40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l64SH3wtoE4&feature=related

Well, both Barry Bernstein and John Lebben have given excellent show reviews.  Let me fill you in some particulars that they did not include.

CHANCES OF GETTING IN NEXT YEAR

First off, I will just say this the best show to do in Michigan especially with how it is run and making money.

I did more on Sat. by noon than I did in almost three days at Boston Mills.  By 3pm I had passed my totals for the Columbus show which was previously my best show of the summer so far.

Everybody wants to be here because it is mostly Chicago and other Illinois money that fuels the show.  The Michiganders don't have the disposable income like the former.

So, next year they are only inviting back 30% of approximately 220 exhibitors.  Two years ago, and for years before, they invited 50%.  That means 66 lucky  people are in.  That leaves 154

spots for jurying into. Your chances of getting accepted are about 1:8 by my humble calculations.

Booth for booth the work looked great.  You gotta impress them good.

A LITTLE NOTE ABOUT THE JURYING AT THE ART SHOW.

On Sat. they send around six jurors who grade you on your work, presentation, etc.

They turn in the scores and the show has some pre-arranged total, lets say 36 points. Them that gets over that get the invitation.

This is the only negative point I will make about this show.

In my humble estimation, remember this is only my observation, some years not all the jurors even bother to walk into your booth.  You get judged from the sidewalk and somebody puts a dot on your sign.  It sucks, usually you get a low score which skews the totals if even the other four judges like you.

I have done this show, off and on, more than 15 years.  I remember one year I did not make the cut and I never saw many jurors come in.  A comment was attached to my jury score, it said, " Too much Florida images."  I guess it is ok to have too many European images, but screw Florida.

This year the first juror in my booth was a thin woman in a striped dress.  She looked intently down the left side of my booth, then walked back out.  SHE NEVER TURNED AROUND AND LOOKED AT MY RIGHT SIDE WHICH HAD A LOT OF GOOD WORK.  Gee, I guess I kinda got half of a jury score from her.  The next juror was a woman, she judged me from the sidewalk and I got my dot.  The remaining three jurors, two men and one woman, all came in shook my hand,looked at my work and even asked a few questions.  I felt, finally I have been judged.

Now I know they were given guidelines for judging--one being that two minutes was the top-alloted time to spend in a booth looking at work.  That's cool.  But it still leaves ya time to come in off that sidewalk.

Oh well, we find out in late August who gets invites.  I hope Christmas comes early this year.

BTW.  They do an excellent job of notifying you about your score.  Its no "TS, try again next time."  They show your score, they tell you the cut-off score needed and many times they put little comments about your work.  That is so much more than most shows do these days.

About the operations and setup--a few things Barry did not mention.  Lucky guy, got to swizzle wine with Chris Bruno and others.

First off the overall domero who runs this great show is Sarah Shamberger.  She does a fabulous job.  Everything you can think of, she has it covered.  She has run this show for years and everything flows like a well-greased machine.

Here is the most refreshing note I can say about her.  She is readily available by phone.  You can actually call her and get her live.  Good luck doing that with about the other 99% of

directors in this country.  Cyndi Lerwick  who runs the Clayton St. Louis show is another one who is accessible,  There are not a whole lot of others.

The show is a stickler for their rules.  You better follow them to the "T" or you can forget about getting in the next year.  Two rules to be aware of involve both setup and teardown.

You can start setting up your booth after 10 am on Friday morn (it is a Sat-Sun show}.  Don't try to get your van in before 10 am--that is a big no-no.  At teardown, which starts at 5 pm, do not try to come in one second early.  You will be flagged, and forget about next year.

ABOUT SALES--MAKING MOOLA

Traditionally, Saturday is the best day for sales.  They come out early and buy voraciously.  I made my first sale at 9:15 am, 45 minutes ahead of show opening.  This apples to most of us--the early Sat. sales,there are always exceptions.

Sunday crowd is usually smaller, and buys low-end if they buy at all.  It is like the husband says,"Honey, let's take the kids down for a stroll on the bluff and see the art show".  Most walk

down the middle, empty-handed, and never look at the art.  There are always exceptions.

I barely did $800 on Sunday, all low-end.  Saturday, I sold mostly big pieces and very few mats for under $75.

Fellow AFI-er, Patricia Heckler hit the nail right on the head.  She said the Chicago people leave early on Sunday to beat the rush back to the big city.

They are mostly traditional in what they buy.  Contemporary sells, if you got the right stuff.  Gods knows what that is these days.

NOW LET'S GET CRACKING.

i got the news today from my heart guy.  They are real concerned about the water buildup in my legs which is the by-product of my leaking heart valve (yes, the Mitrol.}  I go into the hospital at the Mjier Heart Clinic, in Grand Rapids, on August 9th, right after I survive Uptown Minneapolis. They keep me in a bed for four days and prick me and trick me and try to get my body right for cracking.  On the 13th I go under for the big one--repairing the Mitrol valve and doing one bypass for blockage.

Right before I go under the anesthetia, I plan on saying "Aloha!."  Because it means both "Good-bye" and "Hello."  I definitely need to be breathing.  I plan on it, otherwise I am going to shoot every damn beautiful tropical place in Heaven before Steve Vaugn arrives.

Aloha, Nels.  Don't worry, I will come out OK, I was born under a lucky star and good things have happened to me all my life.  You gotta Believe.

Vegetarian and vegan food will be available at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair July 18-21. Lightlife, a Massachusetts-based company will be making the food as part of a nationwide tour.

Heritage.com has more information.

It seems so simple to get things right.  The thing about KRASL that makes this show stand out is the attention to the little things that make this show great.  It starts with the setup and ends with the breakdown.  This is one hassle free event.  Setup is painless. It starts at 10 AM Friday and you have all day until 10 PM to arrive, check in and set up.  And guess what kiddies?  The artists get to control the whole thing.  There are no committee members with ego problems bossing you around, treating you like it's your first show.  Committees can turn a 2 hour load in into an 8 hour stress fest with load in times, directing you to your spot, etc.  You all know what I'm talking about.  At this show, the artist get to work things out among themselves, so, things go really smoothly.  There is an artist party starting at 5, at the art center, which is at one end of the show.  At the other end is a large tent put up by Shu's restaurant, for artists that was serving drinks. Everyone had free assigned parking lots close to the show, so if you had to access your vehicle it was just a minutes a couple away for everyone.  There is a program where townspeople allow artists to stay at their house.  It's somewhat limited but the people who do this have embraced the concept.  I saw where one artist had their own suite which faced a small lake.  The homeowner left a welcome basket for when they arrived, and stocked their own refrigerator with beer, water, and juices, etc. Of course, they had to post pictures on their FB page gloating about their good fortune.

Surprise!! Surprise!! The show starts at 10AM on Saturday and people are streaming into the show.  I started making sales immediately.  I think my first sale was at 10:05 and it was steady until about 3PM.  Then it slowed down but at no time did it stop and there were people walking the show right up until the end.  Same thing with Sunday. Unfortunately for me, but not really, all my sales were $130 and under.  Two years ago, Nels Johnson chastised me for not having low end pieces for the Ann Arbor art fair.  So, I made a bunch of $40 pieces and plenty in the $120-$130 range. Well, I still won't have many of those pieces for Ann Arbor because I sold a lot of them this past weekend.  Everyone around me was selling steadily and just because I didn't sell any high end pieces it didn't mean that everyone had that experience.  One friend had a $1600 sale.  The person next to me didn't sell anything until after 3 PM on Sunday and then they had two sales in the $2800 range.  I even sold my most expensive piece at 5 PM right at the end of the show.  At every show there are a few who do great and a few who have goose eggs.  The thing that made this show great is that the majority of the artists had decent sales, not great, but, healthy.  This is one show where they invite a number of artists back, not just the award winners.  I know that some people are going to be unhappy because they will have to jury in again next year.

A word about the quality.  The quality of the artists and the artwork was excellent.  This was my fourth year and by far this year had the best artists.  There were some questionable work, like in "How did they get into this show?" Guess what kiddies? Sara had a couple of us go around and note the booths that were glaringly not up to quality of the rest of the show.  They will not be returning next year.  The show is limited to 200+ booths, I'm not sure of the actual number. Every year there is a suggestion made to make it bigger.  Sara, who is the long time director, will have none of that.  She wants a relatively small intimate show of high quality and she achieves that.

The show is on one long street facing the sidewalk with booths on both sides and then some booths in a second row on the grass in a row.  I don't believe there are any bad spaces.  You get extra space on your sides which makes this show really comfortable.  The helpers are friendly and eager to help with any request.  There are water booths strategically placed.  One great thing is there is an artist lounge in the upscale hotel in the middle of the show on the other side of the street.  There is a free artist lunch. Or, if you want to get out of the sun, you can just go there to rest and recharge.  There is plenty of soda and water to drink, too. I almost forgot to mention that Shu's puts on a nice breakfast for artists in their hospitality tent on Saturday morning.  This is another nice touch.

One of the best things about this show is how the artists treat each other.  There is a spirit of we are all in this together.  I had a ball.  Shu's is a really nice restaurant and groups of artists like to go there together for dinner at the end of the day.  There is a really fabulous pizza place at the train station down underneath the show closer to Lake Michigan, where we went one evening. Tosi's has great coffee in the morning where people congregate. There are a number of online web sites where we all have made relationships with people that we never met in person.  I got to see a number of these people at KRASL and the real time experience was as good or even better than the online one. One night, after dinner, a couple of us gravitated to the about mentioned hotel where a few people were closing down the bar.  After the bar, Scot Causey, Chris Bruno, and I finished off a bottle of wine in a little park by the booths.  It turned into a night of testifying.  Chris was one of those people I wanted to meet because our group of trouble makers had gotten into it with him at another popular FB artist's site.  He turned out to be a great guy and we hit it off right away.  He kept telling me that he was prepared to really dislike us.  Reluctantly, he found us all to be really great people and that it was impossible to not like the few people who had gotten into it with him.  That night was a hoot and I found myself having a hard time keeping my eyes open at 1:30 AM.  I never do late night partying because I need to be really fresh and alert during the show.  I didn't suffer too much and was in great shape Sunday morning.

Even the weather cooperated.  There was a storm coming in Saturday evening.  Miraculously, it missed us by a hair.  South Bend, Indiana, which is just south of St Joseph got the brunt of it which turned out to be 4 inches of rain. All we had was nice weather with a breeze coming off Lake Michigan to cool us down.

That's it for now.  I have to be somewhere soon.  If I forgot something I will post it.  I'm sure Nels will cover anything I leave out in his blog.

I was at the Cain Park arts festival this weekend. I am a newbie, just starting out. I was at the Shaker Heights Art Festival in June(Ohio Designer Craftsmen show) and Cain Park was my second show. At Shaker Heights the booth fee was $300, and I made $430. I was happy with that, because I was happy to sell anything at all, just starting out. At Cain Park the booth fee was $400, and I sold $1170. Just thrilled. Although I raised  my prices a bit from Shaker to Cain Park, I realize I still have to raise them more, to start to cover expenses. I'm a photographer, specializing in nature and travel photography. I have images from three trips to Asia: Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand), India, and China, and I was surprised how many of them I sold. I also sold work from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and images of Cleveland, as Cleveland is my home.

I was so impressed by the organization of the Cain Park show, and the help from staff. I had help both setting up and breaking down, parking was right by my booth, helpers checked almost every hour throughout the three-day show if we needed anything: it was amazing. The people couldn't have been nicer. And my neighbors were also very nice--same as in Shaker. Wondering if anyone from ArtFairInsiders was at Cain Park?

The weather was warm Friday night, but Saturday was great with some overcast skies. On Sunday we had a torrential downpour for about an hour, and I had two women get stuck in my tent who wound up buying two framed pieces! When life gives you lemons...!

Thanks again so much to everyone on this forum--I have learned a lot from reading everybody's posts, and look forward to getting more experience being an art fair participant.

Does anybody know anything about Paragon shows? Particularly the Dallas show. I believe it might be an inaugural show.Thanks, very helpful websight,

Every year Ann Arbor's award winning street art fairs attract over 500,000 attendees from all over the country. 
 
The beautiful surroundings that make walking through the Ann Arbor Street Art Fairs a unique experience, also making parking difficult. Over the years, many fairgoers have given up on trying to find a parking space downtown and have started parking miles away, where they are at the mercy of a shuttle bus to bring them into and out of Ann Arbor.
 
This year a local startup company, Park n Party, has teamed up with Republic Parking and the Ann Arbor Downtown Develop- ment Authority to provide fairgoers the ability to make Parking Reservations!
 
Avoid the hassles of driving around searching for a spot by reserving a spot in a lot of your choice.   For less than $20, you can reserve a parking space for an entire day in any of the downtown Republic Parking structures. Making the reservation is a snap. Just visit the Park n Party website, choose your preferred lot and select the "Reserve a Spot" button.
 
Once a reservation has been made, a receipt will be emailed to the customer. This receipt must be printed and presented to the lot attendant on the specified day of parking.  Questions can also be emailed to Park n Party at info@parknparty.com or you can contact the company by phone at 888-926-7275.

I am. Here's how.

Armor

Today I'm packing up my car to head to an art fair. I've done just about everything I can think of to prepare for this amazing event. Really all that's left are tying up some loose ends and getting myself into a healthy frame of mind for the work ahead. I have created a strong body or work that represents what I stand for on a variety of levels. I've done the best I can.When we do this we are ready. We are as safe as one can be within this knowledge.

Mikey (the hubby) has been incredibly supportive and helpful and is right now heading out to find me a cartopper to put some stuff on top of my little suv. Safely. I was ready to tie garbage bags filled with stuff up there - but he didn't approve. So he's gonna fix me up. He's like that. I'm lucky. Support comes from many different directions - accept it, acknowledge it, be gratefulfor it.

Our Steeds

Your steed probably looks different than mine, maybe it's a computer, a presentation, a manuscript, a lesson plan - or maybe you're also packing up your own vehicle full of your own intentions and dreams.

A tip of the sun hat to all you good folks out there who take on the world with your own brand of optimismistic pursuits. To us all I say "CHARGE!".

I am a knight from the kingdom of hope.
My foe is colorless apathy.
The battle is perseverance.
My weapons are excellence, optimism and imagination.

The original drawing looks like this:

 

August 18 & 19
Atlanta, Georgia
Piedmont Park
200 artists
Deadline: July 21

Winner of two prestigious Kaleidoscope Awards from the Southeast Festivals & Events Association, the Piedmont Park Summer Arts & Crafts returns to Atlanta’s historic central gathering place. Two hundred painters, photographers, sculptors, glass blowers, jewelry-makers and crafters will line the winding paths of the Midtown park, along with the city’s popular food trucks, live music and a children’s play area.

Piedmont Park is synonymous with arts & crafts and an enthusiastic community has welcomed this event back to the neighborhood. Sponsored by the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces.

Learn more & apply: www.piedmontparkartsfestival.com

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

Looking for more shows for your 2012 season? Visit www.CallsforArtists.com.

Well, here we go.  My first show review.  Hopefully I'll be able to provide some good information.  This was my first year participating at this show.  There are actually 2 shows going on at the same time.  The Art Fair on the Square consists of approximately 450 artists.  About one block away the Art Fair off the Square is held with approximately 250 Wisconsin artists, which I did last year.

Friday

Load in/setup was scheduled to start at approximately 6:00 PM.  According to the show information, "artists are allowed 15 minutes to unload their vehicle."  The vehicle was then to be moved before setup.  It was also recommended to show up after 8:00 PM if you had a trailer.  Well, this is where I committed my first rookie mistake...I followed the rules.  I showed up at 8 since I have a trailer.  Unfortunately, the 15 minute rule was not being followed (at least not in the section that I was setting up).  Because it is Friday evening, there is no parking available around the area.  At around 9:00 PM I was able to get close enough to my spot (still outside of the square) and start carrying items to my spot.  It was approximately 9:30 PM when I was able to move my car close enough to my assigned space and really start the setting up process.  I had most of my setup in place by 11:30.  The plus to this is that I am local.  I only live 10 miles south of Madison.  So that made a huge difference being able to go home and hit my bed.

I learned my lesson...get there as early as possible.  I could have just arrived mid-afternoon and taken 2 meter parking spots close to my booth area (about 40 meters) and just cart everything at 6:00 PM.

Saturday

On Saturday mornings the local farmer's markets is held around the square from 6:30 AM until 2:00 PM.  People around here are used to heading out early on Saturdays to shop or just walk around the square.  Knowing this I made sure I had my tent ready for business at 6:00 AM (the show officially starts at 9 on Saturday).  I figured that people would start looking around early and possibly buying (that is what I have done in previous years).  I left the trailer at home and just parked my car in one of the parking garages.  Because is the weekend, parking was only $5 for the entire day.  Before I parked, I was able to drive up to my tent and off-load a few more items that I brought with me.

Having my tent ready paid off.  By 9 I had already sold $430.  There were some nice clouds and breeze in the area that kept the temperature nice throughout the morning (between 89 and 91, low humidity).  People were out...and they were shopping.  From the moment I opened until around 3 PM I was able to take one break.  Sales did slow down considerably late afternoon as the temperature rose.  Even the number of people just looking was lower.  I only made four sales between 3 and 6 PM.  My total sales for the day were just over $8,700.

Sunday
I was not going to make the same mistake that I made Friday evening.  So I went into town at 5:30 AM and got the first corner parking spaces closest to my booth.  I made sure there wasn't a parking space behind me so I could load my trailer with no problems.  I even had my car facing away from the square...my escape route was well planned.  Since the show doesn't officially open on 10, I went to the Starbucks on the square to relax and watch a movie on my iPad.  So I was able to kill a couple of hours.  At around 8:30 I noticed some people walking around, so I decided to open up.  The temperature and humidity were supposed to be higher.  So I figured that there would be some early shoppers.  People did walk in.  But sales were much slower, as expected.  It felt considerably hotter than Saturday.  I had 2 fans running, one behind the tent for me and another one inside the tent mainly for customers.  Between 10 and 5 PM I made $2,000 in sales.

Load out seemed to go smoother.  I was able to cart all my art to my trailer.  By the time I had taken down my tent, there was space for me to drive my car/trailer right in front of my booth space.  I was home shortly after 7 PM.

Other Stuff

- I only recall seeing booth sitters just once on Saturday.  However, this could have been because I was very busy throughout the day.  On Sunday I did see them approximately 5 times.

- Breakfast (juice, coffee, pastries, bananas) were provided Sunday morning.  I am not sure if they were provided on Saturday.

- The booth setup here requires that 8' of the tent are in the street and the last 2' up on the curb.  Once I knew my tent location I stopped by one morning and measured the height of the curb.  I then had a friend help me build a ramp.  This allowed me to use the entire both for display and avoided having customers tripping over the curb.

I will definitely be applying to this show again next year.

Our third year at this well supported community event.  It’s one of our favorite locations and favorite 2 day shows.  What’s not to like about island life??  The views from this location are fantastic with Mount Baker and the Cascades to the east, the Olympic Mountains to the west and of course, the Puget Sound that surrounds the island.  It’s a small, community festival that attracts tourists who are vacationing in the area or Seattle area residents who have weekend homes on the island.  The locals support this festival and they have great volunteer support.  Whidbey Island is very supportive of the arts, Langley is listed in John Villani’s “The 100 best Art Towns in America”.  The Island also has a large population of retirees who are very supportive of the art shows in the area.   This is a show that is primarily about the art, you don’t see clowns, stilt walkers and other sideshow freaks.  There is a music stage, the music on Saturday was definitely better than Sunday and if you were close to the stage the volume was a little too loud.  The music late Sunday afternoon was absolutely too loud and dreadful music to listen to, it made me wish I had ear plugs!

It’s one of the few shows we do in the summer that Saturday night ends at 6 PM instead of 8 or 9 PM so we actually get a little more time to hang out with friends in the evening.  We once again brought our grill and had a great visit with other artists where we were camped.   The show does offer shuttle service for the patrons from the ferry dock to the show and I talked to several people who took advantage of that service and were pleased that it was available.  Artist parking is away from the show, a mostly uphill climb from the down town area, however they do provide a shuttle that would be convenient if you weren’t bringing all your product in and out each morning/evening. 

Load in went very smoothly for us this year, the volunteer committee running the show communicated much better regarding the start of the load in time and knowing that they are always running behind we arrived a little later than our stated time and barely had time to change out of sandals into our tennis shoes before they were telling us to get back in the truck to the staging area.  This year, at least for us, seemed to be the smoothest, easiest load in we’ve had at this show.  We again had help from a volunteer unloading and were able to quickly get our truck out of the way. There was also an artist reception but it was during the same time as load in so I didn’t hear any reports of artists taking advantage of free nibbles and beverages.

This year the show added 20 booths, 10 of them jewelry and I was a bit concerned going into the show.  In the end, sales were the best we’ve had here in 3 years and we went home happy. Unfortunately not all the artists were quite as happy, but overall most seemed okay with the show.  I didn’t hear of anyone making a killing at the show, but neither did I hear anyone really complaining about not making expenses except for one oil painter who sells only one of a kind paintings and no prints.  Some of the jewelers reported lower sales than last year, the fiber artist who makes beautiful sweaters was having a slower than usual show but we also know some wood artist and a ceramics artist who were having great shows.   There were several artists that I see at various shows that I hadn’t seen here before, many of them had done this show in the past and added it back to their schedule this year.  3 of the artists who came back for the first time in a few years were pleased with their sales.

Weather was perfect, sunny and in the low 70s, the “heat refugees” from the horrible high temperatures in the Midwest who were on vacation were absolutely delighted to be here instead of at home.  Almost 100% of our sales on Saturday were to tourists, most of those non-Washington residents, almost all our sales on Sunday were to local residents.  Our booth was in the second quad from the shuttle stop, so we heard a lot of “I’ll be back” comments, this was definitely a show where the “be backs” actually came back, about 1/3 of our sales were from “be backs”.  Sales on Saturday were fairly steady until about 5 PM and died the last hour.  A street dance is part of the festival on Saturday night, most of the artists are closed and gone before that event begins.  Sunday started slow, we had a good “flurry” in the middle of the day and after 3 PM it was dead.   Our sales dollars were fairly evenly divided between the 2 days, but the number of sales on Sunday was far less than Saturday.

One of the most difficult parts of doing this show is just getting to the island, you never know how long the ferry wait is going to be.  Coming in on Friday, a 3 hour wait was posted, we were on the ferry within an hour of getting in line, Sunday night however, we had a 90 minute wait and then the drive home seemed longer than usual due to heavy traffic going through downtown Seattle.

July 18-21
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Ann Arbor Art Fairs
  Wed. -  Friday, 10 am to 9 pm; Saturday - 10 am to 5 pm
    never on  Sunday

This enticing extravaganza of art is officially divided into four  events. In addition to this, every square foot of outdoor  space in this area has been sold to people who did not jury into these  four events.    

If there is something you have been hankering for, you can find it in  Ann Arbor in July. People come from around the country and some shop  all four days. Customers here for the first time are awed by the  quantity, the quality and the creativity and vow to return next year.  Come to add to your art collection, come to see the best in contemporary  art, come to start your collection, you will not be disappointed.  

1.   Ann Arbor Street Art Fair - the original!
      200 artists around the Burton Memorial Tower and Ingalls
      Mall on the central campus
This is the art fair that started the whole event.  Established in 1959, it is highly juried - over 1000 applicants apply  for the 190 spaces. The most avant garde work will be exhibited here, as  well as many artists who rarely exhibit their work outdoors.
For more info: www.artfair.org 

Shop at your leisure at the "original" show on the UM campus

2.  South University Art Fair        
     175 Artists in the South  University shopping district
Held in the area where the Street Fair  was originally, this event organized by the local merchants has very  high standards and some outstanding artwork.       

3.  State Street Area Art Fair
     320 Artists
This fair,  coordinated by the State Street Area merchants, has been around since  l963. It is located on Liberty, Thompson and surrounding areas. Often  you will find newcomers to the world of art fairs exhibiting here...the  stars of tomorrow!      

4.  Summer Art Fair
     Two locations:
         200 Artists on Main Street and Liberty
         175 Artists on State Street across from the Diag

Organized by the The Guild, an artists organization, this show has  the widest range of price levels of any of the Ann Arbor events. Uneven  quality, it has some of the best in the show and some of the worst. It  is easy to shop on Main Street with nearby parking and a plethora of  restaurants.
For more info:  www.theguild.org 

Read more of the story from the Detroit Free Press.

Pricing art...the hardest thing for me. I can price other artists art, no problem. But when it comes to mine, yikes! Am I too low? Too high? Ok, I finally decided on my price...but then...The "bargainer" comes.

OK, I'm easy to convince and yes, sometimes I go down a little in some paintings, if it is a harder to sell, or getting close to the end of season, end of day, etc etc. But how low can I go? 

Guy: OK, this painting is 180.00?

Me: Yes Sir, 180.00

Guy:What about 120.00?

Me: Mmmm...I can't go that low. That painting is very popular and it took me hours to make.

Guy: Ok, how much and I will give you cash right now?

Me: OK...160.00

Guy...NOPE! 130.00 or nothing

Me: I'm sorry Sir, I can't

Guy: OK, no deal. (walked away)

Me: Thinking...Ok, No deal...Whatever! Don't try to take advantage of my me and my work.

I didn't care but at the same time the lower they want to go I just want to say: Hey dude...Seriously?? Go and call a plumber, an electrician, they will charge you that just to go and take a look at your toilet (nothing against plumbers or electricians, just an example)...who do you think I am?? World Vision??? Unicef? Angelina Jolie?? No working for charity dude, but how low is too low? Or what kind of deals do you offer if they are interested in more than one of your pieces?

I will give a full blog, chock full of good meat on Monday.  Today by noon, I had made more than I did in three days at Boston Mills.  By 3pm when sales tapered off, I had made more than I did in

Columbus which was my best show so far this summer.  I was not alone.  Coming out of Shue's Restaurant across from my booth, where I made good use of their bathrooms with my by products of my heart condition,I saw people coming out with five and six packages of art.  How 

refreshing-- a real art show.  Tell ya more on Monday.  Nels.

Art fairs are a lot of hard work. They’re also expensive to participate in and attend. They’re stressful and full of physical challenges. Below are some tips I’ve created to help me not just get through the next show, but have fun doing so without taxing my system unduly. Each of these tips has been hard won through many years of experience. Take the ones you like, invent and share other tips that help you. Please. I’m ever open to hearing how you, my fellow art fair artists, sail through your shows!

1. Believe the show is awesome – NO MATTER WHAT. Some of my most amazing shows have seemed slow – only to blossom weeks later with an offer or an order I never would have garnered otherwise.
2. Pack wonderful tasty snacks to get you hydrated and fed – body and soul – throughout the day. Treat yourself, make it high quality everything. Include soul food. Soul Food = chocolate et al – stuff you love. In moderation.
3. Don’t complain. Not no way. Not no how. Not during the event. That vibe is sticky and will cling to all your good intentions in your work. If you have suggestions for improvements – thoughtfully provide those to the appropriate audience after the show.
4. A slow show does not mean your work isn’t worthy. Never forget that.
5. An awesome show doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an awesome artist either – see #6.
6. What defines you as an artist is YOU. Not your sales. I have had amazingly profitable shows, and crazily horrible shows. The work is the work. These externals might distract you from your Vision. Stay mindful of that.

Celebrate Every Show You’re In!

7. That said – note trends in your sales and adjustwhat you sell accordingly! That’s not prostituting your Vision – that’s sharing it in ways The Public is ready to accept at the moment.
8. Never forget that you are creatively educating people in all of this amazing effort of yours.
9. Give yourself a present after every show. You deserve it. It doesn’t have to be extravagant but it should be a pat on your own back for a job well done.

10. You are an amazing example for others!
11. Go YOU! You are Brave, Hard-working, Persevering,  Dedicated, Patient, a Visionary par excellence! Not many people can stake a claim in this many wonderful traits.

Lucky? Hardly!

Do you hear people say “I wish I was as lucky as you, getting to do what you love?”. I do, too. A ton. I usually chuckle and state “Luck has nothing to do with it!”. I work hard at making this dream come true. You do too. Those folks could too – we have made this a choice we’re willing to work – and work hard – for.

We deserve every good opportunity that comes our way from putting our work out there for all the world to see and react to right in front of us! We can minimize whatever negative challenges that come our way by alway, always treating ourselves as a treasured employee – because we most certainly are! Without us this business would literally disappear over night!

One of the hardest things for me being a full time artist is pricing work.  I try and look around and get an idea what everyone else is charging.  I listen to prospective clients to see how many are agreeable and how many put down my price sheet and walk away.  It's hard to know sometimes what the right price is.

I wrote my blog entry this week about a client who had an old price sheet.  Do you honor old prices or stick to the new?  I think it depends on the client.

http://www.pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/07/coming-to-america.html

Happy selling!!

Wendy