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Congratulations to John Costin**, winner of the $10,000 Best of Show Prize at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Best of show is awarded for the artist's whole body of work. Here is a representative Big Bird Drawing by John Costin.

Also to John and Shirl Parmentier for the Morse Museum Award for a Distinguished Work of Art, $2500.

At Winter Park the judges make the rounds of the booths and choose pieces to be removed from the booth to be judged altogether in a gallery space.

Winter Park is generous with awards and there are lots of winners. Here are the rest:

10 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE ($2000)
Painting - Matthew Cornell, Orlando, FL
Jewelry - Lauran Sundin, Concord, NH
Wood - Thomas Dumke**, Oconomowoc, WI
Fiber - Amos Amit** Los Angeles, CA
Clay - Becky Lloyd & Steve Lloyd Clyde, NC
Wood - Matthew Hatala** Danielsville, GA
Glass - Scott Amrhein** Sherwood, WI
Photography - Mark Mackinnon** Millbrook, NY
Fiber - Sandy D'Andrade Red Hook, NY
Fiber -  Xiao Xia Zhang Minich & Patrick Minich, Cleveland, OH

20 AWARDS OF DISTINCTION ($1000)
Sculpture - John Whipple Winter Park, FL
Photography - Cali Hobgood** Urbana, IL
Jewelry - Patricia Karnes** Winter Park, FL
Painting - Charles Gatewood** Phenix City, AL
Jewelry - Kim Koch Oshkosh, WI
Clay - William Kidd Miramar, FL
Jewelry - Pam Fox** Sarasota , FL
Mixed Media - Rasa Pranckunaite & Algis Keburys Astoria, NY
Glass - Mark Sudduth Cleveland Hts., OH
Wood - Don Carter Longwood, FL
Drawings & Graphics - Jody Depew Mcleane Eagle River, WI
Fiber - Jill Wagoner Fuquay-Varina, NC
Fiber - Candiss Cole**-Footitt & Rodger Footitt Sedona, AZ
Clay - Brian Beam Fulton, MI
Jewelry - Sana Doumet & Munir Doumet Clearwater, FL
Glass - Chris McCarthy St. Louis, MO
Wood - Donald Boudreau Hollywood, FL Ebony
Clay - Michael Kahn & Mieko Kahn Greenbush, MI
Mixed Media - Paul Andrews Charlotte, NC
Clay - Shadow May Chattanooga, TN

Jim & Shirl Parmentier - Winners of the Morse Museum Award

AWARD OF MERIT LIST ($500)
Mixed Media - David McKirdy Tampa, FL
Mixed Media - Jeff League Winter Park, FL
Mixed Media - Joe Decamillis** Birmingham, AL
Wood - Larry Roofner Windermere, FL
Sculpture - Kostas Ulevicius St. Petersburg, FL
Drawings & Graphics - Helen Gotlib Ann Arbor, MI
Jewelry - Jonathon Stopper Sarasota, FL
Watercolor - Russell Yerkes** Tarboro, NC
Wood - John Mascoll Safety Harbor, FL
Glass - Duncan McClellan** St. Petersburg, FL
Photography - Emerson Matabele New Orleans, LA
Photography - Robert Clibbon New Smyrna Beach, FL
Sculpture - Bill Secunda Butler, PA
Fiber - Miriam Carter Dublin, NH
Jewelry - Christian Butera Apopka, FL
Clay - Mark Knott Suwanee, GA
Painting - Jon D Smith Naples, FL
Sculpture - Trent Manning Winter Haven, FL
Jewelry - Rick Austin Inverness, FL
Drawings & Graphics - Edson Campos Winter Park, FL
Leather - Horace Thomas** & Shawn Thomas Belton, TX
Jewelry - John Ruff & Carolyn Ruff Springfield, MO
Watercolor - Randy Eckard Blue Hill, ME
Painting - Bruce Peeso Monson, MA
Drawings & Graphics - Ron Hoyle Lees Summit, MO
Clay - Michael Schwegmann** Champaign, IL
Fiber - Mary Sly & Dan Wyatt Friday Harbor, WA
Clay - Marti Mocahbee Staunton, VA
Clay - Vadim Malkin Orlando, FL
Drawings & Graphics -Heinrich Toh Kansas City, MO 

**Members of AFI - including Best of Show! Woo hoo!

I just listened to the podcast from last night. Great job Connie, but while i was there I also listened to your interview of the St. Louis & Des Moine show directos. King from Des Moines says at one point that it a good idea to attend an open jury (which I have) and then he states that with technology now you can even view some shows jurying process online. I had never heard of this opportunity. Does anyone know of any shows that you can look at the jury online?

Anyone know anything about the Mountain View show in September produced by California Artists?

June 30
Elk Rapids, Michigan

Veteran's Memorial Park

10am-5pm
75 Artists

Deadline: April 1  

Prize money:

 ART & TECHNOLOGY competition-- April 3-14, 2013--- Jacksonville, Florida- downtown Jacksonville locations -  modeled after ArtPrize- just announced - WOW !!!!

Got to love Gasparilla for the terrific prize money. As a result they get many applications from people who do very few shows but who think they have a crack at winning part of $74,500 in awards.

Congratulations to the lucky ones:

Trent Manning of Winter Haven won the Raymond James Best of Show Award on Saturday during the opening day of the 42nd Raymond James Financial Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

Manning, one of more than 230 artists at the festival, received the top honor along with $15,000 for his "King of the Mountain" sculpture.

The artwork was judged by Douglas Dreishpoon, chief curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY.

Thirty-seven artists were honored for their work, including:

• Robert Kastrinos of Orlando received the Board of Director's Award ($7,500)
• Tampa's Jeff Eckert took the Roddy Brownlee Reed Award of Excellence ($4,000)
  
• M. Kemper of Oklahoma City earned the Mayor's Award ($3,500)
• Paul Shatz** of Charleston, S.C., won the Anniversary Award ($2,500)
• Oren Estell of St. Petersburg captured the Friends of the Museum Award ($2,000)
• Shannon Blosser-Salisburg** of Bethany, Ill., received the Robert & Elizabeth Sanchez Emerging Artist Award ($1,000)

If anyone has the complete list I'd love to see it.

**AFI members - a special congrats!

Normally, I can find a bit more information about a show... but, other than the usual "call for artists", etc. I cannot seem to find any reviews on this show.  If you can provide any information, I would be very appreciative and delighted!

Thanks so much! Alice

I've just read for the umpteenth time a post that mentions that "sales are uncertain in election years."  I had just gotten started in this business in 2008, so I don't have any data with which to assess this statement.  But thinking back on the, oh, 10 or so election years since I actually a) had a job; and b) spent money, I can't recall a single time when I actually considered the outcome of an election before making a purchase of art, automobiles, gasoline, groceries, or anything else. 

So I'd love to hear: Does this relationship exist?  And if you think so, convince me.

How do you find ratings for these shows. We have now done two shows, and they were so different from eachother. One was supposed to be juried and had  fewer artists than stated, they had booths for things like cable tv and so on. The  next one, put on in Arizona by Thunderbird artist was a real delight. Now we are ready to enter a show or two for the summer of 2012 and would like to be able to have a better idea of what we are dealing with.

June 1 & 2 - new event!
Sylvania, Ohio
Historic Downtown Sylvania
Presented by the Sylvania Community
Art Commission & the
Sylvania Chamber of Commerce
75 Artists
Deadline: March 31

Set up: Friday 1pm
Show Hours:
Fri.: 5:30pm-9pm
Sat.: 10am-7pm
Jury Fee $20.00
Booth Fee: $140.00

Maple and Main Art Fair is pleased to invite you to submit your entry to this inaugural, juried art fair in Historic Downtown Sylvania, OH.  In early June, just as the weather turns really nice, join us for the exciting new art fair in a great little town. 

Sylvania, a city of 19,000 residents, is the perfect setting for an art fair, the home of a thriving art scene and one of the regions highest median incomes.  This highly regarded suburb of Toledo, OH, is part of a metropolitan area of more than 650,000 residents.  We welcome you to discover what will surely become one of the best little fairs in the Midwest.

Important Dates:
March 31st Entry Deadline
April 16th Notification Date

Highlights:

• On the downtown, tree lined streets of Historic Sylvania
• Two days-Friday Night Gala, all day Saturday
• Overnight Security
• $2,200 in Total Prize Money
• Live Music Stage-Great Lineup of Musicians
• Local Food Vendors-Beer and Wine tickets for artists
• Booth Sitters and Set up Assistance
• Coffee, Doughnuts and Refreshments
• Extensive Promotion
• Sunday Off!

Download the Artist Application at: www.Maple-and-Main.org  

Questions: email us at: Info@Maple-and-Main.org

***************

Looking for more art fairs for your 2012 season?

Visit www.CallsforArtists.com

F.Y.I.
I have read many times, "the judge just passed by without looking". In our cases, we have one judge for 2-D work and one for 3-D. They then concur to select which artists will be given awards.  This may explain why one “passed you by”.

Our awards history is available at:

http://www.artinusa.com/bonita/pages_public_info/awardhistory.html

Here are the awards of the March 10-11, 2012 Bonita Springs National Art Festival

I went to the La Quinta Art Fair this weekend to see what all the hubbub was about (I did not get accepted in the jewelry category), it having such great ratings every year. It was really a beautifully laid out show and was packed with attendees and there were very few empty booths during my walk-through. The parking fee of $7 and the entrance fee of $12 would certainly weed out the riff-raff. There was one dramatic pause on my tour, though, that made me gasp! Just at the exit, maybe the last booth before you leave the fair, was a gal selling $25 & $45 hats which were so "hecho en Mexico" that I had to stop and talk to the girl selling. She said, when asked, that they weren't handmade (obvious). They were the kind of "cowboy" style you find at any Mexican stand along the beach or elsewhere, then spray painted in girly colors with a bauble glued onto the front. I was so shocked and stunned that I left there reeling. How did this person get chosen by the jury. I spend 50-80 hours on EACH of my necklaces and not chosen while this abomination was accepted in to this high class show? Does anyone else out there have anything to say about this?

On March 15 at 6 pm ET I'll be talking with three artists who had solid success jurying into the top art fairs in 2011. We'll talk about:

• their backgrounds
• jury images
• favorite shows
• the big (or not so big) payoff
• how is 2012 shaping up

Artists:

1. Kathrine Allen-Coleman, a painter from Georgia who participated in Coconut Grove, Reston, Old Town, Columbus, Des Moines, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair and more
2. Andrew Shea, a glass blower from Minnesota who was in Belleville, Old Town, Des Moines, Madison, Uptown, Port Clinton, Saint Louis and more
3. Bruce Reinfeld, a photographer from Philadelpia who was Columbus, Des Moines, Cherry Creek, Plaza and more

Catch this podcast live right here at 6 pm.

If you can't join us at that time the recording will be available at this link for download: http://www.artfairinsiders.com/artfairpodcasts

Do you have questions you'd like me to ask them? Please leave them in the comments.

Well, we got hit bad on Sunday, pretty well tanked any sales because of the all day down pour.

Things were not nearly as good as past years here..

Let me explain.

This is a solid show.  Local committee runs it.  Everybody gets to park behind their booths among gorgeous old oak trees.  The locals are well off. Very conservative, but they do have disposable income.

 Most years I can do a minemum of $4k or better at this show.  Have done it since the early 90's.

This year Ellen was in, I was on the waitlist, resigned to doing Apollo Beach, near Tampa, but nowhere in the class of this show--think cow-pies in the middle of a big grassy cowfield.

Anyways, you setup on Thursday and the show is the next three days, they come and they buy, everybody goes home happy.

Ellen and her neighbor Dianne both notice there is an open space between them on Friday. Ellen speaks up for her man--and whadda ya know, I am in the show.  I was on the waitlist.  It is just, after a certain amount of time the committee doesn't call anybody on the waitlist.  Well, I drove over Friday night.  Hit torrential rain, which closed the show down at 4 pm on Friday.  

Murphy's  Law.  As you know if you have ever driven route 60 east out of Tampa, there is one lonely, deadly area of that road, thirty miles long, that is head-on traffic.  Everywhere else it is two-laned.  Murphy's Law.  I was going east, no bad weather, and when I hit that stretch, all of a sudden the rain was so bad I could not see four feet in front of me.  Lucky me, got to drive in it for 35 miles--what a character builder that is.  The Boy Scouts could give a merit badge for it.

 Made it in, joined up with Ellen, in marital bliss, and we had a great evening.  

Next morn, I set up early and was ready at 9 AM when show opened.

Ellen had a killer Friday as did others, there was buying energy and big crowds.

Saturday there where big crowds, but sales sucked, mostly lowend.  Usually I can do an easy $2K-plus on any Saturday at Vero, this year I had to settle for $1400 and part of that was a $600 sale.  Sales around us were the same way, mostly lowend and not much big framed pieces going out the door.

BTW.  The show puts on a great Artist dinner and awards on Friday night, nobody complained, all were well-fed.

The best part of the day was ahead of us.  A lot of lucky artists got invited to a killer party at the house of Alan Teger and Barbara Krupp.    They put out a spread to die for.

  And again, for the second year in a row, I got to practice an Andy Shea move, which involves as you walk out of the party to go, you slowly walk backwards and wave to everybody, and , at least he and I think, everybody else thinks we are walking in.  That Andy, he is always coming up with clever killer ideas for parties.

 We then got sushi at the that great little Siam Thai Orchid restaurant.

Sunday we awoke, full of Sake hang-over.  And the skies were ugly.  They proceeded to get worse.

Had a good breakfeast, read the NY Times and arrived at the show just in time for the first of many rain showers, they just kept coming.

Bottom line, it rained all fricking day.  Some booths, you could swim laps in.  We dammed ours, but who was gonna come in. I made $100 for the day which barely covered the price of my fish sandwich at the local restaurant.

We all tore down, very wet, and headed home.

It was not a good year at Vero.  But there are many, still to come.

Today I was gathering some items I had recently sold so they could be shipped out to their buyer's destinations.  I'm quite proud that I've made some international sales---one of these was going to Australia---and at the same time shocked and surprised that international sales are as common as they are nowadays...  I'm a member of the last generation that can remember life without the internet, and computers.  I remember my college professors excluding "dot matrix" printers as acceptable printing options.  I remember signing into my university's computer lab to use the Apple IIe, and bringing floppy disks with me...  Ah, the good old days.  I guess international shipping is just a sign of the times, eh?  The world is getting smaller all the time.

But as I was thinking that, my brain skipped to a stream-of-consciousness thought and pondered if people in different parts of the world were making what I was making.  I wondered if there was someone out there manufacturing ruffs and doing what I do by machine instead of by hand.  I wondered if I could justify what I was charging, because my next thought was imagining a customer criticizing my prices and saying, "Why should I pay this much when I can get it from China a lot cheaper?"

And that prompted me to come in and type this blog post.

You see, there are LOTS of reasons why I charge the prices I do.  And for all those boutique/art fair participants who might have shared this same train of thought as I have, this is for you, too.

First off, most items in art fairs, shows, and boutiques are just that:  boutique items or art.  These things aren't what a manufacturer is even interested in making---the profit margins are commonly too low.  Manufacturing is about making large quantities of identical items, creating an assembly line process that makes the making cost effective.  Most boutique and art fair items are generally created in such limited quantities, no manufacturer is going to bother spending the money creating the set up and buying the small amount of materials for such a small return on investment.  It just isn't practical.  My pieces are all made one at a time.  And none of them are exactly the same.

Secondly, most boutique items or fair items are generally made by hand or at least require so much human input in the process of creating that machine manufacturing it is impractical.  The human interaction factor is to high, and thus it costs too much to make en masse.  If it's art, it's obvious the art can't be made without the individual artist's hand or vision.  Now some would argue that non-American workers will work for less, and thus lower the cost of the product.  Well, that idea worked for a while as manufacturing fled overseas away from the US to cheaper production markets.  But now that plan has impacted our local economies to such a degree that more and more Americans are less interested in supporting foreign manufacturing...  Many people that I know are drawing an imaginary line in the sand and are willing to pay extra for products with local affinities.  The thought being that everything is unaffordable anyway, so what's the difference?  If you're going to spend you're money, spend it where it has the most impact on your community and pay the local workers and artisans first.  All my pieces are made by me, by hand, in my studio here in San Diego.  Where I use the money I'm paid for my pieces to buy groceries and support local businesses.

Third, most items sold at fairs or in boutiques usually have a story behind them.  Manufactured items generally do not.  In fact, most manufactured items strive to rise above their origins of mass production, sometimes downplaying it and seeking a sense of individuality and uniqueness that simply isn't truly possible.  The mass market is collapsing in certain areas as it becomes overtly obvious no one is really interested in owning exactly what everyone else has.  If you're making 10,000 of the same thing, how original and unique is it?  And why would someone want to pay a boutique price for it?  I make my pieces for customers that don't want to look like everyone else, who value individual and dramatic appearance so they can stand out in a crowd.

Fourth, the specialty items at art fairs and in boutiques are sometimes made of materials that aren't optimal for manufacturing.  Either the materials are too expensive (making the profit margin decrease to unacceptable levels) or they are too personal (vintage family fabrics, backyard views, local supply chains) or they are too unique (ruffs made out of scrap silk upholstery fabric, for example).  Manufacturing can replicate the effect, but not the integrity or authenticity of their base ingredients.  The materials themselves can be as important as the resulting art pieces.  No one can make the neckwear I make with my great-grandmother's hand painted porcelain pieces.  No one can exactly replicate my hand painted garments with the quality of my lines.  And while it's possible to replicate some of the things I make...  Well, honestly.  Would you bother?  Really?  Truly?  Without any creative input of your own?

Fifth, and finally, boutique items are not made to compete with mass-produced items.  They are in a class by themselves.  To explain this, let me tell you a history:  I once heard about two schools of thought in the beginning of car manufacturing.  American car manufacturers carefully doled out new developments in car technology, exploiting each new discovery for maximum profit, and building cars at as low a quality as they could get away with, knowing that eventually it would wear out and a new car would be purchased.  Built-in obsolescence.  European car manufacturers, in contrast, built a product and sold it for what it was:  the best they could make for the price.  And thus, most high-end luxury cars were European for many years.  Quality over quantity.  Likewise, a boutique item is usually not created to be as cheaply assembled as possible---it can't be, as manufacturing in bulk is the only way to truly accomplish that.  Instead, I would venture to say that true boutique items are made to the best of their ability for the price.  But that may be just a philosophy of my own that I'm "imposing" on others...  :)

So I'm not going to feel guilty about why I charge what I do.  I'm not going to feel weird about making stuff that's so unique it's a novelty.  I'm not going to stop moving forward in my efforts to create beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces that I know someday someone will figure out how to manufacture.  Because what I'm making is only part of what I'm selling.  And the same holds true for all you art fair artisans out there, and all those looking for that special boutique to sell your wares in (like me!).

And if I'm ever asked, "Why should I pay this much when I could get it from China a lot cheaper?", I'll simply tell them in return, "Go ahead.  Good luck with that!"

Anyway, food for chain-of-thought.

Live Life with Relish!

I learned yesterday that one of my favorite sleeper shows has been cancelled this year, the powers that be decided to go in a different direction. The Love Affair of Tifton in Tifton GA was a long runnning festival, set in a beautiful park and was well supported by the community. It featured local talent (mostly kids) singing and dancing, local food and an arts and craft show. Tifton is a wonderful little community that can best be described as a real life Mayberry. where the people are kind, courteous, well mannered and dogs walk on a leash. I'll miss this little show not because it was a huge money maker but because it was just nice knowing that I would have a relaxing weekend, interact with non-pretencious folks and make a few bucks to boot.

R.I.P. Love Affair of Tifton

RAGS is a wearable art show that benefits the YWCA of Pierce County WA in support of the Domestic Violence and Intervention programs.  It is NOT by any stretch of the imagination a “normal” art show.  Participants are only those who make wearable art, jewelry and fiber artists being almost 100% majority at this show.  It’s a boutique style show, no 10x10 booths, space is very limited.  We had a 9 foot long by 3.5 foot deep space to set up our 2 foot wide shelves with limited room to stand behind our display.  The show is held at a Mercedes Benz dealership and attracts many of the upscale women buyers in the Tacoma WA area.  The RAGS Guild has been holding this show for 18 years and has the jurying, layout, setup and execution of this show down to a science.  The show has a centralized checkout process, sales are all run through the organization’s books and checks are sent to the artists fairly quickly after the show.  There is NO BOOTH FEE, for this show, but there is a 33% COMMISSION, so it’s up to the artists to decide the risk/reward of this show.  For us, it’s 10 miles from home, no parking fees, no high gas fees, no camping/hotel fees, easy show to do, if I were traveling very far, I would think about the commission very seriously before committing to this show.  For us, it’s a “no brainer” any time we’re accepted while living this close, honestly, it’s our one “home show” where we can be home within 15 minutes of pulling out of their parking lot into our driveway.  There is no other show in our area with this potential in sales that we can commute to within a short distance.  We do like the fact that the commission benefits our local community and while we’ve never used the Pierce County YWCA’s programs, we do have friends and other artists who benefit from their programs.  There are several artists that we know who easily pull 5 figures out of this show.

This show is run by volunteers and Guild members.  Plenty of volunteers for booth sitting or any other help that was needed.   The volunteers also brought snacks around, granola bars in the morning, cheese and crackers around lunch and cookies or brownies for an afternoon sugar high.  Volunteers were on hand offering assistance during load in and load out and although we didn’t need much help, it was nice that they offered.  

Set up is very easy on the Wednesday before the show, with times arranged by request.  Thursday evening from 6-9 is the GALA event where attendees pay $70/person to attend.  Food and beverages are available to the artists at 5:30 so we can eat prior to the start of the show and I must say they are very delectable goodies with a nice Chardonnay to enjoy.  And the chocolate dessert table was magnificent!!!  Sales actually started with the Guild members shopping during set up and we had quite a few “lookers” before the event began at 6 PM.  Sales for the Gala night were a little slow for us, but lots of interest.  Friday sales started somewhat slowly followed by a mid-day rush between 11:30 and 2:00, then a last minute rush between 5 and 6.  Usually Saturday is a very strong day for us with slow sales on Sunday.  2012 proved to be the opposite with Saturday being almost dead, except for one lovely customer who bought 5 pieces from us, she stated that she appreciated the fact that we had “affordable” items and kept pulling different pendants and earrings from our display and after trying on 15 different pieces decided she would purchase 5.   Sunday started slow due to Daylight Savings time, but ended up being a great sales day for us which was a little unusual for this show, but after adding up the numbers Saturday evening we were more than happy to feel like we pulled it out on Sunday. 

The other unusual sales pattern at this show for us were the sales of my pieces compared to my husband’s.  Most shows he’s 60-70% of the sales while I pull in the other small amounts, years past in this show I’ve been only 10% of total sales, lower than our average show statistics.  Well, this year my pieces were a solid 50% of sales and until Sunday afternoon, I was 65-70% of our total sales and had the single largest piece purchased of any of our items which was really fun for me in our “friendly rivalry” until I totally ran out of stock on 2 designs and had to start taking custom orders.  The ladies running the checkout area came through our spot on Sunday all commenting on one particular style of earring that I make and buying until I was totally out of stock.  Looking through our records, I think I sold more of those particular earrings in this past weekend than I sold in all of our 2011 shows combined.  WOW!! Great for me, my husband was just chuckling through each transaction, thinking restocking wasn’t going to be a problem for him! 

A reasonable start to our 2012 season, not the best, but certainly much better than other first of the year shows.  This was our 3^rd time participating, the 2009 edition of this show still ranks as our number 1 best sales EVER, so we go into this show with high expectations. 2010 we were down 40% from 2009, 2011 we weren’t even accepted into the show, so we were happy to be back in 2012.  Even though this turned out to be our lowest year in sales for RAGS, it still ranks above our normal show average which isn’t too bad of a way to start the year for us, especially since we have almost 0 travel expenses.  Most of the artists I talked to were down this year from last year, but most were still saying they were having a reasonable show. 

So, yet another topsy turvy start to 2012 for us, totally unexpected sales of my designs compared to the pieces my husband makes and yet at the same time  it was so nice to see the customers who had bought from us in 2009-2010 that were happy to see us back in 2012.

Load out was about as simple as it could be for us, the show ended at 4 PM, we were on the road by 4:40 PM and home before 5 PM.  What a nice way to end the weekend, home while it was still daylight!!   Now we’re just hoping to get called off the Waitlist for the Spring Best of the Northwest, if not, we have lots of time to restock before we head to Oregon and a 3 show road trip in late April.