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I don't have a full review of this show, for reasons that will be clear in a paragraph or two.  But I wanted to get the conversation started among artists who attended this Howard Alan show, held in Sarasota, FL's St. Armand's Key.

St. Armand's Circle is a shopping district well-known for its upscale shops and fine dining establishments, including the not-to-be-missed Columbia Restaurant, which features the best Cuban-American fare this side of Miami.  Artists' booths are located throughout the shady interior of the traffic circle.  Additional booths run along a block or two of one of the "spokes" leading away from the circle.  Artists within the circle could set up all day Friday; the "streeters" (including yours truly) needed to wait until Saturday morning. 

I've done this show twice in years past (2008 and 2009), when it was held in October.  These shows featured sweltering heat and humidity; the monsoonal rains that hit during load-out in 2009 dumped about 5 inches of rain in three hours and taught me never to stack work along a curb if I ever wanted to see it again.  Anyway, this unfortunate spate of late rainy-season luck prompted a move to November.  And despite my two mediocre sales experiences here, I was anxious to see if both meteorological and sales gods would be smiling on me in 2011.

Well, one of the two delivered.  We couldn't have asked for better weather this year: two days of cloudless blue skies by day, with cool temps at dawn to make setup a comfortable, shall we say, "drip-free" experience.

But the sales...aggh, the sales!  I had  browse bins full of old and new work, boxfuls of 2012 calendars, a new 2.5x3 foot canvas that I shot on Tuesday and printed Wednesday, and high expectations.  But sadly, an early flurry of browse-bin sales in the first 90 minutes died out, never to return.  I sold enough to pay booth fee and make expenses (largely because I opted to commute from Ft. Myers, 85 miles to the south, instead of taking a hotel room).  When your biggest sellers are your $20 calendars and 3-for-ten-buck notecards, you're in for a long weekend.  Sunday was no better, until I knocked some of my $75 16x20s down to $50 to stir up a trickle of buying interest. 

So, here's my problem from a show-review standpoint:  I have insufficient evidence to know if this show was a winning sales experience for others, or not.  I had enough traffic coming by all weekend that I couldn't leave the booth for an extended walk through the show.  What I can report from my neighbors:

* One, who sold interesting, kinda avant-garde long stem flowers fashioned of glass at $100-300 price points, had a killer Saturday and a long, slow Sunday. 

* A husband and wife team with adjacent booths of functional ceramic art both zeroed on the weekend (but had unbelievably great attitudes in the face of no results). 

* A well-known and talented photographer of Italian doorways and street scenes, whose subjects hit the "sweet spot" with buyers seeking to decorate their predominantly Mediterranean style homes, seemed to do his usual gangbuster business.

* A young Florida landscape and wildlife photographer had about the same results I did. 

* A well-known abstract painter, fresh off a strong show in Estero, just covered his expenses.

So, lots of unanswered questions: Was  customer traffic heavier in the center of the circle than among us "streeters"?  Were there lots of buyers carrying packages around?  Were folks there to buy, or were they strolling the show while visiting all the shops and restaurants nearby? My answers are, respectively: "No idea," "Without a clue, " and "Beats heck outta me." 

Some help, eh?  If there's a Pulitzer for blogging, I've blown it with this entry.

So I need you folks who did the show, particularly if you were in the central area, to chime in with comments below and fill out this picture.  As for me, I consider this to be a "Geoff problem, " not a show problem, so you'll hear no whining from me.  I've done five shows in Sarasota now (three with Alan, two with other promoters) and I'm still looking for a strong sales result.  If my bird and wildlife images don't get Sarasota's collective pulse racing but sell strongly in Venice, only 15 miles to the south, well, that's good information to know.

So: How 'bout the rest of you out there?  Chime in, please!

My old booth shot was about 4 years old and getting long in the tooth. So I borrow some space today indoors at a friends business and set the booth up. I decided to go minmalist on it, no small pieces, no flip bin, and just keep it simple.

 Of course things have to go wrong from the get-go and after I unload everything, I realize I grabbed the wrong canopy, an old EZ-Up with exchanged parts and struts. Ah, what the hell, they won't show. I run out of room in the ceiling and wind up pushing some suspended ceiling tiles out of the way and the top gets shoved out of line. That's bad enough, but after I climb a ladder and mount three Novatron flash heads up in the top I find out I don't have the sync cord to connect to the camera. I do have the prints hung, and I've got until Thursday to work on this.

I used an on-camera flash (not the pop up type) for a few shots, and did a few exposures with the modeling lights in the flash. This is not the final image, it's just a test run or work in progress. There's some things I know need to be done, and I'd like to hear what else needs to get done. Here's the set-up, and keep in mind the lighting sucks right now and I've got some work ahead of me to soften the light and kill some serious reflections.

First off, I have no idea how come the middle left panel is lighter than the others. I'll use full lighting tomorrow and if it's actually lighter I'll turn it around or substitute another panel.

Should I drop the left bottom row a few inches and make the entire bottom  row all the way around line up the tops of the frames?

Should I work with the back wall and get even spacing on the far ends?

The carpet is nondescript brown. Should I go ahead and get some indoor/outdoor carpet or just change the color in PS?

I'm using a 15mm focal length on the lens. I can use that lens on a 35mm camera and get a very much wider view and open up the sides, although at the expense of making the back wall a bit smaller. Another thought I had was to take three different shots with a somewhat less wwide view and splice them together so the sides are much more visible.

Are there any concerns about any of the work sticking out badly and not fitting? It won't hurt my feelings if someone says something is weak and needs to go.

Don't sweat the lighting at this point, as I need to find a sync cord and some diffusion panels to soften the light. Any concerns about the cables up there in the top? Should I Photoshop those out, or is okay to leave them in?

Any feedback on this will be greatly appreciated.

Anyone know anything about these shows and which ones are the most profitable?  We sell wooden boxes.......any help is greatly appreciated!  Thanks!!

I posted this before, but never saw it on the site, so will try again.

So far I have gotten 2 Marriott Courtyards on priceline.com for next year: Fort Lauderdale for $42/night and West Palm Beach for $45/night.  Both on the first bid, so they might have gone cheaper.

Has anyone used the auto-bid site that was mention here?  I didn't, in part because I forgot to bookmark it.

The opportunities for getting out and about with my jewellery increase as Christmas looms.   Consequently I have just started the 4 shows in 4 weeks timetable that I love ... but don't think I could keep up with regularly!

Last night I attended the first in these - a 'table' show, held by a neighbouring town's central school.    (Out here in the country we tend to have 'central schools' - that cover all grades from kinder through to Yr 12 as the population base is low.  In larger towns you find 'primary' schools - kinder to Yr 6 - and 'high' schools - Yr 7 through 12.) This town has about 700 people - in town and the surrounding farming areas.   There is definitely a well to do contingent in that population base and have $ to spend.

The event was billed as a "Ladies Night" and was run by the school's P&C Assn.  This is its second year and after a successful year last year, they moved it from a large classroom to their school hall (auditorium).   The hall was generous in size, well lit, had air conditioning for the rather hot afternoon temperature and on arrival was well set up - each 'table' was actually 2x 6ft tables  set up in a  <  shape along the sides of the hall.   A roll of red carpet ran down the centre from the stage for a fashion parade.   The show started at 4.30pm and went to 8pm.  Set up was from 3pm and the only draw back was a rather difficult entry for carrying items in - either steps or a longer (but flattish) walk.  I opted for the latter and used my hand cart (dolly?) but thank goodness I didn't have to take anything heavy/large on the route!

The organisers do a great job but fell down a bit with advertising this year - at least according to some attendees.   They apparently placed an advert in their local paper over the last 3 editions (a fortnightly paper), had radio spots the week leading up on their community radio station, plenty of mentions and adverts in their school newsletter and did some last minute flyers in local businesses but some people only found out it was on by word of mouth. Last year they did a letterbox drop instead of the local paper.  There was no signage so if someone was new to the area they may not have known where to go! 

I was the only one with handmade.   The other people selling were definitely vendors or party plan type people, however the  quality of these manufactured products was pretty
high and the prices were mostly mid range (and probably high range for
this rural area!).     There was only one seller with cheap and nasty.  They could really do with some proper art and I think it would sell quite well to this area, but they limit their art (as happens regularly in Australia) to galleries.

The cost of the show for those there with their wares was a donation of an item to the school's christmas raffle - and they weren't fussy as to what that donation was. 

There was a $10 cover charge which included a wide range of tasty looking nibblies, punch, champagne and more.  Free childminding was provided in the school's library.  I was asked for jewellery for the models to wear in the fashion parade and they brought the clothes over for me to select suitable pieces which they only took just before the parade started and returned immediately afterwards.  One of the pieces worn was sold that evening.

I was set up around the opening mark and people were already milling about.  It was by no means a huge crowd but they were my target market and I made my first sale in the first half hour and it continued with interested and chatty customers for the rest of the evening.  My last sale was around 8.30pm after everyone else selling had packed up and left.   (As usual, I'm always the last to pack up - but I'm sure I get extra sales this way).  It certainly doesn't hurt to have a little bit of champagne flowing to open purses!

Sales were about 40% new customers and 60% previous customers.   Overall sales were up around 30% on last year and I was very happy with them - another instance of just like "the good old days" (pre GFC).   Bonus is that its only 45 min from home. 

I was busy from start to finish so didn't get to chat to any of the other sellers, but the ones near me appeared satisfied/happy with their night.

I failed to take my camera - but will try and remember for next week's show - a large indoor one day event about 2 hours drive away.

Hope you've enjoyed the look into another show Downunder.

Cheers!

Annette

In a couple weeks, I will be have my last show for the year!  The show is at the Chesaning High School and Middle School on Nov. 25-26 (the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving) in Chesaning, MI.  My booth is located in the main room of the middle school.   The show is from 10am-5pm on Friday and 10am-4pm on Saturday. 

This will be my third year doing this show.  I've been doing this show with my dad who does wood/antler and re-purposed art.  It's a much better show for my dad than for it is for me, but we are both wondering if it may be time to move on and replace it with a higher-end art show.  We'll just have to see how this year goes :) !

One of the pleasures of participating in the Florida shows is that many of the shows have some very nice prize money. Congratulations to the following, including friends of mine from the upper Midwest Scott Hartley, Jack & Marian Forney and Allan Teger.

Of more than 225 artists selected for the juried art show, Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival judges selected the following 26 artists for $25,000 in award money:

Best of Show ($3,000):

• Sid Kamerman, Sculpture, Pensacola

Awards of Distinction ($1,400 each):

• Tim Peters, Ceramics
• Don McWhorter, Ceramics
• Susan Gott, Glass - YouTube video, casting glass
  
• Jack & Marian Forney, Jewelry
• Scott Hartley, Watercolor

Awards of Excellence ($1,200 each):

• Katrin Wolf, Jewelry
• Michael Bond, Printmaking
• Russell Grace, Photography
• Royal Miree, Sculpture
• Chris Hartsfield, Watercolor

Awards of Honor ($800 each):

• Dennis Paullus, Wood
• Shadow May, Ceramics
• Tony Krysinsky, Mixed Media
• Hetty and Norman Metzger, Fiber/Leather
• Barbara Laffal, Jewelry

Awards of Merit ($600 each):

• Brad Kelly, Photography
• Teresa Merriman, Mixed Media
• Nnamdi Okonkwo, Sculpture
• Tom and Frances Grow, Ceramics
• Guadalupe Robinson, Ceramics

Judges Awards ($400 each):

• Allan Teger
• M. Kemper, Watercolor
• Mark Rosenbaum, Glass
• Logan Louis, Jewelry
• John Moran, Photography

Dunedin was okay, just that, okay.  Of the three shows in central Florida for this weekend (Halifax, Lake Mary, Dunedin) it is probably the best.  But not by much.  The layout is confusing.  Buying energy was almost non-existent and if a potential customer walked away to “think about it” they would have a hard time finding you again.  My space sucked.  I bought a corner.  My first thought upon seeing my space was “I can’t believe I paid extra for this”.  It should not have been a space at all, terribly unlevel with some major dips in the ground that never did get filled in despite promises.  Too close to the water.  If I had leaned back in my chair too far I would have ended up in the pond.  Obviously it was rather damp which is just lovely for work under glass….  To add insult to injury when they emptied the trash they placed the bags of trash for pickup about 15 feet away from my booth and only picked them up in the evening after the show ended.

One very high point for me – they actually had SODA along with the beer and wine at the artist dinner.  And not poured into little tiny cups either.  I got to have an ENTIRE bottle of diet Coke.  I’m not being sarcastic here.  It is a huge pet peeve of mine when the artist dinner has beer, wine, and water only.

Load in and out wasn’t bad.  In my area you can drive right up to your booth. 

What seemed to be moving most, for me and others, were low cost impulse items.  I saw very little framed or large work leaving the show.  The people were very hesitant to buy.  I heard “Let me think about it” many, many times.

In the end, I did about average for a fall Florida show.  I made a little money.  I was hoping for more, but it was …. okay.

1. That exhibitor booths (10 x 10 with no storage area) cost $3500

2. That bloggers aren't as cool as artists

3. That I have to go mobile or die

4. How to play Angry Birds

Sometimes you just have to step outside of your comfort zone. I know the art fair world pretty well so I took the time and money to go to Los Angeles, November 3-5, to attend BlogWorld, held at the LA Convention Center. I attended with my son, Scott Fox, author and online small business coach, to learn more about the industry, ways to grow my business and to network with others who are in this category of "web workers."

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

It was attended by bloggers, software developers, authors, hosting agencies, interactive advertising agents, social media managers and people wanting to meet all of the above.

Most of my time is spent here at my desk, doing work online. It is work that I really enjoy and I interact with lots of people everyday, but being in a bigger world is quite exhilarating. All of us in the art fair business are wanderers who look forward to the next town and the next new event so it was great for me to leave these four walls and meet others who live their lives similarly.

There were more than 375 speakers with over 150 sessions, covering social media business, tourism, fitness, food, mobile, traffic, communities, marketing, creating content, apps and monetization. It was pretty overwhelming, but they leavened it with great parties each night.

I met Phil Hollows who owns Feedblitz (for all of you who get my RSS feeds) and strategized with Scott, about my art fair websites and where to go next with them. Actually he built my first three websites and then said, "go Mom, this should work for you." I came away with more ideas to enliven all the sites and extend my outreach to bring more customers to you at the nation's art fairs.

I was especially interested in finding anything about art, not much there, except artist Natasha Wescoat who was painting on site and her painting was going to go up for auction to benefit the United Way at the end of the conference. The most interesting person I met was Hugh MacLeod, a cartoonist whose niche is helping companies with communicating. That's his work above.

Natasha at work

Woodworker Bobby Hagstrom has a very cool site: theartofwoodshopdesign.com. The information there would be helpful to many artists in putting their work areas together.

If you're interested in learning more you might enjoy this video that Scott put together: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150528350592837

Home now, still processing everything and ready to go mobile. Heaven help me, I am not enthralled with learning new technology and will need your help.

One of our recent contributors to my latest post, Ruth Finkenbinder, got me thinking.  How do I write an interesting blog?  I am not necessarily witty like Nels but I want to contribute good info.

So here are a few pointers that might head you in that direction.  Read on, you just might like some of the ideas.  Think of it as a free workshop on writing.

Ernest Hemingway, one of my all time favorite authors used to say the best way to get over a mindblock about writing was to just write the simplest sentence you know.

It could be like, "The darn cat ate my lunch."

This then begs the question, first, how did the cat get in the refrigerator, and second, what did he think of it?  You see, it gets things going.

Another simple lesson from my early days of journalism, was the use of the "Five Ws and the H."

This stood for "where"' "what"' "when"', "why"' and "how".

If you could answer those questions in your lead paragraph it would give a lot of info consisely, and easily lead into other things.

So for example if you were coming back from the Dunedin Art Harvest show last weekend you might start off like this.

"Just finished Art Harvest in Dunedin last weekend, a two-day show with a Friday setup.  A lovely show held on the grounds of a local art center that is put on by the local art league, now in its 22nd year.  I decided after bombing at Halifax for three years and never getting into pensacola, that I would give it a try.  Boy am I glad we went..."

There it is all in one concise paragraph.  Then it leaves you multiple directions to go on.  You can talk about setup, awards, sales, artists you saw, how it compared to other shows you have done recently.  I hope you get the drift.

Most of us are not blessed like Barry Bernstein who can type with one toe and give more meat than an All-You-Can-Eat at Porkys.  Or Munks just let

s Bill the Cat, his eager alter ego write for him.  Me its all about pre-meditation--no tequila needed.

When you are driving back from a show that is the perfect time to think about, organize and picture what you want to say.  When you get home write a brief outline of topics that are important to you to tell us about--it is just that simple.

Another way of getting into the mode is to think how you would tell about the show if your best buddy, like Terri causey was listening.

You might say, "Terri, I was at Dunedin last weekend, can't get in Pensacola.  You should a seen the lowend stuff go by my booth all day.  More "art on the stick,  They were killing them."

When I was driving back from Pensacola, an eight-hour drive, I knew right away how i was going to start my blog using the "Pufferfish" as my opening.  Then one thing lead to another and I had it.

Nobody, especially if they are uncertain about writing, nails an absolutely perfect blog, but who is keeping score.  The more you write, the easier it will come.

Remember, keep it simple and expand like a conversation with your best friend and you will be amazed how things will pour out of your subconcious--and we all will be the better recipients for it.

And of course it never hurts to have a little glass of bubbly, or a good wine, or even a  great cocktail at your side.  I know Hemingway always did and I learned from the best of them .

Well I hope this little primer helped.  Love to see more info and insights coimg from some of you "lurkers" out there.  Aloha, Nels.

Last week I was in Los Angeles attending the BlogWorld Expo, a tradeshow and media event for web workers in all kinds of media. Every tradeshow requires a few parties. Imagine my surprise when the first party at Icon, a rooftop club in downtown LA, was sponsored by Eu4rik make that U4RIK, a tequila that was making its first appearance at the conference! Seemed to me there was no excuse not to attend. However, the complimentary tequila did not arrive that evening, supposedly stuck in traffic.

Next day, next party. Friday night we had 3 party invitations, first sponsored by LiveWyre. Held at Seven Grand, not far from LA Live, this is an amazing whiskey bar with a huge selection of whiskey, six pages of selections in the menu! The selection was so large that there was a library ladder that would slide along the back bar to access the top levels of bottles.

They specialize in pre-prohibition cocktails served in vintage glassware and the bar tenders were true artists. Glasses sprayed with a glazing of absinthe, hand mashed mint, burnt orange peel (they actually did burn it right there). Every cocktail was 'constructed.' Amazing.

I had a Duck Hunter, limited edition rare 10 year old Kentucky straight bourgon, stirred with Carpano Antica Formula & Amaro Lucano! Honey, let me tell you, this is NOT available in Coldwater, MI. Scott, my son who attended with me, had the New York Cocktail, made with Wild Turkey, shaken with fresh lime, grenadine & brown sugar, served up with the Absinthe rinse! Did I say this was an amazing place? Put it on your list for your next trip to LA.

We had dinner at Mas Malo, a new restaurant based on simple, locally sourced and high quality ingredients, that is on the ground floor of Seven Grand. It is a converted jewelry store with amazing architecture and then there is the food! Mas Malo features a range of classic dishes, exceptional cocktails and an extensive tequila and mescal collection. Scott ate Goat Barbacoa and I had the Baja Shrimp tacos. Sorry, forgot to take photos of the food.

Then on to the conference's evening party at the J Lounge on Olive Street, where I confronted the publicist for Eu4rik U4RIK and he apologized for the delay of the previous night's tequila. He has promised to send me a bottle and I'll be sending it on to one of the members here. Still I did my best to remain true to the tequila drinkers on this site and did a little tasting.

The J Lounge was another amazing location deep in the heart of historic Los Angeles. I do care about food and drink but even more was thrilled with the old restaurants and historic architecture we found in the vicinity of the Convention Center including the Figueroa Hotel. I'll be back.

hotartnow

The email dialogue below details an exchange with the Des Moines art festival yesterday. It was really refreshing to get detailed info from a show. Heck, I don't even care if they look at my slides at this point; its just great to get such detailed information from a show.

This contrasts, markedly with the note I got from the Winter Park Spring show earlier this week. It really was a stock rejection note, complete with instructions on how to archive my zapplication, and a note of encouragement to apply again next year. There was no information on how many applications they received or how many photographers applied. Nothing useful, really. I mean, it was courteous ...

What do y'all think? I wish every show would send detaild medium-specific information regarding applications. Heck, Zapp ought to have a "Show Jury Report" button in it. A show could elect to turn it on or not. I personally would not apply to shows that turned it off.

- Robert Green

   Photographer

   Winter Park, FL

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Green [mailto:rrgwpk@cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 1:28 PM
To: 'Stephen King'
Subject: RE: Des Moines Arts Festival

Thank you for your note Mr. King. I have probably applied to 150 in the last 4 or 5 years. Your communication, below, is the most informative that I have ever received from a show during or after a jury process. Keep up the good work!

Robert Green

Winter Park FL

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen King [mailto:sking@downtowndesmoines.com]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 12:58 PM
Subject: Des Moines Arts Festival
Importance: High

Thank you for applying to the 2012 Des Moines Arts Festival.  This email communication is intended to share information about what happens from here.

*We are currently working with Zapp to prepare the submitted images for the projection jury

*Our jury is Nov. 16-18 in Des Moines. 

*The entire process will be streamed online as we have done the past three years.  Detailed information about this will be emailed the week of the jury.

*We start our jury on the evening of Wed. Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of every application from start to finish.  Mediums are shone in random order.

This screening is open to you.  If you would like to attend, please join us starting at 6 p.m. for light hors d’oeuvres and beverages (adult and otherwise). The screening takes place in the Arthur Davis Conference Center located at 700 Locust Street on the street level – look for the signs.

*If you have never seen your images projected for the jury, this is an excellent opportunity.

*Scoring will begin on Thursday morning and continue into Friday until all artists have been scored.  After all artists have been scored we will stop the stream.

Our goal as stated in the application is to send communications with jury results no later than Dec. 2, 2011.  We will also post on our web site.

Application Results –

·        1,093 applications received (1,097 in 2011)

·        1,085 applications approved for jurying

·        1,054 applicants were professional artists (1,061 in 2011)

·        39 applicants are Emerging Iowa Artists (36 in 2010)

·        Applications were received from artists in 48 states and two countries

·        174 spaces will be available through the jury process. The balance of 11 are reserved for returning award winners.

·        1,085 applications represents 6,510 images

·        Over 850 artists will be eliminated 

Applicants/Invited by category:

2-D Mixed Media, 104

3-D Mixed Media, 54

Ceramics, 86

Computer Generated, 25

Drawing/Pastels, 22

EIA, 39

Fiber, 70

Glass, 58

Graphics/Printmaking, 35

Jewelry, 184

Metalworks, 45

Painting, 136

Photography, 127

Sculpture, 55

Wood, 45

Our Jury –

David Bryce was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently completed his MFA at the Queens College of the City University of New York.  He has been a featured artist in numerous galleries and exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery, Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, the New York Museum, and the Museum of Art (Munson-Williams Proctor Institute).  He is currently living in the Berkshires in Massachusetts with his wife and their two children.

Laura Burkhalter has been on the Des Moines Art Center's curatorial staff since 1999, serving as Curatorial Assistant till 2004, Assistant Curator from 2004-2009, and Associate Curator since then. Her exhibitions include Meet the New You, World Histories, Surface Value, and various incarnations of Iowa Artists. Burkhalter has also served as the Art Center's Docent Educator since 2005. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a B.A. in English and Art History, and is a native of Des Moines.

Born in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1952, Jerry Allen Gilmore earned a BFA in fiber and painting, a minor in both art history and creative writing/poetry from Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, and an MFA in painting and drawing from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. Over the past thirty years, Gilmore has built a unique and impressive career as both an artist and arts administrator including a combined fourteen years in Director and Curatorial practice at MARS Art-space, Phoenix, Arizona, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, Colorado, the CU Art Galleries, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, and most recently, Visual Arts Director / Curator at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, Colorado. Upon relocation to Saint Paul, Minnesota, Gilmore has continued his curatorial projects, artist portfolio reviews, jurying for both regional and national art institutions and continually discovering his own personal artwork and writings.

Gilmore has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, New Zealand, Peru, and Mexico.  His work also appears in the collections of the Nordstrom Corporation, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum and among numerous private collections throughout the U.S. Gilmore’s intimate miniatures and sweeping, large scale drawings are deceptively personal as he adopts a cast of animated characters and symbols to relate his own story, this work playfully addresses the often awkward issues of stereotypes, self identity, sexuality and religion with a keen sense of humor.

Peter Goché is an installation artist based in Ames, Iowa. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at Iowa State University. Goché holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Iowa State University. He taught in the Department of Art at Drake University before joining the faculty at the Iowa State University, where he coordinates and teaches design studios exploring architecture in relation to culture, landscapes and fabrication. For the last decade Goché has produced research assemblies specific to the ritualized landscape of Iowa. He is co-investigator/author of Guidelines for Spatial Regeneration in Iowa funded by the 2007 AIA Board of Knowledge Committee. Goché has presented his design-work and scholarship at many conferences and cultural institutions in North America.

If you have any question regarding the process, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Stephen King, CFEE
Executive Director, Des Moines Arts Festival^®700 Locust Street, Ste. 100

Des Moines, IA 50309
515-286-4927
fax 515-286-4942

Well, it was year ago today, when I almost died of "extreme Pufferfish poisoning" from this festival.  Still got the collection of slings and arrows, all 283 of them, which I look at fondly from time to time, reminds me to be careful what you photograph on those white fences.

That said, it is now a year later and I went back with high expectations--needed them after the six-inch-rain-drubbing at Bayou City last month, my last show.

This is my first show since I got back to Florida from wonderful Saugatuck,MI. where I spend almost six months based while doing the Midwest summer circuit.

Pensacola is the first weekend of November.  You can do Halifax in Daytona, or Art Harvest in Dunedin, or one in South Miami, or the one Geoff reported about in Coconut Point.  Many choices on any given weekend in Florida, but what's new about that.

For my money I will take Pensacola every time.  Potential to make much more money there. Why? It is a small show itself (lots of scabs and a Heritage event linked with it) so the fine arts and crafts really stand out at this show. Also the town does not have a lot of other events like this to compete and drain it.

It is not an easy show to get into. The committee runs their own show and juries it.  I noticed a number of long-standing artists were not back this year.  A few chose to opt out--many others didn't make the jury cut.  Top flight artists in every category.  Very little buy/sell.  The town has money, lot of it old money.  You have a large Navy presence here, a strong University and a thriving port.  So the potential for sales is there if you can coax that lucre out of their little shrimp-stained purses.

Pensacola is an old southern town, it might almost be a little more Alabama than it is Florida.  Perched right on the western-most edge of the state, bordered with a spectacular bay and world class beaches.  Life is slow and elegant here.  Strangers look ya right in the eye and hold the door open for ya as your going into the Wafflehouse--and they say, "Good mornin to ya" and mean it.

Easy town to navigate, filled with great bars and restaurants--yeah, seafood is king here.  Go to Wintzels for $5 raw oysters and eat all you want with $1 drafts.  Eat yourself silly with Shrimp 'n' grits everywhere.  In my favorite breakfest spot, the Coffee Cup, they had a great logo--"No grits, no glory."  

OK. Back to the show.  It's a three-dayer with an easy setup on Thursday in Seville Square.  This is an old oak-treed park with sidewalks and lots of mulch to keep the dust down.  Bring a floor covering. Parking can be tight, everybody copes with it.  Everybody says they dread teardown which starts at 4pm on Sunday--what a civilized idea, why don't more shows do this?

Most people have room behind for storage.  They actually come out on Friday and buy stuff--although this year it was lot slower and colder.  Bring heavy coats, this is northwest Florida, it gets cold here.  It is very refreshing, you can actually experience fall in Florida.

Friday nite, show end everybody hurrys over for frees eats and cheap drinks put out by the show,  Awards are then given.  In past years I have noted the food was gone in 30 minutes with no replenishing, this year was different and for the better--keep those raw oysters and shrimp coming.

Saturday was warmer with good crowds who mostly kept their hands in their pockets.  Lots of grumbling and jaw-nashing (i know it is spelled wrong, but it aptly describes the situation)--hey. at least I knew the difference.

Sunday dawned with many of us forgetting "fall-back" our clocks--that darn DST thing.  We all were expecting great things--especially, since this is not a Monday show.

Well. It started just like Saturday and got a little better as the day wound on.  A noted Alabama painter who has exhibited here for 30 years had his best show.

My neighbor, from Thomas Edison land killed them as usual.  She is a "hottie".  Saw Andy Shea, all the way down from Minnesota, and he was doing just OK.  I think he had thoughts of being Susan Gott's next helper.  they are both very talented hot glass artists.  Many, like Andy , pair this show up with Disney one, next weekend, to make it a worthwhile trip.

All in all, it was an OK show for me, off by 40 per cent over last year, but I still made money, just not as much as I was hoping for.  I just didn't see a lot of buying energy in the patrons this year.  Maybe it was just an off year.

I know one thing though--I 'll go back to it in a heartbeat.

By the way folks, that's how you write an interesting blog that gives a lot of meat and a little wit and wisdom.  You don't have to be Einstein to do it.  Sure would like to see more of you step up to the plate and give some meaningful info.  A few of ya have caught on--kudos to ya!

Charlotte Fine Arts Festival.  First year show.  Symphony Park, home of the Summer Pops series in south Charlotte is an amphitheater area located adjacent to Charlotte’s high end mall, SouthPark, as well in the same vicinity as some of the wealthier neighborhoods in the area.  I think I’ve mentioned there is a dearth of solid art shows in the Charlotte area even though there are two thriving arts districts.  I wasn’t sure that all of the advertising in the world would bring the fine folks of Charlotte out to buy.  I was wrong.

This was my first show with a promoter.  I almost bypassed it even though it was in my own back yard. Trepidation abounded.  Wasn't sure what to expect...  shouldn’t have worried.  Bill was everywhere and making sure that all was well. 

Setup/teardown was relatively easy.  Some were able to pull in and unload.  Others dollied in.  None of it seemed to be a big deal…Saturday dawned bright and blustery…I was happy I took the plunge and invested in my Trimline.  It was my second time out with it and it was a rock with the heavy vinyl sides protecting my glass from the wind…and the people started coming through shortly before the 10am start time and continued until the 6pm close.

And they bought.  They were pleasantly surprised that it was a ‘real’ art show and not a craft show.  They were pleased that someone was catering to their market.  They were happy that it was all about the art and not a carnival.  I had my first sale 20 minutes into the show and the trend continued all day when a gentleman who had stopped by earlier came back at closing time.  He had coaxed his wife out of the mall to show her the piece he wanted to buy.  Her response?  “Honey, that costs more than the pair of shoes that I wanted to buy!”  He bought his glass piece and I suspect that she’ll get her shoes as well… My sales were lower on Sunday but still contributed to an extremely nice profit for the weekend.  Since I faced the entrance, I saw large pieces walking out as well as many small jewelry bags but can't speak to anyone else's sales but my own.   

The advertising brought people in from the immediate area and from north and south of town.  The excellent signage brought in people who were unaware of the show.  The people came and they were hungry for us.  And they want more.

I've reviewed this show several times before, so I'll keep this one short.  (You can read earlier reviews, including details on the area demographics and show logistics here.)

If you like to take your art without side orders of carnival and kettle corn, the Estero Fine Art show is a good way to go.  Run by Patty Narozny's HotWorks LLC, this is the fall installment of her biannual shows at Miromar Outlets in Estero, FL (about 15 miles north of Naples).  Over the last four years, the event has developed a nice following among fine artists and local show-goers.  It's not a big event (only 75 artists this year), but it's high quality, with a good mix of local and international artists, a wide variety of media, special programs for youth and disabled artists, and solid awards programs ($1500 in artist awards, plus several purchase awards). There's a lemonade stand, but no food hawkers (and they're not needed, with a plethora of mall restaurants within easy walking distance.) The music is pleasant but mellow. And the artists are well cared for, with ice water and booth sitters available throughout both days.

Patty puts her marketing savvy to good use in promoting the show, with good airplay of a 30-second TV spot, good media placement, and nicely designed glossy postcards, 

And it seems to pay off.  We've all done shows in shopping malls and seen "patrons" strolling the show with armfuls of bags from mall retailers, but none from artists. But as the show unfolded this weekend, I noted that although attendance was moderate, a large percentage of visitors were actually stopping in to browse, converse, and (sometimes) buy.  Saturday sales were more than respectable for me, under brilliant blue skies and coolish (for SW Fla) temperatures.  Sunday was unseasonably hot and a bit more humid, and a bit uncomfortable in my tent for this time of year.  Buyers enough, but more small purchases, making for a lower sales volume.  I was down about $350 from the previous day, but given that my home is only 15 minutes' drive from the show, I can still chalk this one up in the "Win" column.

Most of the artists I spoke with were satisfied with their sales totals.  A husband-and-wife mixed media team reported that sales were up 40% over last year's more-than-acceptable take. One well-known local painter sold two of his large (roughly 4x5 foot) acrylics on Saturday;   Several high-end jewelers said they were happy enough with their totals.
Two photographers, new to the show circuit, made enough sales to be encouraged. "Decent, but not gangbusters," said one jeweler, and that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment.  With the economy in SW Florida still lagging and the seasonal Green-bucked Snowbirds just beginning to arrive, that's not a bad commentary.

Upsides:

* Patty and her staff stroll the show frequently.  And she goes out of her way to find out how artists are faring, sales-wise, and is generous with her suggestions on how to improve booth appearance and saleability of one's art.  In my view, this makes her shows particularly desirable for emerging artists who are talented enough to be juried in, but eager to improve their quality and marketability.  

Downsides:

* As in years past, some patrons were heard complaining about how hard it was to find a parking space near the show.  (Some of that blame can be laid on artists who chose to ignore the artist parking, about five minutes' walk from the show venue, and park close in to the tents.) 

* Despite fewer artists this year, the show had a tighter layout: Booth space was reduced from its previous 12x12 foot dimensions to 11x11, which made for one tight setup.  There was sufficient space behind your booth for your inventory,  but unless you were on a corner space or had a back door in your booth it was difficult, if not impossible, to squeeze between tents and get to it.  I'm already looking forward to the January 2012 installment of this fine show, but I, and especially my sore back, hope that it will mark a return to the 12x12 layout.

(Postscript: In a post-show thank you email, Patty explained that the tighter space was due to her desire to avoid a repeat of 2010's "split show" layout (which was a concession made necessary by the owners' redesign of the area in which the show was held). "Therefore, we have a smaller area to use, because we want to remain on the front part of the mall with high visibility from the roads," she noted.)

So since it’s been a while since we’ve had a show posting, thought I would throw this one out there ‘cause it was just an enjoyable show for me…

Bluffton, SC is the gateway to Hilton Head Island.  Bluffton has two faces…new housing development, outlet malls and big box stores.  And then there is historic Bluffton full of charming homes, fine art and fine craft galleries and non-chain restaurants.  Historic Bluffton can be considered a transitional area…older homes mixed with restored treasures…

Now on to the Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival…It’s during prime shrimping and oyster season so the food was excellent.  It runs for two weeks with activities every day culminating in the Arts Festival on the last weekend.  I walked it last year to see if I wanted to do it and gave it the nod because the quality is pretty much spot on.  Jewelry and Fiber art is specifically excluded from this show.  Paper application.  They are trying to keep it to around 100 artists.  Setup and teardown doesn’t get any easier than this. Pull up to your booth site and get it done.  Artist parking is about half a mile away with a bus to take you back and forth.

It’s set up bowling alley style down the main drag of Calhoun Street with booths on each side of the street.  Visitors are bused in from a nearby parking lot and they came in droves.  Volunteers greeted each visitor as they got off the bus followed by a small cluster of chiropractor, newspaper and latte/smoothie/pastry booths and then the art starts.  And thank heavens for that coffee booth as the mornings had a nice chill…

Artist booths are not stacked up on top of each other.  For the most part, some space between booths and storage behind your booths on the sidewalks.  It didn’t feel like it was crowded and it didn’t feel like it was too spread out. There were about 40+ booths and then the music and food booths for a break for the visitors and then they continue on with the remainder of the booths, 40+ booths.  I think 95 artists total.  Now I can’t speak to how it was for artists down by the food or music stage.  I was in a good, middle of the pack location with open space on all sides.  For those who left their purchases for pickup on the way out, it sometimes took well over 2 hours before I saw them again as they meandered, shopped and ate their way through the festival.

Sales?  My Saturday sales were stellar for selling my glass.  It’s a good measure of sales for me when I use up a full roll of bubble wrap in one day.  I goose egged on Sunday but enjoyed the weather and talking with folks.  The multi-media artist next to me had outstanding sales both days.  I talked to some folks who did just OK and some who did well.  All I can say is that the show management did their job and got the people there.  An ad in Southern Living, the local papers, flyers placed around town.

Oh yeah…last but certainly not least…the organizers and volunteers.  Communicative, helpful, organized.  They set the tone by being easy going about the whole thing.  Someone was always there to provide a break, let you know about coffee and donuts in the morning, where to go, checking in to see how I was doing, etc.  This was just a relaxing show to do…

Time to decide – May Shows  - Go South or Stay Home?  The rainy season has definitely started in Seattle and we are thinking we really wanted to cut the rainy season short with a road trip to Northern CA.  Earlier this year we decided that staying in the Pacific NW for all of our shows didn’t make sense, too many months with marginal shows, too many gloomy months, time to head south and enjoy some sunshine while working!!

After lots of research using this site, Art Fair Calendars, AFSB, FNO, etc. we’re more undecided than ever before. We keep hearing that California shows are not worth the drive (over 1000 miles from Seattle), Arizona is still economically depressed, Nevada has few good shows, so what do we do for May and September?  We’re tired of setting up for rainy Seattle shows, but we don’t want to waste our time or energy heading to Northern CA only to be disappointed and feel like we’ve wasted our time.

Here’s our dilemma, I’m still working that “corporate job” while trying to help my husband as much as possible establish his niche in the art show markets.  I have quite a bit of vacation leave, but it's quickly used up with travel to shows.  He’s the primary artist, I’m the “class A” personality with a few pieces of art, but my contribution is more in the bookkeeping, organizing, business planning, etc.  BTW, did I mention my corporate jobs have been in finance, accounting, process re-engineering and sales support?  So no, I’m not a full time artist, but totally supportive of my artist husband and trying to do everything possible to make his art career a success.

We started doing community art shows / art walks in late 2005, graduated to a few fine art shows in 2007 after we spent a few frustrating months realizing the community events were NOT our market.  We have  a  reasonably predictable schedule in the Pacific NW after the past 5 years of participating in fine art shows, but have a few months a year with few or no show opportunities, hence our idea to expand our market and try a few shows in Northern CA.    We’re a bit tired of the “gloom and gray” of Seattle and the thought of an extra month or two (May and September) of sunshine was worth the travel.

Are California shows really as bad as I’m hearing from other artists in this area? Do we take the risk?  How much vacation time am I willing to burn on this experiment?  Or do we decide to use our airline miles and just have fun on a quick getaway to the sunshine?

Trying to decide if we need to try a different direction for 2012 and would appreciate any feedback or insight.