Blog

Hello, I would like to announce the website (with a few tweaks to come :) of the Florida Keys Art Guild.

We have been in exsistence for 10 years now and have recruited some new blood to bring the Guild into the 21st Century.

I would like to say a few things about the Guild which I hope will educate all who are interested.

We are a collective of hard working individuals who strive to bring the best artist from all around the county to our beautiful Florida Keys.

• We are painters(of all media types), photographers, sculptors, jewelers, mixed-media artist, glass blowers,woodworkers, potters, fabric artist and many, many more.
• We are staff artists.
• We are not an artists club.
• We are a Guild: a union of men and women in the same craft or trade.
• We jury artist based on a collective of different individuals who strive to bring high quality arts and crafts to the buying public.
• We don't fix prices or mandate pricing structure at our art shows.
• We need you. As more and more artist join our ranks, the bigger and stronger we become.

An advocate is:

• One who pleads the cause of another
• One who defends or maintains a cause
• One who supports or promotes the interest of others

The Florida Keys Art Guild is your advocate.

In closing, we are here to support artists of all walks. How about taking a walk with us.

Thank you.

Joey R. Smith (Large Format Photographer)

Show Chairmen

www.floridakeysartguild.com

I'm trying to decide between 2 art fests for March 26/27. 1 - Deland outdoor arts & crafts fest or 2. Lake Wales art show. I'm a fused dichroic glass artist, with most of my work being jewelry in the $25 - $40 range, and some ecthed dichroic panels in the $100 - $200 range, and kaleidoscopes in the $300 - $450 range. But by far most of my sales are from the jewelry.

I've never attended either show. In fact I'm new to the show circuit. Any input on either show would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I am wondering if anyone has any input on the Corus Christi festival of the arts held the end of March. For me it would be a 26 hour drive. I hear the economy is good in Texas.

Any information would be appreciated

Thanks

Linda

I participated in this show for the second time. It is held in a beautiful park in Ft. Lauderdale and the weather was perfect. Load in and out is very difficult, having to dolly in on cobblestones. There were no working lights in the park so we had to load out in the dark, causing some safety issues.

I never saw the judges and was shocked at the prizes ($) awarded to buy/sell, while obvious one of a kind art was ignored. No one I spoke with saw anyone judging. No check marks or stickers were put on the booth signs to identify that we had been judged!

There were some incidents that occured that I've never seen or heard about at any other shows.

The show committee works very hard and seems to want to improve the show in the future.

I would like to hear the viewpoints of some of the other participants.

Just when I was basking in the glow of a fine end of the year show at Bayou City and dreaming of the relaxing Winter ahead, that ominus email came from Main St. Ft. Worth.

You stare at the message header for a full 24 hours before you read the thing. It takes that long to steel yourself for the enevitable " thanks, but no thanks".But wait, there is always that chance it's good news you're in, or maybe even the purgatory of the wait list. Hell, you re did the booth shots after reading how much this counts in the jury selection, submitted what you felt was a creative representation of your work. You did the show two years straight, did killer numbers. Even schmoozed the director a bit for good measure.

Eyes closed, finger hovering over the mouse, gravity takes over and the finger plops down. Peeking thru parted fingers you slowly absorb the facts. They don't like me anymore. Damn.

It's tough to not take the rejection to heart. this is a show that will literally make the year, it's the Cherry Creek of the Spring (yeah, and waiting for that rejection too), the one show that people will make hotel reservations a full year in advance, and rent mules to haul their purchases off. Its two lanes of shoulder to shoulder,heel to toe happy Texans for four days and 8 city blocks just buying and buying and buying. But they ain't gonna be buying mine.

Maybe its karma, maybe I reamed a few show directors and there is this underground cult they all belong to that black lists people that call them out.Maybe the two years I was in was an abberation. Maybe my work really does suck.

Yeah. I know it happens to all of us.Photographers probably more than most others, simply because there are so damn many of us. Maybe I should become more run of the mill, stop trying to convey my own little take on the world thru my imagery.Become more mainstream.And maybe I just suck.

I have the whole cold and lonely Winter to think on it.

I am sorry to hear about Holly's death. We were participants at "her" show and agree with the post about her impeccable efforts. All the staff were well versed in how to work with the artists and that attribute can only come from the top down! I went back to Atlanta for the Chastain Park Show and heard something about her death but the person was not sure of all the details. We can not attend her service as we are from Orlando but we will keep her and her family and friends in our thoughts and prayers!

Don E. and Barbara Grannan

Photographs in Motion ...

I was awarded first place in my category. It was the most awesome experience ever and I will treasure the memory for a long time. I was floating on air until about noon when I realized I wasn’t selling much of anything. The last time I did this show it was most definitely a Sunday show and I made 90% of my money on Sunday. So I wasn’t worried on Friday and Saturday. But Sunday turned out to be my worst sales day. My best day turned out to be Friday and that was primarily because I had put in my newsletter that I am moving out of the area and probably wouldn’t be doing to 2011 fall shows. A couple people came out to get pieces they had been thinking of for awhile. Those were my only framed sales.

My location seemed like a good one. The weather was perfect. The great Disney artist support and treatment was there. But the crowd wasn’t there and even the people that were there didn’t seem to be “there”. I didn’t see many packages and very few large ones.

Sales wise I did better than Maitland but worse than Winter Springs and that is sad for an event of such prestige. Of course this show is more about the prestige than the sales but the sales for me are usually in the okay range. I'll still do it again. Disney treats artists like they are very important and my artist soul needs that from time to time.