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Well, it has been a while.

Now I have a show report, and it is all positive.

This year marks my 46th year in the business. And it has all been good.

I approached going to the show with lots of apprehension.

Did not want to come down with Covid and come home and give it to my wife.

I was worried how many people show up to buy, would they be masked, would they be eager to buy.

Between booth fee, hotels, gas and food I had about a $1000 nut to break even.

A good friend of mine had done the downtown Naples show the weekend before and he barely made any profit. Not reassuring news to hear.

On the other hand I was eager to find out how my new body of work would sell.  I had the confidence that it would sell, but until it is in your bank account, it is just speculation.

During the Covid summer of 2020, I worked everyday making new handcolored black and white photos.

I ended up in October with 120 new images. And I felt that some of them would be strong sellers.

Also, in December, I crossed over to the Dark Side.  I had my first images printed on metal by Bayphoto out of San Francisco.  I did two at 20”x30”, and two at 30”x40”. All told, this was a $1000 gamble.

Two weeks ago, I set my booth up for the first time in nine months.  Took me over two hours and I was exhausted.

With the new metal work, I had to reconfigure my walls to accommodate the bigger sizes.

Glad I did it.

So last Friday I took off for Bonita Springs, which is just north of Naples.

Made it in four hours, traffic was way lighter on I-75 then in the past.

I masked up and checked in at 1pm.

Had my usual site with van able to be parked behind during the show, a big plus.

The only disappointment I experienced at the show was how they marked our booths.

They left no real room between booths, we were packed in tight side to side.

Naples had 10 foot spacing between booths. Bonita did not.

I had it all set up under four hours, I was exhausted but very happy.

I brought food along and ate dinner in my hotel room that night.  

Boring, but safe.

Show opened with clear blue skies and cold winds.

We started off in 58 degree weather but it nudged up to a high of 64 that day.

That was good. Kept them off the water and golf courses.

People came in promptly at 10am, and they were all masked.

I made my fist sale in nine months fifteen minutes later, for $300.

After that, it was off to the races.

The crowds were steady, and they were buying.

These people have disposable income. They were looking for statement pieces.

And, not a one tried to get me down on my price.

I had finally raised my prices on all sizes, for the first time in five years.  Nobody objected.

Gee, why did I not do this five years ago!

People cane along steadily for most of the day.This Show always slows down around 3pm.

I made four high end sales including one of my 20”x30” metal images.

It was a strong first day.

My neighbors had steady sales and looked happy.

I went out to dinner that night at a great seafood restaurant.  I sat at the bar and nobody was there besides me.  Tables were spaced safely and the place was barely half full.

Sunday morning ended up being chillier by ten degrees, had to layer up.

I walked the show early and questioned artists I know about how they did.

Most were happy just to be at an art show.  Most were happy with sales.

Sunday crowd was smaller and not so apt to buy. This happens a lot at this show.

It is two different crowds.

I ended up having my best show there in the last 15 years.  I made more money then all the unemployment money I got for the last nine months.

It was nice to see all the new work sell.

I stayed over Sunday night and got home safely Monday morn.

On Tuesday I went and got tested for Covid.  Results were negative.  I felt great.

Two weeks from now I will be in the Howard Alan Naples Show.

Hopefully it will be a success.  Will keep you posted.

BTW, I sanitized my hands after each customer that I dealt with.

And I stayed masked at the show.

Mark Loeb of Integrity Events in Detroit runs multiple events in that area and has also been involved in the art fair business for many years. Since Covid he has had to cancel all of his events, but he keeps trying other ways to provide income to artists and engage buyers. Late summer and fall he tried hosting small invitational events in hotel suites in the area, also a holiday event at a popular event site at the fairgrounds nearby and for the holidays he hosted what he called a "live online" event. Here is his analysis of that event:

Dec. 9, 2020
We just completed our first fair on Eventeny. Actually it is ongoing throughout the month since there are no extra charges to leaving the site active.  It was put together with only two weeks of preparation after my last event of the year was cancelled.  The show included our general mix of fine arts, with a few more crafty items to reflect the season.

Eventeny was great to work with.  They were very responsive to me but less so to the artists with questions.  Some artists reported waiting 24 hours for responses.

We had about 12,000 unique visitors, but the average visitor shopped fewer than 3 pages.  To me that indicated that the page was not enticing the way I had it laid out.  You can view the page at MiArtFair.com - however be aware that I have made some changes since the "live" fair is over.

The video feed at the top featured short demonstrations and interviews with artists.  I have changed it to a rapidly repeating view of artists work from the show which I feel will be better for engagement.

Some Site Features-

The top of the site can be static- with one large and four small photos, or a video feed and four small photos.  We felt that the sire was not completely intuitive so we used some of out small photo spots for informational slides- How to find things, how to pay.

The schedule is the next optional feature.  We scheduled some demonstrations and Santa visits.  During the six days the schedule was only used fewer than twenty times.  Perhaps if we had more dynamic content?  For the ongoing site we have removed the schedule.

The next section is the Features section. We started off with listing all of the event features and the slowly removed them to the point where none remain.  One insight- if you have an odd number of features the first one is two columns wide.  Otherwise all are one column.  This gives the first feature extra prominence.

Booths are listed in three columns and separated by medium or application type.  It may be possible to get other divisions.  Note- when editing the application- the added questions feature is the only one on the site that requires saving after each new entry.  I found this out when the added questions were completely missing on one app.  We have one application for those that needed jurying and a different one (hidden unless artists had the URL) for invited artists. Medium separation works even if on multiple applications. Glass artists were together regardless of application.

You can create additional booths to host additional features, though only one booth per user id.  We had two- one for Santa and related items and one for DIY Craft projects.

 

I started with the assumption that this was not an online version of a live show.  I needed to capture as many live advantages as I could while also including features that are not practical at a live show. 

• We marketed this event as a "live online" event.  (Personally I don't like the term virtual)

• Everyday we did a 30 minute Facebook Live broadcast featuring three or four artists plus food items, musicians and a craft project.   Attendance to this was low.  We prerecorded it live for broadcast to allow for repeats at other times.  (This was done using Streamyard and iMovie).

• We put up two hours of artists interviews and demonstrations for people to watch if they would like.  this changed daily to cover all artists.   We started out with this in the "schedule" but then migrated to the top of the page.  Why did I move it?  First, if you are listening to anything on the site it continues to play sound, so it's easy to have two or three sound tracks going. Secondly, even with instructions at the top of the page and in the "features" people were not figuring it out.  Third, when you click a link in Eventeny you open a new page.  The way to return to your original page is by closing the new one.  Many people reported trouble figuring out how to get back to the previous page.

We did online interviews with more than half of the artists that were then included on these pages.  Interviews were done with StreamYard and the edited in iMovie.   Artists appreciated the effort though I cannot tell how much effect it had.

• We had Santa live by zoom for two hours a day.  He and Mrs. Claus also recorded stories that could be played at anytime.  Very few visitors.  The stories were hosted in our Santa shop which also had the opportunity to get a letter from Santa and invited people to Email Santa@IntegrityShows.com. 

• We had a DIY shop with four free activities.  Each included a YouTube video and a supply list.

• Each day a Santa Bear hid in a different artists shop.  Patrons were invited to find the bear and report his location to Santa@Integrityshows.com.  Each day there was a drawing and one patron won the bear.  Not much response to this.

Some quirks-

• I forwarded my MiArtShow.com site to the Eventeny page.  Next time I would do this differently for two reasons. First, if people go to my page and then click on to Eventeny I get an even better accounting of who attended.  Secondly, some patrons received the dreaded "unsafe" message that browsers give when you go to a site that does not appear secure.  My site, URL and Eventeny are all secure but that did not always translate.   (My domain is through GoDaddy, site through Wix.)   I spoke with all of the parties and no one was able to completely solve the issue.  We still had some folks being discouraged through the entire event.

• As some others have said, the shipping fees are inadequate.  One artist with a large 35 pound sculpture trusted the system to set her shipping and ended up getting $8 to send it across the state.  Not even enough for her packaging.  I have addresses this with Eventeny as have others, but they remain confident that the site estimates are accurate.

• Many artists were initially unable to figure out how to place items in their shop and / or how to set up zoom calls.  I prepared a quick email template to explain it to them.  Connecting to Stripe for payouts was also confusing and the system will not let a shop sell anything until Stripe is properly connected.  Artists were initially unhappy with having to use Stripe but compliant.

• In the booth search it finds words within the artists text in addition to selected keywords.  So if an artist wrote "great for hanging jewelry" their booth would appear with the jewelers in a search.  Great feature for finding every possible connection but often returns twice as many booths as desired.

Mark never stops, you know how it is: "will this work?" or "maybe this will work." At present he is working on a Valentine's Day themed event.

What have your experiences been? What have you tried and what about Mark's experiences above. Are they similar to yours?

Hi- I am writing to share with you about what I have been up to with my art business since most of my shows were canceled. I started an etsy shop for the first time and one of the reason I like it is that it is very user friendly and you do not have to put any funds out to start. Also I have a friend who makes beautiful watercolor paintings and crafts but does not like all the computer stuff so I am selling some of her stuff in my store as well. Now instead of sitting in the back of her closet it is listed and people have bought several of her items.

My first sale was a $500.00 painting but by the time the fees, taxes, etc... I made about 400.00. So you really need to consider that with your pricing, plus I like to run specials and send coupons to help customers and hopefully they will become regular clients. I still have a lot to learn and I also would not depend solely on one way to present and sell your art- I plan to do shows when they start again and try to connect with others who like art and make art. Community and personalization are very important especially now with so many people having to social distance.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my shop- but I am in no way an expert on etsy. My training is more focused on creating fine art, designs and crafts. My shop is www.etsy.com/shop/FineArtsforU. I would love to get your feed back. Thank you.

Happy holidays:

I am artist, doing search to find best web site builders, looking like Weebly. Wix, can any one please advise, which will be good website. Thank you. You can also email

sayeedsyed24@gmail.com 

Is anyone out there interested in Mat cutting? I have the complete mat cutter flat files and circle cutter.

Call 260-214-4212

Is my computer going bonkers or did the site age change. Mine is all white now and font is really small. Is there a fix????

10% Discount - something I've never offered. I've thought again about my original offer. Because everyone needs a break now, I'm extending my discount until the end of the year. Through midnight December 31st, I'll take 10% off any image editing or photography job sent to me by December 31st. Remember Prices go back to normal January 1st 2021.

Check out the new artwork photography and before and after image improvements:
http://bermangraphics.com/digital-jury-resources/jury-slide-photography.htm
http://bermangraphics.com/digital-jury-resources/fixing-jury-images.htm

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

It's HERE! Sign up now for the art fair business's happiest event of the season! Join an ArtFairInsiders.com tradition!

Welcome to the 9th annual AFI Secret Santa. Secret Santa 2020 is our annual gifting and sharing of good wishes for our art fair community. It is the people who make the art fair biz so compelling for s all. 

Over the years, artists from around the world have come together during Secret Santa for a common theme—to spread goodwill and joy to one another, through the spirit of giving and receiving happiness.

In our ninth year, we invite you to join us once again, in a time where love and optimism is needed across the globe. At AFI, we rely on the kind hearts of our members to shine a little light during the holiday season, and this year is no different.

Last year over 65 artists and show directors sent through gifts through our exchange, one heartwarming gift at a time. This year, join us in keeping the tradition going!

HOW DOES THE EXCHANGE WORK?

Sign up* & get matched

1. Let me know you want to participate.

Once you have notified me you want to participate I'll add your name to the email list at DrawNames.com.

Then you will receive an email from DrawNames.com. You must click the link in that email "JOIN THIS GROUP." That will take you to the sign up page. Do that and you will be registered to participate. (If you do not signup at the link you will not be included in the drawing.)

or

2. If you participated last year you must still sign up. You should have received an email invitation from DrawNames.com on 11/23/20.

3. *You must activate your membership in the group when you receive this invitation by clicking in. If you don't you will not be included. While you are there add your mailing address to the "wish list." Also, add your wishes for gifts you'd like.

4. Deadline: The evening of December 4 we will close signups and our computer program will choose who you should send a gift to (this is the most important part; this is about the giving!). If you have not signed up by responding to our emails from DrawNames.com, you will not be part of this year's matching.

5. On December 7 you'll receive the name of the person you will be "gifting" with a link to contact that person. There is a cool email system that you can use
to find out their wishes.

6. Find the perfect gift** & send it

Once you receive the email from DrawNames.com with your match's information, you'll have until December 20, to ship your gift.

When you ship it, come back here to tell us you've shipped it.

7. Receive a gift from your match

When you receive a gift, you'll need to come back here and post an amazing thank you note, hopefully with photos!

The best photos and thank you note will receive a prize


New this year: we'll host a Zoom meeting in early January to meet one another and show off our gifts.

*When you sign up at DrawNames.com be sure to fill out your wish list with some suggestions for your own personal Santa: color preferences, your interests, dream wishes. Also at that time include your mailing address so your Santa can get your present to you on time.

**This is not about buying a gift, this is about sharing your creativity. Gifts should be made by you or handmade preferably, maybe from an art fair. Suggested dollar limit (if you're buying) $25.

Curious about our gift drawings? Put the words "Secret Santa" in the search box up above and you'll find lots of fun and good wishes.

Connie, you make sense all the way. One of my mottos during this time of covid is, "We'll see." And so we will. Stay well. Lisa

Dear Family and Friends,

I trust this letter finds each of you safe and calm in the face of the pandemic. I am facing my own health crisis and I am neither safe nor calm!

I am writing this letter to share with you where I am in my life right now and seeking your wisdom, guidance, prayers and assistance.

While drafting this letter, I had a transplant waitlist meeting with the Transplant Center at Georgetown Hospital, Washington, D.C.   I have spent the last two years looking for a living donor and waiting out my time on the waitlist.  I went into the meeting thinking that I was looking at four to six more years on the list. NOT SO!  I have been taken off the waitlist and told that I had to find a living donor within six months!  If I fail to find a donor, I am condemned to spend the rest of my life on dialysis.  This was quite a shock! I have been processing this deadline, and after one day of shock, I have begun asking for help. 

Background

Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Disease. This was discovered after a bout with pneumonia. My lab work came back very bad (stage 4-5). While my kidneys numbers were elevated due to my illness, the numbers came down slightly, leveling off to stage 3-4. My primary care physician had me go to a nephrologist. My kidneys continued to slowly decline as kidney disease seems to do – often without any rhyme or reason.  It was determined that I would need a kidney transplant. Three years ago I visited the Georgetown University Transplant Center in downtown DC and it was agreed that I, indeed, was in need of this transplant and was placed on the transplant waitlist.

The average wait for a kidney with my blood type is 7 to 9 years if I have to wait for a kidney from a cadaver. Even with the best of care, my kidneys have continued to slowly deteriorate. I have moved to Stage 5 kidney disease (End Stage) with 13-15 % of my kidneys left intact.  My health continues to decline. I am very weak and anemic due to kidney failure. I have been able to keep my numbers stable for the last three years but was surgically prepped for kidney dialysis this past winter. So far I have avoided dialysis but I see it coming closer.

My doctors and the Center generally recommend having a live donor for the best chance of a really good outcome.  In my case I have no other options and a 6 month deadline.   I ask each of you to pray that someone will step forward and this will be a great match.  Then I will possibly avoid dialysis. With a live donor’s kidney, my chances for success will be greatly increased.

The Details

My blood type is 0 negative. It would be great if the donor was 0 negative but this is not entirely necessary for me to be able to get a transplant. There is a program in place that if the person does not match me, then they might match someone else. Donating a kidney in my behalf, even if not a match, would increase the likelihood of me receiving a kidney in what is called the ‘Pairing Program.’ A donor’s kidney would be “paired” with someone in the kidney transplant bank and another would be given to me as a match. The ideal, of course, is that I would receive the kidney from the original donor.

Live Donors- The Nuts and Bolts

All transplant related medical and travel expenses are covered by MY insurance. There is also a “lost wages” provision.

To Become a Donor, Please Contact:

Medstar Georgetown living donor program at 202-444-3714

Or online at Medstargeorgetown.org/livingkidneydonor

The Living Donor Coordinator will ask a series of questions and will fill in all of the details. To be eligible as a candidate, you must first pass a physical exam to determine if you are healthy enough for surgery .  If you pass this stage, you will have a blood draw. The purpose of this blood draw would be to determine if you are a direct match or can be a “paired” donor.

All of this is is paid for by my insurance as is the kidney donation surgery. The surgery for the donor is now done by laparoscope with a hospital stay of about three days. Recovery time after that is approximately two weeks. The Donor Coordinator can fill you in much more on the details and answer any and all questions.

My Challenges

For me, as you can guess, this is another challenge but one that I know I can face one day at a time. My motto is “Be present, live today, tomorrow is another day and it, too, will unfold and present to me what I have for that day.” I cannot help but remember what both my parents and others would often tell me when I was a child. “G-d never gives you anything that you are not given the grace to endure.” I have found that to be true throughout my life and I know that it will not be different this time. With G-d’s grace, I survived being struck by a drunk driver and the loss of mobility, three closed head injuries, and a lightning strike.  I will endure this as well but am willing to risk surgery and a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs to let me keep the kidney.

Please keep me in your heart, thoughts and prayers as you consider my situation.

Please Join Jay’s Team of Helpers

I ask each and every one of you to share this letter with at least ten people.  Of course, the more, the better.  Please place this on your Facebook and other social media wall and your listserves/newsletters.  With everyone helping, I have a chance of finding a living donor. I am not a person who asks for help easily but now I desperately know I need help.  I also know I can count of you to be there for me as part of Jay’s Team of Helpers.

Thank you in advance for your love, friendship, and support.

I did not attend the show but am wondering how it was. If anyone out there did the Fountain Hills show in AZ this past weekend, would you please post some info on how it was, especially during COVID.

I appreciate Connie Mettler's post about art fairs in Naples. I totally understand the objections of Naples Art that the United Arts Council show would be competition and that eight art shows in Naples is plenty.

But there is another side to the story: the artists. If any of you participate/d in art fairs in and around Chicago, you are probably aware that the market is saturated, which makes for low sales. Lots of walkers and lots of dogs just enjoying a day out, talking with friends in the aisles and passing the booths because they've seen it all before. 

My point is that the more shows there are in a city, especially a small one, the less sales there are at any one of them. The events become commonplace and, therefore, not special or exciting. As an artist, I much prefer special and exciting venues, especially since this atmosphere promotes sales.

I see the city's decision to allow another show as very self-defeating and hope the county powers-that-be realize the artists are stakeholders, too, in this conversation.

Integrity Shows is producing a special Online Art Fair in December. The focus is on artists that missed out on the 2020 show season.  It will differ from virtual shows as there will be live content scheduled including live art competitions, demos, studio tours.  We'd love you to consider participating.  We will have four information sessions if you are curious.  Also feel free to contact me!

Register once to attend any of these sessions.  www.is.gd/onlineinfo

Informational sessions:

If you are ready to join us use this link to save the sign-up fee.  www.is.gd/20artist

• Monday, November 16, 7:00PM Eastern

• Wednesday, November 18, 11:00AM Eastern

• Wednesday, November 18, 7:00PM Eastern

• Thursday, November 12, 2:00PM Easter.n

Yikes! Unrest amongst the arts community in Naples, FL.

The Collier County (Naples, FL) commissioners are listening to two organizations to determine what is best for their community. The United Arts Council "is planning an art festival Jan. 23-24 that has drawn the wrath of Naples Art (the former Naples Art Association), which considers it competition. Naples Art objected, unsuccessfully, to the UAC application for a permit, saying that sandwiching in another arts festival when Naples Art already has eight scheduled in the city would erode its income."

The Naples Art Association wants to know why the festival is using an outside producer, and whether it would be taking money from the eight other festivals already in the city.

No surprise there are many people on both sides of the story. 

Learn more about what the Collier Count commissioners are considering: www.naplesnews.com/story/news/2020/10/28/collier-county-commissioners-

And what the Naples City Council okayed: 
www.naplesnews.com/story/news/2020/10/25/naples-city-council-oks