The Krasil Art Fair on the Bluff was a very good show for me... especially Saturday. What a fabulous venue... you look out on to the sandy beaches of lake Michigan and water that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Sara Shambarger and the 400 volunteers deserve all the credit and I am very appreciative. This is a committee and staff that is dedicated to making this show the artists' favorite (their words) and they are right up there with the best! The artists amenities at this show were substantial: Grassy location with trees and gorgeous view of Lake Michigan; curb-side loading and unloading; roomy booths (12X12) with plenty of storage space; Friday evening opening reception and an artist hospitality room with free breakfast and lunches, booth sitters and roving volunteers, artist-only off-street parking close to fair during show; and most important, lots of visiting patrons from several distant locations including Chicago. Sales were very strong for my work, $4000-5999K (see artists survey) and purchases covered my full range of price points. The show conducts an extensive artists survey and distributes the result back to the artist.
As an aside: I had made it to number 2 on the wait list but no further... so close. In an email exchange with Sara, I learned that last year there were no late cancellations, but I decided to take my chances anyway and make the 4 1/2 hour drive on Thursday evening to St Joseph's. Hell, what's the worst that could happen, my wife and I would enjoy a gorgeous weekend at a resort on looking the spectacular view of Lake Michigan? On Friday I was up early to get my name first on the list in hopes of a last minute cancellation. To my good fortune there was only one last minute cancellation and I got the nod.
Well, you can imagine my surprise at Sunday morning's awards breakfast, when they handed me the biggest colorful ribbon I have ever seen... I had won best in Photography with an automatic invite into next year's show... Oh yeah, I'm going back. I wouldn't miss celebrating the 50th anniversary of this top ranked show!!!
All Posts (7673)
Sort by
There were 4 art festivals in the Chicago area this weekend and I made it to three of them.
Weather for all the festivals was very hot. Humidity wasn't too bad but without much breeze, it made for uncomfortable conditions. Textile artists probably get hurt the most. Who wants to try anything on when you are already hot and sweaty?
Oak Brook- this is a fine craft festival. It is held in a wonderful mall southwest of Chicago. There is plenty of parking so getting there early is not necessary to find a space. I hadn't been there in a long time and it used to be wonderful. There were supposed to be around 150 artists and if there were, I don't think we found all of them. The layout for this was very confusing. This is an independent festival so there were a lot of artists I had never seen before. The quality was very uneven and it was an unsatisfactory show. It wasn't worth the drive.
Glencoe- This is an Amdur show so you know there will be good quality, a fairly organized layout and lots of dogs. (last year, Glencoe had as many dogs as artists or so it seemed. this year, there were a lot also) This show had several artists I had never seen before and they did not disappoint. I thought I saw a b/s but it wasn't crummy stuff and there was one booth where the work was so awful, we thought it was a joke. Almost as if there was a no-show and this person had set up a booth with the ugliest ceramic things that were below the level of nursery school artists. It was a nice festival though,overall.
Northbrook- Last year there weren't even 60 artists at this festival so I was happy to see the artist list was above 100 this year. This show had the most disorganized layout of any I have been to. It was completely on grass so thank goodness it didn't rain or it would have been a mess. We almost missed a row of artists because the backs of booths were on one side and the front of booths on the other. Quality was uneven, mostly on the low side.
It was a discouraging weekend. Even if I don't find anything to add to my collections, I enjoy seeing beautiful work and with a few exceptions, I didn't even see that.
- This was my first year attending this art fair held over the July 4th weekend at lovely Muskegon Hackley Park. The art fair is actually held the last three days of Muskegon's "Summer Celebration" - a huge draw from all areas of Michigan. The prior weekend began with musical performances by ZZ Top and others. Sure wish I could have seen them. The entire week consisted of various top named groups and the carnival type area. This appears to be for this area of Michigan similar to Milwaukee's Summer Fest. My overall thoughts are - Way to go Muskegon! Get high attendance all week and save the art venue for the last weekend. I tried to book a hotel more than 3 months in advance and could find nothing in a close proximity to Muskegon. Booked all the way past Holland. I then tried the campgrounds and, oh God, ended up at a KOA (ugh - I never do them). Granted, it was 4th of July weekend and there are other things to do in the area, but the crowds were definately there all three days. Sunday night's fireworks over the lake were spectacular!
The Organization - $235 show fee. Well juried event - Wonderful artwork in all mediums and nicely balanced.Each artist received a very nice t-shirt. Check in went well and all volunteers were helpful and friendly. Entry forms and images are submitted on paper via USPS. Show runs from 10 to 6 on Friday and Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. Setup allowed on Thursday but we began unloading & setup on Friday at 6am and found no problem finding a streetside parking area to unload. Parking for unloading was on the street and all had to be dollied in. Vehicles had to be removed by 9am and the streets surrounding the block had no parking. Each morning coffee and goodies were available near the center statue.
The Layout - The various venues are spread throughout Muskegon with a festival area including music stages and rides etc down by the lake. A block away is street for fine crafters and in the fourth block, is historical Hackley Park. At the center of the park - one square block - is a large historical statue. Artists are situated on both sides of the sidewalk parimeter of the block and along the four diagonal sidewalks leading to the center statue. Approximately 190 fine artists participated. I very much enjoyed the distinct separation of the venues. The street between the fine crafters and the block dedicated to fine artists was a street filled with a large variety of food vendors. I was fortunate to get a great corner location. Artists given a generous 12x12 space with tons of space behind each tent.
The Weather - A tad on the hot hot hot side but most tents are under huge trees. My corner was in full sun, but since we were given so much space, a few tent adaptations gave us shelter from the sun. A nice breeze most of the day helped.
The Crowd - Kinda covered above but a few more notes necessary. This was a great crowd. There were few lulls each day and for the most part we were busy enough that neither Neil or I strayed away from our booth. Since the festival areas were so well divided, the ones at the Art in the Park area were looking for fine art, just as the ones a block down were looking for fine crafts.
The $$$$ - I typically do well when the event is on a Great Lake. Friday went very well, Saturday seemed to have more out of towners who came in for the weekend and sales, while steady, were under Friday's tally. Sunday was slower than both previous days in the beginning, but about an hour prior to closing we were bombarded with those who saw something earlier and came back to purchase. The art show ended at 4, but we did not begin teardown until 5. I did not have much time to talk with other artists except a couple of my long time friends so I'm not sure how others did. The fine craft area was too far away and I did not get over to the other side of the park to see the other fine art at all but I did notice people carrying bags through out the weekend.
The Food - Most of the food was typical of any festival but there was a huge variety (two blocks on both sides) This food area was for those attending either the fine craft or the fine art booths. Since the main festival was quite a distance away, they had their own food setup.
My only Beef - Parking. Those that have done this show before knew all the secrets. Since this weeklong event encompassed the entire city, parking for the weeklong Summer Celebration festivities were no where near the parking for the fine artists (thank God). Obviously planned well by groups in the city, any civic or church lot had persons offering day parking for $5.00. Nice consistency at least. We parked our utility trailer three blocks away for the entire time and arrived early each day to obtain parking in one of the closer lots, a block away. A bit confusing at first, but now I too know some of the "secrets".
I'll post my video in a couple of days.
Linda Anderson
Great Lakes Nautical & Nature Photography
(We drove Ford vans to art fairs from 1980 until retiring in 2006. Ours still gets around very well with almost 170,000 miles on it. - Connie)
After some fabulous shows in Texas in the spring, I thought "this could be the turning point, this could be the best year for me". Having done these shows for only 3 years, I never experienced the "good old days", and I have only the recession experience under my belt.
But it seems since May all of my shows have been down from last year.
Rittenhouse Square in Philly has been a consistently good show for me. There was an earlier post about the show, so I won't repeat, but Friday and Saturday were super slow, and Sunday we broke down early for a tornado and hail watch, right in the middle of the best crowds of the weekend. Not a lot you can do about Mother Nature, but the first 2 days were not up to par.
Lakefront in Milwaukee Is a pleasure to do. It is a wonderful show in a wonderful setting. (see Nels' blog about the show last year. He covered all the details). That being said, it seemed to me that the crowd, big indeed, was holding back. I did half what I did the year before, and I saw almost no 2-D work leave the show, save for matted prints that I suspect were of a lower price point. I talked to many of my painter friends, and no one did well. The people kept telling me they wished they could afford my work. ( Is this a form of blowing smoke? Perhaps...but how do I explain Texas?).
Finally Cherry Creek - This is a truly wonderful show to do in terms of load in, load out, artist parking is the easiest and closest of any show I have done. The volunteers are everywhere with water, snacks and offers of help. The weather can be dicey, but wait 10 minutes. And the crowds were there. Only they were not buying 2-D painting or drawing least I can tell (please, someone tell me otherwise). Again, I did half what I did the year before, and none of my painting friends did well, maybe meeting expenses. Again, I saw almost no 2-D work being carried, except for matted prints, which painters, and artists such as myself, did not have available. I sold only small drawings, and people were even sensitive to that lower price.
I have been talking to my friends in the financial business, and they are not surprised by my experience. They are telling me the economy is shakier than even last year. I know some jewelers and smaller priced artists are not suffering the same fate, and this is the observation of one artist, but it seems to me that patrons are thinking twice about spending more that a thousand dollars for a piece of artwork.
Maybe when the oil well is capped?
1. Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff in St. Joe, MI --
http://www.wsjm.com/216-Artists-Selling-Work-at-2010-Krasl-Art-Fair/7648931And, an excellent story with an interview with artist David Chapple: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/07/08/features/1528421.txt
2. Corn Hill Art Festival in Rochester, NY -- http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100708/ENT0102/7080305/1052/ENT
3. Cain Park Arts Festival in Cleveland Heights, OH -- http://positivelycleveland.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/cain-park-arts-festival/, photo from Cain Park, where we usually went on this weekend to sell our goods
4. Royal Oak Art Fair in Royal Oak, MI -- http://www.detnews.com/article/20100708/ENT01/7080301/Royal-Oak-art-fair-aims-to-inspire
5. Art Fair on the Square in Madison, WI -- http://www.thedailypage.com/theguide/details.php?event=242024
6. And thinking into 2011 you might (or might not) be pleased to hear that Coconut Grove is adding 30 spaces. Read all about it: http://coconutgrovegrapevine.blogspot.com/2010/07/be-part-of-best-arts-festival-seeking.html
Upstate Visual Arts (UVA) is accepting applications for the 2nd annual West Greenville (S.C.) Arts Festival on September 18-19, 2010. For more information see the following link: http://www.upstatevisualarts.org/events/wgreenvillefestival.php The deadline is July 15.
This is my hometown so I have a sincere desire to exhibit here, even purchasing a double booth. I have absolutely no travel expenses and I have so much “local” work that it is the best of all worlds for me. Yet with so much desire to take advantage of this great opportunity, and with the cost of only $100 for a booth ($175 for double), I really question whether I want to even apply. I share the following points to explain.
- The most recent show that UVA did was on Memorial Day weekend at Freedom Weekend Aloft. Sold to the artists as a great venue with only 25 "juried" artists, 300,000 visitors over 3 days,
tents were provided by the property owner and the booth fee was only $50. However the tents
provided DID NOT have sides; it was a mere canopy top. You were not allowed to bring your
own tent and it rained all three days. Artists were not told of the lack of tent sides until
the artists arrived for setup.
And UVA was only able to sell perhaps 6 spaces out of the 25 promoted. I was one of those
6 and it rained all three days and even had a hail storm the first day. The last day was totally
cancelled because of the weather. When asked how were we to protect our art in case of inclement weather, the UVA director said the owner had two storage PODS about 200
yards away. So when were we to grab our art and run for the PODS? When the rain started or when we see the first cloud? And then you have all artists sharing the tiny PODS together walking over and around everyone else’s art. The planning for this event was non-existent. Most artists had serious damage to their art due to lack of sides and no way to protect as the rapidly approaching thunderstorms came up much to quick. I’m sure the UVA is in a learning curve; but at “our expense.” - The 1st annual West Greenville Arts Festival was held last year. It rained lightly both days. Crowds were perhaps 300 to 500 visitors per day; many of which were simply other artists just checking everything out. Sales were virtually non-existent for everyone I saw and talked to, although I did manage to cover my $100 expenses. There were only about 20 or 25 artists at the show last year.
- I have left numerous messages and emails for the UVA festival contact over the past three weeks. Finally, yesterday I got a return phone call. I asked a lot of questions and was told about how they were trying to attact some sponsors to help with the advertising, etc. Sounds promising; but based on past performance, I will have to see it before I believe it. The setup will be in the same parking lot as last year with 4 rows of tents. Artists tents will be 10’x10’, placed side by side with no room in between and NO space for any storage or chairs whatsoever. It was clearly explained to me that EVERYTHING must fit inside your 10’x10’ tent because the tents would be side by side and the two rows in the middle would be back to back with no space in between. I measured the parking lot this morning. The boundaries are not quite in straight lines but the width ranges from 58’ to about 70’ and the parking lot is perhaps 150+’ long. So if they are putting one row of tents on the outside boundary and two rows back to back in the middle (that’s 40’ of width taken up by just the tents). And if you have two rows of traffic, that’s only 9’ between the facing tents (assuming everyone is level – which is difficult on the significantly sloping parking lot).
- With this cramped setup, I predict load in and load out will be total chaos as you cannot arrive and get your space assignment until 6AM Saturday morning.
What a dilemma for me. The one show that is the best financial opportunity for me is sponsored by the most poorly organized show promoter I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not trying to grind an ax
here. Trust me, I could continue to write volumes if I chose to. I simply want to share what I know about the event. I will undoubtedly have more conversations over the coming weeks and months and will gladly share any new information as it becomes available.
It was the 4th of July .....and I was feeling very Yankee Doodleeee.......the dogs were all there.....the parade.....and flags....etc.....really it is the same at any 4th celebration. But you see old friends and socialize so that makes somehow different......
The "Bailey's" show was some fine art plus a ton of crafts and a ton of buy and sell.....really they take anyone who fits their definitions of "good stuff". They are booth fee hounds, I think....who just want to do what is best for Bailey"s Harbor according to themselves.
Low fee.....easy unload is a short carry.....
It is Door County or the thumb of Wisconsin.....so we have a huge Chicago crowd mixing with some Wisconsin and a few Minnesota people at this show.
The people come for the parade in the morning more than anything......sales happen more in the early afternoon. Lots of people....most walk by....but enough stopped by me to make it a successful day.
My secret is really to cater to Illinois people with my artwork....you must have something that appeals to an Illinois tourist to do well at this show.
Three Daveys......I cannot talk more.....gotta go paint the Cubs and Bears for next years show.....doing Butkus right now....do you know what a Butkus is?
I'm trying to find some new shows for the fall, rather late to get into many of them... Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Art show could land curators in Russian prison
MOSCOW (Reuters) –
The curators of an art exhibit that mixed religious icons with sexual and pop-culture images face up to three years in prison in a case that is testing the tolerance of Russia’s government and its dominant church.
A Moscow court is to issue a verdict on Monday in the trial of Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, charged with debasing religious beliefs and inciting religious hatred for the 2007 show Forbidden Art.
The trial, which recessed late last month, was marred by rowdy shouts from ultranationalists and what Yerofeyev said were thinly veiled threats to kill him and Samodurov if they are found innocent. “The state is trying to selectively censor art,” Yerofeyev said, accusing the authorities of encouraging or supporting ultranationalists who took issue with the exhibit.
conscience, and cultural figures have appealed....read the rest of this story here
This is all over the news and an interesting escapade. I'll bet there are some conservative folks here who would agree ;)
Now I am currently on vacation, in the Mid West - in Minnesota, and had the pleasure to finally meet Connie while traveling here. Now I have met fellow crafts people at shows and become friends with them over the years via other craft/artist websites, but I can't say I have with anyone here from artfairinsiders. I think this is mostly due to being from Maryland and most here are from places, well other than Maryland.
So, my review... Well, she is very much like her profile photo and does have a gracious and energetic personality that is much like her comments on this site. I got to see some of the artwork her and her husband made pre promoter years, and where it all happens - her office where she keeps Artfairinsiders going. Funny enough, it is much like my computer desk - busy, but I think she as less papers on it than I. :-) We didn't have much time to visit, but did get to grab a bite to eat at a local bar and grill in town that was on the river... This leads me to the "Tequila Report" of the visit.
Nels, if you are reading this two things - I didn't get to have Tequila - sorry. And #2 Connie has the photo of my visit with her. Connie if you are reading this, could you upload your photo of the visit???
The dinner report and dirt. I have to say dinner was really good - the best gourmet chicken fingers and BBQ sauce. My husband and an amazing buffalo burger and Connie - what appeared to be delicious country style fried chicken. The dirt was all about the website, talking about art fairs, sharing our stories of how we get into the business, and what our plans are in the future. I loved talking about our connections over promoting fairs, how they are different and ways we can embrace new ways to promote events to get more customers - mostly what works, plus the issue of people who refuse to have a website as well as their angst against about promoting their own work (possibly just not knowing how to do so). If anyone could take anything away from this is the creation of this website - artfairinsiders.com . What I learned is Connie never really wanted to do anything like this networking site - the fear of managing let alone how to do it was the biggest obstacle. But her son, Scott Fox, dragged her kicking and screaming. This is hard to imagine now that I have met Connie. :-) His books, advice and everything else allowed her to do everything necessary to get this site up and running with more than 3000 craft artists and others in the business. Can you imagine your life not having the knowledge you gained through this site? How different would your life be now if you haven't connected with friends and colleagues through this site? What Connie has accomplished - with this site alone - really deserves a round of applause. I hope you all get a chance to meet Connie, listen to what she has to say, and let her know from time to time how this site has enriched your life (art or not) and feel free to let her know what you think of the site including things you would like to see if you don't see it now.
Connie's site has given me an outlet to connect with so many awesome people, give us a place to b.s. (not buy/sell) and through her kindness allowed me to post the 40 Question Craft Artist blog series. Something I haven't been able to do with any other website or through meeting people in person when doing shows. For this, I just had to, in person, thank her for doing what she has done, and am so happy I did. She is even better to chat with in person!
Connie - do you have anything to add??? Has anyone else met Connie - and want to do a "Connie Report" I want to hear it!
Iwas one of these people who felt secure having a home based business andbelieving that it was covered under my homeowners insurance. It wasuntil I heard horror stories about studios getting flooded (during and after Hurricane Katrina), seeing firsthand neighboring craft canopies going airborne and crashing down ondisplays, and the dreadful theft issue that made me really look at whatdoes my homeowners insurance cover when it comes to my home basedbusiness. Here's what I learned that EVERYONE needs to know when itcomes to insuring your business.
Question #25 – Why do I needinsurance if I already have homeowners insurance?
First,homeowners insurance does cover some home based businesses, but I stressit is just SOME. It doesn't cover what you do away from the business –while on your way to shows, at shows, and equipment/display furnituretoo. It is one thing to have a garage sale in front of your home andsomeone accidentally injures themselves testing out a saw – here you arecovered. However, if you have a fire in your house insurance will onlycover basic stuff – furniture, computer, etc NOT your work, your rawmaterials, your display furniture and so on. Let's say you are at ashow and while you weren't looking you noticed several sets of jewelrysprouted feet and walked away. Not I am not a jewelry artist but I doknow finished jewelry precious metal pieces don't typically cost $20 orso. Your homeowners insurance won't cover it. Why you ask? It isbecause the theft didn't occur in your home.
Better to be safethan sorry. More and more shows are requesting proof of businessinsurance mostly because promoters know we are living in a lawsuit happyworld. If a customer trips in your booth and sprains their ankle, restassured they will go after the promoter and the artist to get what theycan for pain and suffering – not that we would like to think peoplewould do that. It happens and this why you can't risk loosing a ton ofmoney – when many of us artists are really on a shoe string budget,living from show paycheck to show paycheck. Customers see you as abusiness and businesses are expected to have insurance – those thatdon't, oh well, tough luck!
When it comes to finding insurance dolook into what your homeowners insurance does cover first. I learnedthat if you let your insurance company know you do run a home basedbusiness from your home you might be covered for more than just the lossof some equipment. The next thing is to look into what art/craftbusiness insurance companies are out there and compare prices and whattheir insurance covers. One popular one is RLI Insurance who advertisesin many art/craft publications. Look in show listing directories orthrough CERF's website for leads to others. Insurance, for one year,can be as low as $250 a year. There are companies that offer coveragefor one day (while at a show) which is far better than nothing at all,yet can add up to far more than $250 a year.
The point thatchanged my mind from relying on homeowners insurance and get businessinsurance is when I started selling my work in stores and adding candlesto my product lines. When there is more risk for injury (on my part orthose who receive my work after it leaves my hands) I couldn't avoidit. Granted 2D art might not hurt anyone, but it can get damaged, andthe risk goes higher for those who work with glass or pottery. All ittakes is a gusty day to knock down a display full of your precious work.Have you ever asked those who have had this happen to them, if theyhad insurance? More times than not, when I ask, they say no, butquickly realize today is the day “this” won't happen to them again. Forme, and I am sure I am sure I am not the only one, “you” will think itwill never happen to you, but all it takes is that one time to realizehow foolish it was to think that. Don't wait, but look into gettinginsurance now – you can't afford not to (especially if you find you areon a tight budget). All it takes is a wind storm to twist your canopy,theft, or someone injuring themselves to find $100 - $500 a drop in thebucket compared to the other costs that can be incurred.
Now Iam sure you have some stories about how you saw damage at a show orpersonal experiences that convinced you to get insurance. Please sharethem! The more people learn from others mistakes, the reduction insimilar mistakes will occur. Thanks for reading this long winded post,but I strongly feel it is something that needs to be talked about on amore regular basis. Have a great week everyone! Michelle Sholund,www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com
St. Louis, Missouri
Soldiers Memorial
50 artists
Deadline: July 12th 2010
New This Year!
The Art & Wine Walk at the Taste of St. Louis will be held in downtown St. Louis, MO, on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Our reformatted artist area will feature only juried artists and an upscale atmosphere. Wine sampling stations will be dispersed among the artists' tents to further encourage foot traffic through the artist area.
We're honored to have Boo McLoughlin (Craft Alliance), Robin Hirsch (Art Saint Louis), Jill McGuire (Regional Arts Commission) and Michelle Ochonicky (The Best of Missouri Hands) as our jurors for the Art & Wine Walk!
Art & Wine Walk juried artists receive the following:
· 10'x10' booth space (tent self provided) in the Art & Wine Walk for promotions, sales and lead generation
· One 110 electrical outlet
· Signage/branding rights at booth location (self-provided)
· Logo and website hotlink on TasteSTL.com
· Complimentary "booth sitters"
· Eligibility for cash prizes and awards
What else does the Taste of St. Louis offer?
The award-winning Taste of St. Louis is indeed a celebration of the best food, art, music and culture our great city has to offer. There is something for everyone at the event, as our array of activities and
The event takes place at Soldiers' Memorial (12th & Market), with a beautiful park atmosphere and a great view of the Arch.
Our array of activities continues to grow and improve with Sauce Magazine's Restaurant Row, the Master Chef Competition on the Saint Louis Bread Co. Culinary Stage, national and local music on the U.S. Bank Main Stage, The Art & Wine Walk, The Marketplace, and a whole array of activities in the Kids Kitchen.
http://www.tastestl.com/The-Art-Wine-Walk
or e-mail rebecca@tastestl.com
or call 314.534.2100 EXT. 24
or e-mail rebecca@tastestl.com
or call 314.534.2100 EXT. 24
The event is very well organized, water delivery is constant, and good food is served to vendors for a Friday night dinner buffet and Sunday morning taco breakfast. They even had air conditioned portable toilets! No complaints with their organization for the entire show. I paid extra for an electric outlet as I was told a fan was almost a have-to and I added some lights to my booth, but the outlet didn't work at first, and they immediately got in an electrician in and fixed it.
The only strange part of this show is the tent set up. Four long, narrow tents are arranged in a square. Vendors have one 8x10 half, the other half is used for a covered customer walkway, so your display must be freestanding. On the open side across from your booth, you are allowed to set up your tent facing the walkway. So if you take advantage of the extra space, you have to bring extra display equipment. You'd also want to bring plenty of tie-downs as you are right on the water's edge and the wind can get pretty stiff even without a hurricane.
The mountains are great and HOT HOT HOT 90s// there were crowds and buying was happening although selective // I saw alot of satisfied artists, and then some that were down in sales from the past; The heat as always ends the shows, no matter where, earlier; as was the case here; Once again The Rothbards have had another successful Art Festival, and my experience was enjoyable,successful, easy load in-out, a great location and all in all a return is in the cards for next year..
BARRINGTON BREW REPORT//// Great homebrew at the Barrington Brewery; Brewed in the barn in the back I asked not but enjoyed alot/// BUT THE BEST was a local 1/2 gallon growler of OPA OPA BEER BREWED about 15 mies to the north// $6.98 a growler and then $2 back for the bottle deposit $4.98 I,ll go back //the beer was fabulous// Fair Winds, and Safe Travels with great fortunes
If you follow this blog, you probably figured out that Boston Mills ArtFest has happened. ArtFest is a two weekend event that happens on the last weekend in June (a party night and 2 show days) and the 1st weekend in July (a party night and 3 show days). Two years ago I did the show on the first weekend and this year I tried second weekend. In the past artists could only do one or the other, but applications were down this year and a handful of artists got to try their luck on both weekends. To my surprise, I did just about identical gross sales numbers this year as I did two years ago.... this is a solid show (but had still hoped to do a little better with the extra day).
Setup: The rendering above shows the layout. There are four large artist tents, facing in each direction and about 32 individual tents down the middle. The large tent, on the left, is considered the North tent, but the sun sets behind it; go figure. Setup and breakdown are not bad, but you have to dolly everything to and from the parking lot, that is unless you get one of the few areas where you can park behind your booth (North tent).
Both times that I've done the show, I pitched my own tent in the middle section. I recommend paying a little more for a spot in the bigger tents... weather is a factor this time of year... this year it was hot! The larger tents stay cooler and people linger longer. That said, sales were still strong for me.
Location: Where is Boston Mills? Seems like it should be near Boston, MA but not even close, Boston Mills Artfest takes place at the base of a bunny slope (err, ski resort) just south of Cleveland, OH in the township of Peninsula, Ohio. The show draws from affluent suburbs around Cleveland and Akron and they come in good numbers.
Sales: Very good art displayed at this show and patrons bought big, though with caution. Several painters did outstanding at this show. A friend of mine from OH was well above 5 figures with several commissions pending. I spoke with potters, stained glass artists, photographers and jewelers who had a solid show in the 5-7K range. Not all fared well; a painter I met had a very disappointing show as did a multi-media artist. Like all shows this year, some hit it out of the park and some don't.
The Organization: This is a well publicized and coordinated event. Show volunteers frequently checked in with me to see if I had any needs. This is a well oiled machine that has been coordinated for years by Ron Beahn.
Amenities: An opening dinner for the artists, which meant hands off on the food and refreshments provided to paying patrons during the opening drunken bash... I mean hors d'oeuvres, wine and beer tasting. With an artist badge, artists could enjoy the tasting during the last 15 minutes of the event and without a badge, could blend in for earlier tastings.
My booth was near the music performance stage, which is usually the kiss of death for any artist who draws that lot. It certainly was on Friday opening night, but for the rest of the weekend, this was a fabulous spot. The music was incredibly good!!... concert quality. Each performance drew folks from all around the grounds and many listening to the performances spent time in my booth - which resulted in sales.
Here's a group call Mo' Mojo. They are a mix of Zydeco, Blues and Cajun. They can draw a crowd. I'll go to any art show that they're performing at. Hear an mp3 from their web site.
Bottom line: Would I return to ArtFest? You betcha.
Cheers!
The only thing that beats sleeping in your own bed and doing an art show, winning an award and sleeping in your bed, and doing an art show- is having dinner with Nels Johnson, while you are doing all of those things! We did the show, won an award (so did Nels!), and had a fantastic dinner with Nels at the Blue Canyon restaurant in Twinsburg, Ohio. Nels was waiting at the bar for us to arrive-dirty martini in hand, we started drinking at the table..Bob and I love a drink we call the "Patti-thing"...Belvedere vodka chilled up with a float of cointreau- orange slice for effect, Nels ordered a very good bottle of wine for himself..a great dinner, good company, and two more days of the art show in store for us.
We did not fare that well at the art show..we were outside in extreme heat for two of the three days.The tents are where you want to be- rain or shine, you will see more people, and feel less stress.We hope next year we can be in a tent. I don't know how the customers perceive the artists outside, compared to the ones inside the tents.I think we are treated like step-children, as they hurridly walk from tent to tent...see you next year...in a tent!
