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!!!

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

http://www.andersonphotoworks.com

Upstate Visual Arts (UVA) is accepting applications for the 2^nd 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.

1. 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.”
2. The 1^st 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.
3. 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).
   
4. 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?

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.