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Chesterton, Indiana

This is the 61st year for the Chesterton Art Fair, which draws art lovers from all over the Midwest, always the first full weekend in August. The fair will be held in beautiful Dogwood Park, close to Interstates I-80 (Indiana Toll Road) and I-94. This makes it an easy drive for our many Chicago and Illinois suburbs visitors, as well as those from across Indiana and Michigan. 

• Dogwood Park is accessible to all. Plentiful disability parking is at the front gates, and all parking is close. 
• Artists may stay in RV's at the location of the fair. Many hotel choices nearby.
• Flat ground, shade trees, a huge covered shelter, and a new permanent restroom building are some of the park amenities. 
• Within a few miles of the magnificent Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan beaches. 
• Lovely downtown area, unique dining and shopping and also the well known fast food options near the expressways. 
• Complimentary continental breakfast for the artists Saturday and Sunday morning.

This is a very well-attended fair. The fact that we are in our 61st year speaks to the caliber the of the art, the management of the fair, and the number of artists who return every year. We treat you as our honored guests, and go out of our way to make you comfortable and happy. We know that being on the road is tiresome and hard work. We have many volunteers who love working with our artists, as well as helping our guests who attend the fair. This is a much-loved event in our community, and the community comes out to help!

 

What else: We will be inviting new food vendors as well as the much-loved regulars, and will offer some new activities for children. We also feature local musicians throughout the day in a specific area of the park. The music is gentle, strolling background music, conducive to perusing, shopping, and talking with the artists.

 

Marketing: 

We market far and wide using social media, print media, direct mail, radio, and web based advertising.

 

Testimonials:

"It has become a yearly tradition!"-Karen

"An excellent Art Fair to attend. Our first year there and we'll be back."-Randy

"So much amazing art work to see. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. The artists  are fun to talk to also. Very impressive!" -Zandra

Jurors are selected for their experience and expertise in a specific media and understanding of that media. A diversity of backgrounds and skills is sought, including artists and educators. 

Proceeds from the fair support the Chesterton Art Center, a not-for-profit arts organization. We host 12 + gallery shows throughout the year, and art classes for all age groups. Members can display and sell their work from our Member's Gallery. We also have an Artisan Gift shop featuring handmade creations in a variety of mediums.

 

APPLY: http://www.chestertonart.com/art-fair/

Contact: Wendy Marciniak   gallery@chestertonart.com   (219) 926-4711

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Find more art fairs looking for artists: www.CallsforArtists.com

The posh outlook of the art sector has been showing a staggering expansion as the eastern art world is now penetrating the European and American market.

For long, European and American art were the major crowd pullers at the global level. The reason was the perpetual suppression of Eastern art styles and conventions.

However, things have changed tremendously in the last few decades or so. Eastern art community isn’t just growing but also showing a remarkable upsurge in terms of creativity and innovation.

The entrance of Christie’s exhibition in India in 2013 has declared the arrival of Eastern art at the global level.

And to make things better, the Christie’s first auction in India sold paintings worth $15 million, which was way beyond what was expected. 98% of the total stuff was sold!

Untitled painting of V.S.Gaitonde was sold at a staggering price of $4.1 million. Now that was something that didn’t happen commonly for Indian artists.

There isn’t a single piece of doubt that Indian art is on an unerring climb. Let’s take a deeper view in the same by checking out the stats and keeping a notch on what drives this hike.

What do numbers say?

The year 2018 proved to a prolific one for Indian art.

With a 21.6% rise in the sale, Indian art is all dressed up for the party ahead.

There were 1559 artworks put up on sale in the year 2018, out of which 1469 got sold generating around INR 685 crore.

One reason for deterring in the sales of 2017 was the implementation of demonetization policy by the Indian regime.

Amongst Indian artists, the iconic S.H.Raza leads 2018 by fetching a towering sale of INR 98 crore for 67 pieces he sold.

His most expensive sale recorded a whopping INR 29 crore for his exquisite work, Tapovan, at Christie’s auction.

This proves that Indian art is on a shining path that leads to more record-breaking sales.

But what are the aspects that drive this excellent escalade?

Driving Factors – What pushes the growth?

There are a dozen reasons that are responsible for pulling Indian art from the sink and putting it at an apex level in the market.

However, there are a few factors that influenced the ascent of Indian art more than others.

Coining Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group

Pre-independence, the creativity of Indian artists was surrounded with pre-set themes and a definite objective. Patriotism, socialism, and nationalism used to drive the artists to pick up the brush.

However, post-1947, Indian artists weren’t bounded by anything. This is what inspired them to make a separate identity of Indian art, where thoughts, imaginations, and creativity didn’t experience any sort of friction.

With this in mind, the emergence of Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group became possible. The group was formed in 1948 and got dissolved in 1956 but the impression and impact it had on artists in India can still be seen in contemporary works.

Understand that the founding members of this group are known names of Indian art. All of these lads were young then, mostly in their early career stage, but held an impeccable vision.

These illustrious artists were S.H.Raza, K.H.Ara, H.A. Gade, M.F.Husain, F.N.Souza, Soon the likes of Ram Kumar, V.S.Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, etc joined the movement.

This was a breakthrough in shaping a new face for modern Indian art.

The Global Sweep

The centuries-old thirst of Indian art to win global recognition is now quenched, eventually.

As said, Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group played a pivotal role in gaining ground for Indian art. But the group got scrapped in just 8 years – what then?

A lot of Indian artists in this group were determined to showcase their talent on the global platforms post-independence.  

The first one was Souza, who left India and went to France in the year 1949. His paintings were already exhibited in London Burlington House a year before.

Soon after, artists like Husain, Gaitonde, Mehta, and Raza began to sweep European and American nations with their extraordinary talent.

A few of these artists toured and came back while others stayed there.

In a nutshell, Indian artists beginning to participate and impress the western art collectors and zealots turned the eye of major art dealers towards the untapped market of India.

The online burst

The unbelievable emergence and rise of the online world have impacted a number of sectors quite heavily – art is no exception.

If you want to look in terms of numbers, let me tell you that the record sales of 2018 what we were discussing above was because of the online platforms.

Surprisingly, the contribution of online sales (339 crores) is more than what offline deals yielded (318 crores).

The Paramountcy and popularity of the online platforms can be seen by the fact that out of 716 works put for sale online in 2018, 657 got their buyers.

These three are the major drivers for the phenomenal rise of Indian art in the world.

Thanks!

Mainsail was last weekend in St. Petersburg, FL. So was Easter Sunday.  That is a killjoy for any art show.

Attendence sags and so do sales.

Even the attendence In Saturday was off from the usual Numbers we see.

St. Pete is my hometown, I was born in the 1940’s there and so I have seen it come a long way.

I have done the show more than 20 times and it has always been good.

Not this year.  It was down 50 percent.  That is a big down.

After Ft. Worth, it was pretty anticlimactic.

The Show is held in a big semi-tree-Ed Park on the bay in downtown SP (St. Pete).

Most spaces used to be on grass.  Not anymore.  Mostly hardpacked dirt with blowing oak leaves crawling thru everybody’s booths.

Just Lovely.  Makes you think of the Great Depression Dustbowl Days.

The SP Recreation Dept. runs the show. Probably about 200 artists. Most are setup in the blazing sun,

Hey, if you are making money who cares.

A lot of artists in all fields do very well at this show.  It is not an easy one to get into.

They have serious prize money so it attracts the big hitters who mine their gold in the ribbons of Florida art shows.  Almost no other state has prize money as big as the Florida shows.

So, I will give you a little play by play as how this year’s show went for me.

As if you really care.

Well, some of you care and that is good enough for me.

I got home from Ft. Worth on Tuesday and was able to have one fuckoff day on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the day before setup, I headed over to SP from NSB.

Acronyms up your ying-yangs.

I got to stay with my best bud Richard who I have known since Little League day’s of 1955.

He lives in a great sixfloor condo one block from the show.

He has 800 great bottles of wine in his coolers. I bring a couple of mine and we both imbibe thru the weekend.

Well the forecast for Setup day Friday called for strong storms and big winds during the afternoon hours.

God Bless, the Mainsail committee sent out E-mails as early as Wednesday saying they would monitor the weather closely and perhaps move up the check in time earlier then their standard one PM.

So on Thursday they mailed us that we could check in at 11am.

People were lined up by 9 am ready to go.

At 11am on the dot they opened.

We zoomed to our spots.

Mind you, even with no rain yet, the winds were 20-30 mph.  

Good luck getting your roof on your canopy.

Some people did.  Mostly those with pop up canopies,

I got the metal frame of my LighDome up. It took another 30 minutes to get the roof on.

I then knew if I tried to raise the canopy to display height it would take a lot of stress and possible damage.

So, I took the roof off.

Closed up the van and retreated to Richard’s to wait for the storm to pass.

I caught a few zees and woke up around 3 pm.  Storm had passed and winds were acceptable to deal with.

A bunch of us got our booths up, I would say over 50 percent.

We artists are troopers, we persist thru the worst of times, usually wise-cracking and smiling at our nabs.

Had some great wine that nite—and yummy seafood.

Slept great and woke up to perfect artshow weather on Saturday.

Temp was in mid-seventies with 15-20mph winds.  No humidity.

People were out early and buying.  Just did not see the usual swarming crowds that you see at Mainsail.

Exhibitors were making quality sales with patrons.  Their numbers were less, but they were buying big.  People with high ticket prices prospered.  People, like me, who need quantity, to go along with quality, were lacking.

I had a good day but it was off by 40 percent over last year.

Oh, I forgot something very important that softened my lackluster day.

At breakfest I opened up my EMails.

Shazam!  I got accepted to the Saint Louis Art Fair in September. That is a biggie for me. I had not been in for six years.

Drank more great wine with Richard that nite and celebrated getting into Saint Louis.

Sunday morn.  Another great weather day, no winds at all.

Mainsail always does a very nice awards breakfest on Sunday.  This year it was spot on.

Being Easter, the crowd was very thin.  Barely saw any numbers until about 1pm.

I made a $150 sale at 10 am and never had another sale until 3pm.  I did a whopping $300 in sales.

It sucked.  No buying energy.

Shows cannot schedule on Easter.  It does not work.

Teardown was mellow, for Mainsail.

Got home to NSB on Monday, and had a great fuckoff day.

I have one more Florida show in two weeks.  The Fernandina  Shrimp and Art Fest.

We head north to Saugatuck on May17, for five months.

Will keep you posted as always.

A little Postscrip.

Ellen always asks me why I continue to do What I do.

My reply is this.

I love the concept of setting up for an art show, then selling, then leaving.

I call it Take the Money and Run.

It goes back to my days in Hawaii while in the Army.

Every nite I would come down from the Army base to my oceanfront home on Banzai Pipeline and I would see all these Hippies hanging out under a banyan tree.

They were selling candles and incense .  They were also sipping wine and beer and smoking delicious doobies.  Believe me, I know, I stopped enough times.

I said to myself, “Would it not be wonderful if could setup outside and sell my photos.  And have some fun, drink a little wine...and, whatever!”

Guess what? I am living that dream.

I am one lucky guy, 47 years later.

Hello

As a Wisconsin resident no one can blame me for spending my winters in Fort Myers, Florida. I am looking for Art Fairs from December 2019 to April 2020. 

An Art Fair that is more fun and casual be a good fit for my very colorful, whimsical art made out of recycled plastic containers. My artwork ranges between $35.00 to $450.00. I have my artwork in galleries  Sanibel, Fl And Key West, Fl, but would like to try the Art Fair route.  Any suggestion would be appreciated. 

Jan

For me, this is the best show in the nation for sales.

It is a five figure show for the majority of artists.

They get about 1400 applications and only 250 are picked.

Luckily, I have been in five out of the last seven years.  For whatever reason, I jury really well here. And, I have gotten in with 2different bodies of work.

Here are some of the basics about the show.

• It is held on Main Street in downtown—eight blocks long.
• Seven of the blocks booths are back to back in large tents supplied by FW. Artists set up their booths complete with their own side tarps and roofs.
• One block of the show is held in an open square. Artists put up their booths out in the open.  This part is called Sundance Square.
• FW is a four day show, starting on Thursday. Hours are 10 am to at least 8 pm.  You can open later if you wish. Sunday the show closes at 6 pm, but this year we stayed open til 8 pm. I will explain later.
• You need good weights to anchor, this is a mucho windy show. Some gusts roll off the downtown 40 story buildings at 30 mph.
• Oh, did I mention that a half million people visit this show.  And most buy something.

FW is a high rollers town. Lots of dinero from oil and gas. People here celebrate their cowboy heritage, big time.  You will see patrons sporting $500 belt buckles and walking in thousand dollar cowhide boots.

• This Show is promoted by the Downtown Fort Worth Association.  They market it well and have a tremendous volunteer support staff.
• Jay Downie is the show director and he runs a well-oiled machine.  
• They cover everything.  You have a killer artist oasis. There is a preshow dinner complete with free wine and beer.
• There is an awards breakfest on Friday and awards are handed out.
• Some artists get to setup as early as Tuesday nite.  Everybody can setup on Wednesday.
• Teardown runs very smoothly, and oh, free electricity for the booth.

This Show is consistently my best show of the year whenever I get in.  The bulk of my sales come in the $30-$150 range.  I am a photographer who has done outdoor shows for 45 years.  I am no spring chicken. But I can roar.  I love it when I have three people at once trying to give me money.

Ok, OK.  Enough of that, you can always read my past blogs, which are many.

So Nels how did this year go?

I thought you would never ask.

First off, I am going to do a Tequila Report. Most of you newbies do not know what a Tequila Report is, so I will explain. For many years when I have an interesting experience at a restaurant/bar I make TQ Report. Most Times They are humorous.

NELS will you get on with it!  

OK, do not get so huffy.

I woke up Saturday morn and hustled more work into my booth. Usually Saturday is the best day of this show.  It can be a $5-10K for many.

A friend walked by and yelled,”Nels, they cancelled the show today, lots of bad weather coming our way.” WTF! I was pissed. 

So I made a plan B. I would sleep in at the hotel.  At noon hustle over to Mi Cocina and consume tequilas and cervezas while watching the Masters Golf Tourney, Then take a nice long nap, get up and watch a movie on Netflix and go have dinner.  A reasonable plan.

Mind you.  The whole show was closed down.  No exhibitor tents open, no food booths open. Around 3pm I noticed a sliver of sunshine peak thru the dark clouds. It lasted about five minutes then back to darkness. Well, fueled by agave visions and peppered tacos I decided I would open up my booth and see what came along. 

There were a few people walking the street. So I peeled back my front tarps and pegged them to the corners. That way, in my figuring, an acquiring patron could get a glimpse at greatness. That is agave visions at their best when you do not have any magic mushrooms. Mind you, I was the only guy open.

Twenty minutes later, a father and son walked in.  They glimpsed and bought.  Shazam! A $150 sale. By then,I had attracted a fair crowd of fellow artists. They asked, “Nels are you having any luck?” I replied, “Took care of my Tequila bill and now I am working on dinner.” Minutes later the dinner bill got took care of. Sold another. I closed up and hustled back to Mi Cocina for more tequila and watched Tiger work his magic.

So How is that for a truly, true Tequila Report?

How I did at FW and maybe tell you about some of my experiences.

*FW is a long 20 hour drive for me. This year I took two and one half days to get there. I timed it so I got there early Tuesday morn so I could get a Prime parking spot in the garage. I was able to cart everything from van to my spot about 200 yards away. Got the booth up in gusty winds and went to bed.

Early Wednesday, I finished stocking the booth and got the lights up. That day we had 30mph gusts, it was a battle to secure things. The preshow dinner was a real hit. They had rare beef sliders and lobster rolls along with other fixings. Also a killer red Cabernet.

Thursday morn and we opened up to chilly weather with very mild winds. People bought at lunch and dinner time. If you make $1500 that day you are doing good.

Friday, it got fricking chilly.  Opened up the booth in 48 degree weather, I think it barely got to 64 that day. I am just glad I brought a heavy jacket with a warm liner. Mind you, I had four layers on, and a lot of the locals were waltzing around in Cotten tee shirts, just a Texas spring day to them.

Friday sales were very steady all day.  I stayed open til 9pm.  It was worth it. All along, we had seen the weather reports.  We knew it was predicted that on Saturday there was a 90 per cent chance of storms. Damn!  They were right.

So Saturday I did what I told you in my TR. I was not going to have zero Saturday at FW. So far, I had observed a few salient things. First, the crowd was buying much more Lowend.  Did not see a lot of big purchases go by. Second, most of them were carrying very little cash.  Rare for FW. Everything was on plastic. That said, I knew Sunday would be momentous day.

This is not a Monday Show. So I awoke, Sunday hoping for a truly great day, and hoping that Tiger would win the Masters. Don’t you love it when a plan comes to true fruition? Sunday was sunny and chilly, and people were out buying. I sold all days.  Had some flurries, with people lined up to give me money, This only happens at the best shows.  You have to be prepared.

Heck, I was an Eagle Scout with 55 merit badges, I have always been prepared. Most artists had a great FW in spite of losing Saturday. It is just a great show to do.

I hope one day, all of you get to do it. It will take your breath away.

Aloha, I am on to Mainsail tomorrow, gonna do some serious red wine drinking with my buddy Richard who l have known since we played Little League back in 1955.

I applied by accident meannint to apply to madisons show of the same name. I did notice and apply to madison but i got in to this lake forest one and Iam not sure to accept or not as the reviews i could find seem very old from 2013 and 2011 a friend sent me two others that where not great but had no date on it. If you have done or know if this show any more recent advice would help. thanks so much! I do 2D mixed media with lots of color btw.thanks again

The winners at the:

• Ranked#1 Fine Art & #1 Fine Craft Festival in the Nation – Art Fair SourceBook 2019
• Ranked # 1 Fine Art and Design Show – Sunshine Artist 2018 (La Quinta Arts Festival has been ranked #1 in the Nation for  five of  the last seven years.)

La Quinta Arts Festival
La Quinta, CA, a short drive from Palm Springs
March 7 – 10, 2019

Presenting 220 foremost contemporary artists in a spectacular outdoor gallery, this four day event guarantees patrons an unparalleled cultural experience. Amenities include music, performance art, and trendy food, refreshments, wine and beer.

With so much to see, you’ll want a Multi-Day Pass! Paid Valet and Self Parking available, as well as free parking throughout La Quinta village.

Jeweler Harry Roa

Painter Richard Hall

Glass man Mark Lewanski

Well, this happened at end of March, I am a little late, because I had to make 600 pieces of art for my next three shows, and Bayou is one.  Then I have Main Street Fort Worth and Mainsail.

I am blogging at a sushi bar, a good one, outside of Shreveport enroute to Ft. Worth, hereafter called FW.

Bayou is a tough show to call.

For many it can be a big winner.  Especially if you have high-priced items.

If you sell in the lower, $30-$300 price range, then this show was a loser this year.  Mind you, last year I made double this year, in those price points. The rich grow richer.

I have done this show over ten times.  It is a long run from central Florida, easily 1200 miles.

Most years it has been acceptable to go that distance.  But it can be off in many years, and this one was one.

I have blogged this show many times, so go back to them about the basic guts of the show.  Know that you can turn down on Monday.

That said, on with the show.

I am getting older after doing shows for 47 years.

Formerly, I would drive 12 hours from Tampa to Lafayette, LA the first day. Stay at a Red Roof, eat either at Preajeans or the Blue Dog, Both real, authentic Cajun restaurants.

This year I gave into age.

I made it to Pensacola in seven hours from NSB, I live on the Atlantic now, go figure where this is, hint, right below Daytona.

Stay at the Baymont Inn, go eat at the Fish House.  Life is good, and the fish is even better.

Then, I made it to Beaumont,TX in another seven hours. Found a great liquor store, got some Knob Creek

and then went into a great Cajun restaurant.

Next day, I was into Houston in a hour in one half.

Checked in, and was setting up at 10 am.

Took my time.

This a three day show.

When I got done I headed back to our hotel, where Check-in is also.  Hampton Inn, great rate and a bus

ride to the show every day.

So for years I had spotted this restaurant called Bubbas. Always wondered what it was about.  Finally went in.

Well, shit on a brick, I had the most important alcoholic revelation of my life time.

For you loyal followers, let us call this portion a Tequila Report.  For the rest of ya, lazy-up and do some research on MY past blogs.  There is a lot of treasure there.

On with the Tequila Report.

”How I met the most amazing bartender, ever, who can do magic tricks with multiple bottles of beer.

There!

Gotcha.

So I went into a Bubbas after setting up.  I just wanted something cold and a little snack.

I was meeting Vic for dinner, so I just needed a little snack, with a libation.

Up walks my historic bartender.

I do not remember her name, but she was ample.

I ordered, one lowly beer and some food.

Next I know a pile of thirsty patrons rode in.  

Then, I saw history happen.

She got an order for four bottled beers.

She picked them out of the ice and pressed them against her ample bosom.

She took the bottle capper and went—pop, pop, pop, pop,! All in one second.

It was electrifying.

The another order came in and she did it again.

I make her to be the Wyatt Earp of Houston, Texas.

Regulars tell me they come in here all afternoon just to watch her beerly-eruptions.

Well, for me, that became the high point of this whole show.

I made 59% less then last year. Bummer.

During The Show I saw at least 60 high priced 2-d pieces go by me in the $3-$10000 range.

High priced art sold here, Houston has big walls.

Weather was a factor here and it kept the crowds down.

Oh well, I have Fort Worth this week, and it has never been a let-down yet.

Pray for me.  I need Devine intervention.