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Look what I found in our archives -- an excellent article from artist Ginny Herzog from March, 2009. You remember 2009 ... scary days for our country and art fairs.

Ginny has now been doing shows for over 30 years and continues to be enthused about the life style and her ability to earn a living standing on street corners across America.

"Hi Connie,

Here are some of my thoughts on the Art Fair Business. It requires:

1. Creativity
2. A positive attitude
3. A gambling mentality

Yes, this is a great business, but you need to have a creative, positive attitude with a gambling mentality to survive.

1. Creative - continually coming up with different ways of marketing, depending on the economy. Bringing more affordable work to the market without compromising the integrity of your work. I may have some questions for you regarding blogs, as I see this as a possible tool to get the word out about new "ventures" and experimental marketing ideas.

(Ginny sent me this info in September, as you can see since then I have been blogging my little heart out -- actually for two years now. I do believe it is a great way to keep yourself in front of your customers.)

Mailing out postcards has been an effective marketing tool for years for me. However, More customers are reluctant to give out their postal addresses, instead, preferring email contact. So I am trying to put the contacts in folders by geographical locations. Two programs I am considering for email marketing are iContact and Constant Contact. Have you used either one?

(Ginny, I have had a Constant Contact account since 2004. It is an excellent program as it continually updates my contacts, takes care of spam, unsubscribes, subscribes, etc, and worth every penny. I currently have over 11,000 subscribers from all over the country.)

Also, I am thinking of self publishing a book of my images. Many of my most passionate collectors are architects, engineers and designers. I don't have the finances to invest in publishing but love the idea of self-publishing. One companies that interest me are Blurb. http://www.blurb.com/, and Lulu. http://www.lulu.com/en/products/.
I will look into others, as well. Have you had any experience with publishing?

(I have done promotional work with an author whose books are published by a traditional publisher. But I have done lots of research in the publishing business, including self-publishing. You might want to take a look at this book for more ideas: The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-publishing on demand seems ideal for your purposes. You might check out this link also: xlibris.com. Also, I'd search Amazon.com for books on the topic. I'd bet there are online discussion groups on this topic.)

2. Positive attitude - I believe artists today need to have a positive attitude in order to survive, particularly with all of the negative news and energy in our business. Rejections from shows and poor sales constantly beat the artists down. But if you can't keep a smile and positive attitude in your booth, it will be difficult to sell yourself and your art.

(There is a thread on this site where they are talking about "snarling" artists. Yes, you know who you are. Somehow, I'm thinking, snarling at customers doesn't quite work:) Constantly staying positive is sometimes pretty hard, but this is partly a hospitality business, not a place for the asocial or introverts.)

3. Gambling mentality - We need to try new markets, new approaches to reaching our customer base, new body of work - all with possibilities of failure but with opportunities to learn and move forward from mistakes. Each trip to a show is a gamble.

(You are right on that one, Ginny. Each application, each trip, each approach to a customer is a gamble. I sometimes think art fair artists are so addicted to this business because of what Buckminster Fuller calls "intermittent reinforcement." Bang, bang, bang, winner, bang, low end sale, bang, bang, more money, etc., keeps us coming back for the "winner".)

You are someone who uses all of the above, Connie. And, I admire you for that.

Ginny"

Thanks Ginny, for the thoughts above. I appreciate hearing from you and wish you great shows this year.

Visit Ginny's website: www.herzogart.com to learn more about her and view her work.

What would you like to share? Write me a blog post and I'll see that it gets good exposure. Your fellow artists are definitely interested in what you have to say.

Reading through the various posts, it seems that Reviews of Shows are a sought commodity. Thus, I thought I'd do a little blog-journelling, as I am getting ready to jump into the Art Fair scene for the first time. Might be worth a few laughs for you, the experienced artists out there, as you read about the various shenanigans I get into as I go along. Here's where things stand today:

1. Who am I? I'm an old retired guy who has been a closet artist for life. A few years back I started participating in local  juried art shows with some success. But it seems that the big problem here is distribution and exposure. The juried art show (not fairs) arena is loads of fun but awful for sales. The Gallery setting seems like the totally wrong environment. 50% commissions? Absolute exclusivity? Yikes! It's like my piece could, maybe, be seen by a few dozen folks in a whole year. Not too promising. So, I rejected that and decided the best way to get both exposure and feed-back was on the Art Fair stage. This remains to be seen but, at least, is logical. Galleries and Art contests? Not so much.

2. So, I went out and bought a tent. After checking around for something economical I found that there is no such thing. Only flimsy vs. solid. Or: cheap vs. expensive! I bought a Show Off Canopy which will likely take me a couple of seasons to pay off. But, it looks like it'll stay put in a rain storm, so you do what you gotta' do. This ain't my cub scout pop tent. Heavier than you know what and just about that clumsy to cart around as well. I've put it up a couple of times now. First time: 5 hours and that's without placing art! Second time was more like 2.5 hours and with the art hung also. I've put the right corner in the left corner and the up in the down. I've put the top on upside down and the back door in the front. I forgot to put the center bar attachment in for the half wall and had to fake it in with a piece of PVC that I lashed on. I've fallen off stools, rammed my head through the netting and punched holes in my skin with various pitcher hanging devices. I'm pretty bruised and battered and my first show is this Friday! Still have my right ankle wrapped in ACE after nearly breaking it stumbling around trying to get set up. Whatever!!

3. My first show will be the Maitland Rotary Art Fest on Lake Lily. Beautiful looking park, but I really have no idea of how to judge it for the stated purpose. Sure looks like they know what they are doing however. I've gotten plenty of good communication from them at this point and have confidence that the management of the event will be professional. I'm hoping because I gotta' believe I'm going to need help at some point over the weekend. Thank you Kelly Feist for all of the great effort in my behalf so far.

4. I thought I had the inventory issue handled but it seems like no matter how much effort one has put into creating art, there is always a lag on the production side. Those 10 or 20 prints of pieces that seem just "sure" to sell, turn out to be 2 or 3 finished pieces as time and energy run low. I keep telling my wife that we'll be the tent that sold everything! She says: "Yeah, cause we got nothing to sell!" Well, it's not quite that bad but I can see that working on that inventory (which doesn't sound that much like an "ART" word) is going to be a big deal each season. I think by the time we get to the second show, Cape Coral in January, I should be in good shape.

5. Of course I had to plunge in on a Card Reader. For all of you who are pros at this, the Card Reader thing is kind of intimidating. It seems like the one key thing that could spell disaster for an artist. My first one didn't work right, so I'm on issue #2. While it has processed a couple of fake purchases that I ran through, I'm not going to be a believer until that first transaction succeeds. Everyone says this is no big deal but being a typical artist with math and technical skills that sometimes don't come along for the ride, I'll have to wait and see. Definitely an area of anxiety, though. Gawd! What if I run off without it?

6. All this art of mine fits in a big DEWALT container-cart which is very convenient. Except that it weighs about  200 lbs! I'm going to roll it into the SUV with a ramp. It's sketchy. The tent weighs another ton or so. Hope I have some punch left after set up! Hope the excitement of doing the first show will carry me.

7. Okay! Just back from Office Depot where I bought business card and brochure holders. I'm printing up a bunch and hope to start that "on-line presence." I'm also trying to solve last minute problems like I didn't realize Daylight Savings Time was going to make it dark at 6 PM. Need to come up with some kind of lighting pronto or I won't even be able to take my tent down at night. They have told me that electricity is available within 30'. Probably lug along an extension cord and 2 or 3 clip on utility lights. I guess if things get rough, there is a Home Depot somewhere close. 

8. My next post will be an actual review of this show. What kind of things should I cover? Additionally, I'll be attending Cape Coral, Hyde Park, St. Pete, and possibly Coconut Grove (#8 on wait list presently), and have applied to a couple others that I haven't been informed about yet. I'll review all of these and continue with side notes about what the entire experience has been like so far. I'd have to say I'm very complimentary of the Maitland Rotary folks at this juncture. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a good show and a good time.

Cheers, the Laugh's on Me!

Rick Plummer

This is always on the first full weekend in November. It is three days, ending at 5pm on Friday and Saturday and at 4pm on Sunday.

In my humble opinion this is the best fall show to do in Florida, nobody else compares.

Also Pensacola is a very cool town to hang out at.

Lots of good seafood bars and restaurants (more about them later), easy traffic, cheap lodgings, a mellow setup and a great wholesale seafood outlet to stock up on Monday morning.

Plus, most artists make at least $3-4K here, and some make more, and sadly, a few do badly here.

Hey, that is the art shows biz in a nutshell.

Well, there is lots to talk about. So I will begin with my journey there.

OK, crank up the Siri XM, tune it to Tom Petty Radio, listen to Last Dance with MaryJane, set the cruise control at 75 and let us get rolling.

I now live in New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic Coast. So all my travel times have changed. Previously, living in Tampa, this was a nine hour run, course you gain an hour going into CST when you cross the Applachicola River On I-10.

Made it there in seven hours. Tom was wailing all the way.

Setup for the show was on Thursday.  I left on Wednesday. Gotta get Position A for the van which I leave on the street near my booth all show.  There are only about six available spots on the street.  I used Lyft to get to our AirBnB.  My first time using them.  They were perfect, and cheap.

Do not get on me about depriving some Show patron of a parking spot. Those spots get grabbed way before any patrons show up.  If you ever do the show, you will understand me.

Position A is vital, especially as we age.  I am now at that ripe old age of 73.

I roomed with my NSB buddy Phil Hall, the jeweler.  He found a cherry AirBnB a mile from the show.  The accommodations were awesome.

Thursday, setup day, was supposed to have vicious weather, high winds with copious rain.  Artists could start setting up as early at 8am.  We all had staggered times.  People in the park get the first times, then ones on the perimeter facing out to the street are next, then booths on the street, like mine, are last.

It rained like hell all morning, then wimped out to light sprinkle by 11am.  Most artists adopted a wait and see. By noon, the majority were setting up.

I was done by 5pm  and headed to dinner at the FishHouse Restaurant which is almost right across the street from art show.

This is still one of my favorite places.

Sits right on the bay, classy settings inside and reasonable prices for fresh seafood.

Shrimp a Ya Ya, which is shrimp and grits, is a deal at $19.95. It will fill you up.

I Lyfted back to the BnB and got to watch Netflix while sipping Knob Creek.

Friday dawned with perfect almost chilly weather which keeps the folks off the beaches and the golf course.

Never got busy til about noon, then it was mostly retirees with their walls already filled.

Usually if you do $500 on Friday, you are lucky.

Wow! I did a whopping $850.

Many zeroed, many did like me and a few got real lucky.

They hold a free feed for the artists at a nearby restaurant on Friday nite.  Awards are announced too.

I skipped the free feed and ate at Dharma Blue which is right by the show on Alcaniz Street.

We are talking good sushi here and a great selection of spirits as well as hot and cold sakes. Yumm.

Saturday dawned with quiet wind and sunny skies.  Perfect for great sales.

Near our BnB on Gregory Street is a great breakfest place called “Another Broken Egg.”

Unusual scrambles, omelets and great waffles.  It is a class act and they open at 7am.

We ate and were at the show in time for Phil to find a close parking spot.

Bigger crowds Then day before.  Not a lot of buying going on.  It was mostly lowend, think $30-$85 range, all out of the print bins.

My neighbor to the left with great clay wall pieces, zeroed both Friday and Saturday.  They were using new colors and the people were not buying.

I only saw less than a dozen large pieces go by my booth that day.  It was mostly low and slow for most of us.

I sold a large one-of-a-kind handcolored photo of Christopher Walken for $750.  That was my only big sale of the show.

Only sold two 16x20 framed photos,$150, the whole show.  Usually sell a half dozen.

I think the Mid Terms dominated people’s minds and their inclinations to buy.  That is just my theory.

I ended up with a lot of Lowend sales that made it a great day for me.  Trouble was, they were wiping me out of the popular ones, which means I would be under-stocked for next weekend’s show in Covington.

Overall, most artists were disappointed with their sales.

Of course, we all kept telling ourselves, “This is a Sunday show.”

That nite, I ate at Atlas Fish Restaurant which is in the same complex as the FishHouse.  You just climb the stairs and go left.  You are there.

Atlas features more shellfish, think yummy oysters.  They do a killer Mahi fish sandwich, grilled or blackened for $12. Comes with onion rings sprinkled on the top of the fish.  They give a very generous portion. The fish sticks out beyond the bun on all four sides.  This place is a deal, and it is classy.

Lyfted it back and Netflixed it.  Hoping for a strong Sunday, because this is a poor Monday show.

We hit The Egg for breakfest and then a Seven Eleven for the New York Times, standard operating procedure for me on Sunday.

I already had Position A for teardown, but Phil was looking, and then he lucked out big time. Bingo, Position A for Phil!

We had great weather for the day.  The crowds never showed up til after noon.  It is the Bible Belt as well as Prime Trump territory.

Had lots of pleasent conversations with a few turning into mostly low, very low, sales.  That is just how it went for the day.

Teardown was a snap,was down and out in 90 minutes, not bad for a man in his mid seventies doing it all by himself.

Pick up those John Deere weights and you will know you have had a workout.

Phil and I did Atlas one more time.  Another great fish sandwich with a yummy bottle of red wine.

Monday, I met up with Lou and Terry at Joe Pattis seafood.  We stocked up with plenty of shrimp and fish then we were Mississippi bound.

Three days of golf with Lou, for big stakes. But, that is a story for another time.

Aloha, Nels.

I am looking for a female artist (45+) who wants to do art fairs around the country. Someone who feels that an "accomplice" and partner could make it easier and a lot more fun than doing it alone.

I've been doing the Art Fair circuit for only 9 months and after 35 years of doing TV around the world I am now hooked on the lifestyle of selling my art around this country. I do look at couples (made lots of great friends) doing the shows, and I confess.. I am envious. Alone is harder.

I am thinking of buying a small RV, but before I do, perhaps there's someone out there who already has one and wishes had an "accomplice" or partner to make it easier and more fun.

This is what I do in TV: www.sucubi.tv

And this is what I do now in art fairs: www.lymontells.com

I've been fortunate enough that only after 1 year in the circuit I've been invited to almost every show I've applied so I am willing to go from east to west and north to south. I just don't want to do it alone.

If you want to talk and meet, write to me: lymontells@hotmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from my future "accomplice" and art partner....!!!

Ly

In my mailbox today: 

CherryArts Marketing Manager

In my mailbox today from NBC:

All of you artsy/craftsy folks, fine artsy, loving hands artsy, weekend warrior artsy ... this might be for you! 

Anyone interested in applying can go to https://www.nbc.com/making-it and click the casting link.

P.s. I actually know someone personally who was a runner up on one of these programs, someone from our "industry." 

Deadline: Midnight, November 8, Best Art Fairs Survey

Can you share this link and get some of your fans to complete our survey before midnight. You know how the crowds flock to the art fairs ... not just because they are bored ... but because they love the ambiance, the art, the artists, the unexpected at each and every booth. 

Our mission is to help those people find the best shows so they keep coming back for more to put $$$ in your pocket. 

Leading today: Old Town Art Fair, Chicago; Ann Arbor Street Art Fair; The Ann Arbor Art Fairs; One of a Kind Show, Chicago; Geneva Art Fair, Geneva, IL; 57th Street in Chicago; Coconut Grove Arts Festival; Gold Coast Art Fair in Chicago.

Seems some biggies are missing ... you and I know what the best shows are, let's help draw people to those events. 

The link for the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/18BAFsurvey

Open Call for Artists: Hungarian Multicultural Center AIR-HMC residency program in Budapest, Hungary.

Deadline: November 25, 2018

Subject: “Environmental Project & BookArt2”

Session 1: Tuesday, May 14 - Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Session 2: Tuesday, June 11 - Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Session 3: Tuesday, July 9 - Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Session 4: Tuesday, August 6 - Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Session 5: Thursday, December 26 - Friday, January 10, 2020

HMC International Artist Residency Program, a not-for-profit arts organization based in Dallas, TX / Budapest, Hungary - provides national and international artists to produce new work while engaging with the arts community in Budapest, Hungary. 

For more info and application form write to: Beata Szechy

bszechy@yahoo.com

http://www.hungarian-multicultural-center.com/

We just finished another first time show sort of.  I have done Las Olas Part 1 and part 2 but never the part 3 in October.  I had heard the Las Olas in October was not as strong as the ones in January and March but this was our best Las Olas to date. True the crowds are not as big but there are still a ton of people who attend the show, (see pic above taken around noon on Saturday) and most of them live in the area verses tourists and for our work we sell best to non-tourists.   It can be expensive to stay in that area in the winter but in October you can find inexpensive lodging options.  We rented a wonderful large Airbnb with an outdoor area about 100ft from the show for $75 a night. The best part of the October show, the booth spots are not as tight as they are in the January and March Las Olas.  We had a ton of room and were even able to show work on both corners of our booth and we were not a corner booth spot.  So, if you haven’t already figured it out I really liked this show.  The only negative was the weather.  It was hot and humid but the show is in southern Florida, it can be hot and humid any time of the year.

A quick recap of the logistics in case you aren’t familiar with the layout.  I won’t go into a ton of detail since I have written this up multiple time in the past, you can search for more info easily.  Booths are set up on the street of Las Olas, a shopping and dining area.  The booths are back to back but there is a median with plants and bushes behind the booths.  You can drop off your work on Saturday morning as early as 3:30 am but cannot start setting up your booth on the street until after 5:30 am.  At 5;30 am all vehicles have to be off the street. If you show up after 5:30 am you will need to dolly.  This year’s set up was very calm and easy.  For break down you tear down with everything on the sidewalk.  The show closes at 5pm and they open up the streets about 6pm for artists to drive in.  Here is something I love about a Howard Alan show and wish more shows would do. If you have a trailer you will have to wait a little longer to come in to your spot at breakdown.  We always have a double booth and no trailer so our vehicle can fit into our booth spot once the booth is broken down so we don’t block traffic at load out. When a trailer gets in and doesn’t have anywhere else to go except to block the road it can get ugly. Howard Alan holds off trailers from coming in until there is room for them. It was maybe 30 minutes more they had to wait and load out was a breeze. My only disappointment was that we were too busy to spend an extra night to enjoy the area because this area of South Florida and Fort Lauderdale is wonderful. Hopefully next year.

It’s been awhile since I have shared a review.  I got tired of reviewing the same shows every year so decided to keep the reviews to new shows.  Bethesda Row Arts Festival was October 13-14.  Bethesda is a city just outside of DC.  This is a very wealthy part of DC.  The show takes place on the streets of a high-end shopping area.  Communication from the show is excellent.

The show runs on Saturday 11-6 and Sunday 10-5 with free admission.  Set up is early morning Saturday with scheduled arrival times. Ours was for 4 am and you could arrive as early as 3:30am.  We woke up at 3am, before the alarm went off so decided to go early and everything was calm and easy to do. Drop off your stuff then go park.  That early in the morning there are a ton of parking spaces on the street and artist parking was close by.   I am glad we arrived early because it started to lightly rain.  We already had our tent up so no big deal for us. Since it started raining The show allowed artists to set up their tents quickly then unload into their tents.  The set up on our street was back to back other streets had booths across from each other.  The back to back tents had next to no space behind or side to side, so no storage outside of the booth.  We planned for this and I have to say it’s sort of liberating not having all this extra stuff you don’t NEED at the booth. 

The show doesn’t open until 11 am on Saturday.  That was very nice to have a few hours after set up to go back to the hotel and relax/nap before the show. The weather was on the cool side for us and was a nice change. The rain stopped before the show started on Saturday.   We arrived at our booth at 9:45 am to finalize a few things and made our first big sale at 9:50 am, over an hour before the show even opened.  That’s the way to start a show.  The crowds were strong in my opinion all day Saturday but other artists said it was usually more crowded.  We were busied all day talking to serious buyers so I was thrilled with the patrons. I had no idea how my booth neighbors did on Saturday because we were just too busy in our own booth.  Sunday morning it rained, not heavy but enough to keep the crowds away.  It gave me a chance to talk with my neighbors and almost everyone around me were very happy with Saturday.  The rain stopped I think around noon, I can't remember exactly and the crowds came and again bought.  As usual Michael handles the deliveries on Sunday mornings, no traffic, and was gone most of the day only coming back to take pieces to deliver from Sunday sales.  All of my neighbors were happy with sales as were the other artists I talked to.  Love when you can report a good to great show for most.  The entire staff and team were amazing.  They were very friendly, always in touch, reaching out to the artists.  I can’t imagine wanting anything more from a show director and the staff.  Even the police were some of the nicest and helpful we have worked with at an art festival. This show is in a logistically difficult location but they pull it off wonderfully.

Breakdown went a little differently this year but since it was the first time we did the show we didn’t know any different.  You break down get a pass then line up.  They let just a few vehicles in at a time which slowed the process down according to artists but it went very smoothly with no chaos and for a tight breakdown I thought it was pretty fast. We hope to be back in the future.

Artsy Shark is currently seeking 48 artists to feature and promote through individual portfolio articles in the coming months. Submissions are now open. We invite visual artists in all mediums to apply.

Deadline is November 1, 2018.

As a Featured Artist, you present your portfolio and in your own words, describe your inspiration, technique, goals and accomplishments in an article that is all about you.

Artists are selected through a competitive juried process that includes viewing your art website. Features are published for the purpose of sharing your portfolio, creating interest in your work, connecting readers with you on social media, and sending traffic to your art website.

A submission fee of $20 per artist applies. Artsy Shark receives no payment or commissions on any sales or contracts which result from featured artist exposure.

Learn more & apply: https://www.artsyshark.com/become-a-featured-artist/

The 10th edition of Art San Diego kicks off Friday and runs through Sunday. And as an Art Fair Insider subscriber, Art San Diego is offering exclusive tickets to attend the 10th-anniversary show where you can see works from more than 75 exhibitors and specially curated programs, parties and events. Join the celebration Oct. 19-21, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Get your complimentary ticket for the 10th-anniversary Art San Diego show:

http://bit.ly/ASD18-COLLECTOR

Presented By: Naples Art Association

Naples, Florida is home to a robust and successful tourist industry. The county saw 1.03 million visitors in the first six months of 2017, a 1.5% increase over the same months in 2016. In the first six months of 2017, approximately 49% of visitors enjoyed shopping and 16% of visitors enjoyed attendance at an art gallery, show, festival or fair. Over 504,000 visitors enjoyed browsing and shopping for art at festivals et al. as part of their visit to Naples.

This juried show has openings for 250 artists looking to show in the popular seasonal destination, Naples, Florida. Over 37 states and 3 countries were represented last year. Show guests enjoy the set-up along the main street and can take advantage of free off-site parking for the festival. 

 

The quad setup for artists affords every artist a corner booth and great visibility. Engaged shoppers, looking for that last minute purchase opportunity, make this show a great opportunity to share more of your creations.

 

Marketing:

• The Naples Art Association hosts one of the last major art shows of the winter season on the elegant Fifth Avenue South in Naples, FL. 
• A favorite show for artist enthusiasts, and collectors, rated in the top 7% in the Sunshine Artist Top 200 survey. 
• This show benefits from significant media coverage that includes articles written by major local print news sources. 
• Paid advertising in print-media and communication resources includes: multiple advertisements in print publications, online advertising across the state of Florida on popular national news websites, a significant social media campaign engaging members and friends of Naples Art Association and multiple radio advertisements during the week prior to the festival. 
• The upscale Fifth Avenue South shopping and dining district is the site for this fine art and fine craft festival and is a favorite destination for locals and visitors alike. 

Our jurors' panel consists of independent jurors selected for their in-depth knowledge and experience in multiple mediums. A diversity of backgrounds and skills are sought, including working artists, educators, fine art and craft gallery owners, and museum directors/curators. It is the policy of the NAA to select a new panel of jurors for each show to allow for a fresh perspective.

APPLY: http://www.juriedartservices.com

 

More Information: naplesart.org
Contact: Maureen Roberts, Maureen.Roberts@naplesart.org, (239) 262-6517

Highwood Starving Artists Show, Highwood, IL 
Dates: 9/29-30/2018
Time: 10AM - 5PM
Weather, Saturday, 50-60 degrees, cloudy
Sunday: 50 degrees, rain off and on all day
Load In: Friday night 6-7pm. no early check in since they have to close off the street. Saturday morning 6-9:30am.
Load Out: Sunday, 5pm. Everything has to be broke down and at the curb before you can get a sticker in order to bring your car in to load up. 
Booth Fee: $230.00
My Media: Oil Paintings
Promoter: Amdur Productions.
Price range: $10-$350
majority of work to be $100 or less OR highly discounted.
I did not make my booth fee.
Very slow show. Crowds weren't there and the weather didn't help. The woman next to me sold ice dyed scarfs, shirts, etc and did well. My friend who sells jewelry made $170 over booth fee. Others I talked to said sales were slow. 
Second year I did this show. Last year it was 100 degrees and I made my booth fee, however the booth fee was only $115 because they cut it in half. 

Hello;

I live in South Florida and want to plan half a dozen art shows between now and next Summer in Florida. I was thinking of (if accepted!) limiting it to the Howard Allen Art Shows as they seem to be well organized. (I say this as I have not been in any of them yet.) Do any fellow artist have past experiences with these shows, and can direct me to the better ones? (In terms of crowd and POSSIBLE sales...) Thanks.

Well, I was halfway thru this blog and it disappeared into the eternal ether.

So here we go again.

The things I do for you guys.

Be nice to me and read this review and then, actually comment about it.

It is my birthday in two more weeks so be kind and read and respond.

This is a great little show in a very historic neighborhood. And, it is a moneymaker for most.

SF is held in the Shaw district slightly south and west of downtown.

Henry Shaw founded the Missouri Historic Botanical Gardens here.  And the show is held right beside it on two blocks of tree lined Flora Street. The gardens are considered the top ones in all of America.  So old Henry had his shit together and figured out a way for people to remember him forever.  Pretty crafty.  I would have loved to drink Manhattens with Henry and cull his mind.  He was a true visionary.

OK, back to the show.

As I said before it got lost in the ether, this show has a lot of parallels to St. James Court.

In fact the woman who founded SF forty years ago was originally from Louisville.

When she moved to St. Louis, she wanted to mimic the SJ show and make the Shaw just like it.

Both are held in old historic neighborhoods.  Both are run by associations who use the money produced from the show to make neighborhood improvements.

The Shaw is a far better show to do.

Here is why.

One. It is two days rather than three days to do.  Yet, I made just as much money in two and had a great time.  Later I will tell you about The Rooster, Thurman’s and Sasha’s.

Two.  It is cheaper to do.

Three.  It is a smaller show, only about 140 exhibitors.

Contrast that with SJ which has almost a thousand booths between their five shows and associated scab shows.  The one big problem with SJ is too many exhibitors for too few customers.  Fine artists have a tough time making a living here.

Four.  It is a far mellower setup and teardown than SJ.

OK, to balance it out.  Here is the only downside to the Shaw.

Weather can ruin it, especially rain.

This year, around 2pm a storm hit us out of the blue.

No soft beginning with floating drops hitting the canopy.

This storm rained down two inches of windy, hard-driven rain in less than twenty minutes.

After that, the crowd disappeared.  I made about $100 in sales til close of show at 5pm.

A photographer near me said, do not worry this is a Sunday show.

Guess what?  He was right, thank God.

OK Nels, enough with the yada yada.  Gives us some meat, facts.

Thought you would never ask.

How I did, and made money at the Shaw Art Fair.

First off, I forgot this.

The SF can put artists up in the neighborhood homes for free.  No hotel bill, what a concept.

I took advantage of it.  Arrived Thursday nite after a six hour drive from Saugatuck listening to Tom Petty on Sirius while going 80 mph.  “She went down swinging.”

Arrived at this 125 year old house with my room at the top three stories high.

I tried to time it so I showed up when they got home from work, about 7pm.

Being anal, I got there at 4pm, damn you Tom Petty.

So I consulted Google maps and found two cool bars and restaurants to hang out at.

OK, now we are into a Kill Bill moment, but no bloodshed, just lots of shots.

How I found Thurman’s and blundered into Sasha’s.

Thurmans was three blocks from the house I was staying at.

Luckily, they just opened at four.

This is a full on bar. Liquor, wine and craft beer.  They also do California food truck kind of food.  Think chicken, pork or fish tacos— for $3.50 each.

I had a well earned Eligha Craig Manhatten, chilled up in a martini glass.  Followed up with a shrimp taco and then a chicken one.  I bought a bottle of Spanish Temponillo wine for half price, which I was taking to my host’s home.  They were doing vegan chilling.  They loved the wine.

OK. How I found Sasha’s.

I realized while I was having fun at Thurman’s I still had an hour to kill before I showed up at my guest’s house.

My neighbor at the bar, JD was his name, said I should try Sasha’s.  It was five blocks down Thurman Avenue from Thurman’s, the bar.

Hope I did not lose you there.

Thurmuns, the bar, was also on Thurman Avenue.  Sashas was just down from Thurmuns about four or five blocks a way,

Heck, after a good Manhatten and a few tacos, what’s another block.

Sashas was very chic. Marble bar tops, music loud, a young tattooed crowd. Everybody drinking and talking at the top of their lungs.

My kind of place—sometimes.

They had a great wine list, I had one, wine, not the whole list.

They had lots of tapas dishes, think cheese trays,olives, cured meats and pizza.

Eventually, I ended up eating here every night.

OK, I got home safely, ate vegan chilli qand drank some wine.

I slept very well that nite.

Geez, Nels, when are we going to hear about this show.

Thought you would never ask.

So Friday, we could check in at 1pm and setup, take The whole day if you wanted to.

I ate breakfest at the Rooster, on Grand Blvd, just blocks from the show. They were awesome, think omelets, crepes, tomato jam and sriracha.

So It was about 10am and I was  ansty.

 So I went to the show and spocked out my site, booth 45.

Hell, I parked right there, we setup on grass.  Position A.  I pulled out my chair and sat under a shady tree.  Figured I could do a few hours of Candy Crush til registration time.

Then I noticed the next block down, a guy was unloading and setting up.

It was  Bill Lemke, who I know well.

He said, it is a mellow committee, you can setup, no problem.

So I did.

Was done by 2pm.  It was hot, high eighties,  But we had big shade trees.

Also, there were tons of room behind the booth.  Also had room on both sides to hang.

Friday nite, I ate at Sasha’s, the pesto pizza, was awesome.  Made it to Thurmuns and listened to great live jazz.

Saturday. Show started at 9am, ended at 5pm.

The Show has plenty of heavyweight exhibitors there.  Saw Darron Olsen, Ronnie Phillips, Sara and Marc Aune, Miki and Reicko, even saw Nels Johnson.

Crowd was slow coming. Never got busy til about noon.

Most people were walking with their dogs, not really looking at the art.

I mostly sold precious little pieces of paper.

Around 2pm the storm hit us fast.

The crowd never really returned.

I was not very happy, so I went to Sasha’s.

They put on a free artist dinner at a nearby restaurant. So I spent one hour at Sashas

and ambled over to the dinner.

They had great tapas chased down with free wine and beer.

Everybody was happy.

Sunday dawned with heavy fog. Went to Roosters, got a NY Times at Starbucks and got my van into Position A, ready for teardown.

 Crowd  never showed up til about noon.  Now I noticed more people carrying art in bags, a big difference from Saturday.

By 2pm, I was still sitting with a very low sales figure.

Then things started popping.  Bam, bam, thank you mam, I doubled my total sales in one hour. An hour later, I doubled it.

My neighbors were raking it in too.

Half hour from closing, a woman, who had been in three times before, walked in and bought my biggest one of a kind piece.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Trust me this is a great show to do—if the weather does not get you.

Well, I think I have said a mouthful.

Aloha, Nels.