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Well, I am back.

Been gone from blogging for a while, spent more time on golf, less on writing. But I got the itch back, so here goes.

The main thing you need to know about Daytona (DB) is that it is all about bikes and tires here. That means car racing and motorcycles. Art is not truly appreciated here. This is an old show with about 250 exhibitors plus an add-on crap market. Way too many artists for way too few of patrons.

The local museum runs the show and they think their shit stinks better than others. Very generous awards given here. Best in show gets 5K, second award is $3K, than five 1K awards, finally there are 22 merit awards worth $500 each. So lots of talent looking for prize money. I saw at least 30 great painters at this show which is ten times better than I have seen in my last ten shows.

Booth fee is around $250. I was hoping to do $1500 for this two day show. Ended up making ten times my booth fee due to a lucky fluke. Will explain later.

The show is two hours away from my Ybor home. I stayed with my great jeweler friend in New Smyrna and took him out to dinner nightly, so it was not an expensive show. You can set up the afternoon before, it is very mellow. Thankfully, the show closes at four pm on Sunday, and the breakdown is mellow, I was out in an hour, not bad for a 73 year old.

Gee Nels where is the show located?

Thought you would never ask. We set up on Beach Drive right downtown in Daytona next to the Intercoastal Waterway. There is a wide grass median down the street with the booth’s rear facing the median. You are on concrete. Plenty of storage behind. The show started at 10am on Sat. But the committee said that if we wanted to be judged for awards we had to be open by 8 am. How fricking dumb is that? Guess what! I never saw the first judge til noon and the other around 1pm.

Now comes the classic move by this committee. Usually when shows have award ceremonies in the morn at a breakfest, everybody comes. Not them. You had to be invited to the breakfest, which meant only award winners got breakfest, let the rest eat day old pie. Gee, I did not get an invite.

Daytona attracts a mix of locals and tourists who come there. The locals are very cheap, most are very old and they do not really care a lot about art. When they buy it is usually generic, regurgitated art. Dreck that has been done a million times before.

The tourists are more savvy, trouble is, there are not of them to go around for all of us. There are bars and restaurants across our booths. All packed, while the street is half filled. I sold little precious pieces of paper on Saturday and almost did 1K. Talked to about 40 artists Sunday morn. Most were lucky if they did $500. One lucky individual did $1500, they are buying sushi for us.

Mind you, the show has lots of circuit pros here. Most are looking for an easy award, but most like me, are hoping to grind it out for $1500. It’s the fricking fall in Florida, there are not many art fairs to make serious money at. Serious money to me is $4K and up, otherwise you are just grinding it out.

Anyways, back to Sunday. Got there at 8am, position A for tear down. Someday, after I am well retired from doing shows, I will explain Position A and the machinations that are involved with it. Until then, you are on your own. It is a big jungle out there, and I always get Position A.

Btw. A little story about Position A: A legendary painter on the circuit named Renee (damn, I am having a senior moment, cannot remember his last name, if it comes—oh shit, I just remembered-Rene Marchetti) Anyways, he and I always were competing for Position A at any show we were at. He always beat me to it. But he had an advantage, his wife, Sandra. He could slink away from his booth while I had to stay, because I had no equal to a Sandra.

We were doing the old Peidmont show in Atlanta, and as usual he beat me to it and had numero uno Position A at tear down. Naturally, we positioned our vans and went back to the show, to do final sales in the last hour. Renee died at this show. It was like almost every artist dream. He had sat in his director chair, he had a smile on his face, and in his hand he had a $5000 check. He died from a massive coronary. But, he died rich, and he always got Position A. I like to think he passed it on to me.

Oh well, that is my post. Nobody writes about art shows like me. Stay tuned for future reports.
Later Gators.

I've just relocated to Santa Fe from Colorado and no longer have delivery of framing glass to my studio in Santa Fe.  This is critical for me as I frame my own work for sale and to ship to galleries.

The only vendor listed on the Tru Vue website in my area was Larson-Juhl, but they don't create accounts if you're not a brick and mortar storefront.

If any of you New Mexico artists who also frame work know of a resource for Tru Vue framing glass, I would appreciate you sending a reply with that information.  I currently have enough to frame for my Boulder gallery, but after that, it might get to be a desperate situation.  

Thank you for any assistance you can offer.

Like some other old timers, I've  been doing shows for 30 years and after some breaking in, sales during the 90s and early 2000s were great!!! Sausalito, Ft. Worth, Sun Valley, about 17 per year and sales were booming. Then 9/11 and later the recession of 2008 I noticed my sales were HALF of the usual. I also noted that the booth fees did not dip, nor the hotels, or gas or food. So each show was a gamble after that time. Dave Piper may have had it right- Bayou City may be dead in a few years. How can a show in a city of 2+ million (+ surroundings) get a gate crowd of only 20,000. Yeah no parking. Well solve it!!! Bayou City should get at least 100,000 many with oil money. And after Harvey, people's walls will need clothing so to speak. If I'm right, I think most artists are hurting for great sales again. If I heard this once I heard it a zillion times, "My walls are full, I can't buy more art." Hey let me come to your home and take some of that awful shit you have and put mine up!" Needless to say the sale did not happen. So if the seniors are not buying wall art (art on a stick? give me a break), what are the millenials buying and from where. Well I hear the millenials are buying prints online for cheap with frames or at shows they buy cutting boards, bowls, hard stuff that is useful.

It is very discouraging to see a national trend go south like this. Is this true for you? And as art fairs do worse, other bright eyes start a new one to entice us but then the old adage, "Never, ever, never do a first year show (unless it is free)". 

At Bayou City in Memorial Park, out of 20,000 attendees I see virtually 25% as teens and volunteers with no money just dorking around.

It makes me start to consider money laundering or campaign finance so I could retire.

Review: Downtown Sarasota Craft Show
Promoter: American Craft Endeavors (ACE; part of Howard Alan events)
Dates: Sat/Sun, Oct 28-29
Location: Five Points Park, downtown Sarasota
Booth Fee; $275
Setup: 5:30 AM Saturday
My medium: Fine art bird and "cloudscape"/seascape scenic photography on canvas and metal ($350-$1200); matted prints ($35-149)

I don't normally review craft shows, but among South Florida artists, this event serves as a "soft launch" for the Florida season. So there were a fair amount of art show veterans among the beaders, toe-ring specialists, and potion pushers that so often make up Alan's ACE summertime ACE shows
And it's well-timed: Decades of climate data tell you that the transition from muggy summer to cool winter happens, statistically, around Oct. 18-20. Sure enough, a cold front swept through early on Saturday afternoon, bringing steady rain and closing the show around 3 PM. Sunday was windy and much cooler, but if you were in the tree-lined park (as opposed to on the streets, which fell victim to the "wind-tunnel effect" in Sarasota's high-rise downtown) it was pretty pleasant.

The early morning setup was a bit chaotic, as it's always difficult to find booth spots marked with silver duct tape in near-pitch darkness. If you were lucky enough to be along a street, parking was close to your booth. If not, a dolly was a great idea.

Crowds aren't the high-season high rollers, but Sarasota has a pretty good number of full-time residents so attendance was OK before the rains came on Saturday afternoon. I wasn't the beneficiary of much consumer spending, however; notching just one sale on the day. Sunday was cool and breezy, definitely not a beachy water day. If you were on the streets, especially the ones trending NW-SE, it was a cold and windy day until the winds calmed temporarily in mid-afternoon.

At least one tent was overturned, hammering a painter's and sculptor's inventory. and another purveyor of large metal sculpture on the upwind side of the show got a large piece tossed, but luckily no customers were standing next to it, and (being steel) the sculpture was easily reassembled.

There was a spurt of buying energy elsewhere, but again, it escaped me. I didn't even come close to making the (relatively paltry) booth fee, although my customers were free with oohs, ahhs, and compliments, none of which (my accountant assures me) is valid currency. However, it gave me the opportunity to be introduced to a few very nice couples who are in the midst of closing/redecorating, so there may be (emphasis on "may") future business transacted at one of the two Sarasota shows looming on November's schedule.

A couple of folks near me did OK, notably the PVC yard art guy, who sold out of his $25 egrets, herons, and flamingoes.

My fine art photographs of egrets, herons, and flamingoes escaped unscathed, to be sold in Venice this weekend. So it's a week to order raw materials, do a little shooting, and make sure I've got next week's mortgage covered. As a friend of mine memorably said, "It's a great life, but not always a great living." And so it goes. . .

I HAVE LIKE 100 + PANELS, AVAILABLE IN SETS OF 8, SOME HAVE COVERS, I ALSO HAVE THE METAL PIECES THAT GO WITH IT, 4-5 DIFFERENT ANGLES, PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST. 754-235-6598  THANK YOU GIA, MIAMI/CORAL SPRINGS, FLORIDA PICKUP OR FOB MIAMI, FL.

Set of 4 polyester side panels for 10x10 KD Kanopy 86"x120". Only used once. This was my backup set for emergencies. No longer needed

$120 for set ,shipping included.

Janet O'Neal 505-466-4251 email:janoart@msn.com

Santa fe New Mexico

February 24 & 25
Miami, Florida
34th Annual Festival
Downtown South Miami on Sunset Drive
Sat. 10am-6pm; Sun. 10am-5pm 
145 Exhibitors
Deadline: November 2

The proceeds of the festival benefit South Miami Rotary charitable efforts including college scholarships for local school students as well as international and local community service projects. 

Just got back from the Bethesda Row Arts Festival in - you guessed it - Bethesda MD.  I looked all over this site beforehand for a good review of this show and couldn't find anything, so I'll try to fill in some holes for anyone else looking to do the show.  This was my first time here.  I heard the same folks put on another spring show here is Bethesda, but this review is specifically for the Bethesda ROW show in October.  I can't speak to the spring show at all.

I guess due to construction around the show site, there was a new load in plan this year and a new load out plan, so I don't know how most years go, but considering the tiny little space we are all cramming into and the busy metropolis we are in, load in went incredibly smoothly.  We were each given a load in time between 4a-7a (3:30-4a was a free load in time).  My load in time was at 5am, but on the way to Maryland from Ohio the night before, my truck had broke down 45 miles away.  After being held hostage by a mechanic for several hours, we managed to get the truck at least moveable and made it to Bethesda and parked in Waverly garage across from the Hyatt Regency where we were staying around 11pm.  The hotel had an artist rate and was just 3 blocks from the show.  If you do the show, I highly recommend it.  Parking there is $20 a night though, and right across the street there is FREE parking after 7p on Friday and through the weekend, so duh, park there...  ANYWAY... after all that drama with the truck I was afraid that it wouldn't start in the morning or it would break down on the site, so we decided to go in at the 3:30 load in time (hooray for 3 hours of sleep!).  Fortunately it did start.  We drove right up to our booth, unloaded everything on the sidewalk, moved the truck to the garage right off Bethesda/Woodmont (which is also free on weekends) and came back to set up.  There are tons of free parking garages around and an open lot for oversized vehicles about a 10 minute walk away.

The show is held on Elm and Bethesda (parallel to each other) and Woodmont (connects the two).  I didn't walk the show, but I saw on the booth map that there is a spur off Woodmont that I doubt I would want to be on.  I think other than that spur, the booths would get even traffic.  My booth was in the shade of very tall buildings and trees 100% of the time.  Next year I'd bring lights and my marine battery.  Not sure if Woodmont got better light.

After setup, we had plenty of time, so we walked back to the hotel, took showers and got cleaned up.  I love being within easy walking distance to the show! 

The show is well run.  Each street has a block captain if you need anything.  Seth was very sweet and helpful.  There is a nice artist hospitality building with bagels, fruit, nuts, snack bars, water, and coffee.  There are nice awards if you're one of the lucky ones.  I never had anyone come around offering to booth sit, but I had a helper with me so it didn't matter.

The booth layout is TIGHT!!!  Think 1" on each side and back to back to spare.  You are completely sandwiched in there, and there is not any space at all behind you for storage.  Depending on where you are, there might be some sidewalk room across from your booth, but I doubt many of the businesses would appreciate having their doorways used as storage.  I just moved my propanels in and made storage inside my booth.  It is something to take into consideration though.  When they say no storage room, they mean it!

So as for the show stats, this was sort of a perplexing one for me.  I had decided that with expenses factored, I needed to do a minimum of $3K to even potentially consider doing again, and then I had a personal goal for the show.  Plus who knows who much my truck will cost to get repaired - so that's looming over my head too.  Saturday is by far usually my best day.  I sat there all day Saturday and only sold prints and one $800 painting.  Didn't even make half what I needed.  Oh, and the weather is great too.  Lots of bags for the cupcake place nearby and Williams Sonoma going by, but no art bags.  Starting to get discouraged, but I was told by a few artists that Sunday is their best day here.  Alexandria is nearby, and both years I've done it, Sunday was better, so I was holding out hope. 

Sunday comes.  We open at 10.  I sit there until 2:30 and have only made $80!  I'm really getting discouraged now.  And then suddenly, a wave of people come in buying $500 painting after $500 painting and placing custom orders for even more.  The show closes at 5.  In that 2.5 hour time period, I went from less than $1500 to over $5000.  That's how this business rolls.... ended up selling 6 paintings in that 2.5 hour window.  So now I'm a happy camper.  Confused as to how I actually ended up with money in my pocket.... but happy nonetheless!

Load out was sort of hairy.  It seems from the after-show email that they had to do load out different than normal, but that this structure will continue for 2-3 years while construction is done to the area.  I don't know what its normally like, but this year you had to completely break down and move everything onto the sidewalk.  Easy peasy - done in less than an hour.  Then you had to find your block captain and they inspect your space and give you a load out pass.  My captain looked and approved, but then we had to wait for the load out pass. Everyone is so crammed in there that even if you are cleared and good to go, you have to wait for any cars who have come in before you to move out before being given an actual pass to get your vehicle.  So waited and waited.  Finally got my pass and miraculously my truck started!  By the time I got out of the parking garage though, I had to wait in a line of a bunch of other artists who had got their passes too.  More waiting and waiting and waiting while my truck threatened to break down right in the intersection of Bethesda and Woodmont.  Finally got in, and loaded everything up in about 10 minutes.  But THEN two other vehicles had blocked me in, so again had to wait and wait and wait until they moved out of the way.  Once we finally got out, it had been an hour of breaking down and an hour of waiting to get in/get out.  Could have been worse.  Next year I'll just go get dinner at one of the gazillion restaurants nearby and then come back after 6:30 when some of the booths have cleared out already.

In case you're wondering how the truck saga ended, with 4 cylinders misfiring, I wasn't about to travel 7 hours through the mountains back home to Ohio.  So my husband had left Ohio in the morning with a tow truck, met us 15 miles outside of Bethesda, and towed us back home.  Poor guy spent 17 hours in the car that day.  We ended up getting home at 5:15am and my 3 year old woke up at 7:30.  Hooray for 2 more hours of sleep!  Its an adventurous life we lead. 

So to wrap up, yes, I think I'd definitely do the show again.  I love that everything is right there.  Makes logistics nice.  Sales ended up being real good, despite what it seemed it would be just 2 hours prior to the show end.  Just goes to show that you can't give up hope.  Although its always nice when you sell a lot at the beginning of the day Saturday and can just rest easy.  OH!  One thing though, practically EVERYONE wanted a discount.  One guy pressed so hard for a 33% discount I almost refused to sell him a painting even at full price, and I've never got that way with a patron, but eventually you cross a rude line there's no returning from.  Someone even asked if I'd do a discount on a $30 print.  Really?!  Mark your stuff up if you must so people feel they are getting a deal.  It is the end of my show season now, so I'd actually already marked things down, so I was feeling a bit robbed.  I'll normally negotiate 5-10% but people were really asking for huge amounts off. 

In the end, all my neighbors ended up doing well.  None of us started off Sunday that way though.  So I'm glad Sunday came through for everyone, and I hope to be able to do the show again in 2018.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything.  I'm seriously sleep deprived and wine infused at this point, and dealt with 3 hours of a toddler's temper tantrums today, so if there's anything you want to know about the show, let me know and I'll respond back. 

We are tired of transporting, setting up, taking down, drying out and repacking our tent. I am a painter and am wondering if there are well attended indoor events (juried or not) in which you can rent wall space instead of a tent space?

I have a set of 10 (yes, 10) dark grey Pro Panels hardly used.  I bought them (used in excellent shape.) in 2015, have only used them for one exhibit.  The package includes the following:

• 10 (10) dark grey full size Pro-Panels;
• two (2) 2-in-1 stabilizer bars;
• stiffeners;
• cable hangers;
• leg extenders;
• velcro straps;
• weights.

They've been in indoor air conditioned storage for the last two years so they're in excellent shape.

Cost is $850 for all.  They're located in Sarasota.  They're too big to ship  so you'll need to pick them up. 

Call Jim Hoover at (941) 726-4708 or email me at jim@jimhooverphoto.com.  Available immediately.

I haven't written a review in quite a while......Things have been busy and I have been on the road way too much.....as all of you know the drill. But I thought I would review a show I did for the first time last weekend in Memphis, a place I haven't seen too many reviews from and this show was not the easiest to get a read on beforehand. I like to try new ones though and I have a pretty good track record with choosing smaller venues that usually are well worth it.

Even though I live in the same state, it's a six hour drive from one end of the state to the other. The show is at Audubon Park, a lovely large outdoor venue near Germantown, which is the high end residential area of Memphis. The booth price varied but I payed 540 dollars to be inside a large tent with electricity. There were outside tents, culinary tents, kids bouncy ball rooms and a petting zoo...I knew none of this until I set up. It's pretty clear to me that if there is a camel and a kangaroo at a show that the artwork is not the priority it needs to be. Rutt-Row......

Set up was non eventful but there wasn't much room behind your space in the indoor tents....there was lots of empty spaces though.... where someone failed to show or they didn't fill. The layout was chaotic at best with some people almost hidden and way too near the porta potties. Some people got zero traffic. I saw an artist who is so popular at Kentuck that she usually sells out, who was so hidden that the sales were pretty nonexistent because nobody knew she was there. The big tent I was under was almost completely filled with new exhibitors and there was so much buy-sell and Sunday afternoon painters that as a friend of mine said. "You probably just had to send in your money and you got in." It felt that way.

I was in front of a potter and the space behind my booth was tight. Usually,it's a give and take where both artist's compromise.... as I have many many times and are happy to do... Even though there was only about two feet the potter in back of me would not share and put his camo fold-out chair in my doorway. I asked politely if we could share the space and he said it was his and I was at the corner of my booth....on closer inspection- he was too and he also had an empty booth space next to him he could have spread out to. He got really obnoxious so I had to put my boxes and bags and chair tightly on the side and close my tent in the back. Sorry, but fair to say-this guy was a big jerk. If you are on AFI and you read this....try to get along with the next artist you are next to...it's not hard- a little compromise goes a long way.

The show was slow on Friday and I did average. I payed my booth fee and hotels and pretty much broke even. The show goes from 10 until 6 on Friday and Saturday and then 10 till 5 on Sunday. The consensus around me was that everyone did ok on Friday and were pretty happy. No big sales for me but I sold a lot  of smaller work. On Saturday morning, the crowd at the gate seemed pretty large ( 9 dollar entry fee) but it didn't really result in many sales for me. It was a lack luster crowd that looked in from the aisle and even with small work seemed to be holding tight to every 20 dollar bill. There was free coffee in the morning but everything else was cash and carry. There also was some Merit Awards designated but the two people that won awards near me ( a metalsmith and a knife maker)  didn't seem to translate into sales much. Sunday was rain and a twenty degree temperature drop( windy and cold) and that killed sales. I made 120 dollars on Sunday. It was humbling to say the least.

We didn't get down to the Rendevue but we ate one night at a restaurant called "Southern Hands" that was authentic soul food and it was great. Our hotel was reasonable and fairly close to the show. But overall.....I have to say that it was a major disappointment. When promoters let everyone in...it doesn't benefit anyone, least of all people with higher end work ( I'm an encaustic painter). Many friends, new and old, said this was a first and last show also. It seems that Memphis, a big city with lots of big companies (think Fed -Ex, International Paper and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital) could use a high level show but unfortunately, the Pink Palace is not so regal.

I am pretty new to the FL art scene having lived here just over a year, but I want to share a quick post about THE BEACHES ART FEST in Jacksonville Beach, FL.

I have Participated in the spring show in St. Augustine, FL put on by the Holiday Art Show promotion team. Lynn Wettach, the organizer is very warm and supportive person who really seems to care about her artists and the event that she is running. 

The Beaches Art Fest is a relatively new event as I understand it, only in its fourth year in 2017  and previously only a one-day show so this was the first time it was a two day event.

Load in and load out were very easy, as you could drive right up to your space. Of course it is always a bit of a jumble with everyone trying to come in and out at the same time but in our case it was very smooth and trouble free.

The show takes place on Pablo Avenue,  a street which abuts The Beaches Historical Park and Museum. This is a very nice facility- clean, well-maintained and obviously a valuable part of this community. It was nice to have access to clean restrooms which were very conveniently located. A shopping center with a Publix grocery store was only 1/2 block away which was very handy. 

Sales on Saturday were steady and I saw many people carrying packages and framed art. The crowds were not huge but they were definitely there to buy. The Sunday crowds however were reduced by at least 2/3. Could  be the weather a factor as it was very, very hot. Also it may be that people did not realize it was now two days and just did not come out that way. 

Every thing about the show is nice and well managed is a very good event that has the potential to be a really great event. The artist amenities are good from a nice breakfast provided, coffee/ water and juice available,  restrooms very close by and a caring staff. 

This was just the second time I had done a "sleepover"  show out of town. My husband is in the US Navy  and so we took advantage of staying on base at the Navy Lodge Hotel in Mayport about 10 miles north from the show site. We had a very nice renovated room overlooking the beach w/ breakfast for cost of only $85 a night. Very important when you are on a budget. 

I realize not everyone has that access to base. There were hotels suggested by the show management I believe a Hampton Inn nearby and I know other artists stayed at the Red Roof Inn in the area and seem to feel that was reasonable too.

This show is in a neat little area just a couple blocks from the ocean in Jacksonville Beach Florida. Lots of delicious restaurants there.  We had dinner at the "Blind Rabbit" just two blocks from the show on Friday night after we set up--- delicious! We also spent a bit of time at the Green Room brew house on the main drag , also just 2 blocks away , enjoying their craft beers. Dinner on Saturday was Mellow Mushroom [always yummy!] about 2 miles away as we got a pizza to go so we could get back to our room to watch college football that night. Sunday we got up early and attended mass at the Catholic Church just 1/2 block away from the show, then had a tasty breakfast at Waffle House 1 block away prior to the show start at 10. 

All in all we had a good show and also a fun weekend away . That is a win in my book. 

 My set up The Sunrise view of the ocean from our balcony

We are driving from Houston as I write this on our way to New Orleans to enjoy some good food and drinks after finishing up two Texas shows. The Houston show was this past weekend. It was very impressive that the organizers and the city were able to not only go on with the show but to do it up to the standards of past events. If you didn’t know about Harvey you never would have guessed the city had been hit so hard. Downtown for the most part looked just fine. Our booth is in-front of city hall and the only thing we noticed was that the bottom basement level was gutted since it had been flooded and the electric for rent bike racks were down and empty.

Carrie did an amazing job keeping us all updated before during and after Harvey. Running a show like Bayou is already a difficult enough job but this year Carrie and her team did a stellar job inspite of all the challenges.

There was a LOT of talk amongst artists on wether or not to go to Bayou. I believe the majority of us who went wanted to support the city and the show. The city and people of Houston are very resilient and bouncing back but they are not there yet. The people also came out to support the show and everyone was ready to enjoy getting back to normal. Almost everyone we talked to in Houston, at the show and around the city, told us they made it through with out too much damage but many of them were dealing with survivors guilt. The people were ready to get back to enjoying life and attending things like an art show but mentally it didn’t feel like they were ready to start indulging in art.

Now for the review of the actual show. The show is on the city streets in Downtown Houston. On Friday you check in at a hotel near the show starting around 11 am but set up starts in the evening. There is an artist parking lot you can use all weekend. This is very helpful in a downtown setting with a ton of oversized vehicles. You can start lining up at 6pm and they begin letting cars in after 8 pm when the streets are closed and cleared. Booths are across each other on wide streets. Almost every booth has lots of storage in the back.

The show runs Saturday and Sunday 10-6. It is a gated show with entrance fee. The crowds were steady all weekend with exception of Saturday afternoon once the Astros started playing. There was still a decent amount of people that day.

It was HOT AND HUMID Saturday. I was impressed that anyone showed up on Saturday. At the end of the show I had never been more excited to be staying at a hotel with a pool. That was the best feeling being able to jump in the pool after a looong hot humid day and get the core temp back down.

Sunday was warm but tolerable. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings seemed to be the time the serious shoppers were out looking. There were packages walking out and people on a mission for art work. Most of the people I talked to had decent shows. Not killer shows but almost everyone made some money. There were just a handful I talked to that just made expenses and a good friend did 5 figures. We were very happy with our sales considering. The patrons thanked us for coming over and over again.

Tear down same old same old. Break down get a pass wait in line. It really started cooling off at break down and got windy. It took a little longer then usual to get out because of the wind but the streets are wide and it moves fast for a city show. We dollied out. After break down we had a delivery and the patron had 6 artist deliveries scheduled that evening. It was great to run into some of our artist friends at one of the coolest homes in Houston.

The artist are treated pretty good at this show. I don’t think I have ever been offered more iced bottle waters and snack at a show before. There is an art pick up booth. Larger items can be dropped off at the booth and held for patrons to come pick up later. This is very convenient to have at a gated city show. Tons of volunteers for booth sitting. For those of you who prefer to not eat festival food plan to pack some food. Downtown stores and restaurants pretty much shut down for the weekend. Hotel restaurants and food at the festival is your only choice unless you bring your own. We really enjoy Houston and the Bayou show. Can’t wait to return.

 I've not done an art show for ten years and want to start again. I do fine art landscape photography and would like to know your experience with selling matted/frames, metal and canvas prints.

I recently did a deep dive into vehicle loading, and discovered that it is much easier to overload a vehicle than one would think.  It seems like a simple calculation: get a vehicle and/or trailer large enough to accommodate everything you need for a show, then make sure that the tow vehicle and hitch are rated to tow the weight of your trailer plus a guestimate of the weight of your gear, and you’re done.  My tow vehicle is rated to tow a 5000 pound trailer, and my fully loaded trailer weighs right around 2000 pounds.  Yet it turns out that my setup is right at the overload limit, and I need to be careful what additional items I take to shows, and where I put them. 

The problem appears to be that car and truck makers compete with each other on how much their vehicles can tow, so the advertised tow rating is actually a marketing number that assumes that the vehicle is empty except for perhaps a light-weight driver.  Load it up with two people and a weekend’s luggage and supplies, plus the tongue weight of the trailer, and the weight one can safely tow drops significantly. 

I calculated the weight of my cargo by putting a bathroom scale and notepad next to the trailer and tow vehicle  simply weighing everything before it was loaded.  I measured tongue load by lowering the tongue jack onto a board supported by a brick on one side and the bathroom scale on the other, doubling the results. When I tallied up the total, I was quite surprised at how relatively light items add up.  I calculated safe loading based on the method describe in my owner’s manual (which varies somewhat between manufacturers).  Finally, I consulted www.karavantrailers.com/brakes/Brakes.xlsx to determine if my unbraked trailer was too heavy for the states I operate in.  You may want to do the same for your own safety and well being.

This was our first time showing at Cottonwood. The show is in a park surrounded by modest middle class homes and community. Richardson is a suburb of Dallas. We usually don’t do suburban shows especially in a park but Cottonwood has a great reputation and many well established artist do this show both in fall and in spring and continue to return year after year. Cottonwood lined up perfectly with Houston so we decided it was time to try the show.

Serri the show director communicates very well with everyone. All the info you need is on the website. I love when shows do this instead of having to dig through past email. The advertising and social media for Cottonwood is very well done. There are a lot of volunteers and they are well informed. The Boy Scouts and parents are there to help you load and unload. All day artist hospitality tent. Friday night there is an artist dinner but we didn’t go so not sure how it was but I was told there were margaritas. There is a great artist hotel, Courtyard for around $70 a night about 2 miles from the show.

The show runs Saturday 10-7 Sunday 10-5. Set up is Thursday and Friday. The show takes place at Cottonwood Park. There is no entrance fee but the show is fenced off and you had to go through a bag security search. I really like this. The people who attended the show were there for the show not just walking through the park. The booths are set up in rows, back to back with plenty of room. Most spaces are 13x13 roughly and on the grass in the park. You can not drive on the grass and there is one narrow road into the park. The majority of booths will need to dolly and some quiet far. Getting into the park and near your booth to unload requires time and patience.

You check in along a street adjacent to the park and get in line with your vehicle. Vehicles are allowed in as space opens up. You are given one hour to unload. They actually mark your windshield with booth space and time in. We decided to set up on Thursday. We got in line at 1 pm and got in at 3:10. Our booth was not far from the street so easy unload.

The boy scouts are there and volunteer to help dolly your work to your spot. Unfortunately on Thursday the 1 hour load in time limit was not enforced. There were 3 booths setting up around us and all three of those vehicles were there before we arrived and were still parked there after we had unloaded, gone and parked and completely set up.

We left at 6, so that means at least 3 prime parking spots were blocked for over 3 hours as artists sat for hours in line to get in. I am not sure how Friday load in goes, hopefully the time limit was enforced. Parking for this show is easy and close. Plenty of street parking on Thursday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday you park at the high school across the street. They have a shuttle if you need it but the lot is just across the street so we always walked.
The weather was very nice all weekend. If you had shade you were comfortable. If you didn’t then you were warm but the show set up extra shade tents in the middle of the aisle. There is a kids area, beer garden, music stage and food area. All of these areas were placed conviently to the art show but far enough away as to not interfere with the art booths. I was impressed with the layout.

The crowds were steady all weekend. Cottonwood loves their dogs and I overheard a patron commenting that their were more dogs then kids at the show and yes this was very true.

Now the important part, sales. Where our booth was we couldn’t see other parts of the show except for our aisle. We saw smaller work walk by and yard art on sticks leave. On Sunday I saw one 24x36 framed piece walk out. My art friends who have more traditional work reported a solid show, enough to return. The booth next to me had drawings of Texas stuff, rodeo, cows, etc and she was happy with her show. We had a lot of interest and were constantly talking to people but industrial abstract art is not what this area is looking for. We solid one big piece so we “made a paycheck” as Nels would say.

Load out. Break down get a pass and get ready to wait in line. Patience is a must. It is a park, dolly one lane road break down. Enough said, not much you can do about it.

This weekend is Bayou City Houston. We are looking forward to that and enjoying a mini vacation with our artists friends on Lake Athens in between the two shows. Love the artist life.

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