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If you have any time between September 20 and October 8 and live anywhere near Grand Rapids, MI, you owe it to yourself to attend the amazing ArtPrize. This is an open international art competition decided by public vote and expert jury who award $500,000 in prizes. ArtPrize is held throughout the city and is recognized as the most attended public art event on the planet.

Last year's grand prize winner of $200,000 was James Mellick, who has participated in art fairs for many years, with his entry "Wounded Warrior Dogs." 

I talked to Jim in Grand Rapids and had a very good feeling that he could win with his wood carvings and the touching story of how the dogs were heroes and lo and behold a few days later he did win. 

Artists who do art fairs have a feeling for the public and when there is a popular vote (as in this case) they stand a very good chance of being chosen. I knew him from participating in art fairs in Ohio, in particular the Ohio Designer Craftsmen shows in the Columbus area.

Here's an image of the advertising he was handing out asking visitors to vote for him:

Learn more about Jim, his work and start planning on making your entry for 2018!

See his presentation at the ArtPrize link: http://www.artprize.org/62592

Lucky me, I got to see Houston last October attending the Arts Festival Conference, visited old friends in a grand old neighborhood, stayed downtown at an historic hotel and spent the weekend in Galveston, driving for miles along the Shipping Channel where the cargo ships come and go from the Gulf of Mexico. Ten months later, disaster.

A friend of mine Cynthia Reid, former art director of The Woodlands Waterway Art Festival, keeps me on her mailing list and I asked her today what I could do, as I hear such conflicting reports about the Red Cross. Her reply:

National Building Museum
120 Artists

My cousin started a daily business podcast he had some very good suggestions. As a result I took a good long look at my website and realized it was in serious need of a face lift. Spent about a week redoing it, now it has a lighter, fresher look to it. Not so busy and very easy to navigate. https://www.gretascollectibles.com Also from Michael's suggestions I started a blog, and went back to instagram. I'm sure I have at least 3 instagram accounts but I'm currently only using one. I'm already getting more hits on my website, figured out how to track my analytics and input megadata so I'm easier to find on search engines. It's not perfect but much better then it was. My images had to be redone also, this was probably the most tedious aspect of the whole process. Had to remember to reduce the resolution so they would load faster.

At first I was leery to start a blog, thought it would be hard for me to come up with things to write about. But as time goes by and the more I blog I'm finding that I rather enjoy it. Doesn't hurt that I bought a new to me chromebook that makes doing these things much easier then when I was trying to accomplish them on my very outdated and slowing down desktop computer. 

Just goes to show you that even tho we've been in this business for many years, in my case decades, we can still learn new useful stuff from people half our age.

Just got back home from doing the Port Clinton Show. This was our first time here and what an event. It is run by Amdur Productions. This was our first Amdur show. They put on a lot of the Chicago area shows and this was by far our best Chicago area art show.

Where to start. The show is on the streets in the town center with nice stores and restaurants. The taste of highland park happens at the same time and runs in the middle of the show. There is a music stage that has some pretty cool bands. The booths are on the streets across from each other. The artists who show are some of the best of the best. The patrons are qualified. Their homes have space for work. There are around 250 artists. The attendance is high. Read between the lines, this is a great venue for selling work. Weather was very nice, high 70s with very little rain and no wind.

Set up is on Friday. You are assigned a specific time to come in. Some times are early Friday some are later in the afternoon. If you cant make your time you can come in after 6 pm or something close to that time or early Saturday morning. Amdur runs a tight ship and has excellent communication before during and after the show. Drop off your stuff go park and come back to set up. If everyone follows the instructions it all goes smooth and most artists do follow the rules. Artist parking is awesome. Lots of parking really close to the show and many have their vehicle right near their booth. Unique to this show is booth and room around your booth. You are allowed to have clean and tight storage behind your booth with in limits. If you want more room behind your booth you can pay an extra fee to spread out. Blowing out is not allowed. I like this. It keeps the show looking clean. Vehicles are parked close to booths so one can easily store extras in their vehicles with out looking like a storage unit behind the tents.

The show runs Saturday and Sunday 10-6 both days. We arrived Saturday around 9 am to finalize set up. The first thing I saw when I walked into the show was a big sponser booth, set up at entrance not very close to artists, of about 10 salon stations. It was a Dyson hairdryer station. You could go have your hair blown out after setting up!!! The second thing I saw at the main stage was morning yoga happening before the show opened!!! Pics below you may recognize some artists going into triangle or something like that. I was more then a little excited. Saturday morning the people were there at 10 am and the booths around me with smaller work were selling, wrapping work up and even had people waiting in line. Around noon I started to see large work walk by and out at a regular pace, like every 15 minutes. By 1 pm we started selling. We had a good day. One thing I wish I would have been warned about was people wanting to negotiate pricing. No one there needed a discount but it seemed to be expected. I don't think it mattered the price point they just wanted a discount. Something to remember.

Sunday light rain was in the forecast but who the heck knew when, its Chicago near the lake. There is a great awards breakfast before the show. Normally I sleep and don't care about the breakfast, usually bagels and sugary stuff. Michael had deliveries scheduled all morning, we deliver Sunday mornings since there is no traffic. So I was dropped off early, 8 am, and went to a real artist breakfast. Hot food, eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, great coffee, you get the gist. Like I mentioned I usually don't make the breakfast but this one was done very well and was a great chance to visit friends. Amy did a very nice presentation and it was fun to see the award winners. It started to rain lightly when the show opened but stopped around noon I think. Sunday sales were even stronger compared to Saturday and continued until close. I know a lot of Patrons tried to come at the end to get a deal but work had already been sold. Many artists had amazing shows and the other artists I talked to had good enough shows to want to return.

Break down, we were scheduled for rain early on but we were able to pack up dry. Break it down to the side get a load out pass get your vehicle blah blah. You know the drill. On Saturday we were in the parking lot with in walking distance to our booth. This would have been perfect for break down and get us out fast. Fortunately we had delivers ALL day on Sunday, Michael was barely at the show, so we couldn't get into the dolly out parking on site. It didn't matter. We were able to get our vehicle in easy once we were ready. The staff were on it and kept it running clear. No easy feat with a street show.

Obviously we loved our first Amdur show. The staff did a great job and pulling off a show like this was not easy. Amy the director came by at least 3 times maybe more to speak with us. As she did with everyone. Oh and here is another thing I loved, for the ladies besides hair and yoga, the porta potties had real running water. I actually preferred the porta potties over the restaurant bathrooms. We also really enjoyed the patrons at the show even with them asking for discounts. Not only were the adults interested in the work but so were the kids. We had a family who became collectors and the kids got ahold of the certificate that we give with the art and the kids put their names on the certificate before their parents had a chance to do it. The poor kids got into some trouble. When the family came back to get a replacement the kids were soooo excited we let them keep the forged document. Small thing for us but maybe we had created future art collectors. Finally lodging. There are no hotels with in walking distance of the show. The only air bnbs are huge mansions so you would need about 8 set of artists to share. If you don't mind air bnbing a private room you may luck out. The hotels are about 10-20 minute drive away. We stayed at the closest hotel a Courtyard with artist rate around $100. There are a bunch of hotels with in a 15-20 minute drive. If you wait and price line a 4 star hotel you can get a great deal around $70. Some shows this works some don't. This is a show you can wait and get a wonderful deal and be spoiled.

Please feel free to comment or make any opinions, thank you.

Dates, may not be exact, just posting from memory.

Three small shows along the CT coast, all in small scenic pleasant towns. Easy to do. 

1. 2015 -Guildford CT, Craft Expo, mid July. Set up easy Fri morning for me. Grassy center of town green area. Show Hours were easy- Fri from 3-8 pm or something like that. Sat and Sun, no long hours. Tear down easy.

Fee for customers. Quality was good, booth fee around $680 or so. Show was not crowded, but steady.

I was happy with sales. I don't know about anyone else, although most of my neighbors said they have been doing this show for some years, so I assume they are satisfied. 

Do not recall painting as this was considered a craft show. My hotel was about $100 or so a night, close.

No logistic problems with parking, eating, etc.  Customers appeared to be interested in the show and the artwork. Very nice weekend. Would return but there is a schedule conflict for me with the State College Show, which is in my town.

2.2016- Mystic Seaport Art Show, mid August.  Great bustling little scenic town. Very hot this weekend, people were being told to stay indoors if possible. Set up on street. Saturday morning we were there at 5:30 am. to set up.

Hot at 5:30. Set up easy except the heat. Sales, poor, although for the few customers that were in my booth, I did enough to pay all of my expenses, so I believe the customers are out there. 

I was on a street that was a new area for the art show, and that could have hurt, too.

Hours, easy Sat and Sunday. Tear down easy. 

I believe this show could work if the weather was better, however, I do not have plans to return because I don't think I could live through another hot show on pavement, if it came to that!

3. 2017- Old Saybrook, CT, last weekend in July.  Same as the other shows- easy set up, hours, etc, 

on a green in the center of town. Perfectly happy with this show, made enough money to justify doing it, some nice work in booths and some that you just wonder about....

Crowds seemed to be about the same for all three shows in that I found a number of people who were interested and happy with my work and purchased.  

I live about 5-5 1/2 hours from these locations. These shows were easy to do and pleasant, which justified doing shows were sales were decent, but not phenomenal. 

So, my question if anyone can help- I see a good fit with my work and this area of the country. Are there larger shows nearby with larger crowds?  Another artist told me that the Paradise city shows were about the same for her as these, but that is only one person's opinion, thank you.

This was the 27^th annual Golden Fine Arts Festival and the 14^th continuous year I have participated in the event.  Golden, CO is at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  It is home for the Colorado School of Mines, a top engineering school, and the Coor’s brewery.  Students were returning to school the weekend of the show.

The show is set up for three blocks on 11^th Street and over 130 artists from 20 states occupy 160 booth spaces.  There was live music and beer in the food court at the east end of the show.  There were also art activities for kids.

The Golden Chamber of Commerce manages the show, and there were new personnel for the show this year which resulted in some problems.   The show is important to the business community and I feel confident that this year’s problems will be resolved.

Application to the show is through Zapp. The jury fee is $30 and single booth fee is $450.  Acceptance to the show is competitive.  Ribbon awards with cash ($1800 divided up) are given for Best of Show, and first and second places for each medium.

SET UP AND TAKE DOWN

      Set up begins at midnight Thursday before the show, but most artists set up Friday.  There was no “traffic czar” and consequently artists with large vans and trailers blocked access to other’s booths for hours on end.  In past years, artists have unloaded and moved vehicles off the street.

      The same situation existed at take down.  It was stated in the information packet that vehicles would not be allowed on the street until 5:45pm, 45 minutes after the show closed. There were vehicles on the street at 5:05 while patrons were still on the street.  This is a serious safety issue.

WEATHER

      Friday and Sunday were in the mid 80’s.  Saturday it got up to 92 and there was no cloud cover.

PROBLEMS

1. The first sign that the show was going to have problems was the information packets at 9:00am checking. They were not available until 1:00pm Saturday. Booth ID sheets were in the packet, but there was no sleeve to display them. Some artists got sleeves later but I ended up using one of my own.  There was a playing card in the packet. But no explanation of what it was for. I had a joker and thought maybe I had won some sport of prize, LOL. Although it was on Zapp, the show hours were not given in a pre-show email or in the packet.
2. A parking map was provided but I heard from people with trailers that they were told to leave designated parking areas.
3. TAX INFORMATION. Management really dropped the ball on this one, especially for the 20 out-of-state artists. Information about obtaining a Colorado Special Event license was on Zapp. The $50 city tax deposit was covered in Zapp and pre-show email, but a separate email from the city provided instructions for obtaining the temporary city tax license (free). The only tax information in the packet was instructions and for collecting the 3% city tax. In past years, this tax was collected on site at the end of the show. This year it was to be mailed in, but that was not in the packet.

State and Jefferson County taxes are complicated for a

non-resident. They consist of State 2.9%, Jefferson County     0.5%, RTD (transportation)1% and CD (cultural) 0.1%. All of these combined with the city tax gives a combined 7.5% rate which was given in Zapp but not in the packet.  Furthermore, the Colorado Department of Revenue site is not easy to navigate, even for residents (even I swear when I have to use it).  Better shows provide a step by step description of how to access the tax reporting form for Special Events.

1. Advertising. In past years a summary of advertising has been provided. At some of the earlier shows I attended actual tear sheets of everything were in a really thick packet. It was overwhelming. A simple list would allow artists to evaluate advertising with crowd size and buyers.
2. COMMERCIAL BOOTH. Saturday morning, two booths down from me, Anderson Windows started setting up a booth. WHAT? This is totally unheard of at Golden. I found the onsite “boss” and politely but firmly explained to her that Anderson among the artist was an “in your face, red flag insult to every artist in the show!” She moved them, but it should not have happened in the first place.
3. Exit Survey. I completed mine but no one seemed to know what to do with it.  I gave mine to a volunteer in their booth who was reluctant to take it, and had no information on other options.

AMENITIES

      Port-a-Pots and hand washing stations were available. Volunteers provided water and booth sitting (the playing cards were for calling a booth sitter). Snacks were available before and during the show. There was an artist reception Friday night. I have attended in the past, but now I don’t go as we commute to the show and it is 1:10 drive home.

SALES & THE NUMBERS

      Historically, Golden has grown from a $2-3K show to a consistent $4-5K show for me. This year sales were off from 2016 by $900, but it was still a good show. I had 59 sales and the average sale was $72. My net margin was 87%. The good numbers were the result of some $200+ holster, multiple belt and silver buckle sales.

      The crowd was down from last year, I attribute this to many people going to Wyoming for the solar eclipse on Monday. The news reported 500,000 people for CO made the trip and one would expect most of them were from the Denver metro area.

      I plan to return if I don’t get blackballed for complaining about Anderson Windows booth.  

FUN STUFF

      There are always lots of dogs, infants and toddlers at Golden. You will hear different languages spoken by foreign students and visitors.  A man from China seemed really happy to have his picture taken with one of my saddles and a historic holster with model six shooter.  Another man and I conversed in Spanish about a dog collar. I thanked him for allowing me to practice my Spanish. He thanked me for letting him practice his English.  To top it off we always got to Woody’s for pizza after takedown around 9:00pm. 

Making art fairs exciting, interesting and compelling to attend for the patrons is always at the top of any event's agenda. We all know that the Cherry Creek Art Festival has excelled at this for some time, enthusiastic buyers streaming to see the art.

Coming up on September 17 at the Stanley Marketplace is Cherry Arts at the Stanley. Here is a cool promotion to bring the people to the show: Art Brunch featuring

activities for all ages will make this a memorable experience and new annual tradition for all that love brunch and art, featuring interactive take-home art activities, a fabulous culinary brunch menu, beverages, mimosas, live music and more! 

Learn more about this promotion: http://www.995themountain.com/events/art-brunch

The Coconut Grove Arts Festival for many years hosted a breakfast for their patrons and then took them through the show in trolleys. Seems a good idea. Promotion has to go on forever.

December 2 & 3
West Palm Beach, Florida
Presented By: Armory Art Center
95 Artists
Deadline: August 31

Last year's Festival brought 6,000 affluent visitors and 86 artists. This event will be well-publicized by local media reporting, media sponsorships, advertising, and social media. Scheduled at the perfect time for holiday shopping, vendors will reach affluent Palm Beach and Broward County residents, plus engage our large seasonal tourist population.

The campus hosts space for 95 10'x10' tents throughout the Armory's campus. Tents will be located outdoors in the sculpture garden and in the parking lot. 

The Armory Art Center is on the south end of Howard Park within walking distance of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, the Palm Beach Convention Center, Hilton West Palm Beach, and CityPlace-a premier shopping, dining, and entertainment destination.

Got back from the Cheyenne Arts Festival on Monday in where? Cheyenne, WY. The Festival takes place inside and in front of the historic train depot in downtown Cheyenne which, in and of itself, is quite quaint. Cheyenne being less than 2 hours away from Denver, I thought I'd try something different.

Just The Facts...

Show Hours and Dates: Cheyenne Arts Festival, Cheyenne, WY. August 18-20 (about the third weekend in August) Friday 5-9, Saturday 9-8 and Sunday 11-5. Art, crafts, music, kid stuff... This show can be found on the Café call for entry website.

Logistics:

Load in for the show was Friday morning starting at 9 am. As I am less than 2 hours away I didn't have to spend money on a hotel room which probably was going to be over priced because of the solar eclipse anyway. Got there just before 9 and got lots of help from volunteers and Bill Lindstrom, the Executive Director of the show, unloading my van. As it was early there wasn't a lot of interference from other artists unloading so it all went well. The finer arts were inside the renovated and historic train depot with a few more outside, craftier items along with music and kids stuff were in the front area of the depot.  There wasn't a lot of space inside the depot for storage and as parking was a few blocks away whatever I had in my booth was going to have to suffice. A few of the booths set up in such a way so that they did have some storage.

Amenities:

Water,  water and water, and volunteer booth sitters. Additionally, the show hosted a social on Friday night with a free glass of wine and enough snacky stuff to suffice for dinner, a tip o' the hat to the many volunteers who showed up frequently with water and for those occasional breaks. Did I mention water? Didn't seem like being inside with air conditioning would require much hydration but Cheyenne is at a higher elevation and for some reason I needed to drink a lot! Stay hydrated my friends!

Storage, Booth Space, Load-In/Out:

Depending on where you were situated there was room to spare or none at all. I had no space behind my booth for storage others had some. As stated above load-in was easy as I beat most of the crowd setting up first thing Friday morning. Load-out was fairly chaotic but most people behaved and I got out, as usual, in just under 2 hours. Again, those great volunteers helped make everything run smoothly getting my stuff to the curb so that I could get it all stuffed back into my van.

Demographics/Buying Trends:

As this show takes place in the middle of the old downtown Cheyenne there were a variety of types milling about. I found that the mid-age group were the buying type although occasionally, the millennials were buying as well, older folks, as is usually the case, were out for a stroll. Those that were buying seemed very engaged, knowledgeable or asked reasonable questions (with the occasional, "Didja take all these pitchers?"). Most of my sales were of the higher end matted stuff, I'm not complaining! One out-of-towner bought a good sized wood plaq to be sent to her in Maryland. Yes, there were a lot of out-of-town folks here most likely for the solar eclipse trip to Casper, WY.

I inquired about how the crowd this weekend compared to previous shows. It seems that this was a busy show mostly on Sunday as tour buses from Greeley, CO were ship'n 'em in, otherwise it would have been a very slow weekend. Friday night was the best sales period, Saturday (a long day) was slow and Sunday nary a sale to be had.

Quality/Range of Art:

From my survey of booths the work was variable. The booths inside the depot were of the finer art variety and stuff outside was less so, more of the handmade variety.

Food:

As this was the downtown area of Cheyenne there are plenty of good places to eat nearby, but getting there during the show was not easy. There were two very close places, one inside the depot and one across the street. The depot place had a limited menu, mostly beer there, but the sliders I had were very good as was the kale salad! The place across the street was marginal. There were no food trucks nearby. I think I heard they were all at some other goings on. Ice cream was not too far away either.

Reflections:

This was a first time show for me. I enjoyed and appreciated how engaged the people were with the art at the show but alas they did not show all of their appreciation with purchases.

Okay, now for the star rating! I'd give this show ✩✩✩✩ out of 5 and that is because of the nice job of logistics, amenities, booth sitting, and management, etc. As far as the buying goes, I'd give it  1/2 ✩. I didn't lose money doing this show but I didn't make any either. That's not exactly how it needs to be.

Quick recap of a very weird weekend. Bayfront Park in Duluth, MN is a great setting right on Lake Superior. New management of this show seems to have fixed lots of things that were being handled poorly in past years. Load in and out are easy...for an extra 50 bucks you can park your trailer right behind your booth! They did a superb job of keeping the artists flush with water and snacks. Booth sitters were readily available as well. 

Attendance was maybe 12,000, maybe. Might have been under 10K. Buyers were out in full force Saturday morning. There seemed to be less activity later and crowds thinned way, way down by 4:00. The show runs until 7 p.m. Saturday but the last two hours it was a ghost town. And this even though the weather was perfect!

I'm from Minneapolis and have photographed Minnesota and the area all my life. I have some killer work that stops people in their tracks. The only thing I lacked at this show was a large selection of wall-ready pieces under $50. My sales here were terrible and it may have been one of those weird, no-explanation deals. For some artists, there's no such thing as a finished piece under $50. I don't know if I'll do this one again.  Gotta ponder that. I certainly wouldn't try it again unless I have more offerings at the low end, ready to hang. 

Sorry for the very vague nature of this post but this show for me was a head-scratcher. Buyers everywhere except my booth. I did talk to other artists and it was not great for all. Some did just fine, but I know others didn't. It's not obvious to me what the formula here is to have a solid show. Not for every medium anyway. I think the take-away, if there is one, is that your art must be unique, fun, appealing to a young, outdoorsy crowd, and affordable. 

October 14 and 15

• $10,000 in awards
• Artisanal food, craft beer, and roots music 
• Free admission and parking for patrons
• Easy load in and set up, great hospitality including booth sitters, and all day snacks and coffee for artists. 
• Booths are 10'x11' (double booths are available). 
• Set up is Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.  
• There is security on site all weekend.  

We are pleased to announce Open Call for Hungarian Multicultural Center residency program in Budapest, Hungary in 2018

Subject: “Environmental Project”.

Deadline: November 20, 2017

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

August 18 & 19    

From the Chamber of Commerce:

• two days
• beautiful time of year for weather & tourism
• spacious booth spaces:  12x12

  

October 6, 7 & 8 
Downtown Lee's Summit, Missouri

Again this year: Shared Tents

• Artist lounge area with snacks & beverages
• Free, near by artist parking; overnight security
• Electricity included in booth fee
• Large festival budget for marketing and advertising
• Excellent artist prizes