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Being Clearly Blasted ;)

Hello,I went to see Julie and Julia over the weekend, and for those who do not know, it is basically a story of a girl who blogs every day while cooking thru Julia Child's cookbook. Seeing as how I have a birthday soon, I thought I would copy that concept and work on this blog and/or my art everyday for a year. A true and firm commitment to something I am passionate about....after all they say, it is the fruit of life, to do something you are truly passionate about. I am a working professional in the real estate industry, but my true love is etched glass.So here I begin my journey. Some days this will be long, some days it won't be. Work keeps me consumed, but hopefully within the next year, I can turn that around to glass consuming me instead. Ahh, even the thought of that makes me happy.The name "Clearly Blasted" derives from the fact I love to go etch designs on clear glass after a hard day's work. Nothing like taking your stress out that way!!!My goal is to do art shows again this fall, and also, get work in a gallery or little shops on Marietta Square...I have my eye on a shop there already....
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This past weekend the last of the big Florida art fairs of the spring season took place in St. Petersburg. Mainsail Festival of the Arts is very popular with artists with the ability to win prize money. The Best of Show award and $10,000 went to mixed media artist Rocky Bridges. Then there are 9 Awards of Excellence for $1500, let alone the 10 Awards of Distinction for $1000, and even more. Read the story at: TambaBay.com and make plans to apply yourself next year.
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Reeds Lake

The show was good for us until the sun drained the energy from the show. We did better than last year however others we spoke to did not have the same experience. Set up was okay for us because of some unique circumstances many others grumbled.Rich
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Featured artist: Bruce Holwerda - Painter

Welcome to the world of fantasy painter, Bruce Holwerda. Walk into his booth at an art fair and you are suddenly whirled away into another dimension. His human figures are all off on one wacky adventure or another. Put yourself into one of those images, rolling off into space, or soaring through the cosmos and consider what it must be like to live in Bruce's imagination. A painter for over 35 years, Bruce says every painting is a struggle between the balance and form the eye understands and the emotional investment in the work. Exposing the work to the art fair public adds another dimension from their comments and involvement with the images. "I've always loved working with the figure and so combining the human form with simple ideas, energetic poses or surreal portraits is fuel that generates my art," says Bruce. His media is acrylics on different surfaces; canvas, wood panel, and acid free papers. See Bruce and his work: August 29-30 in Highland Park, IL, at the Port Clinton Art Festival September 4-7 in Pontiac, MI, at Arts, Beats & Eats Learn more about Bruce and his painting.
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Over 30,000 people were present on the Inauguration Day of The Riverside Arts Market in Jacksonville on April 4th.. 30,000+ Art Lovers in Jacksonville. Who would have thought? I definitely missed the boat with that one being that I am an "emerging artist", and I was not present on inauguration day. It was not a good feeling to think that I had missed out on a great opportunity, but the possibility was inspiring.It took just about two weeks to get a booth and with much anticipation I was able to display this past Saturday..and all I want to know is what happened ?The minimized crowd was very welcoming, and thank you Jacksonville for all the love.. . but there weren't nearly as many buyers as there were spectators. Had a gotten 10% of my spectators to buy something I may have profited monetarily from this early rise work day. With items priced as low as $5.oo..Come on Jacksonville!!..Appreciate your local artists by showing support to your local artists by investing in the arts. Enjoy the opportunity that The Riverside Arts Market is sharing with our community and while remember the purpose, invest in your local artists. You never know how great of a return you may get.www.adrianpickett.com
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Kutztown 2009 - First Hand Account

I was at the Kutztown Festival yesterday (June 29) and as always, had a great time. The 9 day festival held in Kutztown Festival is like a Renaissance Festival, but cut out the minstrels and 'ol English dialogue and insert PA Dutch heritage, history, and traditional folk art. I have gone to the festival for about 5 years now and primarily go as a shopper with Christmas list with many names usually checked off by the end of the day once I am done there. I haven't been able to do the event since it takes place over a 9 day period.The event has taken place since the 70's and every year gets better with age. The jury does an amazing job with a large variety of folk art and traditional art forms galore. There is about 350 artists who make up the event, plus demonstrations from artists and others such as barn raising. I have several friends who do the event each year and find it to be THE event to do (and look forward to) each year as many make at least $5,000 over that period of time with many more making about $20,000 or so - all depending on what is being sold and contacts after the event. The event also offers information about hotel and even housing options including housing options at the local college and campground info as well as opportunities in staying on site.One artist, Lin who works with recycled glass cups and creates stained glass and butterfly feeders. New to the show, Lin stated how she was just happy to be accepted into the event. After the first two days of the event being open she quickly learned it can be a very profitable event making several good sales. Monday proved to be good, despite less foot traffic. In my experience, walking the event on both weekdays and weekends, some weekdays can be incredibly busy especially if the weather cooperates. The event ends around the 4th of July with a great fireworks display. Another artist, a jewelry maker who works with leather, attended the show for the first time last year, had such a successful time found it was necessary to buy two booth spaces. So far the weeks start has showed it was the best move to ever make.Don't take my word for it, go to their website - www.kutztownfestival.com (I think that is the site address) and see for yourself. Information on how to apply and more is found there. I am seriously thinking about signing up for 2010 - maybe I will see you there! - Michelle Sholund, By the Bay Botanicals
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Held June 20th & 21st, the location of this event is fabulous! At a 500 acre park ran by the McCormick Foundation, donated by Robert McCormick editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, which includes beautiful gardens, excellent museums & facilities and much more. Several tributes & exhibits to WWI and WWII veterans are onsite as well. While I left my hubby to tend our tent frequently during the two days so I could take in part of the grounds, I sure wish I had more time to investigate. Aside from the show, this park is very well attended by families on outings – many, many picnic groups, several weddings, and visitors just touring the gardens and museums.A bonus of this location was the adjacent air conditioned visitor’s center and restrooms. Promoter had set aside one of the conference rooms as the artist break room – fully stocked with ice cold water bottles (did not run out) and a few snacks. Volunteers were amazing and plentiful taking lunch orders and offering break times. The Park’s on site restaurant and Ice Cream café were both great, located in the air conditioned visitor’s center. Art Fair Food court had a variety of yummy food. Music located throughout was fantastic – very well scheduled and good mix of sounds. We especially appreciated the easy listening music during pack up as we were all exhausted and sweaty. There was patron table seating at one end near the food court as well as at the other end at the main music stage thus encouraging patrons to use the full art area. The overall feeling I had during this event was easy going, relaxed, enjoy the event and surroundings. Any patrons I had the pleasure of contact with were the same. Nice, easy to talk with crowd. Several had said they came to this show every year and were always happy with the high quality variety from year to year – evidentially Amdur mixes it up annually. Sunday morning included a full buffet breakfast in the air conditioned restaurant and sit down awards ceremony. Both Saturday and Sunday prior to start up, artists were invited to attend a tour of the grounds.No bad booth locations from what I could tell. Patrons had easy access to stroll the well designed area. Booths are set up in (4) rows. Two rows face each other on the main road leading up to the visitor’s center – one of those rows does not have trees. The back two tree lined rows face each other on grass had marvelous shade with spacing as tree, tent, tent, tree. 10x10 booth areas have ample 3 to 5ft spacing between each. All artists had a huge amount of space behind their tent – the center two rows actually formed a large free area zone behind those booths. Being my first show with Amdur I asked Amy about the rules regarding utilizing space in the back for storage etc. She replied that this area is so lovely feel free to spread out and enjoy the area and the day. What a wonderful way to start my first Amdur show. As I watched the traffic flow, it was my impression that the booths facing each other were a tad farther apart than most shows – at least it appeared that way in the back two rows. I believe this encouraged the patrons to fully walk down one side and up the other rather than just walking the center and glancing in both directions at once. My observation was that this was the right amount of booths and laid out well enough for patrons to actually walk past each booth. Artist setup/take down was not too bad. Drive up for those on the street and a short carry in for the back rows. Artist parking was at the Cantigny golf course area; about ½ miles back on the grounds, but shuttles were constantly available. At check in, each artist received a 2009 Amdur Productions Art Annual – nice 80 page collection of artists and their work who participate in the 2009 Amdur shows. Quite cute were the name badges for our artist helpers (spouses etc) – better half, significant other, along for the ride, banker, free labor etc.Heavy winds & rain Friday night damaged a few tents that set up Friday, and the grassy area was very spongy. My area had severe mud holes but before the show began, Amy had grounds crew spreading several layers of hay. They returned later in the day to add more where necessary. Weather Saturday was full sun and temps in the high 80’s with a slight breeze. Those trees were certainly appreciated by those that had them. Weather Sunday was overcast, but again in the high 80’s and very humid with virtually no breeze. I would estimate Saturday’s attendance at around 6,000 and Sunday’s (Father’s Day) around 10,000. Being a popular family & veteran park anyway, it was hard for me to pin down the attendance. I was initially concerned about a Father’s Day show, but these grounds are heavily visited by veterans and their families and found the show as a bonus.Overall I heard quite a few comments that many had no or very few sales. I heard a few say “my worst show ever” and “I’ll not come back”. There were a few buy/sell booths that got in somehow. One photographer from PA, wonderful guy with beautiful product who exists on his art for a living, was very worried on Saturday but at show end on Sunday, a patron returned from Saturday and bought his two largest items – making the show entry, travel and profit justifiable for him. Several artists had Saturday lookers that returned Sunday to purchase. I personally did not have my typical high four figure weekend but just okay (a bit above expenses) with sales of (4) large framed items on Saturday and many matted only pieces that ranged from $20.00 to $90.00 sell both days. I believe I have had success during my spring shows this year because I have limited my framed work to only a few large pieces and many small to medium sized pieces. I will typically sell one or two of the large framed per show but sell many of the $85 to $225 ones. I also have included an extra matted size and reduced prices of my matted - $20/$35/$50/$90. I do all of the printing/matting/framing myself so I do have an advantage as my expenses are lower than those who outsource. From what I’ve seen, there are not a lot of four figure pieces being purchased this year as compared to previous years. Those not having products in the $20 to $900 range are not having as many sales although I could be mistaken. The grumblers of this show were the ones that only offered the four figure items. The majority of my buyers had indicated they come every year and always purchase a few items.I was thrilled to finally be at a show where I ran into fellow artfairinsiders. Charles Bingham and Colin Murray were both there and it was great to chat with them and see their wonderful work in person. What great guys! How did you guys do?My impression of Amy Amdur as a promoter: Loved her. I will do any of her events. She is quite detail and artist oriented and provides a pleasant atmosphere from the start. She walked the show frequently looking for problems, solving problems and greeting artists by their name. I find her personable, well organized and from what I can judge by my experience during the Cantigny show – provides a wonderful show. I always have empathy for anyone who has a bad show or does not make at least expenses (been there, done that). I do think however that those upset with Cantigny sales are not likely to blame the show production itself.My two videos show an “average” of the show. Some times were more crowded, some times less. You can check them out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/njander listed as Cantigny Art Show and Cantigny 2I’d love to hear other’s comments.Linda AndersonAnderson Photo Works Great Lakes Nautical and Nature Photographyhttp://www.andersonphotoworks.com
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Artists Behaving Badly at Art Fairs

So here we are, everyone (and I mean everyone) working hard to keep up the spirits in a downtrodden economy, all the artists looking sharp with beautiful booths heading into what we all hope will be a profitable weekend. Everything is in place. The show opens at 3 pm on Friday. Already on Friday evening we are hearing reports from the artists that one of the artists is announcing to everyone within hearing distance of his booth that he hasn't done a show this bad in 35 years. We continue to hear this on Saturday. When I visit his booth I hear him pissing and moaning. I look over his work (a jeweler) and think it's pretty nice, maybe I need some new earrings (did you ever meet a woman who didn't?) He starts in on his lament and finally I say, "don't you think it would be better for your sales if you weren't so negative? Maybe I was going to buy something here." His retort was that I wouldn't be the first person to walk away. Already someone else who had the money ready had left him behind.!!! Geez. Then we received this email in the Arts, Beats & Eats office on Tuesday: I first would like to say our family has made it a point to travel from Northern Michigan for the last 3 years on Labor Day weekend to enjoy your wonderful festival. We love the atmosphere, and we do all of our school clothes shopping at Great Lakes Crossing mall. This year, however, I was very upset with the attitude of a certain vendor at your festival, namely XXXX XXXXXX. My 18 year old son recently enlisted in the Army and my husband was wearing one of his shirts that said "There's Strong and then there's Army Strong". I walked away from him for a moment to look at X's booth, and as I approached I heard him say to me (I was the only one there at the time) "Oh, there's an army guy. Why don't we all join up and go over to Iraq and steal all their oil and kill some people!" I was extremely offended at this comment and could not even respond. I simply walked away. I decided it would be better to let a committee member know the inappropriate comments made by this vendor, and my hope is that when I look at your listing of vendors for next year's festival he will not be on it. If he is, I and my family will not attend, and I will be sure to pass his name along to all I know. I'm sure you agree this was an inappropriate venue to air his obvious hostility toward the soldiers who are simply following the orders of command and risking their lives so vendors like him can safely sell their wares on the streets of Pontiac. Thank you, She included her contact information, which, of course, I am not including here. What do you think? Any advice for this guy, or for us?
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The World Has Just Gotten Larger

For a long time I lived in the Detroit area and as an artist's partner we were always looking at the land just across the water in Canada. Lots of people live on the other side of the Detroit River. But the complications of taking work for sale across the border were myriad. The customs people on either side could foil any attempt to enter into Canada or even to get back into the U.S. with a van full of art. But lo and behold a government official, Eve Lerman, who works for the US Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration in a special agency called the "US Commercial Service" is working to change the rules. In her words: Our job is to promote exports of US goods and services to overseas markets - this includes Canada and countries around the world. For the last 9 years I worked out of my office in the Pontiac, Michigan US Export Assistance Center to promote exports of automotive and manufacturing products. I spent 3 years as the Team Leader of the Automotive Team in our agency. In 2009 I felt the time was ripe to do our part to help diversify Michigan's economy. I took note, as well, of an initiative out of our headquarters in Washington DC, to focus some of our efforts on assisting business people who have never exported before. I decided to devote a portion of my time to working with artists and craftspeople in Michigan. The ArtServe organization in Michigan has generously allowed me, and some of my colleagues, to speak for a few minutes about this project at a series of outreach events they held around the state. I also made a separate trip to Marquette and Calumet in the Upper Peninsula to speak to artists about this effort. Several months ago when I started researching art fairs in Canada, I came across the "Art In The Park Windsor" website - www.artintheparkwindsor.com. The venue is beautiful (15-acre garden surrounding a historic manor), it is a 2-day juried show, and it is easier for Michigan artists to access than shows in Toronto and more distant parts of Canada. When I contacted the show organizer, the Rotary Club of Windsor, I was delighted to learn that this year, for the 1st time in 31 years, they had decided to open the show to artists from the US. We've been working on a collaborative basis to get the word out to Michigan artists. We've also been working with US & Canadian Customs officials, to simplify the procedure for crossing the border as much as possible. I am currently drafting instructions to share with artists interested in the show for this year or 2010. If you have additional questions I will be happy to try and answer them! Best regards, Eve Lerman, International Trade Specialist, US Department of Commerce, US Export Assistance Center, Pontiac, Michigan… Visit this link to see what she has set up: www.artfairinsiders.com/events/invitation Join us Sunday, June 7 from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM to assess the venue, learn about taking art across the border, and decide whether exhibiting could help grow your sales in 2010. Well, I'm impressed. Thank you so much to the Department of Commerce for opening some trade doors to artists! Any of you who live in the region around the eastern Great Lakes and tries to travel through to Canada to Michigan will also welcome this.
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FABULOUS Organization for this Show!My medium is Great Lakes Nautical & Nature Photography http:www.andersonphotoworks.comHosted by the Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council (WDCC) the 35th was held in downtown Milwaukee on the grounds of the Marcus Center for Performing Arts and adjacent (across the street) Red Arrow Park. Marvelous area with great restaurants and along the Milwaukee River. Likely the best area in Milwaukee. Details about and list of this years artists can be found at http://www.wdcc.org/exhibitions/index.cfmI applied for this event in February and was placed on the wait list - but was notified early June that I was accepted. This is an easy 30 minute drive from home so I pulled out of another show with hopes I'd do well with "locals". Entry fee was $350 - less for WDCC members (I may join this great group later this year). Passes were given for access to the adjacent parking ramp for Friday & Saturday. Sunday we found very close downtown parking (free metered parking on Sundays).WDCC runs the event with the artist in mind. Many attending are members of WDCC. Setup is "dolly in", but depending on booth location, there are several unload/load areas and we found no waiting problem pulling up and dropping off. We opted to set up the tent and hardware on Friday evening as we heard we would have rain that evening into Saturday morning. We brought our stock on Saturday morning. Not sure of numbers, but they have a huge amount of volunteers assisting both days. The program is terrific, listing artist alphabetically by name on one page and by booth number on another. A well defined map is included in the program. Terrible rain/storms plagued the weekend, but I must jump to Sunday. Heat index was over 100 and was sunny but humid and hot hot hot for most of the day. Around 1:00 volunteers stopped at each booth to mention terrible storms were on their way and said we had about two hours. They continued to inform us with updates (4) times up to the point of a 10 minute warning. The volunteer in our area was in touch with internet radar so he could be very descriptive & I gotta say - these guys were great. All notices were much appreciated! We actually began putting some things down at 2:00 tent, propanels, framed items etc, but left the matted pieces out yet prepared to put into plastic bins in seconds. We were totally packed by 4 and I must say - as I sit at my computer now, listening to the heavy rain, thunder & warnings on tv - I'm so glad to be safe at home with my dry tent and art work.Back to organizers - Each morning included a wonderful breakfast inside the spectacular air conditioned Marcus Center - breakfast included hot quiche, bagels & locks, huge yummy fruit platters, coffee, sweet rolls & a variety of muffins. After the show ended Saturday they held an equally fantastic "artist get together" with taco salad/chips, cheese platters, tons of other food & a cash bar. I saw some artists working on closing for the evening and volunteers noticed & brought food to their booth! Saturday had a lovely silent auction I was happy to participate in (hope my kayak photo did well). Artist information packet included the address. I don't know why all events don't have this as it's great for artists to enter into gps. I'm not so sure I would have liked being in the Red Arrow Park area as it is across the street from the main show - but each time I looked, they had a good crowd as well. VERY cold water (in those big orange jugs) and insulated coffee cups were available at all times to artists in a covered "porch" area of the Marcus Center Building. So very appreciated as it was hot. I went through alot of water.As we expected - Saturday morning was a series of several downpours until about noon or so. Greeting us at our drop off point was our favorite volunteer we met Friday. Soaking wet, she kept drop off flowing well and she dealt with cranky artists with great patience. We had thought we were quite smart in having our tent up & ready for us to load our stock quickly during the downpour. Oh my..... as we stepped into the tent, our feet sank up to our ankles (no exageration) in half of the area. This is why I always take 2 sets of extra clothing and shoes to every event. We were fortunately near the side of the Marcus Center and had a porchlike area to drop our stock and keep it dry. The rain was loud and hearing conversation was difficult. As we sat in the higher area of our tent we just waited out the rain - great time for that yummy breakfast. I did feel badly for the artists that waited to set up until Saturday. Eventually, the rain subsided and all were assessing the situation. We were on grass but those on concrete were also flooded.Adversity presents opportunities for organizers to be either loved or hated. Well - WDCC rose to the occasion. Immediately several Marcus Center grounds crew were out with squeegies & brooms swishing the water as much as they could. They continued this for over an hour. The norm for this show was to keep everything in your 10x10 booth. Adjustments were made and artists were allowed to expand outside of their area the best they could. We ended up not even using the inside and just put the propanels up for the framed work and set up on the other side of the sidewalk in a cut out area of the Marcus Center Building. While we were exposed to brief showers, this worked out well for us. During the showers we covered the matted artwork briefly with plastic & uncovered shortly thereafter. It reminded me of the art shows of the 60's & 70's - before everyone had tents. Organizers brought large cardboard for those in need (none that I saw had the mudhole we had - just water). Again, volunteers circled continually offering any assistance needed. I think we started setting up the product around 1:00. The judges were exceptional and I have never had this kind of interaction (I do shows most every weekend). They were personable, asked several questions you would think ALL judges should plus some questions that are typical of patrons. They spent quite a bit of time in each booth. This may be the reason that there was absolutely no sell/resell attendees. Screening is terrific. The event is called a "craft fair" but I must say - these were artists! I've always said to many "fine artists" that would never think of themselves in the same category as "crafters"...... don't judge a show by the name. All work at this show was of the highest quality and far better than some "fine art" shows.Artists were given typical name badges, altho these also had Barbara's (head organizer) name & cell number listed. I called her immediately after the rain about the mud and she was at my tent within minutes. She also personally checked in with each artist several times during the two days and was clearly visible as she walked the event frequently. Security & grounds crew was through the Marcus Center and the two organizations worked well together using headsets. Every problem or concern was immediately addressed.There were no porta potties on site. I hate porta potties! Artists and patrons were allowed access to the Marcus Center. Class act here. For those not familiar with the area - Marcus Center for Performing Arts is as great as Broadway. This weekend they had Phantom of the Opera and we had several high sales from those attending. It was personally fun to hear their excitement of the play. I must see it soon. A very nice food vendor and a beverage vendor (speciality coffees and fantastic fresh squeezed fruit drinks) provided artists and patrons with additional refreshments.Patrons for the most part attend this annually and are very art savvy! I enjoyed meeting them all.VERY glad to meet Geri Wenger - a member of artfairinsiders. Hubby was minding the booth for a bit when she first stopped and I'm so glad she returned. Thanks Geri.... I enjoyed our conversations and hope we meet again soon. Thanks also for the purchases!Needless to say with all the rain and late start/early end my sales were not what I had hoped. But I did quite well considering and hope to be accepted next year. I have NO complaints (do you believe it ?) other than the weather. Great potential here in better weather. I will post my typical YouTube videos tomorrow sometime.
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Monday morning: I was planning on blogging daily about the setup and the activities at this newly reorganized art fair, but it has been much too interesting participating to sit here and write about it. So here is the Great Lakes Art Fair report:

"Group shopping at the Great Lakes Art Fair" The fair was held in a new expo hall in an affluent area of metro Detroit, replacing an older event promoted by Sugarloaf Festivals. The owner of the Rock Financial Showplace, Blair Bowman, wanted to continue the tradition of having art fairs in the lineup of the events held there so he utilized his staff, PR connections, local sponsors and community good will to bring it into fruition as the Great Lakes Art Fair, with the mission of developing it into a destination regional event to take place spring and fall that would showcase the quality work for which Michigan shows are known. In that spirit there was a partnership with Detroit Public TV and NPR radio stations and the nonprofit Michigan ArtServe. Landscape partners created a beautiful garden entry way and created garden areas in other areas of the show floor. Good affordable catered food was available. There were demonstrations and representatives from the art departments from area schools from elementary through the fine Cranbrook Institution. Advertising and PR covered a wide geographic area, at least as far away as Lansing. It was heavily promoted on radio and television. Anita Spencer with long time customers Cons: 1. Michigan economy 2. Fabulous weather - sunny and 70 degree temperatures Friday and Saturday. For those of you who don't live in the upper Midwest these were our first beautiful Spring days after a cold and very snowy winter. 3. Closing of the adjacent freeway from Telegraph Road to Novi Road from Friday through Monday morning for highway construction. No easy access from the affluent eastern side of the city. A call to the Governor's office did not get the desired result. 4. Not quite as important - but the World Champion Red Wings played Saturday evening - drawing shoppers away early from the show. Pros: 1. By April people really are looking for ways to get out of the house and have an activity to look forward to. 2. Held in just the right affluent neighborhood with excellent demographics for an art fair, beautiful homes surround the Rock Financial Showplace for miles around. As I drove to the show I saw no for sale signs and even some new homes being built. 3. A good partnership with Detroit Public TV and the NPR stations and Michigan ArtServe, enabling us to get our message about the fair out to a specifically targeted audience. 3. This new event had piggybacked on the Sugarloaf Art Fair held on these dates in prior years, bringing an already built in audience of patrons. Some of the exhibitors were part of the Sugarloaf show and they used their extensive mailing lists to bring these people back. 4. The new positioning of the event as a Marketplace of fine art, fine food, and live entertainment, partnering with local schools to present student art from elementary to university levels. The report: Thursday was a busy day. Two large landscaping companies built a beautiful gardens, worthy of any flower show, throughout the show floor. A large central plaza featured a spa for many relaxing activities and excellent catered food (not concession food) with umbrella tables set around in the gardens. A children's activity area, artist demonstrations and a bar all helped to keep the patrons in the building longer. The staff at the Rock Financial Showplace really know how to load exhibitors into the arena. Load in was smooth and convenient. Most artists were able to drive up to their spaces. No long lines or waiting for an assigned time that may be inconvenient to you. There was steady traffic on Friday and Saturday, but the best attendance seemed to be on Sunday. The numbers were higher than they had been in previous years. Sales, as usual at an art fair, ranged from dismal to wonderful with lots in between. Artists who had mailing lists profited Friday night there was a reception for the artists with food and drinks and a gallery set up of artist's best pieces. Mary Strope, Vice President of www.WholesaleCrafts.com and manager of the American Craft Retailer Expo in Las Vegas, juried the work for awards. It was great to hang out with friends in this welcoming atmosphere. What is this, you say? A cocktail party for the artists?? Pretty cool. Patrons were very pleased to see the facility and the improved quality of the show. I talked to several who had planned to come to just see a favorite artist but wound up spending hours there, shopping and enjoying the upscale ambiance. Blair told me Sunday afternoon that he will often get emails from people after attending an event complaining about some aspect (we all know the complainers are the noisiest), but instead he had six to eight of praise. Here are a few we received: I just got home from the Rock Financial Showplace and the Great Lakes Art Fair. What a wonderful look and feel that new show has! I hope you are able to keep it going and growing, as it has all the earmarks of a stupendously successful show. The quality of the work is phenomenal, the atmosphere is classy and the artists are saying great things about the coordination, management and detail handling of the people putting it on. What a great way to start a new show! I want to exhibit in the show in the fall. Hope I'm good enough to get in!!! -- Mardi Chapman Dear Connie, I really enjoyed the art fair and came away with some wonderful treasures, as well as meeting some great artists. The margaritas and jazz band were the icing on the cake. Again, thank you for the tickets! -- June Lang Just wanted to comment that this show was soooooooo much better than the Sugarloaf Art Fair it replaced. THIS was an ART Show while Sugarloaf had decayed in recent years to a craft fair. We look forward to a repeat performance next year! Thanks--Paul and Jade Jozefiak No matter how much advertising you do, or PR placement, nothing works to build an event like word-of-mouth. Patrons were very pleased with the show and plan to tell their friends and return in the fall. Attendance will be even better. Also, artists will have postcards for their summer shows to pass out, generating traffic for the fall event. My thanks to everyone who helped pull this together, especially, the fabulous Erin Woody, RFSP's event manager, who did all the work with a graciousness and maturity that belies her years, and all my artist friends new and old, especially Tom Hale and Bonnie Blandford, who were supportive at every step. P.S. Read more about the fair at: www.bblandford.com, Bonnie's blog, and join us on October 17-19 at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, MI. Applications will be available online soon. To add your name to the email list visit: www.greatlakesartfair.com
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This is way too sad a story. Kevin Finnerty, a well-known artist from Arlington Heights, IL, set fire to his home early this month killing his wife, his 11 year old son and himself. Two other children escaped. He left a suicide note that blamed financial troubles. The previous weekend he had exhibited his paintings in a familiar place, a store that was near the Arlington Heights Art Fair. "LaSalle Bridge" Read the story at the Chicago Tribune, and a rather more bizarre story in the Daily Herald that talks about his painting and only eludes to the deaths of his family. Here is Kevin's website: kevinfinnerty.com
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Artist Takes Art Fair into her own Hands!

Keeping up on the art fair news is one of my duties here as chief moderator/bottlewasher. I regularly read several other forums and belong to other organizations. Recently, member Mark Zurek, posted a thorough show report on the Telluride (CO) Festival of Arts both here and at Larry Berman's yahoo groups for art show photographers. Read it here: Toughing it Out in Telluride. Shortly after that another report appeared about Telluride at the yahoo group written by Maria Arango. While Mark's report spoke of the excellent amenities and the beautiful location it also reported absolutely minimal traffic. While many artists would just chalk this up to fate (and decide not to come back next year), Maria surveyed the situation and that evening went back down the mountain (yes, it was held in a ski resort and you took a gondola to get there!!!), got herself off to a copy shop, made flyers about the event and posted the flyers on bulletin boards, windshields and any other surface she could find. The result: Maria brought her own traffic and walked away with much more than pleasant memories of a few days in the mountains of Colorado. I am so impressed! How many of you when faced with this situation would have reacted as Maria did? In a similar vein, I run the art section of Arts, Beats and Eats. This event is very popular and they report up to a million in attendance. Ralph Rankin, a Florida potter and photographer, has the first booth on the right hand side coming into the art fair. (To those new to the business, this would be the most highly trafficked spot). He stands in front of his booth in a sea of people from 3-9 on Friday, 11-9 on Saturday and Sunday and 11-5 on Monday and talks to everyone who comes past! He is amazing he just goes on and on. He does not have a helper. He is so pleasant and thorough that sometimes I expect him to show up on Tuesday :) His demeanor is a lesson to us all. Ralph and Maria may be extreme examples, but when you consider the high overhead of participating in this business you can see they may be working harder, but they are also working smarter! Here is Maria's story: I wholeheartedly agree with Mark on this show's assessment but I ended up with a good show. I did the same show plus the Vail Arts Festival (on the previous weekend) 2 years ago. In Vail, I handed out invitations to the Telluride show since not many Colorado people were aware of the then 1st-year show. My "invitation" postcard had a 20% off discount on the back and my calendar for the remainder of the year. Out of about 60+ handed out, I got 12 buying customers in Telluride! Usually I don't get that good return on these, truth be told. At Telluride, same experience, oh so great the food and help on load in, oh so lovely the ride up in the gondola, oh so lonely "up there" with hardly any customers. So on the first night back in the town proper and while my fellow artists dined and wined, I spotted a copy shop tucked in downtown and light bulb!; I made a flyer right then and there with the aid of one of my woodcuts, some magic markers, a friendly copy-shop attendant and a spur of the moment creative rush: 1000 flyers for 50 bucks. I spent the rest of the evening walking around historic downtown dropping off stacks of flyers wherever I was told I could. I put the rest on car windshields (Lord forgive my intrusion, I was desperate) parked in the main public parking lots in the town. I went back and spent some time on Monday before departing picking up discarded flyers, case anyone wonders. Well, I'd like to say I made out like a bandit on the next day but that would be exaggerating a wee bit. I did almost what I had done at the Vail festival though, around $4800 gross receipts and $11K for the entire trip. The best part? I saw a bear on the ski slope on the way up to my booth on Sunday (I get up early) and I spent a glorious 10 days NOT in the heat of Las Vegas. Ditto Mark's comments on the mountains. Maria Arango For those of you who don't know much about woodcuts, lovely as they are, these are not a high end product. This wouldn't have been a few $500 sales and maybe an $850 and trickle of other price points. For Maria to have racked up all those sales is a lesson to us all. What a breath of fresh air! I'd love to have your comments below. Either feedback on Maria and Ralph's assertive sales efforts or your own stories. Tell us.
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In case you missed it, July 15-18 are the dates of this year's Ann Arbor Art Fairs. I'll be attending on Thursday, making 34 years of perfect attendance for me. How about you? Meet me at 10:30 at State and North University. The press loves this event, I'd guess the most popular event in Michigan all year. Here are some recent articles to help you get there, understand the hype, and get to the root of this old rock star who just keeps on rocking: From the Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor Art Fairs have come a long way since 1960, a historical look Inclusive article with interviews with three of the art fair directors, Shary Brown, Kathy Krick and Maggie Ladd. Good background on what people are thinking, from the Ann Arbor News: Ann Arbor Art Fairs organizers, participants try to keep sunny outlook despite economy From MLive.com: Main Street Area Association director: Downtown businesses strategize to take advantage of Ann Arbor Art Fairs, excellent article from the business section - how can a business make money off the art fairs? I believe Ann Arbor wins the award on this one. From the Chicago Tribune: 4-days of summer art fairs kick off in Ann Arbor, details about the event From the Absolute Michigan website: 50th Annual Ann Arbor Street Fair, July 15-18, 2009, great links for information For all you oldies out there, you'll like this story from the Detroit Free Press: Potter J.T. Abernathy exhibited at the first Ann Arbor art fair; they're both going strong. "At 86, he remains the dean of Ann Arbor potters, putting in seven hours a day in the studio and relentlessly exploring new ideas, materials and techniques. "The same things still intrigue me that have always intrigued me," he says. "Ceramics is such a fascinating medium. I'm never bored with it. It has unlimited possibilities." A great overview with tips on negotiating the fairs at MLive.com: You've been warned: It's Ann Arbor Art Fairs time Painter Dale Rayburn meets the admiring public at the Street Art Fair
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She Kept the Money! More Bad News from Brandywine

It is official, the Brandywine Arts Festival, Wilmington, DE, is not taking place this fall. A change of organizers, back money owed for the event and three venue changes have stopped the event in its tracks after 48 years. There seems to be a pattern of miscommunication along the way. The new organizer, Janie Blanch "said Friday that she would be calling each artist who paid for a space. She said she needed at least 100 artists to make the festival a go. She didn’t get them. Blanch said she cannot refund fees to the estimated 150 artists and craft makers who paid up to $360 a space to participate in the festival. “That is impossible to do. We spent money on advertising and all this other stuff you spend money on, like the Web site,” she said. “I’m going to get in touch with a lawyer and find out what I do next.” Read the rest of the article here: DelawareOnline.com
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An interior designer by training and vocation, Ginny Herzog has taken her eye for detail and interest in architectural elements and abstracted it into one-of-a kind mixed media paintings using watercolor, crayons, graphite, pencils and photography. Originally exhibiting landscape paintings at her first art fairs starting in 1976 and sticking close to home the work soon blossomed into a career of distinctive art that says to the viewer "one-of-a-kind", exhibited at the country's finest art fairs from Texas to Connecticut. Balancing the traveling life with family meant that for several summers running one of her children would be her partner for the season. When one of her kids smashed her van into the garage wall before a big art fair she and friend artist Jody dePew McLeane squeezed all their work, displays and tents into Jody's minivan and enjoyed this style of travel so much they continued it for several years. As she travels she takes photos of the architecture of cities along her art fair route, later mining the images for her collages. At present she is working on a Denver series that she will be exhibiting at the Cherry Creek Art Festival there this summer, bringing a site specific body of work with roots in that region to her collectors. This month find Ginny will be returning to Reston, VA, for the Northern Virginia Festival of the Arts, May 16 and 17. Read more about Ginny and her work: www.artfaircalendar.com/featured artist
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Friday and Saturday, August 15 & 16 Canal Fulton, Ohio 11 am to 8 pm St. Helena Heritage Park 50 Artists Booth spaces are available on a first-come first-serve basis. Where is Canal Fulton, OH? Conveniently located near Akron, Canton, Cleveland and Columbus, check it out here. This is the third year of this event. The organizer, Dennis Downing, is a trustee of the heritage society, sponsor of the festival. Visitors to the event can enjoy a weekend festival of art and history, celebrating Canal Fulton's historical "canal era" and historical timeline of transportation from covered wagons, canal boats, and trains. Canal Fulton is one of the last remaining working canal cities in Ohio with an enriched historical district of over eighty nationally registered buildings and one of four remaining horse-drawn canal boats. This unique festival brings Art & History together. You will find artists, wine tasting, a civil war camp and reenactments, historical displays and lectures, museum tours, live entertainment and more. Who should apply to this event? -artists with traditional work -artists whose work connects with the historical theme -artists with work that appeals to families -artists who enjoy the ambiance of a themed event Please note that the event is held on a Friday and Saturday. The Ohio "Blue Laws" prohibit the sale of alcohol on Sundays and part of the fun of the festival is the presence of three local wineries. In the fall, nearby is the ever popular Yankee Peddler show with a similar historical theme, so there definitely is an eager audience. Do you live in the region? Have an open weekend? Then you may want to spend it in this lovely community. Expect low booth fees and a good return on your dollar. Eager to learn more about Canal Fulton? Visit: www.DiscoverCanalFulton.com To request an application: www.discovercanalfulton.com
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