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 customersCons: 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.comRead more…
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.comRead more…
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.
Read more…
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
Read more…
Posted by Connie Mettler on September 10, 2009 at 11:22am
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.comRead more…
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 artistRead more…
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.comRead more…
August 22 & 23 Keego Harbor, Michigan Sponsored by the Bloomfield Area North Chamber of Commerce Sat. 11am-8pm, Sun. 11am-5pm 50 artists Deadline: July 15 or until full Big Fish Festival is a local community event. Located in the lakes area, bordering West Bloomfield, Orchard Lake, and Sylvan Lake you will enjoy an 'Up North' atmosphere, but located
right in the center of Oakland County. It kicks off with a kids' bike parade leading to live music and entertainment, great food from area restaurants, a business exposition, this festival has it all, a celebration of the lakes community. Located outdoors at Roosevelt Elementary School, this beautiful site was once the High School for Keego Harbor. With 2,000 visitors, you will enjoy this event from beginning to end.
Do you live nearby or have an open weekend? The lake area in August is a refreshing place to be. The booth fees are a plus at $50 covering two days. This is the fifth year for the festival, with new activities every year and fresh promotion. Contact John Linemeyer at 248- 682-1510, ext. 31, or email
johnlinemeyer@completeins.com for more details. Applications available at:
www.bnachamber.com.
Read more…
It's always great to see it when an art fair's PR is working well. The little but lovely Belleville, IL, Art Fair on the Square, is coming up on May 15. Here is an excellent story about twelve artists exhibiting there next weekend. AND, I'm happy to report ten of the twelve do have websites and so will be able to capitalize on this good promotion.
(Did you know that you can use your "My Page" on this site as a web address? When you are on your page copy the url in the box at the top and you can use that---for all those people at art fairs who want to know if you have a website, that is in case you don't have one. While we are talking about that, can you please add a link on your website to this site? The more traffic we receive the better chances I have of selling some advertising here and then I can "keep the doors open." Thank you.)
Read about Michael McKee, C.C. Barton, Mira Raman, Jason Fricke, Sarah Giannobile, Qigu Jiang, Jennifer Gardner, Bonnie Shopper, Suzanne Linquist, Michael Baxley, Danielle Desplan and Mike and Maria Bragetta. It seems I haven't been to enough art fairs lately because I don't know any of them--two are from Oregon and one is from Tel Aviv! Now that's a long way to travel to do an art fair.
Read the interesting interviews: http://www.bnd.com/yourlife/story/762150.htmlRead more…
From the Palm Beach Daily News:
Winners were selected May 1 at the 2009 National City Art Show at SunFest, the West Palm Beach waterfront music and arts festival.
Best of Overall Show went to Ken Orton, of Roxbury, N.Y., who took home $2,000; Best of Show 2-D winner was Carol Napoli, of New Smyrna Beach, $1,500; and Best of Show 3-D winner was Jean Yao, of Fort Lauderdale, $1,500.
Awards of distinction winners received $750. They were:
* Tim Peters, of Winter Haven
* Patrick Pierson, of Palm Springs
* Marek Majewski, of Cape Coral
* E. Emerson, of Savannah, Ga.
* Brennan King, of West Palm Beach
* Emmanuel Moldonado, of Clearwater
Awards of merit winners received $500. They were:
* William Kwamena-Poh, of Savannah, Ga.
* Gustavo Castillo, of Jupiter
* April Davis, of Boca Raton
* Mesa Somer, of Durham, N.C.
* B.J. Royster, of Palm Coast
* Jamie Cordero, of Pinecrest
The judges were: Dennis Aufiery, painter and former department chairman of painting and drawings at the Armory Art Center, and Charles Stainback, curator of photography at the Norton Museum of Art.
Read more…
A little quiet here on the homefront today as artists are deep in their nests readying their nerves for the Ann Arbor Marathon that starts Wednesday morning. Those not in Michigan are recovering from last weekend's big events in Plymouth, Chicago, State College, Madison, St. Joe, Cleveland Heights, Wyandotte -- the big Midwest art fair weekend.
Here's the news from them:
Madison, WI - Big storms came in Friday night that wrecked booths, taking out some entirely. Travis Lindenbaum reported on the NAIA forum: Booths were down in every part of the show, and not just easy-downs. It seemed very random and wide-spread. Several artists were on-site at 3 AM, minimizing damage as best they could for the people who were not there. To add insult to injury the storm dropped hail on the East side of town, where many artists were staying, causing extensive damage to vans.
Matthew Hatala reported that at 2:24 in the morning hail "broke car mirror's and i have a crack in my winshield. took out about 10 booths Ann london, Steve O, Micky Cunningham, and others."
Here's a story from a blogger about Madison: Art Fair Weekend And here's a report from the Madison TV station, including a video of the event.
Any have any sales reports? anybody??
Speaking of storms, the Denver Black Arts Festival was held also this weekend and it sounds like it had a whopper of a storm, much damage. Read this sorry story and see the video.
Krasl Art Fair in St. Joseph, MI - Here's a good wrap-up in the South Bend Tribune. I was so sorry to have to miss this one this year. It is always beautiful weather and it is a great spot for a show on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan.
Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, PA - There is always something interesting going on at this event. The organizers know how to please a crowd and bring them back again - Street painters allow festivalgoers to get look at creative process
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/116/story/1393191.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0LIEbVsih&C
Wickford, RI's, big festival - nice report with discussions about the economy in the East.
Plymouth, MI - here is a local news story about this big event (400 exhibitors): Plymouth's Art in the Park
My thanks to those of you who made reports on last weekend's events. But what about the rest of you? We need to know from you. I know a lot of you were busy preparing for the next show, but by the end of this month I need to see a lot of reports! Nels, where are you? What about the rest of you? Please give us your slant. Tell us the best thing that happened.
I know, tell us the dumbest thing someone said to you. Let's make this a contest. The best story wins a copy of "Internet Riches" by Scott Fox. Deadline July 24. Comment below.
Read more…
Just when you thought we were finished talking about the Ann Arbor Art Fair for another year comes this interesting news, courtesy of photographer Walt Pinkus, at the yahoo art-show photo group. A very interesting and lengthy article at Ann Arbor.com about the most recent turmoil in the city of many faces.
It seems as though the city wants to build an underground parking garage in the heart of the State Street commercial district (well, nearly the heart), disrupting businesses, but horror of horrors, disrupting parking for artists vehicles during the art fair!!
I, for one, do love Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor art fairs, etc., but do believe that the greedy business owners in this section of town are one of the causes this art fair has been having trouble in recent years. Yes, of course, we can attribute some of it to the economic turndown. I do admit that. But I truly hold that the proliferation of art fair spaces, the business owners selling every square inch of the city to the highest bidder has served to confuse art fair fans and given to the common refrain of, "oh, I don't go to Ann Arbor any more. It is too big, too crowded and there is too much junk."
Don't believe me that it isn't just the economic downturn? Then get the details of the numbers of people riding the art fair shuttle from Briarwood. Those numbers peaked some years ago.
Anyway, back to the real subject of this article. Find out if your space will be impacted if the city gets its way for this construction project. Click here.Read more…
The start of a sale at any art fair begins with getting customers to notice your booth. What is the best way to attract customers to your booth? Here's just 6 tips that could work for you.1. Flowers. Nice landscaping can go a long way to sell a house. Flowers on a tables in restaurants put people at ease. So why not use flowers to your advantage. Last year I have used 2-4 planters with real planted flowers as anchors for my canopy. The idea came to me as I couldn't stand looking at cinder blocks or milk jugs while I sold at fairs. When I started using the planters - the first thing customers saw "Oh, what beautiful flowers" and came closer to take a look. Guess what happens next - they look in the booth and and enter it. So, perhaps planters aren't for you, what about a simple bud vase with your state flower, rose, wildflowers placed in areas you want to draw people's attention or fake flower garlands draped around an easel of your best 2-D art work?2. Large format photography. Ever find yourself driving and NOT take a second to see what a billboard advertisement was all about? The same idea can be extended to those who walk up and down aisles at fairs. Anything big draws the eye and for artists, this works like a charm especially for those who sell jewelry or anything small in size. For about $20, take a good photo of your best selling piece to a Ritz Camera (or other photo developer) and or get it framed or made into a banner and you are set.3. Good lighting. Remember the saying, "like moths to a flame"? Well good lighting in any show booth will draw customers in like moths to a flame. Darkness, shadows, and dim spaces is a natural deterrent - gets customers thinking about dark alleyways where danger could be around the corner. If people can't SEE what you make and sell, then isn't it only natural to pass one booth up for one that is well lit? Desk lamps, strings of Christmas lights, clip-on display lights, good display lamps, etc. all can work and some work better than others all depending on what you sell. Although some fear the money to fork over for electric, hauling lights and so on is too costly, I can tell you it will at least increase your sales 25-30% if not more - I am one of those who can vouch for this tip .4. Color. Commercial products in today's market place have great bright color branding - Yankee Candle, Victoria's Secret, Coca-cola, etc. I often see "cookie cutter" booths at every show - white canopy, white backdrops, white table coverings... While we can't help that fairs require white canopies and they are so easy to find, something as simple as colored table coverings, flower garlands hiding the legs to a booth, colored curtains/backdrops, simple colored scarves accenting jeweled toned necklaces, painted wooden shelving, and so on all are simple, inexpensive ways to add color to a booth. A splash of color in a sea of white (or black) will surely catch customers eyes as long as it is soft and not too bold.5. Banner. Banners do not have to be big, full of color, or expensive. Office supply stores who have a copy/print area or places online like Vistaprint can help help you make up any kind of banner you want all in the name of getting noticed. Two lines of writing such as your business name and website or tagline can truly make a booth stand out. It has a billboard effect, but also tells customers in a matter of 3 seconds I SELL POTTERY (photography, oil paintings, candles, jewelry...). This will help weed out lookie loos and drive serious shoppers into your booth.6. Demonstrate. Every show I have attended where someone demonstrates how their work is made - it draws a crowd. This idea appeals to the "mob" mentality where if one person stops to watch, others follow suit because they see one or more doing it too that it must be something interesting. Demonstrating is also a simple way to start selling without customers catching on. To show and tell a show patron how pottery is shaped and molded, watching a painter make a blank canvas flow with color, or how the sound of a hammer striking metal to form iron work is something people just don't see every day. Doing so also authenticates your work - they will never question "do you make this or is it handmade"? Can't demonstrate at a show - see point #2 - a large format photograph of you in action working away in your workshop also works just as well.I wanted to add this tip as I have had people asking me this question and recently posted it on my blog. I thought others here may benefit from the knowledge. If you like this post all I ask is to leave a comment on my blog - www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com . I want to encourage everyone though to share their tips. Have you tried any of these tips and they did or didn't work - I (as well as others I am sure) want to hear it. Thanks so much for reading!- Michelle, By the Bay Botanicals, www.bythebaybotanicals.comRead more…
You haven't heard much from me for awhile because I've been in Pontiac, MI, for the jurying for Arts, Beats & Eats. I have been present for many juries, usually as an administrator, here are some recent observations.
This Spring I've run the jury for both the Great Lakes Art Fair and Arts, Beats & Eats, both in the metro Detroit area.
The Great Lakes Art Fair signed up with zapplication.org. Since this was a new event it was hard to tell if being part of Zapp contributed to the number of applications received. We really had to work hard to put this event together and find artists to take part. There has been this perception among artists that all an art fair has to do is to sign up with Zapp and the applications pour in. This was not our experience. We did receive good applications but believe that the reason for this was our own outreach to the artist community, not because of Zapp's mailings.
Lisa Konikow and I have handled the Arts of Arts, Beats & Eats since l998. This year we signed on with Juried Art Services. It was our first year using a digital system. Contrary to common wisdom in the artist community we did not receive many more applications than the previous year. What we did receive was some applications from some very excellent artists who have not applied to our show before. We are very pleased. Arts, Beats & Eats will look fabulous in 2009 and we will capitalize on these new artists in our publicity and promotion (not forgetting our stalwart stars who have been with us for some time).
We would have thought that an event that has always been in the top 25 art fairs would be known to just about everyone in the business, but somehow this year we have new applicants. I am puzzled by this. Is this because of the Juried Art Services mailing list? What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.
Read more…
About the show - it's set up on the streets around a downtown square and a side street. Lots of activity going on with music and kids stuff in the square. Attendance is usually pretty good. Set up is Sat AM with even numbered spaces arriving at 6:30 and odd numbered spaces at 7:30, and this works out pretty well. Parking is nearby, within a couple of blocks of your spot. Quality of the art is pretty good, and the committee treats you well with breakfast (bagels, fruit, coffee) both mornings, and they also feed you lunch with cold cuts you can make sandwiches from. They also provide sodas, and water throughout the day at the artists hospitality area.There are a handful of awards, and they had 3 judges. One was dressed up as a priest - don't ask, because I have no idea why. I heard he was a 'character'. I was not 'blessed' with any prizes.So how was the show??? Well, this was my 3rd year of doing the show, and the prior 2 were decent, though nothing to write home about. For this year - what do you get when you mix a bad economy with lousy weather? You get the picture. Saturday we had about 4 downpours followed by bright sun. Sunday we had drizzle in the morning followed by steadily increasing rain as the temperature started to drop. By 12:30 there were rivers running along the edge of the street and if you were unfortunate enough to be at the end of the street on the downhill slope you had at least 2 inches in the rear of your booth. By 1:00, those of us who inquired were told we could tear down, as long as we dollied out because vehicles would not be allowed into the show area until official end time (which would have been 5:00). By 3:00, I was on the road.My sales total covered my booth and gas, not lodging. Others I talked to at breakfast Sunday AM said they were down considerably from the prior year. I can't imagine anyone sold anything on Sunday, since essentially, nobody showed up, except for Mother Nature. Oh, well...Can't comment on any good tequila places, Nel. :)
Read more…
Many of you know about the very fun Art Fair Garage Sale that takes place in Kalamazoo in February. In recent years a bunch of this kind of events have sprung up around the country. But how about one online? No travel, no booth fees required?
This has been one of my long term goals, but, thank the lord, I don't have to take that on! Enter
Travis Allison of
www.ArtGarageSale.com. Here is Travis' message to you:
I wanted to introduce you to a new site I developed, http://www.ArtGarageSale.com, expressly with the idea that affordable art can be enjoyed by everyone. With the state of the economy, I am offering a totally free trial offer with no listing fees until November 2009! After October 31, 2009, the listing fees are only 10 cents per item per month. Commission is only 4% for all sold items! Please take advantage of this trial offer by setting up your own "garage" at no risk or cost! Within the first 16 weeks of the launch, we have sold over $2,700 and are averaging 175 unique visitors and 15,000 hits per day and it even spiked to 26,000 in one day! We've had over 22,000 visitors in the first 5 months accumulating in 1.6 million hits! We are beginning our summer marketing campaign which includes both online ads as well as an extensive ground campaign covering the largest art fairs throughout the Southwest regions of the United States so make sure you have Your Garage's stocked up for the increased traffic this summer! We also recently went global, so we now offer international shipping which means your work will be seen and possibly purchased from customers around the world! Visit the website today and join. This is a wonderful opportunity to clean out your garage!
Read more…
I greatly enjoyed the 30th anniversary of Art In the Park. The weather cooperated for the 3 day show except for a downpour Saturday morning from 8 to 10. The show opened at noon and closed at 8pm on Friday, but I had patrons in my booth by 9am and did not close up until 9 as the crowds kept coming. Ditto for Saturday - closing time was 7pm but patrons lingered. My neighbor reported he did not close up until close to 10 as his booth remained busy. Thankfully on Sunday, the lovely people of Plymouth did not linger and everyone could start take down at 5. The Sunday Plymouth paper announced "Record Crowds Predicted" and I believe they were correct as the streets were filled all 3 days as was my booth.I found set up and tear down very well planned and drive up to booth was great. There was no “check in” – You received your booth assignment, and unloading instructions in the mail. Once you were set up, a volunteer brought you the booth tag. I found it nice that the food vendor area had their own street as their large trucks did not venture into most art areas.I talked with several artists and their list of complaints included:Entry fee too high (I agree)No booth sittersNo one giving out water (I will add that the local high school band had a couple of water booths and several times walked around offering to sell water – this was their major fund raiser and perhaps the reason organizers did not offer the water)Music in the center core too loudCrafters and commercial businesses were interwoven with artists. Evidentially this used to be fine art only, but there was a varied cross section of booths.From what I observed, the layout for approximately 400 booths was as good as possible. The core of the event was at a downtown intersection and booths spread out on adjoining streets. I was 3rd from the end of one of those streets. Typically I may have groaned about paying my dues as a first timer at this event, but patrons actually entered from all points of the perimeter. Greyhound type busses ran continually from various park & ride locations and dropped patrons off at one of the less desirable ends. I’m not sure if it was the design of the show or the very experienced event patrons, but I’m fairly sure any patron that attended came down to my end. It was nice to have an active booth, even though not all were buyers. They may be one day.Kellogg Park takes up an entire block and one corner is at the event’s core. The entire park was dedicated to a variety of creative, hands on, kid’s art activities including a kid vendor area where kids sold their art. Throughout the weekend I was thrilled with the higher than average amount of teens & preteens that visited my booth, initiated great art savvy conversations and even purchased some of my photography. I did not make the connection until late Sunday when I realized this lovely community is quite active in its efforts to get kids involved and comfortable with art at a young age. How great is this?Two school lots served for artist parking and ours was approximately 5 blocks away. Overnight parking for those sleeping in motor homes or vans was allowed. The organizers had arranged for discount rates at several hotels. Several of the nearby restaurants dropped off menus and offered booth delivery. Security was provided by city police – not rent a cops. A great majority of the people I spoke with (now remember, I do like to talk) had been severely affected by the problems within the automotive industry and my heart goes out to them. Having said that, I had quite a profitable show. No framed items sold, but I nearly sold out of my 8x10’s and 16x20’s. I also have (9) 18x24 & larger orders to complete when I arrive home Tuesday. I’m thinking I’ll get better gas mileage with (4) empty crates in my trailer!I do so enjoy Michigan & its lovely people. I think I’ll take the long way home to Wisconsin via the U.P. rather than deal with the high van/trailer tolls in Chicago. Yes – it’s probably a wash with the extra gas, but I get to enjoy Michigan for just a tad longer.Bottom line – Entry is high and it is not an all fine art only event. For me, it was an enjoyable show and I will return. I’ll have my typical videos on YouTube later.
Read more…
August 14 - 15 Frankfort, Michigan Friday 4 pm-8:00 pm, Saturday 10am-5pm Market Square Park Coordinated by the Frankfort-Elberta Chamber of Commerce 180+ Artists Deadline: MAY 15, 2009 Where is Frankfort? High on a bluff in the heart of Michigan's summer vacationland, the hidden gem of Northern Michigan on Lake Michigan and Betsie Bay. From the Chamber of Commerce: This very popular northern Michigan Art Fair has been voted one of the top 10 Art Fairs in Michigan! This two-day event provides a variety of artists and food. Visitors specifically look for their favorite artists year after year - We do our best to keep them in their same spot, so they know right where to find them! The fair is in a beautiful park setting with up to 10,000 people in attendance. It is one of the most popular art fairs in Northern Michigan. Artists return year after year due to its popular appeal. What's not to like?
* two days * beautiful time of year for weather * spacious booth spaces: 12 x 12 * great booth fee: $105 - both days! There is also fun for the whole family with all of the downtown businesses as well as a collector car show 3 blocks away, among many other activities that day and great local food. Here is the application:
www.frankfort-elberta.com/event_applications.html For more questions contact: Joanne Bartley, Executive Director, C of C at 231-352-7251, or
fcofc@frankfort-elberta.com For more info about the area:
www.frankfort-elberta.comRead more…
Comment by Barbara Sucherman just now Delete Comment I am a jewelry artist and I just did Krasl Art on the Bluff and Ann Arbor's Summer Art Fair on State Steet with the Michigan Guild. Two Michigan shows, from one to the other.This is my second year at Krasl, my 30th in Ann Arbor!Krasl was delightful. The Show Director was wonderful. The setting is beautiful, overlooking Lake Michigan... artist amenities were many. There was a hospitality room at the Boulevard Hotel...accross from my booth, breakfast, lunch and snacks throughout the day and lovely, clean restrooms. I didn't make it to the Friday night dinner at the Art Center (set-up takes me forever sometimes) . Volunteers were plentiful, booth sitters and all. But sunset over the Lake was spectacular (I'm from Chicago, we get sunrise, but I seldom see that).I had a hole in the grass, in front of my booth which everyone stepped in and almost fell, myself included. I mention this to Sara Shambarger and within minutes 2 volunteers appeared with a shovel and bark mulch. They cut a rectangle in the grass, peeled back the sod, put in some mulch and stomped it back down. This was an amazing thing to see. Artists, remember this wherever you are ... a great tip for show staff.Anyway, customers came to this show and were interested, the "Be Backs" came back on Saturday. My sales were good on Saturday and if Sunday had been the same... I would have made a little money. Sunday's sales for me did not add up to a hill of beans. But I will try this show again...it has much promise!Ann Arbor, on the other hand... 30 years... has gone from my very best show ever for about 20 years... to about the same as I did at Krasl. It is 4 days, of grueling hours, 10 - 9 pm. And add on an hour at both ends to set up and pack up the jewelry... need I say more! And I have an assistant I pay for all of those hours... She made more than I did!I am not sure what I will do next year...maybe a new location? Maybe a Sabbatical.Barb Suchermanhttp://silverdesignjewelry.comhttp://bsucherman.blogspot.comhttp://BarbsSilverJewelry.etsy.com
Read more…
