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With 4 wholesale crafts markets scheduled between January & mid February, how does one decide which show to choose? If you are a first timer there are several factors to consider.

Has anyone else ever been faced with the following situation?  For me, 2012 was not a good year.  I didn't get into several shows I applied to, I selected a couple of real dogs and, I had a couple of rather nice surprises.  However, I'm not going into 2013 with a nest-egg that would support General Motors!  And, now, with no impressive amount of money, it seems I'm being invited to every show to which I apply.  Wouldn't yo know!  I had hoped for a trip through Florida in the Spring and have been accepted into

Winter Park, Naples National, Gasprilla, Under the Oaks and Arti Gras but it would cost me $5000 to make a trip.  I realize I might triple my investment but, unfortunately, if you want to dance, you have to pay the band --- up-front.

Think I'll just stay home and start doing flea-markets!

In 1995 a group of 25 artists met informally in Chicago at the Old Town Art Fair to discuss concerns and interests of the current state of affairs in the art and craft show world. The concept of the National Assn. of Independent Artists (NAIA) was born out of that meeting and the organization was officially formed and named in March 1996.  The stimulus for this meeting was a near riot at an art fair in Charlotte, NC, that April.  What sounded like a gunshot went off and the huge crowd stampeded down the street smashing tents and artwork that was in the way.

Artists decided that it would be a good idea to adapt some "best policies" to present to art fairs in order to avoid this kind of occurrence happening again. I was at this first meeting and it was exciting to join the group to see if working together artists could improve our working conditions. The NAIA has done a lot of good things for artists, but to artists the most invisible one is the Show Director's Conferences.

I've attended most of these conferences, always held in conjunction with an art fair so the directors can see how events are held in different parts of the country and to learn how they can improve their shows. Last week they met in Indianapolis with our sponsor being the Broad Ripple Art Fair. In attendance: (photos below)

     Dave & Carla Fox: Art in the High Desert
     Sharon McAllister & Jeanne Seehaver: ArtFest Fort Myers
     Jay Snyder & Craig Thompson: ByHand Cleveland
     Brian Wood: Cedarhurst Center for the Arts
     Antonia Lindauer: Cherokee Triangle Art Fair
     Terry Adams & Tara Brickell: Cherry Creek Arts Festival
     Vaughn Griffith & Mary-Sue Bartlett: College Hill Arts Festival
     Peggy Finnegan: Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival
     Stephen King, Angie Lolbet & Beth Johnson: Des Moines Arts Festival
     Patty Narozny & Elise Richey: Hot Works
     Sara Shambarger & George Barfield: Krasl Art Center
     Georgie Kelly & Mary Fourhman: Madison Chautauqua Festival of Art
     Nichole Smith: Newport Arts Festival
     Linda Beckstrom & Lynn Pritchard: South Shore Frolics Festival of Art
     Lisa Konikow & Connie Mettler: Arts, Beats & Eats
     Sarah Arnold: Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival
     Lisanne Robinson: Sebastian Art Festival
     Leah Charney: Zapplication
     Artists: Les & Ella Slesnick, Marji Rawson, David Rosenberg, Rich Fizer, Kate Strong, Teresa Saborsky, Carroll Swayze & Mary Strope, Admin for NAIA

As you can see from this list it is an excellent mix of events from the big name festivals to smaller volunteer run events. This makes for great dialogue as, depending on your point of view, just about every issue has a different answer.

This year's conference was a dialogue among the attendees addressing what artists feel are the most important topics at today's shows.

The first presentation was on the costs of doing art shows presented by Terry Adams (the guy with the really big budget), Sara Shambarger (smaller budget) and two artists, Carroll Swayze and Rich Fizer (really small budget). The budget for Cherry Creek is well over $1,000,000 and Terry presented a pie chart for where the money comes from and where it goes. How much is funded by jury fees? Make some guesses in the comments below.

The next topic was Booth Images, facilitated by Carla Fox and Stephen King. Everyone weighed in on what the booth image meant to their show and how important it is. The general consensus was that shows use booth shots for two purposes:

• to get an idea of what the presentation will look like at their show and
• to see that the work that is presented in the art images is related to the final presentation

They also agreed that indoor shots or outdoor shots were not any kind of a deciding factor, they just really wanted to see how your art would fit into the finest possible presentation to the attending public.

This was followed by a cocktail party. We were asked to attend as our favorite artist, work of art, or style of art.

Nichole Smith as "Mixed Media", Jeanne Seehaver as "Annie Liebovitz"

Stephen King as "Stephen King"

Who is this show director who attended as "Andy Warhol"?

Connie Mettler & Lisa Konikow attended as "Art Fair"
Lisa took first place and Connie took third place in identifying important works of art. We were proud!

Leah Charney as "The Lady in the Hat" by Matisse.

Would you believe that this is the face of Zapplication?

The next entire day was spent on buy/sell, identifying imports and production work. Carroll Swayze presented a paper with excellent research to help directors identify imposters and buy/sell people. Some show directors google every applicant to make sure that the applicant is the actual artist. We all shared our personal experiences and resources for finding buy/sell. All agreed it was best to find out these agents before the show and allow them to make their case rather than wait until they were in the show, causing disruption on many fronts.

That evening we rode a school bus to the Preview Party on the lovely grounds of the Indianapolis Art Center. Congratulations to Patrick Flaherty, the new director of the Broad Ripple Art Fair, for this excellent gathering. Then back to downtown Indianapolis to make some last connections with one another and promises to weed out the buy/sell.

Even at a party the directors are still reviewing booth images! This is Teresa Saborsky, Jeanne Seahaver, Terry Adams, Carla Fox & Leah Charney (back to camera)

Peggy Finnegan from Chenango Colorscape and Terersa Saborsky, director of the NAIA

Almost all of us returned on Saturday to Broad Ripple to see the show, meet friends and BUY ART!

Summation: much of substance does get covered at these conferences but nothing beats the interaction with fellow directors and the networking that continues through the year.

I wanted to write reviews of the shows that I've done to help other artists potentially make decisions of whether they want to apply or not but its kind of a pain to get the shows onto to the reviews page so I thought i would just share my information on here.

Key Biscayne, Florida

Hyde Park, Tampa, Florida

Altamonte Springs, Orlando, Florida

Marco Island, Florida

Old town Art Fair, Saint Augustine, Florida

St Armands Key, Sarasota, Florida

Lawton Arts Festival, Oklahoma

Blue Dome Arts Festival, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Deerfield, Illinois

Hinsdale, Illinois

Wells Street Arts Festival, Chicago

Northville Arts festival, Michigan

Fountain Square, Evanston, Illinois

Salida Arts Festival, Salida, Colorado

Salida Riverside Arts Festival, Colorado

Downtown Aspen, Colorado

Beaver Creek, Colorado

Sloan's Lake Arts Festival, Denver, Colorado

Evergreen arts festival, Colorado

March -

Key Biscayne (Howard alan)

    I personally will never do this show again, I did terrible.  it was my first show so i was working out some kinks for sure and I cant completely discredit this show. The artists I spoke to who seemed to do well were glass or 3-d artists and miami artists.  A cuban/miami local who does pretty much only pop art style of cuban coffee pots and american coffee pots that say "cuban" and "american" I would have to assume did awesome because I saw those paintings walking all over. 

Its a very hispanic population so those who are fluent speakers also have an advantage, I speak spanish at a conversational level, but I'm not as confident "telling my story" or selling in spanish so I certainly had a disadvantage.  Anyways, there were a fair amount of people walking around, the show wasnt dead, it wasnt hugely busy though. Easy Friday set up but I will absolutely never ever do it again.  Overnight parking is in a park a mile or two away and there is a sparsely running shuttle to bring people from A to B. 

Hyde park (Howard alan)
     This show is in an awesome location in Tampa.  My target clientele is younger with money and this is who populates this show.  Its a Saturday morning set up so that's kind of a pain in the ass, but I did luck out on being able to pull right up to my booth to drop stuff off and set up.  I would entertain the idea of doing this show again, I think  a lot of people do well here. 

Altamonte springs

      This is in an interesting location north of orlando in an expensive town home development with a similar demographic as Hyde park.  A majority of Saturday got shut down because of a tornado warning but i think it would have been a pretty good show for me had that not been the case.  I would probably do this show again.  

April -

Marco Island (howard alan)

     This was the first show that I felt I did well at. now after having done months of shows my idea of "well" is certainly different than it was then but Marco Island was good for me.  I think it was a first year show of HA promoting it. I think some seasoned artists said there used to be a show run there but there have been a few years sans show making it essentially a first year so, So i would have higher expectations for this show in the future. 

Set up/Break down was cake.  you can drive onto the grassy area to set up. unfortunately parking is miles from the show, there is a trolly to shuttle people back and forth.  There are no bathrooms or any amenties near the parking, I walked over to the beach and poached showers at the hotels on the beach in the evening. 

St Augustine (Old town I think its called, its run by Lynne something)

      Same set up as Marco Island, in a big open field, you drive up to it, super easy.  Parking is right next to the show which is really nice and my family lives in St augustine so i was able to get a shower there.  The location isnt great, not a ton of traffic. I did okay because my grandma passed out the little art show promo cards provided free by the show to everyone in her neighborhood and told everyone if they didnt atleast come to the show and see me they would be off of her christmas card list. I'm not joking. haha. So that was a big help.  I dont think its a great show.  its a mediocre show at best but I will do it again because of my family. 

St Armands (paragon)

     This show also has a fairly easy set up, you drive into the middle of the circle and drop off your stuff then parking is maybe a quarter mile away on the beach which is pretty nice. there are nice bathrooms there (they're locked at night) and beach showers so that's good. 

I didnt have a very good show there, one of my neighbors was a painter and he didnt do well either, but a jeweler that was near us did awesome.  Ohh and a guy who made crazy huge outdoor bronze sculptures killed it. He must have sold 3 pieces at 5-7 grand each. 

Bill Kinney, the promoter, comes by at the end of the show asks what your sales were and comes out with series of graphs by media etc and shows what the average sales of each were so that's really nice (assuming that they're accurate) according to the file that he sent the average sales were just under 4K per artist.  I did below that but I had not yet gotten my Trimline, so i was rocking an EZup and I think with the fancy vacationers of St armands. 

Also, Howard alan had a show close by that weekend and sent Helaine over to this show to try and get the vendor list, when paragon refused to give it to her she walked around and wrote everyones name down. I guess to discriminate against us? art show politics....

May- off to oklahoma!

Lawton -

    Wow, that's an interesting demographic there.  Fairly easy set up if you have a spot next to the road, less so if you're deeper in the park.  There are lots of food vendors here and the show certainly attracts a lot of people, a large portion of them are toothless, inbred looking carnival going turkey leg eaters. and the other side of that are Army people stationed at Ft Sill. 

I do hawaiian style art so many of them had been to hawaii and really connected with my work so I sold a lot of pieces in the 100-250 range. I dont think I had any sales from a higher price range, but i did sell quite a bit of pieces there.  A neighbor of mine that made wall sculptures out of square nails was NOT happy at all, but he has higher expectations than I do, he's been at it for like 30 years, and I probably did better there than him. 

its a 3 day show, set up friday am/midday and show is open friday like 4-7 or something then normal weekend hours.  The promoter was super accomodating and even set up for host families to stay with in town.  They also arranged for all of us to be able to use the YMCA gym, pool, sauna, and showers which is right next to the show. I was really stoked about that, and parking is a few blocks away at a library ergo free wifi.

The weather can be really unpredictable, there were tornado warnings on thursday, not terrible throughout the weekend until breakdown and shit got crazy windy. I didnt get any damage though. 

Blue dome in Tulsa

       So this show started as a boycott of local artists to Mayfest's policy of only accepting 10% local artists.  I was only able to do this show because my buddy is from there and we split a triple booth, which was probably the best location in the entire show right in front of the oldest bar in Tulsa. Most of blue dome is crafty or buy/sell low end stuff, which can go both ways, but i'd say it worked in our favor.

there are a lot of serious buyers in Tulsa who boycott mayfest because of the aformentioned reason and they had very little choices of fine art in this show, us being one.  So we totally killed it and were pretty drunk the whole time.  Also, the booth fee is like $100 for 3 days, so thats awesome. If its geographically convenient at all I will absolutely be doing this show again. It was a blast. I imagine Mayfest is lucrative for artists as well.

June-

Deerfield, IL

     I will absolutely not be doing this show again.  Its in a heavily jewish area so saturday was completely dead and sunday was not a whole hell of a lot better.  A few people did okay, but its not my crowd, nor was there a crowd at all. It was a fairly easy show to do, I met a couple who became my closest "art tour" friends who i subsequently did shows with for the next 2 months.

I also by crazy chance got my top collector there. He is a young guy and avid art collector but had no clue of the show. he had gotten off the train and saw the show so walked down in the last few minutes before closing sunday. He bought a small original and said he would be getting my biggest piece at Wells street show in 2 weeks which he did.  He has since bought a few more originals for me.  That made Deerfield worth it, but I wont do that show again. No one was really happy. I do not recommend it.  It is next to whole foods though which made me happy

Hinsdale, IL

    Not my cup of tea either.  I didnt really speak to anyone who had a good show.  Its in a hugely upscale area, but I did not see anyone buying expensive pieces.  Thats about all I have to say. ohh the breakfast they had was the best muffins I'd had yet at a show-they were from a local bakery

Wells Street - downtown chicago

     That show is a big drinking party. I was right across from Benchmark bar, which seemed to be one of the swankiest busiest bars.  I heard that some serious buyers dont walk to that area because there are too many drunk people, but I did really well there, partially because of my deerfield collector buying my biggest piece.  It was a good time, I will apply to Old town next year and if I get in I will certainly do that, but I would do wells street again. Set up/ breakdown has potential to be a complete nightmare. 

Northville, Michigan

    This is a 3 day show, which it probably shouldn't be, but its in a small downtown in an upscale suburb.  Friday am we set up then the afternoon was open for business. The weather sucked friday and I didnt sell a single thing, but I didnt really care, I was hungover and didnt want to talk to anyone anyways. So i just stood in my booth and painted all day as it rained outside. 

Saturday was a different story, weather was great and I killed it. It was another show that had a lot of lower end stuff so i think that helped me stand out.  That was a $100-300 price point show for me atleast, but I sold enough to definitely be willing to do it again. especially if i can do ann arbor which is only 2 weeks away i think. 

The promoter is new to running the show but she's so awesome. I asked her if there were any showers we could use near by and she offered her house which is only a block away so I showered there and then hung out with her and her husband for hours. 

I will definitely put this show on the list for next year if its geographically convenient.  Its a good filler show at best, but it was worlds better than other filler shows that I had done.

Fountain Square, Evanston IL

     I heard from artists who had done this show for a number of years that they keep changing it around and thats definitely affecting the show in a negative way.  I expected more from this show than I got. I had a last minute sale that took me to the number I wanted to make for the show just before breakdown, but... ehh.... I think this show is going down hill for sure.  I would do it as a filler show maybe.  I made money, but it just seemed like kind of a buzzkill. 

Lunch was catered by wholefoods though which was nice.  Parking is free, but is sort of far away and they said they had a shuttle, but that company is a shit show and no one knew they were supposed to even have a shuttle. an employee gave me a ride so it was all okay, but still, unorganized. and parking is miles away so its not really walkable before/after a show.

July

Salida Arts Festival

    This was a first year show so I had low expectations.  I didnt do well by any means but as it turns out, I did worse at a number of colorado shows. Jerry, the promoter, I think, worked really hard to promote this first year show which isnt in a great location.  Load in is harder than it should be for being in a park, in my opinion. 

I will not be doing any shows in colorado again probably, and the only person I spoke to who was stoked was this really amazing older Korean man who makes Cajon drums who sold on saturday alone 14 drums that are priced between $400 -$700. He did awesome. Salida is a lower income artist community, and also a place where other Coloradans come on mini Stay-cations So if your art sells well here, maybe entertain this show.

Salida Riverside

    This show is run by Danna Tullis and I will NEVER do another show run by this woman. this seasoned show was in a far better location than the prior and I did way worse, as did everyone.  The owner of an art gallery less than 1 block from the show came by and told me he had no clue the show was happening.  Danna does no promotion for shows, she just takes the booth fees I guess.  She also does Sloans lake in denver which was terrible and I will mention later.  DO NOT DO THIS SHOW.

Downtown Aspen (Howard Alan)

     I did not do as well as expected at this show, which is an understatement,  but I think many people did do really well. They put a few artists on this weird little off shoot of the show, I was not one of them, I had a decent location, but I felt terrible for them, they got no traffic. I also heard other artists tell me that the art galleries had united and had gotten an article in the paper discouraging people from patronizing the show, and instead, going to art galleries who pay taxes etc all year, rather than these foreign artists who just come in for one weekend. 

I was next to a knife maker who did awesome. His stuff was really cool and he and his wife were great and made a super unique product, so I can see why they did awesome, also a glass artist who I heard of and didnt meet until the following weekend did like 20K from one collector at the show.  Most of the people buying art here are on vacation. 

Also Mountain fair was going on the same weekend in carbondale, less than an hour away and I think that detracted from the people at this show somewhat.  This show can be good for some, it wasnt for me.  I think also that booth appearance is extremely important at these shows, as these people are accustomed to buying at high end stores.  So the fact that I still had an EZup probably hurt meas well.

August

Beaver Creek (Howard Alan)

    Set up can be a complete nightmare, although it wasn't really for me.  Same as Aspen where I think i probably would have done better with a nicer booth set up, So its on the agenda.

A neighbor of mine who did big abstract paintings and had a large tall trimline tent sold 2 pieces at 7k each and got a huge commission.  Across from me a fiber artist did pretty well selling womens sweater things.  the glass artist I mentioned from Aspen straight killed it here too. He has some really awesome stuff and larger pieces are in the 6K-7K range and he must have sold 5 of those alone among lots of smaller stuff. 

You also run the risk (probably 50%) of being stuck in an area thats a huge pain in the ass to set up as well so far of the beaten trail that it has little to no foot traffic. This can be a fantastic show for some though, that's for sure

Denver Sloan's Lake

     Also run by Danna Tullis.  Last year was supposed to be the first year show, but that was when Denver was having crazy floods so this was the first year.  Very little foot traffic, also more of a pain in the ass to set up than it should be.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SHOW TO ANYONE. no one I spoke to did well.

Evergreen

    This was one of the most accomodating shows I have done, although Beth, the current promoter, did announce she was resigning this year.  They have a pretty awesome artist dinner on saturday a few miles away.  Some people did well at this show, not me though, nor one of my neighbors. Its in a park so they had to design the map around trees and such so I was in a weird offshoot which was a lower foot traffic area for sure.

This was the worst show I had in a long time, but people out here, especially these retired, upper middle-upper class just weren't into my stuff.  I think its worth doing for others, but i will not be doing it again. 

To be continued .....

Today I am putting forward my ideas on marketing and what the options are in the Art world.  I have worked in a retail environment for most of my life.  It is seldom pretty, always competitive, and will spit the ignorant out in a second.  Whether artists realize it (and some do not) this is the place they will be when they choose to sell their artwork.  Creating your paintings, photos, macramé (do they do that anymore?), and whatever else we create is usually fun, or at least should be.  Aunt Molly comes over and see’s what you are doing and says: “Golly Bubba you should sell those Possum socks, they are beautiful”.  The light goes on and Bubba is doomed, UNLESS he is savvy to what he will be getting into.

First Bubba obviously needs more critique and I do not mean a Jury that may or may not actually look at his work before they send him that happy acceptance message that asks for the $10000.00 booth fee up front.  Rain…too bad ‘no refunds’.

Bubba needs to find people 1. He does not know, people who may not like him, and some one of knowledge that will jury his stuff knowing that the fee they are getting does not get bigger for BS.

So now Bubba finally somewhat understands if Aunt Molly was almost right.  Let’s say that Bubba gets great reviews and is surrounded by happy bubbles that are blurring his vision.

NOW the work begins.  Bubba being goes to the local ‘Flea Market’ (it wasn’t his fault, they called it an Art Festival and served beer) only to find out that the only thing selling was watermelons.  Well we have all been there one Way or another and that didn’t stop us so Bubba will persevere.  Starring eyes will do that to us all.

Bubba now decides that he needs a higher class clientele and settle on a $10.00/square foot booth at the local ‘Art Festival’ *seems as if I am repeating myself) and settles in for 2 days in which he almost broke even. Not bad.  Of course if he doesn’t count his time, food, and backache from sleeping under the truck ($10.99 for Ibuprofen at Walmart) for 3 nights. 

So…Now the local Auto body shop sees Bubba stuff and offers to display them next to the coffee machine in the lobby for a 60 percent.  Bubba is ecstatic, he goes there all the time and knows they are busy and they luckily did not ask for some kind of contract (Bubba can’t write).  Bubba of course never hears from them again except and being slightly ‘memory deficient’ just forgets the whole thing.

Now, the panacea of all who would sell retail….THE INTERNET.   I will now get somewhat serious.  Somewhat that is.  Unfortunately the very things that make the internet great also make it a nightmare for those who choose to sell un-necessary goods there.  Artwork is mostly beautiful, inspiring, and desired, but seldom considered a necessity. 

You have access to Zillions but those Zillions must sort through Zillions to find just you.  The search engines make it and even harder task now because of the prevalence of Spam and other nasty things.  Though I used to be very well versed in HTML and inner workings of website with just a couple of years away from it I was amazed at how behind I am.  Web crawlers, Markup, sitemaps, bots, OMG when does it end.   So if you have not the slightest idea of what I just said leave it to the obvious that making your own site is probably an exercise in futility.

Of course there are the great people who for a few bucks will set you up with a site of your own.  The few bucks can become morer (yes there is no such word I made it up because it fit) rather quickly when you add shopping carts, etc.  Now you have a site that looks more like the local grocery than an “artist’s site”.

The ugly fact is that marketing your artwork is exceedingly difficult and often disappointing. Ask JC Penny, Kmart, and others going down the pipe.   But that is why you should Enjoy what you are doing.  Art for art’s sake.   I do online sales but do not get excited about it and I am versed in web management, the price I pay is thus reasonable. Even so; I use it more as a way to organize myself and my sticks than any real hope to sell out.

 I hear you all out there yelling PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO,   yes I hear you but then we get back to the zillions thing.  But by all means post a Portfolio so those who care can see your work can without coming over and drinking your beer..

 WE then get back to shows.  Shows can be fun and rewarding, you get to meet fellow artists, and hopefully sell a few things.  But you must find the ones who are truly interested in you and promoting art and not making and easy 250000.00 on a weekend.  They are there, you just have to be patient and look. Never go to shows that allow anything other than artist made goods and for the shows that add 100.00 a day for electricity; Boycott their butts and next year we will not have to deal with them. 

Got long winded there.  Sorry

Mark M

What happened? Did Nels take a picture of some guys painting hanging on a fence? Really? Let's organize a bunch of torch holding town "folk" and go chase him out of his castle. Where was the outrage when the 10 or 11th "art" photographer shot the same slot canyon? Once again...with feeling. The problem is not that Nels did this, any more than several of the "art" photographer's, when not totally ripping off good men like Ray Hartle, are out shooting statues and such. Once again my children...you are killing the goose by becoming a decorative market place...Instead of rising up like rabid dogs in opposition to the tape measure and swatch caca that prevails, it appears you jumped on a poor old guy for doing wrong...and maybe it was. The problem however, is not Nels. it is the constant pandering to the swatch/tape mentality. As long as fine art/craft biz is dictated to by decor there will be an ongoing march towards average.. Remember, if you can't make it good, make it big...and if you can't make it big, make it blue...or watever this years color is.. F..k it, who wants pie? . .

Generalisamo Hippie

A friend of mine was excited to tell me that he was just juried into a fine craft show.  I was appalled and said - 'But you do 'buy and sell.'  And then I told him that if he was next to me, across from me, or anywhere near me, I would be totally upset.  He said he understood and hoped he wasn't placed near 'shlocky buy and sell.'  He figured that promoters needed to sell space.  I figure that if promoters are so desperate to sell space, then maybe there needs to be a 'Plan B' - to think it through before buy and sell is included in a fine craft show.  Now I know that  this particular promoter isn't necessarily being honest with the artists applying to these shows.  What are we as crafters to do - knowing that this is happening to a well thought of promoter, then it's most likely happening throughout the industry.

The jury system is bad - fundamentally flawed.  Each year it is the primary influence on our show year and our careers. Here it is again subject of a blog post.

Posts here and elsewhere bring up the same points.  Our fates are determined by jurors. Bad scenario. Art experts?  I think not.  They may have art backgrounds, they may work in musueums, the may be gallery owners.  They may teach "art".  So what?  Does their background make them qualified to choose?  Are they really "art experts"?  What defines art?  What relevance to defining art (undefinable IMO) have to what people wish to buy?  Does the alleged "art expert" background really serve the purpose of setting a palette of artwork the public wishes to purchase?  To compare: are movie critics correct? Do you care more about what a critic says, or the public says?  Same with books, do you only read a book that a critic gives their blessing to?  Do you only eat at restaurants given two thumbs up by a food critic?  And in the case brought before us here in the blog posts on the Krasl jurors, how can they be "art experts" and one give you a 7, one give you a 1?  Or one a "6" and one a "2"? How does that make any sense whatsoever?  It simply does not. 

And .... in this screwed up system, the voice of the public isn't listened to. You could be the top seller in your medium at a show and short of it being a commission-based show, no one knows that.  No one cares except you and your buyers but that does't mean squat, because the show doesn't care nor do the jurors.  Next year your fate will be determined by what?  Jurors, their biases and the process rather than the art-buying public that came and purchased art.  The "different set of eyes" line is meaningless for the most part ... the concept is flawed. The Krasl Scenario can and likely will happen again next year, and the year after.

So here's a suggestion.  Simplify.  Make the process "Juror Free" (ah, what a concept!  To be used in show advertising!), less biased, less expensive. Heck, maybe jury fees will go down accordingly (yes, and the earth will stop spinning on its axis and war will end ...... right).

Have the show management go through and elimate from each medium those submissions that do not meet the show rules as written in the prospectus.  Remove work that is buy-sell, work that is not creative, copies that of others, displays that are poor and not up to your standards - whatever your rules dictate. But no rating of the artwork.

Then everyone that passes that threshold and is deemed "eligible" is put into a lottery.  Their names in essence put into a "hat" and names drawn until the show spots are filled.  A few more to create a wait-list.  No judging, no rating.  Why would that be bad? Think how that might open doors for artists to be in shows that have never been in?  For the public to see work they have never seen BECAUSE OF jurors, juror biases and the jury process?  No need to "cheat" the system with Photoshop, no need to try and figure out what jurors will look at, mixing black-and-white with color, different subject matter, different color palettes, horizontals and vertical, the concept of "consistent body of work" versus "breadth of the work".  All gone.  You submit what you perceeive to be your best work representing you. Resulting in the scenario that the public that comes may have an opportunity to see and purchase your work that previously jurors and juror biases kept out.  Randomness let you in.  

Option #2 if you don't like that - choose jurors from the art-buying public in the community.  Worst case scenario is they will choose art they want to come purchase.  And that would be bad because .................................. ?

Here are the first 25 winners - congratulations to them! 

Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, Winter Park, FL - March 21-23, 2014

Old Town Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 14-15, 2014    

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Original, Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

Des Moines Arts Festival, Des Moines, IA - June 27-29, 2014

Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Miami, FL - February 15-17, 2014

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA - March 6-9, 2014

One of a Kind Show and Sale, Chicago, IL - December 5-8, 2013

Krasl Art Fair, St. Joseph, MI - July 12-14, 2014

American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL - August 22-24, 2014

Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO - July 4-6, 2014   

Port Clinton Art Festival, Highland Park, IL - August 23 & 24, 2014

Sausalito Arts Festival, Sausalito, CA - August 30 - Sept. 1, 2014

Mount Dora Art Festival, Mount Dora, FL - Feb. 1 & 2, 2014

Columbus Arts Festival, Columbus, OH - June 6-8, 2014

Summer Art Fair (The Guild), Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

57th Street Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 7 & 8, 2014

State Street Area Art Fair, Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

Park Forest Art Fair, Park Forest, IL - September 20 & 21

Bayou City Art Festival (Memorial Park), Houston, TX - March 21-23, 2014

Gold Coast Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 28 & 29, 2014

Brookside Art Annual, Kansas City, MO - May 2-4, 2014

Naples National Art Festival (Feb), Naples, FL - Feb. 22 & 23, 2014

Art Fair on the Square, Madison, WI - July 12 & 13, 2014

St. James Court Art Show, Louisville, KY - October 3-5, 2014

Riverwalk Art Fair, Naperville, IL - Sept. 13 & 14, 2014

Find more of the winners at this link: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/best-art-fairs.html

The purpose of this survey is to have a solid list of "best art fairs" that patrons can refer to when they are traveling or looking for a great place to buy art. Consequently, we have deliberately not put numbers  in front of each one.

The results are a resource for people to use and it is listed on our website, ArtFairCalendar.com, whose purpose is to alert interested parties to the best shows all over the country and bring them to the shows to see your work. They're all terrific shows.

We had a wonderful response to our long survey (22 questions). It was apparent by the participation and the enthusiasm of the people telling us why they thought a show was the "best" that art fairs are alive and well in America and that as long as you keep creating compelling work they will be there to see it.

Learn more details about the survey at this podcast: WINNERS! America's Best Art Fair Survey

This has been a big project for us and I specifically want to thank all of those who helped. Lisa Fritsch at the Rosen Group who shared the American Style magazine survey to get me started. To the artists who helped me build the survey: Ginny Herzog, Larry Oliverson, Michael Hamilton, Kathrine-Allen Coleman and Daryl Thetford. Also thanks to Allan Teger whose previous experience as a psychology professor helped me streamline the survey.

Thanks to Carolyn Edlund at ArtsyShark.com for sharing the story on her popular blog and to Leah Charney and Christina Villa at Zapplication.org for getting the survey info out to the shows.

I know several show directors also "got out the vote" by sharing the links and posting on Facebook. Thank you for expanding our reach. Most of all thanks to all the patron voters. Your love for art and the nation's art fairs was apparent in your responses. Thanks for all your great tips on "how to make shows even better." 

We have lots of information to share with show directors, artists and the public coming up, fascinating conclusions to be drawn from the 1000's of responses we received.

Do you have a favorite art fair that you think should be on the list?

I am an introvert by nature.  A huge one!  In fact, I often dont even like being with people.  I'd much rather spend times with my dogs.  But yet, I find myself in this business of art festivals, where being an introvert is basically your ticket home with zero sales.  I work hard every single second at festivals so that no one person (not patrons or other artists) knows that I am anything but a person who loves people.  That is why I was so shocked that this past weekend I had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR people come BACK to my booth to tell me thank you for being so kind, friendly, or patient.  One man told me that he hoped I had a wonderful show and that he would see me there again next year as I was one of the only artists who was nice to him.  He even said that a lot of artists ignored him, and a few even acted like he was a burden to them by being in their tent and asking questions about their art.  One man was not 100% mentally there, and I could tell he didn't have money to buy anything, but man you better believe he called every person he knew and told them about "this awesome girl with amazing artwork you gotta check out!" (his words, not mine)  Even though I knew he wouldnt be a sale, what did it hurt by me making an effort to be kind?  Nothin!

People!!!  Come on!  Where is the kindness?  Where is love and compassion?  The patrons are the ones allowing you to continue doing something that you love to do.  Keeping you out of a droning 8-5 job that you hate.  We need these people!  And they need us to make them feel a connection and bring a spark of something to them!  If I, the introvert that I am, gets FOUR people to make an effort to thank me for being nice, I know there is a serious problem. 

And no, 3 out of 4 of those people didnt buy anything this time.  And the one who did, just bought a small print (probably just b/c I didn't make him feel like a half rate person).  But you know, they signed up for my mailing list and liked me on Facebook.  And they will remember me for a good reason.  And maybe next time, they will buy something.  But even if they don't, I made them feel good, and isn't that most important?

:  The original post of this story, and a substantial number of the comments that followed it, contained a one-paragraph reference to damage that occurred when a photographer's vehicle hit another artist's tent. 

The photographer contacted me by phone today to present his side of the story, which included some information that I was not aware of at the time. And he felt that I was unfairly painting him as a bad guy.

Although we disagree on whether it was appropriate for me to mention the incident at all, given that I was not in the vicinity when it occurred, the one point on which we do agree is that--whatever happened in the heat of the moment--eventually, the right thing is being done, and the issue is being amicably resolved through the parties' respective insurance companies. 

I took notes as he spoke.  And I offered to post a comment on his behalf presenting his side of the story and explaining his point of view.  He declined, not wishing to provoke another round of commentary. 

Many of you know I was a journalist long before Al Gore, or whoever it was, invented the Internet.  In the world of traditional print media, even today, reporters are taught to check their reporting with (at least) two sources before filing their story.  And although there are no such rules in the blogosphere, my instincts are always to do just that. 

Truth be told, I had the thought to try to get in touch with this photographer as I wrote that paragraph...and didn't do it.  And he deserved that. For that failure, I apologize.

So:  What to do to make this good?  As I promised the photographer I would do, I spoke at length with Connie Mettler (publisher of this site). She left it up to me. 

In figuring that out, I stepped back to look at the big picture--what was the point of writing the show review in the first place?  And that one's easy: I had found, on AFI and elsewhere, a decidedly mixed bag of opinions on this show.  And I felt that it was, and is, important to keep on the record that this show, for whatever reason, didn't give the vast majority of its participants a fair shot at success. 

So I'm not going to delete the thread.  I HAVE removed my account of the collision from the thread.  And, to address the issue of fairness, I HAVE deleted comments that mention the collision, or the photographer. To give everyone who posted a chance to read this update, I am going to leave it up for awhile.  At some future point, I'll delete the update so that all that remains is the post itself.

I understand that this may not be popular.  But I think it's the right thing to do.  If you disagree, you are welcome to text-message me and tell me.  (Please do not start another thread.) But just so we're all clear: The decision is mine, and mine alone.  Not Connie's.

Dismal attendance and sales at the so-called "Jacksonville" art festival, which drew 'way fewer than 2000 browsers, most from the immediate neighborhood. Although the festival was promoted by "the Shoppes at Avondale", the show itself was held in Boone Park, a pretty park in the Avondale neighborhood which unfortunately was some blocks' distance from the shops.  Very little signage to lure patrons from the surrounding streets, and no major arterial close enough to the show to afford visibility. Not that, in this 1920s-era neighborhood, it would have been easy to accommodate outsider parking, anyway.

The weather can't be an excuse.  Granted, it rained most of the day on Saturday; hardly anyone attended, and you couldn't blame them.  But Sunday was nice show weather--cool and partly cloudy--and most the folks I spoke with on Sunday had planned to come the day before, had the weather not been bad.

One fine artist near me--and I DO mean fine!--sold a single $4 notecard in two days. The jeweler next to me barely made (under $200) booth expenses, and said she "got price resistance all weekend." The photographer next to me sold about the same, and is retiring from the business.  The painter who won "best in show" sold a $7500 painting, but as one artist commented, " Good for him!  And that's probably more than the rest of us put together."

The organizers did a great job communicating before the show. But that's where communication ended, pretty much--they didn't even come by and thank us for attending, let alone ask how things were going.

Although there were some schlocky booths at the show, there were also some really superb artists and fine craftspersons, whose time and talents were largely wasted this weekend. And that's a shame. Based on the level of pre-show communication, I certainly expected better. 

You have been warned. :-(

This must be my week to rant.  There must be a huge proliferation of newbies at all the shows I do, because it seems like 75% of them have never heard that you are to UNLOAD your vehicle, PARK your vehicle, THEN set up your tent and stuff.  This is the 'rule' at 99% of shows, so unless there is a proliferation or rude, lazy or stupid vendors, they must be new, correct?  Same goes for load-out.  Great promoters are controlling load-out by not letting the vehicles in to the show grounds until they have verified that the tent is down, and all is packed up.  Of course, if it is raining, the tent goes up and then put everything under, and the opposite at load out.  That is the only exception.  The other peeve is the guys that show up late, are still allowed to set up while the show is open.  Just plain ridiculous.  If you are not there on time, you don't get to participate that day.  If Promoters would enforce this, it would stop.   I don't want to hear about traffic, car trouble, or getting lost.  All excuses, and none worth messing up the show.  Plan.  Expect Traffic.  Buy a GPS.  Get to the show the day before if needed.  Just don't hurt my sales by setting up while I am trying to sell.  It's unprofessional and inconsiderate.  Ok, now you can all throw rocks at me, but it's not really hard to follow the rules.  Of course, you would have to read them and give a d$#n.

Here's a pic of some knock down pro panels that I made, just a quick set up to see how they would work and they worked out great. What do you think? It wasn't easy figuring out all the measurements and materials but I wanted something professional looking and had a limited budget. Once I figured it all out and wrote down instructions, they would be easy to make again. These are not perfect as I figured out several ways to perfect them as I went along but they do the job and don't think the average patron would notice. The best part about them is that I made them to the same specs as pro panels so that their accessories will work on them. For example I bought their couplers for connecting top/bottom pieces, leather connectors & levelers.  I made my own support bars but theirs would work too. Since I took time to figure out how to make them, I was thinking about making an ebook available for artists. Do you think this would be valuable info for artists and worth the time creating? All the materials cost me around $300 for eight 6' panels, saving me a lot of money compared to $130 each.

I was thrilled to do Amdur Productions, "The Inside Show" this past weekend. Only forty artists were chosen, ten of whom were jewelers. The air was rareified, let me tell you. But that is not what this post is about.
On Monday, I received an email from a lady (who shall remain nameless) telling me that anyone from "The Real Thing" show OR the "Inside Show" were being asked to join a limited engagement Co-Op of some artists at an abandoned Borders store across from the Woodfield Mall(very very exclusive high-end shopping mall). Thirty artists had climbed on board and they would love to have me with them.
They wanted $300 up front and 20% of every item sold. No contract. They had never run a Co-Op before but as she wrote:" it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do it."
No security...but you don't have to be there.(?)
She keeps repeating that they sold a vase for $4000.
I called two artists on the list of six she gave me. They haven't returned my calls.
Question: Am I being naive again and missing out on a great opportunity?
Or are my feet stuck to the floor for some other reason?
Help!

While working in my booth this past weekend at Southlake, a customer asked what the strangest thing was that I had ever seen at an art show.  My husband and I thought for a moment and concurred that it was something that occurred at a show in Austin, Texas, a couple of years ago.

I had a crowded booth and was completing a sale with a customer.  I glanced up while packaging up the purchase only to be shocked by a woman who had a certain upper body part completely exposed.  A million thoughts went through my mind at that moment.  How in the world could I alert her to her public display of a private body part without 15 other people suddenly becoming aware of the issue?  Well, I did nothing and prayed she would figure it out, or, at least move out of my booth.......

How about you all? I am sure that there is a story to top this one.....(In fact, I heard a rumor about a Park City flasher).....

This was discussed on one of Larry Berman's posts. I'm going to try and summarize what I gleaned out of the workshop, and what is applicable to most artists.

It was a long workshop. It started off initially with the organizers expecting 25 artists, and it grew, and quickly swelled to over 190 artists submitting work. Very much to the credit of the organizers, they agreed to address each and every artist. It started at 9:00 AM and was slow to get started, as was expected, while the judges got used to the public forum and personal critique and start picking up steam. Instead of the one hour lunch break, the judges got twenty minutes, and soldiered on with a few potty breaks tossed in until after 8:00 PM. I stayed there until about the last three or four artists were reviewed, and then the judges talked one-on-one to the few remaining artists that needed some additional help. For the artists, who weren't present, a webcast was available and IMing allowed questions and clarifications to be put to the judges.

Much of what has been preached in these forums about cleaning up the booths and consistency of work was hammered home by the judges.

Consistency of work doesn't mean all identical pieces or same subject material, but it does mean that all the pieces need to be in the same style. Two bodies of work or occasionally three bodies of work would be evident in many of the  submissions. All B&W photos of a waterfall, a couple of flowers, and a meadow are not the same body of work, even though someone might think, "They're all outdoors shots of nature, and they're all in the same style; i.e., Black and white". Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Many repeated examples of it does drive it home that the pieces need to be strongly connected and not tenuously connected by a wish. A comment was made by one of the jurors that they don't want to see examples of luck in getting some pretty pictures. Wood workers, as an example, were in for the same reasoning. One artist had a couple of outstanding tables and wood sculpture. The two different bodies of work could be enough to block them from going past the first round. They want to see a unified body of work whatever the media. One of the  painters had some plein air work that had the consistency of subject material, where water was a unifying theme, but the style of brush work was sufficiently different from piece to piece that it would be difficult to make it into the second round. There had to be consistency that linked everything together.

One of the comments I picked up was that a strongly consistent body of work  would stand a better chance of going forward than some outstanding work of higher caliber that was not consistent as a unified body of work. It may not have been spoken in that fashion, but that was the distinct impression I picked up. It has to do with the vision and direction of the artist. It's hard to understand the direction and vision of disjointed work, but the unified body of work is what will grab the understanding and appreciation of the judges in the brief moment of time they have. If they have to stop, think, and ponder what you're doing as an artist, you're done for the day as it were.

You can't slack off on the artist statement, contrary to what some of us have thought. For the photographers, you can skip the part about what printer you're using as part of the statement. I heard that quite a bit and it's irrelevant. If there is a part about materials, place it there. If anyone uses something recycled or repurposed, that seemed to register highly with the jurors. If you draw on influences from whatever movement or an artist, place that in the artist statement. Whatever you can say in the materials statement or artist statement that will make it easier for the judges to understand what you're doing and understand your vision, the better off you'll be.

The much maligned booth shot turns out to be a much more critical piece of the puzzle. It can make or break your entry at the get-go. Don't slack off on it, ot you'll be wondering why you're having to apply to so many shows just to get into a few. The issues that have been preached ad infinitum really are true. Here's the mantra I heard the entire day; Simplify and  unify.  I don't care if it seems false advertising, it's the same thing you do when you want to sell a house; stage the damn thing. If you don't get past the gatekeeper, it's all academic. Here's the big secret about staging the boothshot; it gives you an opportunity to submit more of your work and show the breadth of it. You want the jury shots in there, or you're screwed. No visible jury shots and they wonder what you're selling. No one says the jury shots have to be front and center, place them on the side (still visible) and get some more work in there on that back wall. Now you can have 4 to 6 more pieces with which to impress the jurors, and yes the work in the booth slide is visible.

An awfully high percentage of the booth shots were just not good, and more than once (actually many times), what was good competent work would have been knocked out because of an atrocious booth shot. Different work from the jury shots would seem like a no-brainer, but it happened many times and that would have been enough to be knocked out in the first round. The judge's comments were frequently, "You don't need to show or hang everything you've ever done in the booth shot".

Keep the booth simple, keep it clean, and get the frou-frou plants and tables out of there. You're not selling plants or casual tables with a guest book on it. That stuff can go back in during the show as far as I can tell, but they don't want to see it in the booth shot, and particularly as frequently the artwork was blocked by the extraneous stuff like that.

Gridded walls came in for their share of grief in the comments. Not because of what they were, but because of how they were used. Fabric artists seemed to get the worst of that, as only two or three shots of their booths made effective use of the display. Most wearable fabric booths had clothing on hangers packed in tightly, and the grid walls would obscure the work. The most impressive wearable fabric artists had their work hanging flat and straight on to the viewer, and would hang a piece of the gridwall more like a retail display. Show the work, not the grids.

Potters seem to have a problem with the work all merging into one undistinguishable mass. Arranging pedestals in descending order from the back corners forward seemed to be a good visual method of seperating them out away from each other. Jewelers seldom had display photos across the back, and those are relatively inexpensive to have printed.

A key issue in booth design was to make sure the booth had a visual rhythm to it. As the jurors pointed out, you're spemnding large anounts of time and money on your work, don't blow it with an amateurish display, Some of the booth shots had 2D work sitting on the ground, and that received a fair amount of scorn as it looked like a trunk sale or yard sale. Place the same amount of thought and art design into the booth as you do your work.

The salient points of the booth shots are to get in close, crop out the ceiling as much as possible, show all the walls as best as possible (no corner shots), light it well, no open back walls showing the landscape behind, keep it clean and neat, and minimal.

Much of what has been said about the jury shots themselves is what we've been hearing around here. Gradient backgrounds, don't use a white background, and keep all the jury shots in the same lighting style and make sure they match. Don't get too fancy wit the Photo Shop lighting effects to the point where the lighting becomes the focus of the shot.

I'll add more later on, but this gets the gist of what went on. Again my hat is off to the organizers and jurors for a job well done.

Just got back from Texas after driving for two days in a row in raging thunderstorms.

Ellen was accepted to the show.

I was number one on the wait list in my category.  There were other numero unos in their categories.

I stayed in touch with the show coordinator for the wait list.  She said after last weekend that they would  just go by a wait list, irregardless to category.

I told her I was coming.

Ellen was in, I was going to help her setup Tuesday evening.

So Monday I gambled.  I got in my van and prepared to drive 1200 miles to Texas.  I said a prayer to Saint Anthony, patron saint of lost causes.

Monday, we drove nearly 800 miles, 13 hours of driving, and made it to Lafayette,LA.

Next morn, we drove another 420 miles and made it to Ft. Worth.

I helped Ellen setup her booth that evening.  I let the show know I was there.

That night we checked the forecast for the show.  It was the most ominous weather forecast i can ever remember.  This is a four day show.

The forecast was as follows:  First day, rain 40%.  Second day, 20%.  Saturday, 90%.  Sunday, 80%.

Actually, it rained briefly on Thursday for all of 15 minutes, torrentially.  Then we never saw anymore rain the rest of the show.  We ducked a big one.

I think the forecast put a little doubt on artists coming.

All I know is that Wednesday morning, I got a text message at 6:30 AM.  It said, "We have had a cancellation and we have a spot for you."

Now, that is a miracle!

I started setting up at 7:30 and I was ready to make moola the next morning.

And we both did.  Also just about everybody I know made mucho moola.

Here is some good info about this show.

It is tough to get into.  But you should still try for it.

They get over 2000 applications for a little over 200 spots.

I am a photographer.  There were only about eight other photographers.

This was my fourth year in a row at this show.  I have a great following.

They hold the show right down the middle of Main Street in downtown.  Nearly 400,000 people attend.

Many of them are very well off.  They have mucho disposable income.  Can you say Oil and Natural gas money.

There are a lot of show-goers who are only there to walk the show, maybe buy a little something.  But the rewards are plentiful.

To give an example.

One of the Bass brothers  patronized the show.  They are mucho wealthy.

He bought  nine pieces from a good friend of mine who does wildlife.  It was a sweet sale.

Then he hit my neighbor's booth who just happened to win Best in Show--he does phenomenal turned wood. Terry, my neighbor, was having a so-so show at the time, selling mostly lowend and barely making $3K.  Then the brother came in and popped for a $5000 tea kettle.

Terry was now a very happy camper.

My wife, Ellen, ended up having her best show ever in her career.  Her previous all-time best show was here, Ft.  Worth, nearly ten years ago. This time she eclipsed that decade-old number.  Gotta love those pastel cows she does. 

Most of the who's-who of the circuit are there.  There are no slouches.  No questionable buy-sells.  They run a tight shop and check your work you juried with versus what you show up  with.

This a town that is proud of their cowboy heritage.  Legendary cattle drives started from here years ago.  So cowboy art definitely sells here.  Along with wildlife and cattle inspired art.

But abstract painting does as well here too.  Artful collages.  Blown glass artists rake it in here.

Wood guys rule here.  This year four of the top cash awards went to wood.

Most of the booths are setup in big tents that the show provides.  Artist then setup their booths within.  Most put their own roofs on inside the tents.  Also most artists have their side tarps on as well as this front ones.

You need weights here.  You are on concrete.  It can be very windy here.  The tall buildings act as a scary vortex with winds crashing off them into the tents below.  It can be very hairy at times.

Also you are back to back in the tents.  No storage room behind.  So you gotta be creative and make your own storage space.

The show does provide free electricity.  Single booths cost $600.

They do a great artist preview dinner-get-together the night of setup.  They have a great artist breakfast on Friday, and awards are given.

The show runs at least til 8 PM but artists can stay open til 10 PM, some artists take advantage of this.

Setup is pretty mellow.  They give you ample time.  Teardown is pretty hairy.  I was totally torn down in 45 minutes, Sunday nite, but had to wait another hour before they chased people off the streets and let the vans in.  But, that is the way it is at most street shows.

For me, this is one of my top three shows I can do.  Then there is Saint Louis and Kansas City Plaza.  Anytime I get accepted here, I feel like I won the lottery.

Ellen and I drove home in some of the worst weather, ever, that I have experienced in my 41-year career.  It was a torrential thunderous front from Texas to Florida.  The semis were splashing our windshields big time.  I could barely see 50 yards ahead.  I was petrified.  I thought I could be dead man any moment.  It was not fun.

But, we both made it home safe.  I got a little golf in, fed all the cats and can finally make some headway paying off mounting debts which include mucho inflated booth fees for the summer shows.

I hope this has been helpful.

I really think most of you should apply for this show, but you gotta bring your best game to it.  The rewards are immense.

As one artist there put it, "We made more money here in three days then we did in the last five shows in Florida."

That ought to tell you something.

I am going to do a Tequila Report to accompany this trip.  Stay tuned, and let me know what you think of this blog.

There are just a few options for purchasing weights, commercially made. Sculptor Jim Eaton with an industrial design background made and sold the Eaton Weights, Happifeet was another product available for some time and every now and then those John Deere tractor weights show up. The weights made precisely for tents usually come with an attaching system specifically designed for tents.

1. Dumbbells:

2. I think this is an iron bar:

3. Weights from your John Deere tractor:

4. One Eaton weight:

5. Stack your Eaton weights:

6. Happifeet:

7. and if you're really worried about blowing away bring your barrel and to make it really nice wrap it up:

Do you own any of these? Any recommendations?