August 8 & 9 Shelby Township, MI 100 Exhibitors Deadline: April 22 Shelby Township is located in southeast Michigan, about 25 miles north of Detroit, 20 miles east of Pontiac, and about 20 miles west of Lake St. Clair. The Shelby Township Municipal Grounds are approximately 4 miles north of M-59. Locate
Shelby Township, MI Artists and fairgoers alike enjoy this juried show held outdoors on the beautiful Shelby Township Municipal Grounds. Hosted by the Shelby Township Parks, Recreation and Maintenance Department and Shelby Township Art Fair Committee Members it features original works (no buy/sell merchandise) by artists from Michigan as well as from around the United States and Canada.
Learn more about Shelby Township. Comments from Artists and Customers: "This is our favorite show! We never miss it!"
"Beautiful grounds...the atmosphere is really nice..." "This show has been our best for sales all summer!" This may be the new art fair of the season for you, especially if you live nearby. What you'll find: *long-running community sponsored event *large metro area *attendance: approximately 20,000 *shady park on a summer day *great date when there aren't many others from which to choose *very affordable booth fees, $140 for a 15 x 15 *A limited number of double booths are available for $300 Please phone 586-731-0300 or
preinhardt@shelbytwp.org to have an application mailed to you, or click the link below to download an electronic copy.
http://www.shelbyparksandrecreation.orgRead more…
With many years of training and exhibiting Robert Bridenbaugh's ethereal work well represents his life in a Great Lakes State. Anywhere you live in Michigan you are only five miles from water and its omnipresence dwells in Robert's paintings, yet the images are universal and resonate with collectors throughout the country. Whether painting in his studio or sketching and photographing in his kayak Robert's focus is on the mood, light and water of his native state. He combines impressions from actual scenes with modified sketches to make personal images that highlights the atmospheric aspect of nature. A quiet, introspective man, he participates in only a few select art fairs a year. Lucky you, if you happen to find him at one near you.
"Riverside" - oil painting by Robert Bridenbaugh Find him April 17-19 at the
Great Lakes Art Fair in Novi, MI, at the Rock Financial Showplace.
Learn more about Robert and his paintings.
Read more…
April 17-19 is really the coming out of the 2009 art fair season throughout the country so I couldn't profile only one event. Please check out the four listed below, including the inaugural Great Lakes Art Fair in Michigan, positioning itself to become the premiere indoor fine art fair in the Midwest.
In the Southwest? Then don't miss: April 16-19 Fort Worth, TX 24th Annual Main Street Arts Fest produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives 200 Artists Thurs. 10:00-10:00, Fri. & Sat. 10:00- 11:00, Sun. 10:00-8:00 The MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival hosts tens of thousands of people annually during the four-day visual arts, entertainment and culture event. MAIN ST. showcases a nationally recognized fine art and fine craft juried art fair, savory food, live concerts, performance artists and street performers on the streets of downtown Fort Worth, stretching nine blocks on Main Street from the Tarrant County Courthouse to the Fort Worth Convention Center. The net result: fun! For more info:
www.mainstreetartsfest.comIn the Midwest? Don't miss:April 17-19 - inaugural event! Novi, MI Great Lakes Art Fair Rock Financial Showplace 46100 Grand River Ave. 120 Artists
Jewelry by Bonnie Blandford Fri. and Sat. 10 to 6; Sun. 10 to 5 Friday night reception to support Detroit Public TV and ArtServe -
Buy tickets online Positioning itself an expansive new regional marketplace the Great Lakes Art Fair promises to bring a fresh energy to the artistic community of fine artists and their patrons. Imagine walking through a fashionable downtown, surrounded by amazing art displays, browsing past City Squares jam packed with action. This is the atmosphere that the Great Lakes Art Fair will be creating with its imaginative floorplan. Each City Square will offer something different. Attendees can enjoy the gardens brought to you by our landscape partners, a marketplace cafe and art demonstrations. A great indoor destination! More info:
www.greatlakesartfair.comIn the South? Don't miss: April 17-19 Atlanta, GA Dogwood Festival Piedmont Park 225 Artists Fri. 12 to 9; Sat. 10 to 9; Sun. noon to 7 (including a
Preview Party on Thursday) Spring is here and that can only mean one thing in Atlanta: the Atlanta Dogwood Festival is back! The Dogwoods are in bloom, and hundreds of artists from around the country will set up their tents for the 73rd Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival.
Painter Bill Turner In addition to the fine art for adults and art collectors, there is a Kids Village, festival food and a wide array of diverse musical offerings that will fill the springtime air throughout the weekend! For more info:
http://www.dogwood.org In the North Central Area? Don't miss: April 17-19 St. Paul, MN The American Craft Show presented by the American Craft Council St. Paul Rivercentre 240 Artists Friday (10 am - 8pm), Saturday (10 am - 6 pm), Sunday (10 am - 5 pm) $10 per person $18 for a two-day pass -
Buy Tickets Online Special Friday night offer: $5.00 at 5! Starting at 5:00pm, admission is $5.00 for the remainder of the evening (8pm).
Clothing by Candiss Cole The most distinctive fine craft show in America returns to St. Paul for the 23rd year. Over two hundred of the nation's premier, jury-selected artists will present high-quality, handmade objects including jewelry, clothing, furniture, toys, home accessories, as well as sculptural and functional works of glass, ceramics, metal, wood, paper, and decorative fiber. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet the artists and to purchase one-of-a-kind craft to fit all price points. For more info:
www.craftcouncil.org/stpaul ****************
More art fairs around the countryRead more…
June 27 & 28 On the shores of the St. Clair River St. Clair, MI Presented by the St. Clair Art Association 130 Artists Deadline: April 15 Where is St. Clair?
Click here for this beautiful show location. You can be the fresh new face at this well-managed event. St. Clair is an upscale community south of Port Huron and near Canada. Its residents live in a quiet town along the banks of the St. Clair River. Imagine spending two days in this setting. The committee puts up tents for your convenience. You have a choice of a tented space or putting up your own. Are you ready for a laid back event with all the amenities of an art fair the way they used to be? This may be the one for you. What to like about it:
* convenient site - easy in and out * large booth spaces - 10 x 15 * small enough for everyone to get a chance to be seen * community sponsored * artist friendly - you are the reason for the event Artist hospitality includes breakfast both mornings, booth sitters, postcards, early set up, electricity, professionally judged and juried with prize money. More information? Call Kris Boni at: 810-329-9576. To download an application:
http://www.stclairart.orgRead more…
We are doing the Minneapolis Uptown show show this year for the first time and would like any information or advice. Parking, hotel, booth location.... etc.THANKS!!!
Read more…
Posted by Ginny Herzog on April 11, 2009 at 12:23pm
When planning this season, I felt that TX would be a better risk than economy battered FL, which I had done for over 20 straight years. I did the Houston Bayou show two weeks ago in Memorial Park, for the first time. I also applied to Main St. Ft. Worth and Art City Austin (formerly Austin Fine Arts Festival and Laguna Gloria). Wanting to avoid a long trip home to Mpls and back a few days later, I added a new show - La Villita, in San Antonio. My thinking was that it would be a filler show that might generate a few nice sales.http://lavillita.com/index.php/Events/La-Villita-Spring-Arts-Festival-2009.htmlI won't go into the details of the location, as you may get that info from the link posted. But, suffice to say, it is a very charming area but nearly all attendees who came to the show, stumbled upon it as the only promotion we saw for it was a banner across a main street about a mile away, posters and postcards in the shops of La Villita, and a small, free blurb in the calendar for the entertainment section of the newspaper. We found the show on ZAPP and fees were modest - $200 booth fee, $25 jury fee and $50 electrical fee (optional).The website for the show, was minimal. No listing of exhibitors or links to their sites and if the show wasn't promoted, how would the public know to look at the website, anyways??!! I emailed the director in advance of the show to put up the hours of the show and the exhibitors and sent her links to other festival websites to show how other shows were promoting themselves on the internet. But all that was done was to add a postcard from the show.When we arrived for check-in, we found that parking was nearly impossible - no meters, only a few lots blocks away with a $5 minimum. Even though a two block area was barricaded at the check-in site, no one was there to let artists park there and pull out after check-in. Only two people were manning the check-in booth, the director, Janet Paduh, and a helper. It took 50 minutes for her to check-in the first dozen people in line ahead of us. We realized that she had marked off booth spaces and indicated them on the map, but had not assigned anyone until check-in! Therefore, wasting an enormous amount of time in the check-in process. There were NO artist packets with booth signs, name tags, programs, instructions or unloading passes. Nor were there any volunteers for assistance, artist hospitality etc.The quality of the 150 exhibitors in the show was weak, IMHO. I knew only three of the other exhibitors. Sales were very slow for nearly everyone I spoke to. One sculptor sold two nice pieces as he did an early exit from the show on Sunday. I doubled my only small sale at Houston Bayou, but did not make expenses.I feel that this director had no clue on how to run an art festival and have no idea why they hired her to do the job.The pluses for this experience (yes - there were several!)Load-in and out was one of the easiest. There was plenty of room on the sides of the booths. La Villita is a charming area. Security was excellent. Parking was close by. People in San Antonio are some of the nicest I've encountered anywhere!!San Antonio has become my new favorite city to visit. It is very easy to get around. Buy the daily trolley pass for $4. The trolley has four lines that go throughout downtown and you never need to wait more than 10 minutes and there is unlimited hopping on and off, with map signs at every stop. Parking can be very difficult and we preferred the trolley, when possible. San Antonio's famous River Walk is wonderful...like a canal throughout downtown, with river boat cruises.http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/There are restaurants and hotels all along the river, with many sidewalk cafes. We even had a hostess walk us three blocks away to another restaurant - Zinc - because theirs had a 2 hr. wait. Then our waitress at Zinc, walked us a couple of blocks to direct us to our parking garage.We got the Staybridge Suites, only blocks from the heart of downtown, for $55 per night on Priceline. It came with two full size beds, full kitchen w/ refrig, range, microwave and dishwasher. Free laundry facilities, fitness room, business center, outdoor pool, afternoon snacks with wine and beer, full hot breakfast buffet, movie DVD library, WiFi and high speed internet, parking....ALL FREE!San Antonio has wonderful restaurants and there is free musical entertainment throughout the River Walk, as well. I want to go back!I am considering a different show in San Antonio, however, for the future. The Fiesta Arts Fair at the Southwest School of Art & Craft is an official “kick-off event” for the renowned Fiesta® San Antonio, is held in mid-April.http://www.swschool.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64This show will conflict with Main St. Ft. Worth this year. MSFW will be my next show and I haven't done it in 8 years. I'm hoping that, perhaps, the focus of the event has improved since I last did it - when it was more about stacking empty beer cups and chomping on turkey legs while the music was blasting. Please FW, don't disappoint me. If you do, I will consider the Fiesta Arts Fair in San Antonio.
Read more…
In these times of economic struggle and rising show expenses, we all applaud a show that reduces their jury fees -- we love this gesture and consider the show who can choose to support us in this way - progressive, innovative and compassionate.What if the show that offers cash prizes, kept the flashy ribbons and judging aspect, and the priceless automatic reinvites, then subtracted that cash amount from the show space fees across the board for every artist thought worthy enough to be invited to the show? My very rough calculations range in the ball park of $25 to $125 per exhibitor reduced space fee. This simple shift in cash allocation would benefit everyone at a cost to no one. The show is not asked to give up necessary fees to operate, nor the artist, who more and more often cannot afford to apply to a show for fear of actually getting into it and then coming up with the fees to participate in it.If it is possible to lower either the booth or jury fees by no longer needing funds for monetary awards, why not? Obviously, fewer artists are applying for shows now and I think this is a large factor in the extended deadlines. If it is possible for a show to embrace this idea, it would probably be rewarded with an increase in applications which could result in more jury fees from very appreciative artists.Artists who who are consistent award winners and enter those shows with large cash awards for the money, may not embrace this idea. However, artists would still apply to the shows that are profitable for sales -- the ultimate attraction. The reinvite to a great show is the real prize anyway.I personally think a number of equal merit awards, regardless of category would be the way to recast the award program, but I understand the love of competition and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place thing. Who would really care if it weren't for the award money?Of course, corporate prize money would still be welcomed support for the artists at those shows who have done the much appreciated work of drumming up their community's interest and commitment. But at least for a year or two more, until this economy stabilizes, I think this shift in monetary distribution would be a wonderful idea to pitch to the show directors who are genuinely interested in supporting us and really understand the hard reality of the economics that artists are currently facing. Even a $25 reduction would be a supportive effort to make on their part. Artists have applauded the initiative of several shows who voluntarily reduced their jury fees already. If changing the award system meant they would not be out financially, I ask, why not?Hopefully, this topic can be brought up at the upcoming NAIA Board meeting in Ft. Worth next week.Cynthia Cunningham
Read more…
Barbara Sucherman will be exhibiting her jewelry at: Avalon Gallery 425 East Atlantic Ave. Delray Beach, FL www.avalononatlantic.com April 18, 19 & 20 during Delray Beach Delray Affair along Atlantic Avenue 10 am to 6 pm 580 Exhibitors "This is the greatest Arts, Crafts, Food and Entertainment Festival under the Sun." Barbara's web: www.silverdesignjewelry.com her Blog: http://bsucherman.blogspot.com
Read more…
Last week I requested member of ArtFairInsiders.com to help me class up the site by posting photos of themselves or the site - specifically I asked "show us your face."
I got an overwhelming response of photos - well over a thousand!! Thank you for that. But, my dears, I was specifically asking you post your face - upgrade the site by uploading your avatar to your page.
Avatar: An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself in the form a two-dimensional icon Here is today's challenge: Help me get rid of the current avatar by designing a new avatar for the site. What I need is a 175 x 175 jpg, gif or png that will be used in place of the current one (which I have been told is tacky (!))
Win a prize: ebooks, artist of the month, article about you and your work, links to your web site. What would you like the best? You tell me.
Deadline: April 22. Enter your avatar in the comments below. Then we will all vote on the winner. If you don't feel like designing one, please go to "my page" and upload a personal avatar (either your face, your dog, your art, ???) to your page. I know lots of people are busy on this site. Let's show them our stuff. Like those two avatars of me and not sure how to do something like this yourself? Visit this link at
ScottFox.com and it will give you step by step directions:
www.ScottFox.com.
Read more…
Hi Connie,
Here are some of my thoughts on the Art Fair Business. It requires:
1. Creativity
2. A positive attitude
3. A gambling mentality
Yes, this is a great business, but you need to have a creative, positive attitude with a gambling mentality to survive.
1. Creative - continually coming up with different ways of marketing, depending on the economy. Bringing more affordable work to the market without compromising the integrity of your work. I may have some questions for you regarding blogs, as I see this as a possible tool to get the word out about new "ventures" and experimental marketing ideas.
(Ginny sent me this info in September, as you can see since then I have been blogging my little heart out -- actually for two years now. I do believe it is a great way to keep yourself in front of your customers.)
Mailing out postcards has been an effective marketing tool for years for me. However, More customers are reluctant to give out their postal addresses, instead, preferring email contact. So I am trying to put the contacts in folders by geographical locations. Two programs I am considering for email marketing are iContact and Constant Contact. Have you used either one?
(Ginny, I have had a Constant Contact account since 2004. It is an excellent program as it continually updates my contacts, takes care of spam, unsubscribes, subscribes, etc, and worth every penny. I currently have over 11,000 subscribers from all over the country.)
Also, I am thinking of self publishing a book of my images. Many of my most passionate collectors are architects, engineers and designers. I don't have the finances to invest in publishing but love the idea of self-publishing. One companies that interest me are Blurb. http://www.blurb.com/, and Lulu. http://www.lulu.com/en/products/.
I will look into others, as well. Have you had any experience with publishing?
(I have done promotional work with an author whose books are published by a traditional publisher. But I have done lots of research in the publishing business, including self-publishing. You might want to take a look at this book for more ideas: The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-publishing on demand seems ideal for your purposes. You might check out this link also: xlibris.com. Also, I'd search Amazon.com for books on the topic. I'd bet there are online discussion groups on this topic.)
2. Positive attitude - I believe artists today need to have a positive attitude in order to survive, particularly with all of the negative news and energy in our business. Rejections from shows and poor sales constantly beat the artists down. But if you can't keep a smile and positive attitude in your booth, it will be difficult to sell yourself and your art.
(There is a thread on this site where they are talking about "snarling" artists. Yes, you know who you are. Somehow, I'm thinking, snarling at customers doesn't quite work:) Constantly staying positive is sometimes pretty hard, but this is partly a hospitality business, not a place for the asocial or introverts.)3. Gambling mentality - We need to try new markets, new approaches to reaching our customer base, new body of work - all with possibilities of failure but with opportunities to learn and move forward from mistakes. Each trip to a show is a gamble.
(You are right on that one, Ginny. Each application, each trip, each approach to a customer is a gamble. I sometimes think art fair artists are so addicted to this business because of what Buckminster Fuller calls "intermittent reinforcement." Bang, bang, bang, winner, bang, low end sale, bang, bang, more money, etc., keeps us coming back for the "winner".)
You are someone who uses all of the above, Connie. And, I admire you for that.
Ginny
Thanks Ginny, for the thoughts above. I appreciate hearing from you and wish you great shows this year.
Visit Ginny's website: www.herzogart.com to learn more about her and view her work. She is spending most of April in Texas so maybe you can meet her there as I know a bunch of you are participating in this month's Texas shows.
What would you like to share? Write me a blog post and I'll see that it gets good exposure. Your fellow artists are definitely interested in what you have to say.
Read more…
April 17-19 Novi, Michigan Rock Financial Showplace 46100 Grand River 10 am to 6 pm Admission: $7.00 Parking: FREE Opening Night Party Fri. - April 17th - 7 pm Ticket Price: $50 The Great Lakes Art Fair offers fine artists and their patrons an expansive new regional marketplace that promises to bring a fresh energy to the artistic community. Its' mission is to bring a first class indoor fine art show to the discriminating patrons of the area and to become a new bi-annual destination event. Imagine walking through a fashionable downtown, surrounded by amazing art displays, while browsing past City Squares jam packed with action. Each City Square will offer something different, including plentiful gardens by our landscape partners, original performances not seen anywhere else and the Marketplace Cafe where attendees can truly feel like they are in an authentic outdoor cafe. The best part is....Great Lakes Art Fair will bring you all of this without ever stepping outdoors! Expect: +140 artist displays - jewelry, clothing, painting, photography, sculpture, pottery and much more +beautifully landscaped avenues and gardens
+student art displays +artist demonstrations +art based entertainment +a Marketplace Café offering high quality cuisine in sync with the overall event feel
"Red Jag" by Tom Hale, exhibiting at Great Lakes Art Fair Download a discounted admission ticket For more info:
www.GreatLakesArtFair.com OR: 248.348.5600 or
info@greatlakesartfair.comRead more…
Perhaps you missed this post in the discussions the other day, I'd like to draw it to your attention:
Help for artists that have severe financial problems. I'm offering to work on images (or even photograph artwork) at a price that they can afford (or free if necessary) for artists that are having severe financial problems and need better jury images to get into shows. I did this a few years ago for artists from New Orleans that had problems. If you know of any artists that have recently gone through some serious financial times, have them give me a call.
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.comRead more…
Last week I posted on a photography forum (artshow _photo@yahoogroups.com) about an interesting article I had read about a new Photography exhibit at the Getty Museum in LA. All hell broke loose! So I am copying here what I said there.
Let's take a little look at photography as art. Taking photos of the Red Rock Canyon vs. heading to the studio to create something no one else has seen to photograph what is in your "mind's eye." This is what elevates photography to art. Visit this article about a new exhibit at the Getty Museum about the "Provocative Photographic Work of Artist Jo Ann Callis." The images Callis creates are mainly studio pieces from sets she has created. Her themes are mostly domestic explorations using many processes including black and white, Ektacolor and dye transfer, Cibachromes and recent digitals. Read about the exhibit at: www.artknowledgenews.com and be inspired. NO MORE RED ROCK CANYONS! What do you think? Is this incendiary?
Read more…
June 26-28 Mt. Clemens, Michigan Friday & Saturday 11 am - 11 pm; Sunday 11 am - 8 pm Deadline: April 20 TJ's Customs, Inc., and FunFest Productions are joining forces, presenting the third annual Stars and Stripes Festival and Fine Art Show. With Fun Fest Productions' expertise in mounting large scale events, the Stars and Stripes Festival provides a wide variety of experiences to guests, last year drawing well over 300,000 visitors. The festival takes place in picturesque downtown Mount Clemens, a small-scale urban landscape with great restaurants and nightclubs. It will include a fine art show, children's activities, fireworks on Friday night, food vendors and live national local entertainment. Admission is free. New this year:
*Lower booth fees *Lower jury fees *Free electricity *New management *Cash awards - $500 Best of Show; $250 First Place; $150 Second Place; $100 Third Place *This year, due to the changing economy, the booth fees have been reduced to $195. Downtown Mt. Clemens has a very nice newly developed retail center with upscale shops and restaurants and a plaza specifically created for hosting special events. Easily accessible from throughout Metro Detroit, with good marketing in place to draw large numbers, the right artist with the right goods will find opportunity here. To download the application, visit:
metalsculpturesbytcrimboli.com click on "Stars & Stripes App" ****************************** Looking for more art fairs for 2009? Visit:
ArtFairCalendar.com/callforentriesRead more…
Have you heard me say (to quote artist Bob Ragsdale) that being an artist is only half the job, the other half is marketing your art? Here is a new list from the Huffington Post. Although it is more slanted to artists who are working toward the gallery scene, it has many good points for us in the art fair business. In that spirit, here is what you should know:
1. Every artist has a day job.
Most artists cannot live off their art--even relatively successful artists in New York or L.A. So don't feel like you're doing something wrong if you can't make ends meet without a day job. The key is to define yourself as an artist. What you do for rent is just that. It's not who you are.
2. Residencies are good for your health.
Applying to residencies is a critical component to a career as a visual artist. Some are hands-on, with career mentoring or technical instruction; some are totally independent without much in the way of communal activities or guidance. The application process itself is worthwhile. It forces you to think deeply about your work and goals.
A few places to start your search:
artistcommunities.org, resartis.org, transartists.org, nyfa.org
3. NO BLIND SUBMISSIONS!
Every Saturday you can go to Chelsea and see people hauling around their portfolios, cold-calling on galleries. This is a terrible idea. It tells the gallerist that you don't respect his or her time and that you don't seem to care where you show.
4. Write stuff down.
Paperwork sucks. But staying on top of it will make your life easier and save you time in the long run, which means more time to make art.
5. The Internet is all the rage.
You need a website. (Or a blog, or some sort of online space.) Everyone expects you to have one: gallerists, curators, critics, art bloggers, other artists. It doesn't need to be fancy or expensive, but it should have images of your work, a copy of your cv and your contact information. Ideally, the design of the site should reflect the kind of art you make or the kind of artist you are.
6. Rejection: It's not you, it's them.
The odds of landing a residency, getting a grant or finding gallery representation are daunting. Popular programs may accept as little as 1.5% of their applicants each year. And even before the economic crisis, commercial galleries couldn't possibly absorb all the artists who came out of school.
7. There's more to life than commercial galleries.
Commercial galleries are a prominent part of the art world, but there are many other ways to show your work: non-profits, collaboratives, artist-run spaces, online galleries, artist-run fairs, cafes, restaurants, retail spaces, etc.
This is the tip of the article. Read it all here: Huffington Post, and then buy the book ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career, by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber.
I don't know about you, but do you agree with all of these points? Definitely count me in for #5, the Internet is essential! But what about #1?
Let me know your thoughts on this.
Read more…
I have recieved some great and disappointing feedback concerning the Fairhope Arts & Crafts show. If you have feed back I would love to see your comments. I am talking about the Chamber of Commerce Show. What Iam hearing is negative to somewhat consistance in sales
Read more…
As Texas seems to becoming the Happy Hunting Grounds for artists fleeing the North and other distressed areas we will be hearing more and more reports on these events.
Veteran artist Ginny Herzog decided to not exhibit in Florida this year but instead to focus on this area. Here is her report from Houston this weekend:
I exhibited at HB this past wkend for the first time. I decided to forego the FL shows this season because of the bad economy there and, instead, do four TX shows in five weeks. I had heard good things about the Houston show and was looking forward to doing it.
The show is held in Memorial Park and artists are set up in the roadway that circles in the park. Most booths are set up on the outer circumference but in some areas the roadway has wider areas for parking and artists are set up on both sides facing each other. There were nearly 300 exhibitors and about 100 were new this year. Set up times were Wednesday, Thursday and early Friday morning. In most areas there was ample room to pull your vehicle in across from your both for unloading and loading. We had a downpour late
Thursday afternoon so I elected to leave my unstocked booth for a dinner break and returned later to stock it. Weather was very warm and humid on Friday and this Minnesotan is not used to dripping in March. The size of the crowd was okay the first day but it seemed that sales were slow for most...as if the buyers were merely scoping out the show. The temps plummeted on Wed. night and it was in the 40's when we opened our booths on Sat. We came dressed in layers and the sun warmed us up into the 60's in the afternoon. Big crowds attended both Sat. and Sunday in the perfect weather.
The show was very well publicized and organized. I thought the quality was mixed but leaned toward quite good. The focus was on the art but they had good food booths and the entertainment was supportive of the art buying atmosphere...not too loud and very tasteful. The artist hospitality and volunteers were some of the best I've encountered and it was very much appreciated.
There is very little parking available near Memorial Park so they shuttle the festival goers in large buses from shopping centers. There is a $10 gate fee which supports art in Houston. No dog allowed. This show is very well supported by the community.
As far as sales go, it was mixed. I spoke to several artists. It seems that most of the 2D artists were selling prints or smaller works from their portfolio, although I did see occasional larger works go by. Some fine crafts did okay and others said sales were down for them. Many who had done FL, said although their sales were down, the show wasn't as bad as the FL shows. Personally, I sold only one of my smallest pieces so did not come near making expenses. However, I had excellent interest in my work and felt my lack of success was probably a combination of being new to the show and the economy. I am still considering trying the fall Bayou show in Oct. and maybe returning to the spring show to give it another chance.
I thought load out went much better than expected and I even had a wonderful volunteer help me take down and load up.
Thanks for all this info, Ginny. I know some more of you were there. Let's hear what you have to say.
Other news out of Houston: photographer John Galbo rolled his truck and a crane had to be brought in to upright it. Neither John, his inventory nor truck received much damage. John drives a large box truck. I look forward to hearing from you, John, about this recent adventure.
I am sitting here and thinking what a mess this had to be not only for John, but for artists nearby and the committee. There is a narrow road that encircles the park that artists use to access their spaces. A truck in the ditch would certainly impede any movement, add to that a crane! I know how crazy some people get during set up and tear down. Doesn't anyone have photos? Nels?
Read more…
Here are some of my thoughts on the Art Fair Business. It requires:
1. Creativity
2. A positive attitude
3. A gambling mentality
Yes, this is a great business, but you need to have a creative, positive attitude with a gambling mentality to survive.
1. Creative - continually coming up with different ways of marketing, depending on the economy. Bringing more affordable work to the market without compromising the integrity of your work. I may have some questions for you regarding blogs, as I see this as a possible tool to get the word out about new "ventures" and experimental marketing ideas.
(Ginny sent me this info in September, as you can see since then I have been blogging my little heart out -- actually for two years now. I do believe it is a great way to keep yourself in front of your customers.)
Mailing out postcards has been an effective marketing tool for years for me. However, More customers are reluctant to give out their postal addresses, instead, preferring email contact. So I am trying to put the contacts in folders by geographical locations. Two programs I am considering for email marketing are iContact and Constant Contact. Have you used either one?
(Ginny, I have had a Constant Contact account since 2004. It is an excellent program as it continually updates my contacts, takes care of spam, unsubscribes, subscribes, etc, and worth every penny. I currently have over 11,000 subscribers from all over the country.)
Also, I am thinking of self publishing a book of my images. Many of my most passionate collectors are architects, engineers and designers. I don't have the finances to invest in publishing but love the idea of self-publishing. One companies that interest me are Blurb. http://www.blurb.com/, and Lulu. http://www.lulu.com/en/products/.
I will look into others, as well. Have you had any experience with publishing?
(I have done promotional work with an author whose books are published by a traditional publisher. But I have done lots of research in the publishing business, including self-publishing. You might want to take a look at this book for more ideas: The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-publishing on demand seems ideal for your purposes. You might check out this link also: xlibris.com. Also, I'd search Amazon.com for books on the topic. I'd bet there are online discussion groups on this topic.)
2. Positive attitude - I believe artists today need to have a positive attitude in order to survive, particularly with all of the negative news and energy in our business. Rejections from shows and poor sales constantly beat the artists down. But if you can't keep a smile and positive attitude in your booth, it will be difficult to sell yourself and your art.
(There is a thread on this site where they are talking about "snarling" artists. Yes, you know who you are. Somehow, I'm thinking, snarling at customers doesn't quite work:) Constantly staying positive is sometimes pretty hard, but this is partly a hospitality business, not a place for the asocial or introverts.)
3. Gambling mentality - We need to try new markets, new approaches to reaching our customer base, new body of work - all with possibilities of failure but with opportunities to learn and move forward from mistakes. Each trip to a show is a gamble.
(You are right on that one, Ginny. Each application, each trip, each approach to a customer is a gamble. I sometimes think art fair artists are so addicted to this business because of what Buckminster Fuller calls "intermittent reinforcement." Bang, bang, bang, winner, bang, low end sale, bang, bang, more money, etc., keeps us coming back for the "winner".)
You are someone who uses all of the above, Connie. And, I admire you for that.
Ginny
Thanks Ginny, for the thoughts above. I appreciate hearing from you and wish you great shows this year.
Visit Ginny's website: www.herzogart.com to learn more about her and view her work. She is spending most of April in Texas so maybe you can meet her there as I know a bunch of you are participating in this month's Texas shows.
What would you like to share? Write me a blog post and I'll see that it gets good exposure. Your fellow artists are definitely interested in what you have to say.
the other half is marketing your art? Here is a new list from the Huffington Post. Although it is more slanted to artists who are working toward the gallery scene, it has many good points for us in the art fair business. In that spirit, here is what you should know:
1. Every artist has a day job.
Most artists cannot live off their art--even relatively successful artists in New York or L.A. So don't feel like you're doing something wrong if you can't make ends meet without a day job. The key is to define yourself as an artist. What you do for rent is just that. It's not who you are.
2. Residencies are good for your health.
Applying to residencies is a critical component to a career as a visual artist. Some are hands-on, with career mentoring or technical instruction; some are totally independent without much in the way of communal activities or guidance. The application process itself is worthwhile. It forces you to think deeply about your work and goals.
A few places to start your search:
artistcommunities.org, resartis.org, transartists.org, nyfa.org
3. NO BLIND SUBMISSIONS!
Every Saturday you can go to Chelsea and see people hauling around their portfolios, cold-calling on galleries. This is a terrible idea. It tells the gallerist that you don't respect his or her time and that you don't seem to care where you show.
4. Write stuff down.
Paperwork sucks. But staying on top of it will make your life easier and save you time in the long run, which means more time to make art.
5. The Internet is all the rage.
You need a website. (Or a blog, or some sort of online space.) Everyone expects you to have one: gallerists, curators, critics, art bloggers, other artists. It doesn't need to be fancy or expensive, but it should have images of your work, a copy of your cv and your contact information. Ideally, the design of the site should reflect the kind of art you make or the kind of artist you are.
6. Rejection: It's not you, it's them.
The odds of landing a residency, getting a grant or finding gallery representation are daunting. Popular programs may accept as little as 1.5% of their applicants each year. And even before the economic crisis, commercial galleries couldn't possibly absorb all the artists who came out of school.
7. There's more to life than commercial galleries.
Commercial galleries are a prominent part of the art world, but there are many other ways to show your work: non-profits, collaboratives, artist-run spaces, online galleries, artist-run fairs, cafes, restaurants, retail spaces, etc.
This is the tip of the article. Read it all here: Huffington Post, and then buy the book ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career, by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber.
I don't know about you, but do you agree with all of these points? Definitely count me in for #5, the Internet is essential! But what about #1?
Let me know your thoughts on this.
