I try to bring cash with me to art festivals. Sometimes I don't have to pay tax and this also saves the artists from paying those ridiculous usage fees. Well those $20 bills were flying out of my wallet today.

This is one of my favorite shows of the summer. Lots of great artists, wide spacious layout, a lot of restaurants so you get to eat real food and cool off, parking is easy, close and covered. The only way this show would be better is if the artists gave the work away.

Oh wait, there is another way the show could have been better--if those damn stone birds were not in the show. Yep, they're baaaaaaaack. They even had a good booth location which really was disturbing (only to me obviously). They were next to a commercial vendor but still. 

I don't understand why but as usual there was very little ceramics or glass. Most of the ceramics were functional and the glass was pretty unimaginative. The only Amdur show that has interesting c & g is Port Clinton. Maybe artists aren't applying or the judges don't like it but it is kind of weird.

There were plenty of AFI'ers there--Diana Ferguson, Donna Sauers, Bo Mackinson, Ray Mosteller, Carol Pflughoeft, Jane and Susan Shaffer and Carla Bank. I boothsat for Carla while she went to meet Diana and it was so much fun watching the faces on the kids as they saw the candy pictures and heart pictures. It was also fun to see the parents ask the kids which pictures they liked best and in some cases they came back to buy. Get the kids interested while they are young.

It is really nice when you are looking forward to a show and it doesn't let you down.  I only went home when I ran out of money.

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  • Exactly!! And I've met awesome artists that we are now great friends so now when I go to other States I have places to stay and when they come to do shows in IL they have their home here. You never know, we are a community that if we help each other things will be easier for all of us in this business. It's a crazy business and you have to be a strong person to keep up with the traveling, setting up, tearing down, getting soaked in the storm etc etc :)
  • That's great Diana!!!  Have fun and looking forward to seeing your photos.  Ironically I was next to someone at a show (that lasted about 2 hrs before a storm rolled through and closed) and he has photographed my work.  The shows are also great for connections. 

     

  • Yep, it's not always the show, but if the show draws your customer base.  Some work does much better in the city and some at targetted suburban shows.  Some suburbs work better for me than others because it is my target customer.  The shows are just like any other channel in your biz strategy and networking is also a part of it.
  • I meant "has" not have
  • LOL, Tribune...NEVER AGAIN!!  I rather stay in my burbs. And I just heard a painter saying at Glenview "Suburb shows...never again! I will only do shows in the city" So I guess everybody have a different point of view.
  • Diana, you are right, sometimes we freak out and scare customers. My worst shows have been the ones that I panic and my attitude is more on the negative side, then I think clients feel my vibes. What I leaned from this season is not to focus my thoughts on thinking it was a "bad show" because thanks to Arlington Heights I got a really nice custom job in Old Orchard. Thanks to Buffalo Grove I had a great sale in Glenview, Thanks to Tribune (And I had a miserable time there) I sold another custom painting to a couple in Buffalo Grove only because they remembered me from the Tribune show. So I just think...Is there really a bad show?? Maybe not. Let's think of them like networking, connecting, marketing and the more they see us, the more we will stay in their mind. Have you ever sold something because a client says "Wait a minute, were you at this and that show? Your stuff looks familiar, you know what, let me have that piece" and sometimes they tell their friends and it becomes a chain reaction. ;) So let's just see it as we are planting seeds and hope we get nice produce to eat later...
  • Art in any medium is personal.  Some buyers stay in their comfort zone, for me I like funky and fun but have my share of traditional also.  To comments that you recieved I just say "my work isn't for everyone however I have a following and many that collect my work.  Maybe you will find something that suits you better at another booth".  We all know not to take comments personally, but wish those that don't appreciate our work wouldn't be so vocal especially when there are others in the booth.  Hopefully the other customers realized how tactless she was!  But, there will always be those in the world who will continue to feel the need to voice their negativity.  I say... sad for them.  Move them out of the booth and remove their negative energy!

  • Diana, nasty comments? Aside from their obvious lack of taste, they also had no class. Glenview always was a wannabe North Shore suburb and has just demonstrated it has a long way to go.
  • Diana, your jewelry is awesome!! So original and hip! If you had a nasty comments then they don't know what great, unique, original, one of a kind, fun jewelry is! They must wear boring, old jewelry or not jewelry at all!
  • Well Diana.. some people just don't have filters or tact.  I don't understand why some people feel that is their right to "bash" a persons work at an art fair.  I just consider the source and bite my tonque.  I think I mentioned in a previous discussion that I was working with a customer that was purchasing a gift and she turned to the person next to her (they weren't together) and asked her opinion.  The woman said "oh no... I wouldn't buy that!".  The person already had her cc in hand and then I saw the "deer in headlights" look and her confidence was broken.  I wanted to pull the person aside and say "you just cost me $300!"
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