Blog

There is good and there is bad to report--let me start with the good.

THE JOURNEY THERE--FROM SAUGATUCK,MICHIGAN

This is always a beautiful journey.

From Michigan I can make it one day or one and a half days, depending on how I want to travel.

I first did this show in 1987.  I have done it 15 times since.  Had not done it since 2011.  In 2012 I was scheduled to do it  but instead elected to have my chest sawed open--quad-triple bypass and two valves replaced.  I am ok now, stronger than before.  I wish I could say the same for the show.

But back to the good stuff.

When I take one-and-a-half-day trips it is because I get to stay in Madison,Wisconsin and reconnect with great Norwegian brothers who have their own little kingdom of restaurants there--the Birge Brothers.

Also the neat thing is the journey to Madison.

In the 1980's there was always this one old barn off I-94 going to Madison.  It had this great mural on it.

It was like a rendition from the album cover of a rock group called Its a Beautiful Day--the LaFlammes.

The mural had this giant blue bird of happiness that covered one third of the barn side.  Then there was happy flowers.  It was a trippy 1960's flashback.

So I was energized  this trip to look for it.  It sits out there in the nowhere and then, boom, there it is.  You can easily blow by at it when going 75 mph.

So I was looking for it.

I was wondering was it still there, was the farm sold, was the  mural painted over.

I kind of remembered to where to start looking for it--about 27 miles east of Madison.

Sure enough, I came up a large rise, a bunch of trees blazed by me and there--it was still there.

I quickly braked, almost ran two Walmart trucks off the road, hell, its Walmart, who cares.

The mural is definitely on its last legs.  It barely reads on the side of the barn.  But that Bluebird looks just as great to me as the first time I saw it.  If that mural ever disappears, then I aint going to Madison anymore via I-94.

HANGING OUT IN MADISON

Madison is a throwback to the 60s, liberal and hippy.

I hooked up with my buddy Chris Birge, he and his brothers own a little empire of restaurants, coffee bars and wine stores.  I first met them in the late 1980's, they were in their 20's I was in my 40's.  When I did Madison on the Square, they had a restaurant there, the Blue Marlin, and they would always park a car in spot in front of their restaurant and save it for me.  I would get to eat great seafood, drink awesome wines, and have my van ten feet from my booth.  I took a cab back and forth.  So we became best of friends.

So I had not seen or talked to Chris in three years.  I just showed up at the Weary Traveler Restaurant on Williamson Street(The locals call it Willy Street).

I reconnected with him.

Luckily for me he had bought a pool table for his house by the lake.  Luckily for me, I had misspent most of my youth shooting pool, so I trimmed him for a nice debt where we got to go to three different restaurants on Willy and he picked up the tap.  I paid the tips.

First, we went to a cool new bistro called Pig in a Coat where we munched on lamb carpaccio with a Malbec from Argentina.  Personally, I would have favored a redhead from Madison, but I savored what  my host offered.  (Geez, I hope Ellen is not reading this)

We foliowed up this with a neat little sojourn to a Laotion restaurant next.

We had great prawns, spicy and gritty.

Finally, we hit a Japanese noodle restaurant and did, pickled veggies, poke, and Ramen noodles--with lots of Sake.

What the hell, Minneapolis was only four and a half hours away the next day, and I was going to set up the booth.

Tte journey to the twin cities.

You cut north on I-94, GO PAST TOMAH, PAST EAU CLAIRE.

You see three million silos and barns, they are everywhere--you are in the heartland.

The hills roll for miles, corn is just starting to pop.  You see dairy cattle up your ring-yang.  You see goats.  You see these giant tourist destinations for water parks.

You pass by Osseo, Wisconsin.  If you care to venture in, off the freeway, you come downtown to the Norske Nook Restaurant.  There, you encounter the tallest pies you have ever seen in your life.  Yep, the meringue maybe three feet above the fruit--who cares.  

You can pick apple,raspberry,mince, lemon and 20 others.  This is pie heaven.  You have to go at least once.

OK, WE ARE ALMOST TO MINNEAPOLIS--WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED AT THE SHOW?

Gee, I thought you would never ask.

Here are the basics.

This is a three-day show with a previous day setup, or if you are on Hennepin, a Friday morn setup.  Also the rest off ya can set up that morn.  Show starts at noon.

Booth fee is close to $500, it s a rip off.  Most artists don't get the return here anymore.

Also it is further ripoff, because of booth location,

The show has 350 exhibitors.

About 125  are on Hennepin Avenue.  This is on a main road where all the restaurants, retail and bars are.

The rest of the show is on the mall.

This is on a two-sided road with a green patch of grass down the middle.  Booths are back to back on the median, with generous space behind.  Then there are booths on both sides of the streets.  The mall runs a good four blocks,DOWNHILL, which means patrons must walk four blocks back uphill.

Guess what?

Over 50 per cent of them don't even walk all the way down.

OK,OK.

FROM HERE ON IS MY ASSESSMENT OF THE SHOW, STRICTLY FROM A 2-D POINT OF VIEW ( I am a photographer) WITH INPUT FROM SOME 3-D FRIENDS, MOSTLY GLASS GUYS I KNOW.

By now, some of you newbies are thinking, "Geez, the guy is finally going to tell us something about the show after all his hippy and travel-loge bullshit."

Yeah, well here goes, take this with the following proviso.  This used to be a $5k-$8K show, no more.

I know what I know, after doing this for 40 years.  I watch closely, I observe what people are carrying.

Also, I greet everybody that comes in, I am not on my cellphone.  Oh, I have new work, too.  Not the same old,same old.  Gee some of it gets me into shows like, Gasparilla, Saint Louis and Fort Worth.  So pay attention to my patter.  I am telling it like it is--and folks, I know what i is.

FINALLY, AN ASSESSMENT OF THIS YEAR'S UPTOWN.

First off, up front, it was a big down year for most of us in all medias.

I talked to friends in jewelry, glass, clay, painting and photos.

For most--it was way off.

Oh sure, there are those lucky few. I had the guy with stone birds across from me.  He had to do a cool $8K or better.  Those birds never should have been in the Uptown.

A photo friend of mine did $8K last year and barely made $2K.

Most people did not do above $2K for the show.

All they bought was the lowest end possible.

Forget about be-backs.

Most of them did not have $50 cash in their pockets.

The show was an Ann Arbor redux.  They walked by without really looking at anything.

I had my worst show,ever, there.  All I could sell was $25 photos.  Only sold four pieces at $150 the whole show.

It was not pretty.

Weather was decent.  Not too overly hot.  Had a storm Saturday nite that ended the show two hours early.

Sunday, was my best day, and it was pathetic.

My two glass buddies from the twin cities, who only got in off the wait list, had pathetic shows.

Interestingly, both these guys routinely get into the best shows like Coconut Grove, Winter Park, St. Louis, et al, and they barely got in the show off the wait list.  What does that say about that sharp-eyed jury.  Stone birds were better than original glass art.

Unfortunately, the director of this show is not that sharp.  She don't get around and see how other shows of their magnitude are run.  She collects a paycheck.  

She is happy, while hundreds off artists are unhappy.

This show is spinning downward.

The booth fees too high, the rewards too low.

The committee is clueless and their jury is mediocre at best.

The twin cities deserve better.

SO THERE IT IS.  THE JOURNEY IS A BEAUTIFUL ONE BUT I DON'T THINK THE FINANCIAL REWARDS ARE COMMISURATE.

Love to hear others comments.

Again, I caution, my observations were based on"  Being there and looking, being a 2-D guy,

and having 25 years of perspective there.

Later gators.  Nels.