I am an artist specializing in wood wall hangings. I am invited to do the St. Paul American Craft Council show in April 2014. I do well at large shows (over 100,000) and poorly at small shows. I've read in some of the posts here that the ACC shows draw about 18,000 which would not work well for me. However, I look at the artists and the crafters and the work is outstanding and some of the people come a long way to show there.
My work sells from $500 to $6000 and is only wood wall hangings. (www.marclamm.com if you want to see what I mean).
Does anyone know if this show is a big seller. Does it lead to gallery sales? Why would I want to do it?
Anything you could share would be helpful. I have till Nov 1st to accept the invitation.
Replies
Marc - the ACC show in St Paul is wildly different from the huge shows at Baltimore. The crowd is sophisticated and well-to-do. It is a show where I've sold $2000 and $3000 pieces of art jewelry in silver. If the drive isn't just awful, I'd suggest that you do the show. Instead of a mob scene, somehow the St. Paul crowd is mostly buyers, educated buyers. FWIW.
Judy, Thanks so much for the info. Did you get contacts for galleries, art consultants, etc. from the show or was it just on site sales?
Marc
Marc - it was just on site sales. I came off a wait list so I didn't have time to do my normal contacts and research. I had just 8 days to collect my work and drive 900 miles. The twin cities has a substantial cultured population and I would expect galleries there would do well for you. While I don't know for sure, I would think that wood art would do well with a population that leans heavily toward Nordic heritage.
Thanks again, Judy.