I hear the Texas economy is still booming........

My name is Clive. I'm new to this forum, but not new to art fairs, as I've been making a living with my wife these past 20 years, over here on the left coast, selling our paintings on ceramic tile, mostly in the SF Bay Area. Fyi you can see our work at www.artontile.com. Like most artists and craftspeople I know over here, art sales have been dreadful the past couple of years. California seems to be in some kind of terminal tail-spin, so the wife and I are considering packing up our gear and our 10-year old homeschooled daughter and heading out on the road chasing the dollar through the desert South-West into the Lone Star state next spring.

I'm a little bit wary of the Phoenix area shows due to the crappy economy (and I've been told by a local artist that the people who will like our art don't have any money and the people who have the money won't necessarily go for our art) but will still probably try to do a few shows in Arizona before heading on to Texas. I hear good things about Bayou City and was wondering about other Texas shows (Fort Worth, Cottonwood, Art City Austin and the San Antonio Fiesta Arts Fair, any others in March/April worth considering?). Our art is very sensual, emotional and definitely not conservative. That's my fear - that the Texas (and Arizona) buying clientele would be too conservative for our art. Tell me it ain't so and that my fears are ungrounded.......

Thanks for reading and thanks for any info you might have to offer.

Cheers

Clive

Replies

Dawn Waters Baker September 3, 2010 at 2:30pm

Hey Clive! I only do shows in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area so I wouldn't know much about San Antonio/Houston shows. I have heard from my friends that they are good shows (Bayou is great and Fiesta is a little gem I'm told). Here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area it runs hot and cold. We are seeing some of the "recession" or whatever you want to call it here but the economy is doing alright. The buyers are still kinda hesitant it seems to me in 2010. I hope we can see some happy buyers soon. I'll let you know how Cottonwood in the fall goes.
- Clive Bridges > Dawn Waters Baker September 4, 2010 at 10:46am
  
  Hi Dawn
  
  Thanks for the info.
  
  Clive
- Clive Bridges > Nels Johnson September 3, 2010 at 10:21am
  
  Hi Willie,
  
  Thanks for your response. I know that it's impossible to generalize about people and their response to art - that's one thing I've learned over the past 20 years (maybe the only thing I've learned, other than you can't take ANYTHING for granted). I'm sure we'll apply to several Texas shows, hope to be lucky enough to get in a few and come see for ourselves. I was just hoping for some feedback on artist's experience of these shows.
  
  Thanks
  
  Clive

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