Hello All,
After talking about this project for a few years my wife and I have taken the plunge. We are in the process of buying our booth equipment for an application picture. My wife is an acrylic artist from East Tennessee. I do the accounting, tech stuff, and primarily carry things. We have so many questions, however we want to start with one concern. Much of my wife's work has been done both in her studio from photographs we have taken on our hikes and drives in the Smokies and on the Cumberland Plateau, or in the field from the same locales. We live near the base of Walden's Ridge (Cumberland Plateau) so we have easy and frequent access to both areas. Even though she has done other work from trips we have taken or workshops she has attended to places like North Carolina, Maine, Oregon, Washington(state), Tulum, Cozumel and Jacksonville,Florida, most of her work is inspired by East Tennessee. She wants to apply to a spring show in Florida near Jacksonville (with a rapidly approaching deadline). If she is accepted this would be her first show. Since it is on the Florida coast, will the festival attendees only be expecting coastal scenes? A friend of mine who is a very successful artist, says she always does better away from home.
Suggestions as to venues where patrons would be likely to appreciate(and be willing and able to purchase) her work are welcome.
We are looking for used display panel systems(Pro Panels), we already found a canopy and a few display panel's on Craig's List.
Thanks for your interest. Sherry and I (John) look forward to meeting some of you when we hit the road.
Replies
Hello John and Sherry and welcome. We are glad to have you here. Good luck as you prepare for your first show. You will be fine and I am sure you will get lots of advice form our AFI members. We help each other out here. Keep us posted on your progress.
John & Sherry, Sounds like you have definitely made the committment to the art fair business. Lighting is something you can always get later. From our experience, there are only a few shows that we need it. This is a great sight for information in selecting shows. So take full advantage of it. Happy travels and many sales along the way!
I picked up our Armstrong display panels yesterday in a nasty snowstorm. We needed a booth picture for our first show application (must be postmarked today meaning delaying the trip was not an option). My 45 minute errand turned into three hours dodging downed trees and wrecks in a heavy snowfall. I have completed a partial setup in my living room. I was pleasantly surprised by how light they were. I will appreciate this when I am lugging them in to shows. They look great (charcoal) and the set up was quick and easy.. Thanks to all those who provided advice, we are very pleased with the product.
All I can say is the last time I went to Florida I sold more mountain pictures than Florida pictures and I had an equal number of both in my booth. The snowbirds in Florida are the ones with the money and they have homes up north. Even when I lived in Florida I visited and photographed Virginia a lot and I sold many a photograph in Florida that they buyer was going to take back to their home up north. I did not do many shows in Jacksonville however.
Allison,
Thank you for the reply. That is encouraging. The show we hope to get into is Isle of Eight Flags Fernandina Beach, that is if we can get our act together and are fortunate enough to be accepted.
Sherry would like to do one or two shows in Virginia. Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated,
We are deciding today whether to order Pro Panels or the Armstrong product.
Armstrong it is. We have a King Canopy Goliath Tent (the heavy duty one) from Craig's List, 9 Armstrong Display Panels with stabilizer bars, carpet skirting, wire hooks, carry cases, and other accessories from Armstrong products, two sets of Apollo ShowIt display panels from Craig's List.
Square for my iPhone for credit card processing.
Everything will fit in the back of my Chevrolet Silverado once I add a camper top.
I realize there will be much more that we need. I know lighting needs to be addressed and containers to transport Sherry's art.
Any other advice anyone may have for whatever we are overlooking will be appreciated.
Thanks again for your interest.
We used the same Armstrong panels for nearly 30 years. Dependable, lightweight and strong. Sounds like you are really getting outfitted, John.
There are some lists floating around on this site of what you need to do an art fair. You might visit the discussion tab for "Art Fair Equipment, etc." to see what you can fish out of there. I couldn't come up with a good "search" term, but do know that there is a long discussion where many people added their two cents on what you need to have in your van.