Newbies-want to introduce ourselves......

Hello everyone,

We are two painters who share our art and lives. We have been lurking here for about a year, but just joined a few days ago (having trouble loading our photo though...).

We are both painters who reside in the Washington DC area where we both make our living from teaching art. We have been in a couple of venues selling our art- but they nhave not been strictly Art Fairs.... however it has given us a chance to play with wall panels (we have made 3 sets so far) , tables etc. At this point, we are thinking that if we are going to do this seriously, we need to purchase panels because we see that many of the fairs require a nice booth shot.

We would love to enter some shows this summer.... but it appears that all fill up in the winter. Seems like a mountain of paperwork and fees one has to pay to get in-one of us is going to have to wear a 'business hat' for a bit... won't be easy, but we are ready for it! Any advice is VERY welcome..and if you know of any East Coast fairs that are still accepting, please let us know!

We look forward to the ARTventure!

Claudia & Sergio

ClaudiaOlivos.com

SergiOlivosM.com

When I first started, I made a couple of phone calls to show directors, literally the week before the show. Both were gracious enough to allow me into the show, after seeing my slides. Nowadays, you could probably just send jpegs. There aren't a lot of shows that ask for slides any more.

One thing you could and should do right away, is format some of your work in ZAPP format -- 1920 pixels square, black background. Scale your art to fit -- max it out horizontally or vertically, or both, if it will work in a square format. That way you have work to send, in standard format, if the opportunity arises.

And summertime is a great time to get that booth shot done. It's a lot harder in the winter! Trust me on this! If you don't have a display yet, now's the time to start getting that together. There are alternatives to ProPanels -- mesh walls, hollow core doors hinged together, gridwall... ProPanels or Armstrong Display panels are light and easiest to transport, other than mesh.

Replies

Jacki Bilsborrow May 8, 2011 at 11:18pm

Hello Claudia and Sergio. Welcome to our group. We are glad that you finally decided to join us. I think you will find that we are a very friendly and helpful group. We type of art do you both do? We'd all love to see some of your work sometime. Post a few photos for us if you can. Well, I hope to see you in our forums sometime again soon.

Jacki B
- Claudia & Sergio Olivos > Jacki Bilsborrow May 9, 2011 at 9:46am
  
  Thanks Jackie!
  
  We are both painters.... having trouble loading images here.... will try again in a minute.
  
  best,
  
  Claudia
Annette Piper May 8, 2011 at 5:28am

Hi Claudia and Sergio and welcome aboard :) So glad you made the leap to joining up and you're already getting great advice! See you around!
- Claudia & Sergio Olivos > Annette Piper May 9, 2011 at 9:45am
  
  Thank you Annette :)
Jim Parker May 6, 2011 at 9:26pm

When I first started, I made a couple of phone calls to show directors, literally the week before the show. Both were gracious enough to allow me into the show, after seeing my slides. Nowadays, you could probably just send jpegs. There aren't a lot of shows that ask for slides any more.

One thing you could and should do right away, is format some of your work in ZAPP format -- 1920 pixels square, black background. Scale your art to fit -- max it out horizontally or vertically, or both, if it will work in a square format. That way you have work to send, in standard format, if the opportunity arises.

And summertime is a great time to get that booth shot done. It's a lot harder in the winter! Trust me on this! If you don't have a display yet, now's the time to start getting that together. There are alternatives to ProPanels -- mesh walls, hollow core doors hinged together, gridwall... ProPanels or Armstrong Display panels are light and easiest to transport, other than mesh.
- Claudia & Sergio Olivos > Jim Parker May 6, 2011 at 10:08pm
  
  Thank you so much Jim! We will certainly follow your advice re the Zapp format. It is so hard to choose what type of work to submit too! I have from "cute" watercolors....to more serious abstracts.... and I never know what to submit. The booth shot is the other stumbling block, we have a "homemade" booth - made from wire and wood.... bit feel we should invest in ProPanels/Armstrong.... now it's to commiting to the cost of these! Here a little (under 3 min video) of our booth w/homemade walls/panels (chicken wire & wood) http://olivosartstudio.blogspot.com/2011/05/art-fair-adventures.html
  - Jim Parker > Claudia & Sergio Olivos May 7, 2011 at 8:01am
    
    I would definitely jury with the higher end, more "serious" work. Go with your passion. The jurors almost always judge based on serious criteria such as subject matter, technical expertise, cohesiveness to the work, and uniqueness. Cute will sell to the public, so it's good to have a range of things on both ends of the price spectrum. Professional panels will certainly help sell your work.
    
    And lose the Homer pails!!! Totally Bamboo makes some awesome chairs (used to be Hollywood chairs). But go for the walls, first. You can get camp chairs at Dick's Sporting Goods for about $10 each... They fold up nice, and are marginally comfortable.
    - Claudia & Sergio Olivos > Jim Parker May 7, 2011 at 2:07pm
      
      hahaha!!! YEs, the pails were a last minute thing because we forgot to bring chairs.
      
      We know we eventually want to buy high chairs to be at eye level with visitors... professional panels, yes--that is indeed what we need.
      
      We are looking into panels now.....
      
      Thank you so much for your input re; cute vs. serious.
      
      Any thoughts on whether abstract is better for jury than figurative (not realistic)?
      
      best,
      
      Claudia
      - Jim Parker > Claudia & Sergio Olivos May 8, 2011 at 7:46am
        
        I think what gets juried into shows is going to be different for every set of jurors (and they change yearly for many shows) and for what the show director wants the show to look like. Many on the forum will tell you to walk the show to get a feel for the types of work that is displayed, and maybe more importantly, what kind of work is selling.
Connie Mettler May 6, 2011 at 6:28pm

Welcome, Claudia & Sergio. We are glad to have you here. Did you upload any photos of your work? I'd love to see it.

Yes, you are right. Most shows jury at least six months before the show itself. You might check out www.CallsforArtists.com and see if there are any shows still open for this summer. Bill Kinney at Paragon Art Events runs a bunch of Eastern seaboard shows, you might check with him to see if he has any suggestions for you.

In addition, there is a lot to the "business" side of this, it is not all about the art, as you will find out.

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