Was anyone at Tempe, AZ, last weekend?

Replies

Amy Schulz December 7, 2010 at 8:32pm

Do the promoters read this? I had date night with my husband and we ended up walking around Mill avenue Saturday night. The booths were all closed up for the night. What I am wondering is if there was any theft? The booths near the fountains and the big Christmas tree were guarded well. The ones in the busy area by the Jack in the Box were ignored. I saw the security crew facing away from the booths, congregating to talk, again facing away from the booths. Am I expecting too much from security?

Unfortunately. I did not actually get to attend the show on Sunday as I planned, but it was a really large show. Thought that I would do the walk through to see if I wanted to sell there since it costs so much just to get juried in.

Amy
- Munks > Amy Schulz December 7, 2010 at 11:52pm
  
  I was at the spring show in 2008 or 2009. It was horrid - the largest buy/sell festival I have ever seen. Recipes, yard art, dips, yard art, painted lightbulbs, some guy with a laptop that would print out your grandkids' names in a "special" font for $10 ($20 if you wanted a crappy golden oak stained frame around it.) and lots and lots of yard art and buy/sell.
  
  I was embarrassed to be seen there, I was embarrassed to have my paintings there, and I was embarrassed that I actually drove down there for that, that thing, whatever it was.
  
  The show staff person was very flippant when I shared my concerns with her after she tried to get me to apply again a few months later.
  
  It was a good sized crowd, but certainly not 250,000 when I was there. There were very few buyers in the crowd except for the people that just couldn't live without a painted lightbulb, or a 8.5x11 sheet of paper with some kid's name on it, or a piece of garbage on a stick for their yard.
  
  It was not an art show, it was a nightmare.
  
  Other than that, it was ok.
  
  (No it wasn't.)
  - MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK > Munks December 8, 2010 at 12:40am
    
    Golly, the more things change, the more they stay the same! I last did Tempe in 1989 and have heard nothing since then to change my mind about ever doing it again. Yard art, stuff on a stick, cheap photos with die-cut mats, b/s by the carload. Waaaayyyy too many booths, waaayyy too high of a booth fee. Please, artists, pay attention to what other [real] artists say about shows. Don't think your original, fairly high priced, unusual work will sell in a market given over to cheap, plentiful and cookie-cutter shlock (or schmutz in Yiddish).
    
    We can vote with our jury fees! Don't do a show because maybe it's warmer there than at home, or you heard the corn dogs were great, or you barely made expenses so you'll give it another shot, or it's only 500 miles away or it fills a gap on the calendar. We're all giving our hard (and hardly) earned money to many shows that don't really care about us. So, pick and choose carefully, read this blog, subscribe to each and all sources of info about shows, email your friends. That being said, I still pick shows that jury me out or worse, jury me in and I tank in sales. My bad! But I think in another 30 years, I just might get the hang of the whole shebang!