Hi all!
I am already starting to plan for the winter even though its late July. I am interested to know how you make it through December, January and February when there aren't many shows. I know Florida has some choices, but many say Florida is over-saturated. Can anyone offer suggestions on good shows in the winter months? Saving money is obvious and something I am trying to do in this challenging economic climate. Advice is appreciated. Thanks!
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Thanks to everyone who has replied with suggestions. I and many others sincerely appreciate it!!!! I am going to apply to some of these shows and I am going to do some holiday craft shows as well and see what happens. You don't know until you try and the costs are really low too!!
I pretty much shut down for the winter, with St. James as my last show until one in Lexington just before Thanksgiving. Florida is too far and expensive for me to do, and photography is too saturated there.
I'll spend the winter working on Photoshopping new images and printing. This year is going to be doing studio work on some new ideas. I have a web site that's been ignored for several years that needs to be put in order and made to be functional. I've got plenty of things to do, but none will produce revenue until next spring.
Hi Elle~LOVE your posts by the way...! Funny you should ask about winter as I have been researching & thinking Arizona constantly. I'm SICK of humidity here & I love to keep busy, so I've signed up already for a couple in AZ. & am looking into apartments. The air quality IN Phoenix is bad so I am looking North of there. Actually Tuscon air quality is VERY good too (I look at these things). I have relatives there too so it would be great to visit. I know it is all a chance as I've never sold there before, but with both jewelry & stained glass (lots of Christmas items) usually when one doesn't sell, the other does & if I'm really lucky they both do, but check out 4th street Tuscon (they just extended their deadline to July 28th (on Zapp), They also have a show in March. Tempe I bet you would do really well in~it's a funky area! I've visited it before~great show .Scottsdale Art Fest~(Zapp),Don't know a lot about Tubac in Feb. & don't know much about ORO Valley yet~that is the same time as Tempe Dec., & Dec. Tempe dead. has passed, but not their Spring Fair. Apartments are reasonable down there & very nice so that is my thought to you~good luck!!! Of course they have swap meets & flea mkts. which I haven't looked into yet. I'm not as excited about them~maybe will be after we get there. Good luck & another thank you to the other Artists that gave me ideas about AZ. IF we can make this happen we would be going from Oct.-May.
Brian Billings > Kathleen V. SmithJuly 25, 2013 at 1:43pm
Kathleen, maybe I'll meet you at some of these AZ shows. It's hot & humid here right now so we can't wait for fall/winter! Yesterday was 107 with 60% humidity. I don't like swap meets but you may want to check out the Mesa Marketplace swapmeet when your here. It's huge, they have a special row for artists and it's only $25 a day. All the snowbirds go here and they spend money, mostly on items under $100 and things they can bring back with them.
While everyone else is closing up for Winter, us in Arizona are just getting our shows started. Shows in AZ are mostly in November/December and start back up again in February. I always meet artists from the Midwest at these shows that make it a little vacation for a month or two.
We have an event in Lawrence Kansas called Bizarre Bazaar at the end of November - I am doing it for the first time this year. Very inexpensive to get into. I hear other cities have similar events.
Colorado is dead for outdoor shows and I found out by trial and error that the indoor ones were not my market. I got itchy feet to do shows in warmer climates in 2011 but found that although profitable, traveling to TX and AZ was too much of a hassle unless we had another reason to go there. I am back to my normal winter work schedule of 1. Building new and existing inventory for next summers shows in CO, 2. Working on antique saddle/ gear restorations that have been booked through the summer, 3. Build two or three saddles whether they're sold or not, 4. Stay on top of special orders generated at last summers shows, 5. Get articles written and list CDs on eBay, and 6. Strart researching my 2014 show schedule sometime in December and start the application process in Jan./Feb. Year round, a major problem is cash flow (LOL), not the amount but the fact that it comes in spurts. In summer it's the shows and in winter it is at the completion of a restoration or special order project. Saddle folks generally send payments every month or so which helps smooth things out a bit.
Have you thought of Wholesale? The Buyers Market of American Crafts is in January 2014 in Philadelphia. Then there is the ACC show in February in Baltimore. That is Wholesale/Retail, you can do either or both.
We do flower and garden shows in February and March. Yeah, they're not fine art shows but surprisingly, fine art sells. And it will sell quite nicely when the promoter realizes that artists and craftsmen should be apart from the regular Vendor stuff.
There have been times when the first quarter is better than spring sales wize.
We've done Boston, Providence, Hartford, Albany, NY, Harrisburg, PA, and believe it or not a bi annual show in northern Vermont. And the winter money is indeed there.
The Virginia Beach Flower and Garden Show always has "Artists Alley" in the lobby. About 25 artists put in 3-4 pieces each, and sales are usually good. This year a photographer that did mainly floral and nature had a booth on the show floor. He was selling mainly 16 x 20 gallery wrapped prints, and seemed to be doing well. His prices were dirt cheap, but he made up for that in the volume of sales.
Replies
I pretty much shut down for the winter, with St. James as my last show until one in Lexington just before Thanksgiving. Florida is too far and expensive for me to do, and photography is too saturated there.
I'll spend the winter working on Photoshopping new images and printing. This year is going to be doing studio work on some new ideas. I have a web site that's been ignored for several years that needs to be put in order and made to be functional. I've got plenty of things to do, but none will produce revenue until next spring.
Hi Elle~LOVE your posts by the way...! Funny you should ask about winter as I have been researching & thinking Arizona constantly. I'm SICK of humidity here & I love to keep busy, so I've signed up already for a couple in AZ. & am looking into apartments. The air quality IN Phoenix is bad so I am looking North of there. Actually Tuscon air quality is VERY good too (I look at these things). I have relatives there too so it would be great to visit. I know it is all a chance as I've never sold there before, but with both jewelry & stained glass (lots of Christmas items) usually when one doesn't sell, the other does & if I'm really lucky they both do, but check out 4th street Tuscon (they just extended their deadline to July 28th (on Zapp), They also have a show in March. Tempe I bet you would do really well in~it's a funky area! I've visited it before~great show .Scottsdale Art Fest~(Zapp),Don't know a lot about Tubac in Feb. & don't know much about ORO Valley yet~that is the same time as Tempe Dec., & Dec. Tempe dead. has passed, but not their Spring Fair. Apartments are reasonable down there & very nice so that is my thought to you~good luck!!! Of course they have swap meets & flea mkts. which I haven't looked into yet. I'm not as excited about them~maybe will be after we get there. Good luck & another thank you to the other Artists that gave me ideas about AZ. IF we can make this happen we would be going from Oct.-May.
Kathleen, maybe I'll meet you at some of these AZ shows. It's hot & humid here right now so we can't wait for fall/winter! Yesterday was 107 with 60% humidity. I don't like swap meets but you may want to check out the Mesa Marketplace swapmeet when your here. It's huge, they have a special row for artists and it's only $25 a day. All the snowbirds go here and they spend money, mostly on items under $100 and things they can bring back with them.
While everyone else is closing up for Winter, us in Arizona are just getting our shows started. Shows in AZ are mostly in November/December and start back up again in February. I always meet artists from the Midwest at these shows that make it a little vacation for a month or two.
We have an event in Lawrence Kansas called Bizarre Bazaar at the end of November - I am doing it for the first time this year. Very inexpensive to get into. I hear other cities have similar events.
Elle,
Have you thought of Wholesale? The Buyers Market of American Crafts is in January 2014 in Philadelphia. Then there is the ACC show in February in Baltimore. That is Wholesale/Retail, you can do either or both.
We do flower and garden shows in February and March. Yeah, they're not fine art shows but surprisingly, fine art sells. And it will sell quite nicely when the promoter realizes that artists and craftsmen should be apart from the regular Vendor stuff.
There have been times when the first quarter is better than spring sales wize.
We've done Boston, Providence, Hartford, Albany, NY, Harrisburg, PA, and believe it or not a bi annual show in northern Vermont. And the winter money is indeed there.
The Virginia Beach Flower and Garden Show always has "Artists Alley" in the lobby. About 25 artists put in 3-4 pieces each, and sales are usually good. This year a photographer that did mainly floral and nature had a booth on the show floor. He was selling mainly 16 x 20 gallery wrapped prints, and seemed to be doing well. His prices were dirt cheap, but he made up for that in the volume of sales.
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