I know this has been repeated here so many times. Give your pieces of art some space and room to breathe in your display. Well that works if you have large expensive paintings at an upscale show and you want your booth to look like a high end gallery. I live in the boonies and do Art / craft shows. Nice shows but most people don't spend a hundred bucks in any one booth. We live in a financially stressed area.
Up until now I have brought pretty much everything I have ... and yes my walls are pretty loaded up with a variety of mediums and subject matter. About half my booth is landscape paintings in Acrylic or oils. The other half is whimsy acrylic paintings or digital drawings printed on paper or stretched canvas. It may be crowded but I try to group what is on each pro-panel so it isn't a whole wall of chaos down the length of the tent.
I now have what I feel is a solid body of work but in multiple mediums / acrylic, oil, digital drawing. And multiple categories / landscape - plein air / whimsy / family portraits.
So .... how do you decide what to bring or what to leave at home.
One larger show where I wasn't going to bring any black and white work but later decided to take them ... All I sold was B&W and all the things I normally sell sat there gathering moss. Seems like if I don't bring something people will always ask about it.
I get decent traffic and great comments on my work. I have pretty decent sales but I want to move up to great sales and possibly do some larger shows outside of my local area.
Every show is different and what was hot in one place can sit there the next show. How do you figure out what to put up on the walls? I can't out guess the public but I know I do need to pull some things down and give my pieces more space to breathe especially now that I am adding some larger work.
Anyone have any suggestions on how you scale back what you bring or how you group items for better appeal? How do you determine spacing around your art?
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Usually, I wouldn't respond to your post. I would tend to not say anything and let you work your way up the show ladder. However, there are a couple of things that peaked my interest here, so, I'll tell you what I think. Take it with a grain of salt.
First of all, if you want to learn how to display, market, etc. you'll get the best info from those who own or run successful retail stores. This is what I learned. If you want to attract more serious, high end buyers, then show only your best work. Give it more of a gallery look. I have done this my whole career. I get into the best shows and then fill in with lesser shows. If you want to appeal to the masses, then, put as much work out as you possibly can. The psychological message says "my work is affordable." It doesn't work if you have higher priced items and put out a ton of work. It doesn't work if you have moderately priced items and display them in a gallery setting. I was physically shown the difference years ago when I ran a retail clothing store.
I cringe when I read that you are trying to guess what the public wants. It's the reason why I don't like most of the so called artists that permeate the art fairs. Make your own work that you are passionate about and sell that. That's what Norm Darwish, Connie's husband did and that's what I do. I looked at your web site. You are all over the place. That might get you into the lowest of the low shows, like Waterfront in Escanaba. It won't get you into any of the best shows. On the other hand, there are thousands of shows in between the Waterfront and, let's say, Ft Worth or Des Moines, which are two of the best. I can say that about the Waterfront because I've done it for the past few years. I'm not going this year because... I prefer not to say.
I went to your web site to see what you were talking about. Your work is too cutesy for me and all over the place. On the other hand, technically, the good pieces are well done. If I was judging a decent show, I might let you in, but, you would have to pick one type of work and display it. You would not be allowed to show those coloring book type items. I'd stick to painting. I think you would have the most success getting into something decent with your paintings. On the other hand, there are only a few shows in Michigan that you couldn't get into. You could even get into any of the Ann Arbor shows except for the original show. From what I heard from people who did it this year, they would be doing you a favor.
Scaling back is easy. Put out what you think is your best work and place the pieces where you can see them best. Your display needs to be consistent. If you are grouping, you are showing too many different things. Spacing? If it looks good to you, it will look good to everyone else. You can always get something out of the back that maybe you aren't showing. That really works for me. It requires that you talk to the customers. They might tell you they like something but want it smaller or in different colors.
Here's an anecdotal story that I experienced a long time ago. I used to shlepp everything that I had to every show and I would unload it all and keep things in a back storage area. I would bring more than I could ever sell and I would then have to pack everything back up at take down. I started to take less and less, which was good because it led to less work. Then I had a show where I sold everything I brought, on the first day. If I had all those pieces I used to bring, I would have sold those too. So, now I bring as many good pieces as I can. I do it by dollars. I add up what my work costs and think about how much I would like to sell and then bring, maybe three times that, just in case. It's fun to do better than expected and go home with an empty van.
Connie, I have no problem matching the carpeting and the drapes. I just want to sell my work. It generally works out because they get to enjoy what they bought for a long time. Plus, their friends always notice the work and complement them on their good taste and sophistication (lol).
Thanks for your reply Barry - I appreciate it. You made me think about where I really want to go with this art fair business. Up to this point I have only been getting my feet wet. I am not currently reaching for high end buyers ... I don't have high end prices "yet". (Whimsy doesn't get top dollar - and my Plein Air work is just getting to where I feel it is consistent.) I know whimsy is not your thing but it sells like crazy at The Waterfront. I had a really good show this past weekend with my new setup so I feel like I am doing something right.
I don't ever paint or draw something because I think it will sell - I don't chase sales. I follow my two passions ... I paint Plein Air in locations that I find interesting and I draw whimsy as it pops into my head.
The old website that you looked at includes illustration projects I had from college. I just switched over to my New WordPress site yesterday which has a lot of new work from this past year or so if you want to check it out.
My Updated site KathyKuczek.com
Very nice website, Kathy ... wow! Well organized, good navigation and the images were well done and I loved the layout! A big gold star to you for web design.
Thanks Connie
Thee old shops and stores that my wife and I enjoy going the most are filled with all sorts of unique stuff...so why not enjoy the same at a show?
Don't be too concerned about over crowding, better to err on too much. It won't sell if they can't see it. Listen to your customer's comments on your booth display to see if you can pickup on their thoughts. Keep making changes to your display.......forever!
I set up my booth a little different this past show and I had more people stay longer checking out everything on the walls and a lot more time looking through the print bins. I had a lot more comments where people came back to tell me how much they enjoy my work. The only change was to move the largest pieces I have to the front. Gave them more visual room and then packed in the smaller paintings and prints farther in the booth. There was definitely a different vibe on the interaction with customers. I do think that moving the larger pieces to the front had a positive effect. Always tweaking the booth - it has never been set up the same twice.
Nice booth pic. You have a lot of items but it is very orderly. You are lucky to have a tactile product - who doesn't love the feel of leather. Nice touch with the blankets too.
If you don't display it, it isn't going to sell. It will be different for different mediums. I like my client's to feel like they are also stepping back in time when they visit my booth of leather goods. If you look at photos of the old 19th century shops, they were filled to the gills including wires across the ceiling. I supplied a saddle shop in Tucson owned by a Russian immigrant cobbler. It was in an old part of town across the street from Ronstatd Hardware (yes, Linda Ronstadt's dad and another old place with hardwood floors and oak drawers of hardware). The Miller's had strung wires across the high pressed tin ceiling and had additional inventory displayed that way. I just fill up the walls of my booth.
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