Location
Endicott, NY
About
Your Medium
Painting, drawing
Years in the Art Fair Business
10
First show ever
East Aurora Art Society Outdoor Exhibition, 2005
What are the best things about art fairs
Meeting art enthusiasts and other artists, making sales, seeing new places (or revisiting old favorites), enjoying the nice weather on warm weekends!
Best show ever and why
Colorscape Arts Festival, Norwich, NY Second year at this festival (many years ago) I went to the awards breakfast, which is always nice. At the time I had been doing festivals for a few years and was used to my art being well recieved by the public but often viewed as "weird" or "outsider" by juries. As they announced all awards in my category, and I wasn't a winner I was not surprised at all, and I was proud of the folks who won... Then they announced me as a best of category! Aside from winning an award, though, it is a great show in a charming location, where the organizers bring you lunch, offer booth sitters, and host a fabulous breakfast for the artists. The best run show with the most personal attention!
Worst show ever and why
Harborfest, Owego, NY 2010 I had heard this was a great show, and brought in 300,000 attendees, with a competetive artist market. It was a 4 day show, too, and they had discounted lodgings at the local college dorms for artists, which seemed good on paper. It was a $375 booth but they also required $175 insurance payment, so it was a bit steep, but it sounded good and had been around for 30+ years... We got there, and it was terribly organized, hard to load in on a narrow street be the harbor. They had buy-sell merchants and resellers like PartyLite and Lia Sophia mixed in with the artists. They had multiple crafters making identical merchandise (three wooden cutting board guys, three people making wind chimes out of silverware, multiple jewelry sellers with very similar looks, one of those russian nesting doll traders, with the made-in-russia matroscka dolls)... The attendees may have been numerous, but they were all on the opposite side of the harbor drinking and attending the live music and carnival, very few actually came over to the art show at all (not that it had much art... I was the only painter, and there was one photographer). Of the few people who trickled over to the art side, many were drunk college kids. I watched a guy puke in the street. Someone stole all the magnets off of my van in the artist's parking area. I talked to one silversmith, an aging lady with very lovely work, and asked her about this show. She said sadly that when she started with the show 25 years before it had really been a high end production, with a serious jury and great sales, but it had deteriorated over the years into a drunken frat party for the local college population. It was a life lesson, i guess.
Who referred you to ArtFairInsiders.com? Please be specific.
zapplication support referred me here when I said I wished there was a way to review their art shows!
What is one fun fact about yourself?
When I am not painting and drawing, I am quilting and embroidering. I love to make things! Also I am a soft touch and tend to rescue cats and dogs and fish. Someday the future version of antiques roadshow will be able to date and verify my work by the inclusion of stray pet hairs.
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Welcome to Art Fair Insiders, Felix. We’re so glad you joined us. I hope you’ll find the site helpful and that you’ll share your ideas and experiences, ask questions and join the discussions. The site is only as good as the members make it. We have a lot to offer one another, experienced and newbie alike.
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Best wishes, Connie Mettler
p.s. The best way to make this system easy to use is to click on the "Follow-Email me" link at the bottom of each Forum discussion that interests you. That way the system will email you automatically whenever anyone responds. It's a great time-saver.
Welcome to AFI! We're thrilled to have you joining us here and hope you'll find the site to your liking. I can tell you have a great sense of humor and a way with words, so we'll be anticipating future show reviews...no pressure though. Thanks for signing up and continued success.