Fitchburg is a growing city just outside of Madison, WI. One of the major employers in that area, Promega, sponsors the art show, since it started 3 years ago. It is located outside in a beautiful area. This show has been on my "back-up" list. (If you don't have an other show to do this weekend, then I will go to Fitchburg.) I did the show last year, with minimal results. I returned this year, with a whole new result. It is now my second best show of 2011. I did 4.5 times in sales this year vs. last year.
The weather started out dicey in the morning with 2 good downpours, before the show even opened. This caused everyone to run late. But the attendees seem to understand that we were not ready at 10:00. They started buying quickly. With large packages going out of the how before 11:00.
The organizers have done a good job to grow this show and bring out the attendees. They might be at the point of considering going to 2 days. (Right now it is Saturday only) They also run golf carts before, during and after the show. This is an added plus to artists and buyers alike. I needed to run back to my car for more stock. They had a cart at my booth and whisked me away with no problem. I had a buyer with a large purchase and they took the buyer and her framed art right to her car. Perfect. They are doing a lot of things right!
Here's the link if you are interested in getting info for next year: http://www.agoraartfair.com/
Comments
I have the artist brochure from the fair. The breakdown is as follows:
2 D Mixed media-4
Jewelry-18
Graphics-3
Photography-12
Glass related-10
Metal sculpture-2
Fiber-5
Wood-3
Ceramics-3
Painting-7
Gourds-1
Paper-1
Painting/clay-1
Sculpture/paper mache-1
3D mixed media-1
A lot of these artists were in more than 1 category but I only counted them once. A lot of the glass artists were doing jewelry, so there were really considerably more people selling jewelry.
I stopped in to this show briefly to visit my friends Laurie Ruck and Terry Oostdyk at their booth as well as check it out for next year. I was amazed at the crowds and the number of people with packages in their hands. The organization was clearly superior. My only concern was that of the 72 artists listed on the program, there were at least 9 glass artists. There may have been even more, who were listed under jewelry. Since I'm a glass mosaic artist and work at The Vinery Glass as an instructor, I knew quite a few of the artists and in fact, 3 booths belonged to Vinery employees. Altho everyone certainly had their own unique approach to working with glass, there were still too many for the same show. I live 15 min away from this site but I'll have to think about whether I apply next year. One more glass artist? I don't know.