Second art fair review, here we go...
This was my second juried art fair. Two years ago, when I was in the beginning phases of learning everything I could from the Art Fair Insiders forums, my family & I were in Flagstaff and checked out the Flagstaff Art in the Park 4th of July event. At the time, I was taking lots of mental notes and thought to myself, maybe next year? Maybe by then I'll have a display put together and enough art and get into this art fair.
So, two years and a couple of months later, it was pretty cool to be juried into their Labor Day event.
I'm still new at the art fair review thing, so I'll try to do my best here.
Application process: they are not on Zapp, so you mail in your application along with three photos of individual art pieces and a photo of your booth. Two checks go with the application, one for the jury fee and one for the booth fee, which is cashed when you are juried in or returned if you are not.
Communication: the organizer, Stu, returned emails quickly and was good to deal with. At the art fair, I saw him pretty often, although I actually wasn't introduced to him... I just knew who he was from having seen the Facebook page. He was personable and easy to talk to.
Location: the art fair is in Wheeler Park, a block off Route 66 and visible from it. The park is right on the road heading up to the ski hill, which is a well-used thoroughfare, so the location is highly visible. Pretty hard to miss if you're doing more than just driving by on the freeway. Flagstaff is a very popular location for people to escape the heat of the Phoenix area, being only about 2 1/2 hours away. All weekend, it was fun to ask people where they were from. Quite a variety of answers.
Load in: it was busy, but I guess that's pretty expected when everybody is trying to set up all at the same time. We arrived about an hour and a half after the time when you could start setting up, so things were well under way when we got there. They allow you to park in the parking lot by the park during load in, and lots of people had their vehicles on the side road by the park. We were even double-parked on that side road for a time, but it was pretty quick and nobody seemed to mind while the set up was going on.
Parking: it's about a block away at the Catholic school, although I actually never saw it, because my husband dropped me off at the curb by my booth each day and went to park the van.
The fair itself: the art fair is advertised as a fine arts & crafts fair, which is what it is. I wasn't sure going in how I'd do, being more on the "fine art" end of things. It seemed that the lower-priced items were more popular with the patrons of this event. We had a major downpour on Saturday, which definitely hampered things. It was amazing to see how many people came out after the heaviest rains were over, carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats. These people didn't seem fazed by rain.
On Sunday & Monday, we had beautiful weather and lots of crowds. On Sunday, there was a farmers market nearby, so a lot of the folks going there came through the art fair on their way to and from the farmers market.
As for how I did? Well... I sold some smaller prints but didn't come anywhere near to making my booth fee, let alone meeting my total expenses. But it was still a lovely weekend, fun to visit with the other artists and talk with a lot of really interesting people who came by, a nice getaway for my family from the heat. And, it was pretty cool being a part of the event that I had hoped to get into, back at the beginning before I had a display or even enough paintings to really contemplate getting into a juried event.
I'm still trying to find my niche for my art, whether the art fair market is even the right place to try to sell my work. So, if I were another artist, I wouldn't necessarily decide whether or not to try this event based on my results. But my gut feeling is that if you are more on the "fine art" side of things, it might not be the best venue. It seemed that most of what was being bought were the smaller, less pricey items.
I'm not giving up on this art fair thing yet. I've got a juried art festival coming up in a couple of months, and we'll see how I do there. I just have to pace myself on applying for more art fairs, because paying booth fees without selling enough to cover the fees adds up pretty quickly.
I have learned pretty much everything I know about art fairs from AFI, and I have to say it really helped a lot at my first out-of-town, first major downpour, art fair. Thanks, Art Fair Insiders! :)
Comments
Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments & suggestions! I'm still so new at all this that I'm not sure yet who my target audience is yet, and it will probably take some time to figure that out. I learned the hard way that staying closer to home is a lot cheaper, since you don't have to pay for a hotel room, gas, eating out, that sort of thing. Thankfully here in the Phoenix area, there are quite a few art fairs where I can sleep in my own bed at night. :)
The photos were taken right before the end of the event, so the crowds shown (or lack thereof) are much fewer than we had for most of the art fair (with the exception of the rainy first day). I'm sure it will take some time to find the "right" art fairs where people will buy my work, and I have to remember not to get discouraged. I'm still new at this and figuring it all out. In the meantime, I do have the Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival in a few weeks, so we'll see how I do there. :)
Thanks again for your comments. :)
Great review... Very thorough! A lot of good advice given in the comments. Sometimes it takes a while to learn the right sales approach for your products and your clientele. As you do more shows, watch other artists - both the successful ones and the ones that are not. You can learn from both. How they display their work, interact with the clients. etc. Good luck to you!
Amelia, first thing to realize is the lack of people in your photographs. The art fair scene is dependent on crowds of people. The more people the better your chances. Do shows that draw big crowds.
Amelia, your work is nice. It's not easy at shows, this year has been tough on many of us. Do as much research as you can, apply to shows that may work, stay within a 3 hours drive if there are enough shows for you and keep costs down. I research the heck out of shows and markets (what age, environment etc.) My people are 30 - 55 in age, like contemporary work and live in urban areas, they either work or are part of a 2 pay check household. Even in this group they are really thinking about each purchase. zero in on where YOUR people are and try to be there. I look forward to more reviews from you!
Thanks for this review! From what I hear, Flaggstaff & Prescott shows just don't do well. 2d work is definitely a hard sell. People usually don't buy paintings unless they bought a new home or are redecorating.
Amelia, i guess it depends where you live as to the shows you should try to get into. the first couple of years are tough. i did over 40 shows my first year in calif. and a lot of them i only made a few hundred dollars, and there were shows i made nothing but keep going, this last show i did with richard for me was a bust. it was over 1,000 miles and yes we had rain on sat and sun. but sat for me was awful so hang in there. if you have any questions about shows just ask us, i am sure someone probably did it.
Hello Amelia,
thanks for your nice honest review.
I did some shows in Arizona last winter and made the same expirience.
Amelia, your booth display looks wonderful as well as you "kitchen art", it is just very difficult
nowadays to sell paintings or "Fine Art" that is how I like to name us painters, we are Fine Artists.
People just don't have the money right now and when they think "how can I make my next mortgage payment..." the last thing they need is a new painting for the wall.
But I have a suggestion for you: many cities just like mine (Santa Fe,NM) have farmer's markets on Saturdays and the people who shop there are willing to pay a little more on their
fresh produce than on Walmart Supercenters and I think your "kitchen art" would fit so nice between all the fresh produce.
Try to get into the farmer's market or like here in Santa Fe there is the artists market just across the street from the farmer's; those little shows work so well from me and I will stay away from the big shows until the economy gets better.
Two thumbs and two big toes up for you and your beautiful work,
cheers
Heike