It's late and I'm tired but I wanted to get this out tonight!
Art in the Gardens (www.npbchamber.com/aitg) in located off PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and took place on November20 and 21, 2010. The show is located ona road in the Midtown outdoor shopping center between the main buildings andcan’t be seen from the road. Midtownincludes a 500 seat theater, 300 room banquet hall, and 225 condo units. This project has been around forapproximately five years (reported from repeat offender artists), and is quiteempty – I’d say at least 50% has never been occupied.
I choose to make the three hour drive Saturday morning versus spending a second motel night and arrived 15 minutes prior to the show’sopening. And this is after a quick stopat McDonalds in Okeechobee, Florida for a morning sausage McMuffin and blackcoffee. The security guard was adamantthat even though I had my packet and parking pass that I could not drive in forsetup until I checked in. Check in wasquick and included another packet with show badges and my name on an 8 ½ by 11sheet of blue paper. She also went overthe artist amenities which included coffee, water, muffins, and fruit in themorning, and a sandwich and chips each afternoon. Very nice. They were set up in a vacant store front which included an indoorrestroom for artists. I drove right tomy booth and set up – piece of cake as most artists had set up Friday night –it doesn’t get any better than this.
I took a quick walk around the show prior to opening and the work quality was very nice. However,there was a lot of photography and jewelry. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t see any pottery and there was one othersculpture artist than myself. In oneblock, there were four photographers in a row with one across from them; I knowhow I’d feel if I were one of them. I’destimate there were about 100 artist booths and a few chamber of commercemember’s booths.
Saturday, Day 1, had a light crowd that did not appear to be buying from most artists around me. Isold four smaller items but nothing of any merit. One copper artist near me sold threereasonable size pieces but told me he had to discount one by 50% and another bya smaller percentage.
Sunday, Day 2, was worse for me but a few of my neighbors sold a few pieces. One photographer Ispoke with that lives ½ mile from the show said he’s been coming since the showstarted five years ago thinking that he was going to make some money and ithasn’t happened yet. Another I spokewith sold a few things but it was questionable that he’d make any money.
Tear down was a cluster. A few minutes before the show closed, vehicles started driving in fromtwo different directions. Fortunately, Iwas parked at the end of the road. Threecarts and 34 minutes later I was able to make my escape. There were a number of artists that weretrapped on the inside but everyone was polite.
Joe’s View
The best thing about this show was meeting two fellow AFI’s – Hi Rich and Sherry. This show is in anarea that has potential to draw a great art buying crowd. Unfortunately, it’s got a lot going againstit including: being in a near vacant shopping center with the booths hidden fromthe view of PGA Boulevard; no real signage from the road indicating a fine artshow is going on; and a very low turnout of potential art buyers. I do want to stress that the promoters dotreat the artists well. However, we dohave to make money and it’s going to take some changes if that’s going tohappen here.
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