The show seemed poorly organized. It was much more of an Arts & Crafts show, which wasn't how it was sold to me. To put salt in the wound there were some craft vendors who seemed to be selling 3rd party pieces made in the orient. One of these booths even won a prize, which was later retracted when it was pointed out to them that it wasn't selling original art. I heard from some vendors that the quality of the art at this event has been trending down in the past few years. Some complained that the cheap 3rd party stuff was taking sales from the other vendors. I don't know wether that is true but I saw few people buying much aside from food and inexpensive crafts.
To make matters worse the Show closed at 5:00 PM on Sunday. Sunset was at 5:30 PM and there were few lights in the park. We had one right by our booth, but it never came on. In the middle of breaking down our booth, we found ourselves working in the dark.
There were many unhappy faces among the vendors. It seems few artists made any money. I could be the fault of the economy but I'm inclined to skip this show next time anyway. The demographics were wrong for me and I wasn't impressed by the management.
Comments
I did mention closing the show at 4pm as I passed the chairwomen in the dark but was ignored. Not much was happening from 4 on anyway. It would have been alot easier and safer.
I also heard from a friend in the crafts section that "incidents" occured. A couple attacked a painter (physically), and the police were called. Another crafter, who had been drinking, was making graphic sexual advances to nearby men.
This whole show ended up more like a soap opera than anything I have ever seen either in the art show or dog show world.
The obvious buy/sell being awared cash ($500-$300) awards, was such a slap in the face to those of us who slave away hour after hour and day after day. The judges never even checked my tent, and others I spoke with said the same thing. Several have contacted the show committee asking for a $50 refund, as they did not feel they were judged.
I live in the area and am a member of Art Serve. I informed the committee that in this area there are many nationally know artists and art authors that are available for judging: why not use them?
I will give this show another chance because I live an easy 15 minute drive and I did cover expenses this year. I do feel insulted that the pieces that I made, and spent 8, six hour days working on, were not even given a glance. Another buy/sell (crystals) came by and said "oh, I see you bought the big ones from Austria". (He's lucky I didn't slap him) I told him no, I bought raw Starfire optical crystal glass and spent many days working on them, faceting them and adding dichroic float glass.
The only thing that can top this ...in September I was awarded the big "grand prize" at Yellow Daisy! Yes folks, that "grand Prize" is not having to be jurried into next year's show!
Now that is about the worst insult than can be given to those of us who painstakingly make one at a time. Thank God, when they thrust the mike in front of me, I kept my mouth shut!
I am a taxpayer in Broward county and as such I worry about the liability and insurance issues of breaking down in total darkness! Seems like someone would think about the lights!
Let's wait and see how the committee handles all of the problems that have been brought to their attention.
I could not be more unhappy with this show. I wish I had stayed home. It was a waste of money and effort, and worse yet was very disheartening.
The show, as you said before, it going downhill with lower end items and more crafts than
art. It is a hard show to set up as you have to truck everything in on hand carts. The volunteers with the golf cards were there after 3pm on Friday which helped alot but almost none of them were there Sunday for breakdown in the DARK. They need to close the show at 4pm on Sunday and let us get out of there in the daylight as much as possible. To the shows credit, they did have breakfast both mornings and supper Saturday night which was accompanied with wine. However, that is not why were are there.
I did not hear anyone say they had a good show. Many were glad to get booth fee back and alot of artist were very disappointed as they too, were told the reputation of the show was
much higher. The entertainment was nice but they had alot going on for kids that brought many people in with no intent to buy, just entertain the kids...face painting, storytelling, sand painting, etc. The unjuried section was almost as big as the juried section; 65 to 75 juried. That is way too many "cheap" things to take away from the fine artists. The plants
were very popular too, especially the orchids. This is not ART!!
There were the usual over abundance of jewelers too. Per the show director, the categories were supposed to be limited by percentages depending on how many entered in each category...which totaled about 12-15% per category. Jewelry was not that way. There were 2 fused glass jewelers right next to each other and another one 30 feet away. One customer commented going by my booth that it felt like it was turning into a jewelry show.
From the rumblings I heard, many artists will be looking for another choice for this time slot next year. The promoter pointed out that the price was still very competitive to attract artists but if they can't get the buyers there, the price won't be enough of a draw. Quality is still the draw for "art" buyers...not quantity.
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