I visited on Friday evening for about an hour and a half then went back for about two hours on Saturday. During both visits I saw decent (but not spectacular crowds). I did notice a very high level of talent in all mediums so the judges did a commendable job of selection. Most booths gave you the impression that almost everyone there were seasoned professionals. However there were a couple booths with EZ ups and and very weak displays which begs the question "what booth slide did they use to get in?" (unless they had to make an emergency substitution or something).
Having done about ten shows already this year, I've become very alert to the number of patrons carrying bags or purchases. With that focus constantly on my mind, I only saw a small handful of people (over the combined 3.5 hours of my visits) with purchase bags. Of those it looked like all were matted prints (whether from a watercolor artist, photographer, or other). I saw 10 times more bags being carried last month in Myrtle Beach with only 1500 visitors all weekend. And even in Melbourne, I saw bags everywhere. And there, most reports point to $2,000 being a strong showing. So I'm very interested in seeing any posted sales totals or results from Artisphere.
Last year I did the same thing (except I visited the event on Saturday and Sunday). I remember saying to my partner last year that I didn't see how the artists here were possibly doing the sales that had been "publicized" by the promoters. Yet after last year, Art Fair Sourcebook ranked it #6 in the country with sales of about $7,000 per artist.
In Monday morning's paper, the promoter was praising the event yet again and stated that she spoke with one local artist that was "excited because he/she sold 12 pieces". Of what and at what amount, I do not know. That was the ONLY sales result that was mentioned. Surely she had spoken to quite a number of artists. And if that was the best she could gather, it would point to some disappointing results for others.
Now with all that said, I will say that most vendors had high end (and high priced) products. There could easily be large sales that were not noticed by patrons with bags. Perhaps patrons purchased large items and would return at a later time to pickup, or had made other arrangements for delivery.
I know that rankings are based on respondents voluntarily and anonymously reporting their sales results. And if only a few send in reports with unusually high (or low) sales, then the results (and ranking) of that festival could be unjustly rewarded (or penalized). That's why I give so much weight to what I read from fellow artists here who post reports on shows they personally attended.
I know my observations are non-conclusive. And I do wish that I could have visited again on Sunday and surveyed a lot of artists about their results. But I had a conflict and was unable to return.
Anyone else have any knowledge about how the weekend went in Greenville?
Comments
Thank you Phillip and glad you had a decent show. I which I had cataloged everyone's name from this site and perhaps I could have met you. Perhaps next time.