Blog

Just got back from Artisphere held in Greenville,SC last weekend.  Only 120 exibitors, almost 400 apply for it, it is gem for most of us.

First, a little background.  I used to visit a good friend of min e in Greenville for years.  His name was Loren Marshall, a great glass artist, met him at a Charlotte show back in 1981.

Whenever I would leave Florida for my summer swing of shows, which lasted 5 months, I always first stopped in Greenville to stay with Loren.  We would canoe the Green River by day and try to party at nite downtown.

Back in the 80s and early 90s there was no downtown to go to.  We usually had cheap tacos and margaritas at a mall location there.  That was as good as it was.

Come forward to 2011.

I had tried getting into this show four times with no success.  This year I made it. With nearly 400 applicants, your chances of getting in are slim.

So I returned to Greenville after not being there for nearly 18 years.  Loren had passed away from an unfortunate accident so I had no reason to visit there anymore.

When I first drove down Main Street last Thursday I was startled, in a delightful way ,to see its transformation from a dormant mill town into small, vibrant metropolis.

The street was lined with tall leafed trees on both sides forming a sheltered tunnel.  Restaurants of every food-type you can think of were filled with people,young ones, eating and drinking.  Diverse shops enticed you. Big new office buildings, concert halls, government edifices soared up into the sky.  The place was electric.

Greenville is home to several large automotive manufacturing companies.  it is the main seat of commerce in South Carolina, easily outshining Charlston and the capitol Columbia.  Numbers of Europeans living there, working in commerce.  Lots of young people,well mannered and dressed, all sporting copious disposable income.

It is the gateway to the mountains.  So traditional and conservative are two key words that come to mind when selling here.

I got there on Thursday to drop off a piece for the Gala Auction which I attended later that nite,  That is covered in a seperate blog.

Hats off to Travis.  He blgged and photoed about it last year.  it lived up to its reputation.  One of the best ever with a free open bar--yahoo! Vodka and more vodka, just keep it coming with the crabcakes and the crab legs.

Friday we could set up from 8 am on.  Show started at 4 pm went to 8 pm.  Easy setup.  Van right in front.  Ample canopy room behind for me and my inventory.  Fellow photographer Karen Connelly was setup beside me.  We both pulled our booths back to the outer edges which left room on a common side for art to be hung.  I canopied it and we deemed it the art ally.

Predictions of 60 per cent rain and thunderstorms never happened all weekend, we skated free to our immense relief.

As Michael Stipek pointe out about the Bellville Show, same was true for Artisphere.  They couldn't do enough for us.  We had free lunches and dinner every day.

Crowds were thin Friday nite and so were sales. We were up against the Kenny Chesney concert downtown that nite.  Plus two other restaurants had band stages with music going on.  Lots of competition for the crowd's dollar.  That is the only negative to this show, and it can be a big one.

Volumous crowds both Sat. and Sun. Not many big packages gooing down the street in people's hands.  it did get better on Sunday.

Lots of fellow AFIers at the show.  Matthew Hatala, Amy and Phil Crone, Peggy Fulwin from Wisconsin (I apologise, I know  have misspelled your name) Diane french, Gary Seidel (He had all the German money locked up in his booth again), and many others, oh yeah, Gerry Maschinot, a great Southern photogrpher.

At Saturday end most artist wewre ok with sales.  Many said they were down from last year.  Me, I had my second best Sat. of the year only beaten by Main Street Fort Worth.

Sunday.  Beautiful skies, cool weather, high of 77, and early crowds--"we aint going to no stinking church today, we be buying art and chicken wings."

Oh, before I forget. ON Saturday nite it was prom nite and the kids were dreesed to the nines coming down the sidewalks. This one girl had  vivid orange dress on, so vivid, it reminded me of a Creamsicle on acid.  It was that intense, but she looked great in it.

I mostly sold precious little pieces of paper out of the bins both days, but it all mounted up. Iam heading to Saugatuck, my summer home for the next five months, with a fat bank account and a healthy show line up.  Also that means cooler weather and much better grass to hit golf balls off of.

In summation, this is a hard show to get into, it is worthwile if you have the right stuff, but we artists are not the main reason why they are comming to downtown.  We are being used to attract them, so people can sell all other matter of goods, not only art.  Unfortunately this is getting to be trend throughout the country.  We are seeing most big shows using the spectacle of great art to lure in the crowds.  Meanwhile, the auto people and every other corporate sponsor is looking for ways to piggyback on us and sell their wares,  We sometimes get lost in the tumble of things.

Aloha, Nels.