This show is not an easy one to report about. Many artists plain hate it. Some swear by it. Others would not be caught dead going there.
I was there, so was my wife,Ellen. So here is my take.
Truthfully, I am no great fan of this show, more-as, I am no great fan of the committee that runs it.
But, when it comes down to making a practical business decision (like, am I gonna make any real money here) you have to give this show some credit. A lot of people made moola here--more than 5K.
I have been avidly following all the posts on Facebook the last three days. I have read Amy Flynn's (good stuff, by the way), Will Conners (thought-provoking) and even Barely Bernstein's icy laments from the UP.
David Piper, a great showman and an even greater showman summed it up quite well. "They charge big bucks to ride the shuttle, then make the public wait almost an hour-an-a-half to get in the show, then charge $15 at the gate, charge $7 for draft beer, $8 in a skinny can, $4 for soda, and $3 for water. Heck, a family of four has to shell out serious bucks before they even get a chance to look at the art.
Then they gotta walk all over Memorial Park in infinite directions on endless loops, sometimes the booths end for a while and you gotta walk 100 yards along the concrete before booths start again. Then good luck getting back to an artist for a second look. People are exhausted trying to walk this show once, let alone a second time.
450 booths, some with 6-foot sheer drop-offs behind them (I had one, luckily I had a corner to store stuff on--but what the heck, it only costs $750). Other booths have oodles of level grass behind, even beckoning picnic benches. The drop off along the circular concrete drive is extreme at times. One artist, at teardown, managed to slide off the edge of the walkway, meaning his van slid. Pics on FB showed the van nosedown, endup sticking halfway out onto the walkway. How would you like to maneuver around that.
The committee ran around putting band-aids as remedies for situations that were not well thought out. For example, how do you get three artists into spaces that are only nine feet wide instead of ten? Oh, you just set them up across the path from existing booths and create a choke point for the public to traverse.
You gotta love it when you get a guy who makes the kid's teepees gets called off the wait list a full month ahead of a very talented mixed media artist.
This show is not on a level playing field. Everybody pays close to $500 for a 10x10. Trouble is some some 10x10s are way better than others.
Like I said before, a lot of booths had no room for inventory storage behind, while others had mega-acres.
The booths at the beginning of the show, say the first 100 in each direction, got 100 per cent of the crowd coming by. Booths in the add-on loop, had empty sidewalks a lot of the time. Many patrons were just too wearied to make it back there.
OK, there are some of the knocks, many you have heard already.
Now look at the pluses. There are several good ones.
Hey, Houston is either the third or fourth largest city in the USA. There is lot of wealth here.
More than 12 corporations have moved their national headquarters from California to here.
There are not a lot of other competing art shows going on there.
There are a ton of young folks with disposable income here.
The show is held in early spring here, and most years the weather is wonderful--unlike Gasparilla's.
Many of the most talented artists and craftsman on the circuit come here--tells ya something.
If you build up a following you can make better than $5K here.
Many people this year made way better than that. There were a lot of five-figure sales here.
Two artists who work in wood, killed them here. One had to cancel Main Street Fort Worth, because they just did not have enough work left.
On Sunday morning, doing my walk-around before show, I heard variations on the same subject from at least 12 artists. They all had one customer who had come in and blown $3K or better on a sale.
I heard it from two glass artists. One guy told me he was wrapping up glass from a $2K sale, and the the guy kept adding on items, and he finally ended up with nearly a $4K sale. And these guys still had Sunday to sell.
For every artist who made big moola, there were equally artists who barely covered expenses.
My wife was one of them. They were virtually ignored, or not that many people wandered by.
This is a show where you have to show up and take your chances. Some win, some lose.
Here are some relevant observations from this year's show.
Cowboy art, overall, is not a big seller here. Houston is an international city with people from all over the world. They don't necessarily embrace the Cowboy heritage like they do in Fort Worth.
People who depend on lots of multiple sales in the low to midrange levels did not do as well as people selling high end work.
I saw countless big paintings going out of the show. Big sculpture, big glass, big clay--and yeah, lots of photo-giclees.
The line of people waiting at the shuttle with art in hand was very long. There was lots of action.
Then you had the opposite effect too. Two local painters who made five figures here last year, did not make expenses this year. Go figure.
Abstract as well as realistic sells here.
For me, if I did not have my humor images, I would have been a dead doggie here. I made most of my sales off 10 images. I had a real good show.
This is the third time for me at the spring show--and it was my best, even though I had a shitty location on the back loop with a sheer drop off behind me.
It is a long drive for us. Heck, from Tampa to Lafayette,LA is 13 hour drive and then another 5 hours the next day.
We took advantage of the option of tearing down on Monday morning, we were in there at 6:30 AM and on the road by 8AM just in time for morning rush hour.
This show is a tough call. You are dealing with a committee that is not going to change much. I think they are very greedy. They are trying to make up for losses from the fall show by putting it all on our backs.
Also, the lucky artist near the front of the show will be there again next year. Good luck trying to get one of their spots.
Well, that's my story.
I am numero uno on the wait list for Fort Worth. Ellen is in. I am going with her Monday in my van hoping to get a spot. It is a gamble and a lot of gas, but, I will take my chances because the show is worth it. I have been in the last four years--hope to make it five.
Hey Terri, now you got some reading material while on the road.
Barely Bernstein, hope you were taking notes.
Adios, amigos.
Comments
I just discovered that there is another show in Houston this weekend with 65 artists ... in a nice park. Maybe 200 or so of the Bayou City artists should try it next year: http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/heights/news/article/Midtown-art-...
I guess I'll weigh in on this show also...It was a first timer for me as I've decided doing the Oct. rain event downtown will not happen for me again "till hell freezes over".
I guess I was on the so-called "inner circle" and, as suggested by the long waiting to get in lines, didn't see anyone arrive at our booths for at least 30-45 minutes. So I feel for those that were even further out and had to wait even longer to see anyone.
It amazes me that people will pay as much as the patrons had to pay to get to see art that they were even buying art! I'm glad they were. Yes, things were selling, and it seemed they were the bigger variety. The artist next to me that had mixed media work in the 4 x 6 ft range on down had a great show at $4500 - $6900 each.
The metal forger on the other side sold several pieces in the four figure range as well. Several other people in our area had less then stellar sales even though their work was of equal or greater quality.
Quality, or location, had nothing to do with it, appeal had everything to do with it. Not to say that people didn't appreciate my work, there were a lot of compliments, the show was not stellar for me, I find it hard to feel for those that didn't make their usual $10K range but only a mere $5K. Boo-Hoo. I licked my wounds and went on a road trip to west Texas!
It was nice of you Nels to come by and say hello, I went by your booth area a couple of times and you must still have been out visiting. I'm amazed I even found where you should have been. By the way I was number 3 on the wait list for DFW so you must be the one in front of that I'm waiting on (last year I was number 1!) I see I just moved up to number 2! Good luck getting in I don't expect I'll see you there!
I have a good following in Houston, having done both the spring and fall shows a number of times: my biggest sales were to my collectors, all of whom I notified I was coming. If they had not walked a mile and a half to find me, I would have been even more ticked off. Whoever mentioned the VIP amenities-dropped: I noticed that too, and wondered what on earth was worth being a VIP. No amenities whatsoever. They also dropped their fundraiser, which used to bring more people around, looking for the artists whose work they'd missed getting in the auction. I spoke with festival-goers who were talking in front of my booth, and they told me flat out that there was too much art and it was too spread out. They used the word "overwhelmed." If I lived in Houston, had tons of cash and wanted to acquire art, I wouldn't be going to Memorial Park so that I could ride on a bus and walk 5 miles. Which goes a long way to corroborating what everyone is saying about location. Location was everything here.
Too many artists - exhausting for patrons and artists alike - VERY uneven traffic patterns creating dead and hot spots which make it an uneven playing field for the same booth fees. My sister, a first time festival goer from CA, observed that she saw hoards of family lookers and very few serious buyers. Most of the artists she spoke to indicated that they wouldn't be back. It makes for a great gallery walking experience, but lousy for artists trying to make a living. This group needs to get their act together before they turn a once great festival into a loser. I'd rather be turned down by a good show than go to all the trouble of going to a sad experience.
We've been doing shows for 30+ years, and this one off and on for that long as it's only a couple of hours from Austin. We've had good shows there. There really wasn't a bad location on the original loop as far as traffic went.
Last year we cancelled because of all the belated added artists. This year, we wanted to give it a chance. I haven't seen anyone post about the center group of booths that was between the old and new loop and that's where they put us. It was very lightly trafficked. People were in the center to get food.
We saw a relatively small number of people in our booth all weekend and for us, that is really abnormal. We have wood kaleidoscopes ($200-$3500) and usually have a booth full of people all day long. We generally sell to ages between 30-55. We did see those folks but they were on their way somewhere else. Also, like others, many of our customers like to think about it and return to purchase. We saw only one couple who came back to purchase and they spent a lot of time trying to find us on the second try.
Our experience was really disappointing. In short (finally) the new layout does not give a fair chance to all artists. Until that happens, the artists cannot make a sound judgement as to whether it's their demographic or not.
Nels, great to see you again, you must have done everything on Sunday, or there was a different Nels in your booth on Sunday morning? What is interesting and what might be missed in your otherwise excellent observations is that there has been a significant transformation in the show. In an effort to "save" "make more" or "maximize" profits, the show according to the producers, was "bare bones." Painfully absent was the "VIP" elements of the show. (They used to have a fabulous area with pasta, salads, free booze, etc. during the show) Combined with the making folks wait one and a half hours to purchase tickets at the gate, I suspect a major audience for this show has been alienated. Said another way, the "heavy hitters," lawyers, doctors and indian chiefs are not going to be subjected to "one more show in a dusty park." (in my humble opinion)
No doubt Houston is the bomb. There is real money there. It truly is an underserved art market. If someone is interested in cultivating a mailing list, this is the place. The trouble is that this show used to be a $20K show. Even at $5K as you suggest, there are a lot of places closer to Tampa to make that kind of coin. When considering this show artists should keep in mind that many top tier artists have been alienated. Many are not coming again, leaving a lack of quality in the work at the show which will reflect again back in the type of person it attracts. Said another way, the work at the show was outstanding this year, I doubt that the organizers will be able to hold the level of artistic achievement in future years.
Like Ann Arbor, SJC and the Grove, this show might have seen better daze.
Good luck, knock'em dead in FW!!! And, it was nice meeting your wife. God bless.
There are quite a few reports of low sales from seasoned pros, Barrie. The facts are that the layout of the show & the number of artists works against the success of all at this particular show.
Great review Nels, so glad you made money there. Maybe that is a good omen for the rest of the season, let's hope so.
Maybe the majority of people who did well are those who've been doing it a while and who have return customers? Are the low sales reviews from seasoned pros?
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