If anyone ever doubted the depth of talent of the artists participating in art festivals around the country, this weekend helped demonstrate it. This was especially true in the midwest where Ann Arbor with its hundreds and hundreds of artists were baking in the heat of Michigan and another 150 artists were baking in Geneva, IL.
My cousin and I had never been to Geneva, it is kind of out of our geographic comfort zone but AFI'er Teresa Dever told us it was one of the best shows around and really not that bad of a drive. (the participation of a certain John Stillmunks was an added incentive for me because I wanted to check out if he really had those long ears or three noses, depending on which picture he used to identify himself).
The day starts out like the last two, almost pitch black sky, thunder and lightning in the distance and a promised temperature in the 90's along with a similar number for humidity. But, weather.com said the skies would clear by 10:15 and if it did rain again, we had a 2-3 hour window of no rain. We decided to trust the forecast, a 50-50 proposition at best and headed out.
Not only was this a high quality art festival but a target-rich AFI environment. In addition to those menitioned, Linda Hobdy was there with her jewelry, Diane Ferguson was there, with her very talented husband in the booth next door, Karen Seymour-Els and her beautiful enamels and I finally got to meet Donna Sauers. My cousin bought a wonderful pair of earrings from her. If I missed anyone, I am sorry, it may be that I don't recognize everyone's names.
This show is 4 blocks long, not at all unsurmountable and made "be backs" very easy for us, we didn't get lost or forget where someone was. It was a well-balanced show for the most part. Most of the pottery was functional more than decorative, there wasn't a lot of glass either but best of all, every third booth was NOT a jeweler. It was nice not to be overwhelmed by too many jewelers but still have a wonderful selection of quality jewelers.
This was the second show I have been to promoted by EM Events and I am impressed. The overall quality of both shows (Northbrook is the other) was excellent and there were a lot of artists I hadn't ever seen or hadn't seen in a while so the shows felt very fresh.
Thanks to all the wonderful artists that let me see their work.
Comments
The woman on the train is from a photo I took of a woman on the train to New Mexico just when it turns to go south from CO. It was very early in the morning and I didn't want to disturb her reflection by asking if I could photograph her, so I altered the face on the painting. I love those early morning moments.
In the early 60s I road the City of New Orleans, always had to find the car with the guitars and folk singing. Lots of nice mems.
The more I hear about Erin, the more impressed I am. Most artists are extremely complimentary. I saw the paintings you have here and they are charming. Is the woman on the train you? It reminds me of the train rides I took to and from school in Carbondale. One other reminded me of a Japanese landscape. Good luck!!
The emerging artists were down near the train station. On Saturday we were off the street on the Dobson Place mall, but then Erin moved most of us onto the street for Sunday. Then there were oversize paintings of horses, gorillas and zebras up on the mall right behind us that tended to pull focus. Certainly pulled the focus of families with children. Of the four artists I was grouped with, none of us made a sale, tho 2 got awards. One award went to a portfolio of photoshop exaggerations that were very nicely presented. The other went to Becky ??? from Batavia who did oil pastel landmarks from Batavia with curving perspective lines. They were both fun and very well executed.
The judges didn't think too much of my work. Its very traditional at this point as I work my way back from complete loss of spacial perception skills. For me, each one is a miracle, so I don't really care much about the judges.
I loved being there. I was hoping to sell enough to finance a well furnished tent. But I did get nice ideas from other artists on what I can do to get myself "in the game". So I took some photos of tent structures and weights, to help me get going. I also got a couple of invitations for shows. So that was nice.
I think I'll work on my website now, because then I can sell lower end things along with the paintings.
Erin said she'd help me find good shows for next year. Coming up with the booth fees will be challenging if I don't get some sales soon. I would love to go back to Geneva next year. I'd also like to do Cantigny. That whole area was my stomping grounds in the 80s, so its fun for me to go back.
Nancy, where was the emerging artists section? I mentioned it to my cousin but we never specifically saw a sign (and between she and I, we are capable of missing anything!! :-) )
Was this your first art festival? What were your impressions? I am sorry I missed you.
I got there too. I was down in the emerging artists section. We had individual wooden walls for hanging.
Saturday was a cover-uncover-cover-uncover exercize which was a bit challenging. On Sunday, We started our hanging our work under covers, but once it cleared, it stayed that way. I had a few nibbles, but no takers. Met lots of loverly people. I took a bunch of photos that I'll post after I go through them.
Diana I was happy to meet you. Hope to meet the rest of you.
Thanks for this review, Geri. I know Erin Melloy runs high caliber events and it is great to have this reinforced. Are you enjoying going to the shows even more now that you have made all these friends?
Here is a nice article about Geneva's fair from the Chicago Daily Herald: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110724/news/707249821/
And this article has lots of photos in case you are considering applying for this show next year: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110724/news/707249838/photos/
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