Posted by Scott Martin on November 16, 2010 at 8:59pm
Im looking to do 2 or 3 shows back to back weekends in the colorado area. No one day shows. The shows can be around memorial day weekend or before and after. Or later in July and early August. One last thing the shows need not be top tier like Cherry Creek. Just solid shows with a good reputation of sales and buyers. Any ideas would be great.
I got shop lifted at Common Wheel Manitou Springs, CO: $400 hand engraved sterling money clip. Show management had no idea what to do,: they didn't want the artists to know a crook was at their show. Word was passed booth to booth. Last time I did their show. Also got shop lifted at Crested Butte: $200 silver mounted hat band. Went back there but haven't done their show for a coup,e years. Heard bad comments about change in show management and direction they were taking. They aren't the only game in town.
For this time period I do Steamboat (2012 review should be posted soon), Winter Park, Golden, and Estes Park. Estes in May or Sept. can have high winds (40-60 mph gusts that send booths flying). I did Grand Jct. Jazz in May for first time and will go back. Won't go back to Taste of Ft. Collins. Windsor is one to watch. Great people, upscale area, doing everything right but just low attendance. I will try it again later. My criteria for doing shows in CO is minimum gross of 2K for two day show.
Hmm, I'm not familiar with the terms for food & beverage booths, other than I've heard they pay a higher booth price. Most of the shows we've done seem to have "regulars" doing the food & beverage each year, not sure about the process of breaking through those dynamics. The food & beverage folks seem to always do pretty good regardless of the art sales. Wearable fiber may be a go, according to what I've read, a big chunk of the holiday spending this year went to clothing, perhaps that will carry over where people will be buying "practical functional art." In any event, good luck, let me know if you have other questions.
My artist wife and I have been doing CO shows for about 10 years. We do decorative Raku, she’s the creative artist, I’m the fire meister and general grunt guy. We are now headquartered in Paonia, CO. after about 10 years in Montrose, CO. Our prices range from $20 to $4400, most in the range of $80 to $350. You can see our work at www.shekinahclay.com
We’ve done many of the shows mentioned here. My first response seeing that you produce functional pottery and live in Michigan, I’m not sure I’d invest in such a CO show series unless you can figure in it also being a vacation time. Lots of other functional potters at CO shows, and your expenses are going to be pretty high, unless you plan to tent camp or sleep in your vehicle, catch fish.
While many of the shows mentioned can be good shows, in today’s economy our experience (and other artists we talk to), are now using the expression of “was an ok show,” which means met expenses and made some. “Ok” has replaced “great” of pre-recession times, and it’s now great to do ok and not go into the hole.
A common joke among artists is “well, we cracked our nut, and now we are working for a whopping .35 and hour, hoping to get up to .50 an hour here soon.”
If you really crave a Rocky Mountain High, following is our take on some of the shows mentioned that we’ve experienced. Keep in mind, we do decorative raku and are usually the only such medium at shows, we also use a tall Trimline with awnings and set up like a mini-gallery, which often draws customer comments “this is one of the nicest booths in the show.” We believe presentation helps contribute to better sales. We generally do better than many of the other artists around us, we believe because of our unique art and setup, along with engaging folks who stop by.
That said, on to some of the specific shows:
Winter Park, a long standing show operated by a strong arts organization, held in a wonderful pine forest with pine shavings spread on the paths. Early shows produced well, then came the Hawg Fest, I like Harleys, but thousands of them blasting up and down the street constantly in front of the park chased away 2nd home owners, condo owners, etc., who began avoiding that weekend in their mountain getaway. Also chased away many artists, who after the 2nd year of this combo art show/Harley weekend saw sales drop and said adios, including us.
Hawg show lost its appeal, went away, the art show began recuperating and coming back to life. The show we did this year was another of the “ok” times, but the struggling arts folks were hit by an unexpected whack by the city requiring artists to buy a $60 annual tax license, the same as a storefront pays for a whole year. While they fought the city, they lost, along with losing another batch of artists who felt they were being robbed by the city. A petition was circulated, and they were hopeful they’d be able to get the city to change to a more reasonable, less costly special event tax license. Not sure if they succeeded.
In place of the Hawg show, now there is a Jazz festival going on, much more compatible with an art show, and this year they sold out by noon Sat., so the big line of folks who couldn’t get in wandered down a block to the art show.
Estes Park Memorial Day Show, one of our best, rain or shine as folks come from all over the country, plus the CO front range. Not sure about the parking comment someone made, our experience (we have a truck and 12’ trailer) has been fine, art center folks are friendly and helpful. We’ve heard their Fall show is good too, but it conflicts with another one day show (not really an art show) that has been one of our best producers.
Golden, we did long ago, hard to get into, suppose to be a good show.
Evergreen, the better one, not sure of the date, we did some time ago, was a good show.
Breckenridge Sept. show, did once, got snowed on, not a good reading.
Howard Alan Frisco show, our first time last year, was ok. Alan does a circuit including Beaver Creek and Aspen, reports are they can be good shows, but have also suffered from the economy, and we bowed out of these because setup is so tough and our setup is too extensive for the kind of schlepping required.
Strawberry Days in Glenwood Springs, used to be a good show until it turned into primarily a food and music fest, many other artists left also, now it’s, I guess, a lot of buy/sell carnival atmosphere.
Carbondale Mountain Festival, some report good sales, we did it once and was stuck in a dead zone with about 5 other artist, provided feedback on the low traffic, were told, “well, you just need to pay our $75 or whatever it was to pick a better spot next year.” No show should have a “dead zone” to begin with. We might try it again since it’s so close if we can work out a better site.
Steamboat Springs we did twice, first time we were placed in the middle of the park with about 8 other artist, all the others were in a big circle quite a ways away. Yep, you guessed it, we all got to sit there and watch the people follow the circle around, a few came to the middle. Plus there was a grasshopper plague that year, like they were really thick. Second year was better placement, an ok crowd, but our art didn’t seem to go well.
3 Western CO shows we’ve done:
Grand Junction “Art & Jazz”, has been a good show for us over the years, but brutal hours. Setup Fri morn, show at 3 to 9pm, Sat another 9pm, Sun at 5pm, part of our benefit has been building repeat customers. This year they are moving it from Main street over a street because of construction, not sure of impact.
Ridgeway has Art Rendezvous, well operated show in a park, we just never sold enough however to make it a repeat.
Durango Main Street Art Show, did it once, sales seemed low for many.
Front Range shows we haven’t done, we tend to stay with mountain resort areas, you can figure that most people at mountain resorts generally will be well healed enough to buy art, though they’ve gotten tighter too, maybe having had to sell one of their several homes or condos or see their investments go from 40 million down to 20 million. Dang economy anyway.
There are so many variables and this business is such a gamble. The politics of our country with the mid-term elections will likely have an impact. I’m an Independent and unaffiliated voter, not real happy with either party, especially disgruntled with the Republicans this time around as they are basically saying the heck with the people, we just want to get Obama out and repeal everything the Dems have done, we want to be back in power. Lots of sound bites, but no real solutions of their own. And I think the American people are real nervous about the stalemate state of our government, and likely will get fearful and get even tighter with their money as they see our two political parties engaged now in a big fistfight.
So we look at 2011 to apply to shows and think, damn, it’s like walking into a big casino to play the slots for a year.
Come to CO Scott, you may or may not make any money, but you’ll sure enjoy some beautiful country, sooth the soul.
Comments
My artist wife and I have been doing CO shows for about 10 years. We do decorative Raku, she’s the creative artist, I’m the fire meister and general grunt guy. We are now headquartered in Paonia, CO. after about 10 years in Montrose, CO. Our prices range from $20 to $4400, most in the range of $80 to $350. You can see our work at
www.shekinahclay.com
We’ve done many of the shows mentioned here. My first response seeing that you produce functional pottery and live in Michigan, I’m not sure I’d invest in such a CO show series unless you can figure in it also being a vacation time. Lots of other functional potters at CO shows, and your expenses are going to be pretty high, unless you plan to tent camp or sleep in your vehicle, catch fish.
While many of the shows mentioned can be good shows, in today’s economy our experience (and other artists we talk to), are now using the expression of “was an ok show,” which means met expenses and made some. “Ok” has replaced “great” of pre-recession times, and it’s now great to do ok and not go into the hole.
A common joke among artists is “well, we cracked our nut, and now we are working for a whopping .35 and hour, hoping to get up to .50 an hour here soon.”
If you really crave a Rocky Mountain High, following is our take on some of the shows mentioned that we’ve experienced. Keep in mind, we do decorative raku and are usually the only such medium at shows, we also use a tall Trimline with awnings and set up like a mini-gallery, which often draws customer comments “this is one of the nicest booths in the show.” We believe presentation helps contribute to better sales. We generally do better than many of the other artists around us, we believe because of our unique art and setup, along with engaging folks who stop by.
That said, on to some of the specific shows:
Winter Park, a long standing show operated by a strong arts organization, held in a wonderful pine forest with pine shavings spread on the paths. Early shows produced well, then came the Hawg Fest, I like Harleys, but thousands of them blasting up and down the street constantly in front of the park chased away 2nd home owners, condo owners, etc., who began avoiding that weekend in their mountain getaway. Also chased away many artists, who after the 2nd year of this combo art show/Harley weekend saw sales drop and said adios, including us.
Hawg show lost its appeal, went away, the art show began recuperating and coming back to life. The show we did this year was another of the “ok” times, but the struggling arts folks were hit by an unexpected whack by the city requiring artists to buy a $60 annual tax license, the same as a storefront pays for a whole year. While they fought the city, they lost, along with losing another batch of artists who felt they were being robbed by the city. A petition was circulated, and they were hopeful they’d be able to get the city to change to a more reasonable, less costly special event tax license. Not sure if they succeeded.
In place of the Hawg show, now there is a Jazz festival going on, much more compatible with an art show, and this year they sold out by noon Sat., so the big line of folks who couldn’t get in wandered down a block to the art show.
Estes Park Memorial Day Show, one of our best, rain or shine as folks come from all over the country, plus the CO front range. Not sure about the parking comment someone made, our experience (we have a truck and 12’ trailer) has been fine, art center folks are friendly and helpful. We’ve heard their Fall show is good too, but it conflicts with another one day show (not really an art show) that has been one of our best producers.
Golden, we did long ago, hard to get into, suppose to be a good show.
Evergreen, the better one, not sure of the date, we did some time ago, was a good show.
Breckenridge Sept. show, did once, got snowed on, not a good reading.
Howard Alan Frisco show, our first time last year, was ok. Alan does a circuit including Beaver Creek and Aspen, reports are they can be good shows, but have also suffered from the economy, and we bowed out of these because setup is so tough and our setup is too extensive for the kind of schlepping required.
Strawberry Days in Glenwood Springs, used to be a good show until it turned into primarily a food and music fest, many other artists left also, now it’s, I guess, a lot of buy/sell carnival atmosphere.
Carbondale Mountain Festival, some report good sales, we did it once and was stuck in a dead zone with about 5 other artist, provided feedback on the low traffic, were told, “well, you just need to pay our $75 or whatever it was to pick a better spot next year.” No show should have a “dead zone” to begin with. We might try it again since it’s so close if we can work out a better site.
Steamboat Springs we did twice, first time we were placed in the middle of the park with about 8 other artist, all the others were in a big circle quite a ways away. Yep, you guessed it, we all got to sit there and watch the people follow the circle around, a few came to the middle. Plus there was a grasshopper plague that year, like they were really thick. Second year was better placement, an ok crowd, but our art didn’t seem to go well.
3 Western CO shows we’ve done:
Grand Junction “Art & Jazz”, has been a good show for us over the years, but brutal hours. Setup Fri morn, show at 3 to 9pm, Sat another 9pm, Sun at 5pm, part of our benefit has been building repeat customers. This year they are moving it from Main street over a street because of construction, not sure of impact.
Ridgeway has Art Rendezvous, well operated show in a park, we just never sold enough however to make it a repeat.
Durango Main Street Art Show, did it once, sales seemed low for many.
Front Range shows we haven’t done, we tend to stay with mountain resort areas, you can figure that most people at mountain resorts generally will be well healed enough to buy art, though they’ve gotten tighter too, maybe having had to sell one of their several homes or condos or see their investments go from 40 million down to 20 million. Dang economy anyway.
There are so many variables and this business is such a gamble. The politics of our country with the mid-term elections will likely have an impact. I’m an Independent and unaffiliated voter, not real happy with either party, especially disgruntled with the Republicans this time around as they are basically saying the heck with the people, we just want to get Obama out and repeal everything the Dems have done, we want to be back in power. Lots of sound bites, but no real solutions of their own. And I think the American people are real nervous about the stalemate state of our government, and likely will get fearful and get even tighter with their money as they see our two political parties engaged now in a big fistfight.
So we look at 2011 to apply to shows and think, damn, it’s like walking into a big casino to play the slots for a year.
Come to CO Scott, you may or may not make any money, but you’ll sure enjoy some beautiful country, sooth the soul.
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