At first glance Crozet Art Festival looks like a county fair where someone stole the Ferris wheel. It has a train and bouncy house for the kiddies and last year there was a roving guy doing card tricks. There’s also some sort of wine tasting going on. There’s a little something for everyone and the art can be described that way too. Bonsai trees, hand made marbles, and some kind of herbs to large abstract paintings. I did not see any Nerf bow and arrows though. This is a local show for me and I did reasonably well. I lost some sales to the fact that I am local but then again I’ve already added an additional sale of two framed pieces to someone who saw me at the show and called this morning.
Artists are set up in three locations, two pole barns and a big tent. Free electricity is provided and lights are needed if you are in a pole barn or the interior of the big tent. The pole barns do not have sides, roof only and they do not order the sides for the big tent unless bad weather is called for. You are not allowed to put up your entire tent, only the frame so you will need clamps and tarps to close up for the night if you have one of the exterior locations. The exactly 10’ by 10’ booth space must be a Virginia thing because that is what you get here although you can pay extra for a space and a half.
I was happy with my sales but I also had very low expenses and wasn’t expecting much. I would think twice about traveling a distance to come to this show especially if I had large expensive work. It’s a nice filler show to do.
Load in and out are fairly easy. Depending on your location you might have some dollying. A friend helped me with backing up so I was able to get right up by my booth for both load in and breakdown. Depending on your location and how early you arrive you can usually park fairly close to your booth during the show.
Food – Do not miss the river biscuits on Sunday morning served before the show opens. There is also free coffee and pastries provided each morning. The barbeque is good. I can’t speak for anything else. For dinner, Clif and I headed into town for Crozet Pizza which is a fixture in Crozet. Clif had hung out there as a teenager. It is a pretty interesting place and good pizza.
Comments
This is a great discussion! There are lessons to be learned here for many. The point that your work is unique, but that really isn't the point is so important. Fiber encompasses so many areas: wearables, quilts, dolls, puppets, baskets. If a show is going strictly for top scores, rather than "balancing the category for variety", then if your images aren't top notch you're sunk.
Thanks David, Alison, Holly for your input.
But if you choose to not put forth the effort to upgrade your images don't blame ZAPP and don't blame the show. I agree that you would have been a good addition to the Crozet show. There were a lot of bored children who would have gravitated toward your booth and brought their parents with them. But there were some really good fiber artists there and you are competing for a spot with them.
You know, that falls right into line with Connie's blog... "Don't quit!" and finding ways to make and remake your business.
If you are making it work with smaller shows, that's great! You may have found your path for now. I have to say that in terms of the profit margin I make, I'm almost always better being the "big fish in a small pond" than being just another fish in a very large sea of great art. My gross is usually larger in the big events but so are the expenses and it's much harder to grab the notice of collectors. While in the smaller events, the pie is not sliced so many ways (and gawd knows, I loves me my pie!!!!).
If you want to get through the juries in those larger shows, you may need to step up your photographs but if it's working for you in the smaller events, then go for it!
Holly's final paragraph is exactly right, with regard to "nothing else like" yours.
You are competing against all of the fiber category, not just other puppets. If your images are not GREAT and able jump out from other fiber entries as compelling images, it doesn't matter if nobody else on the planet does what you do, you will not get past the jury. THAT is what you need to understand. Your images (at least what you've posted), to put it bluntly, do not match up to what you're competing against in terms of quality imagery even though your product is unique. I've juried shows and I can tell you, average photos do not get past the jury, regardless of what the product may be.
That was very nice advice given by Holly and generous of her to share. I would like to know who took your professional digital images, Holly? Last year I had a "pro" shoot my booth at an indoor show and in truth the images I took myself of the same set up were as good if not better. I was disappointed in what I got for my money which I can't remember what I paid. I think I've blocked it from memory on purpose. I'd like to see a recommended list of art photographers for jury images. I have mixed media under glass so booth shots are really hard.
Jacquelyne, in addition, have you attended any open juries? It is an amazing eye-opening experience to see other people's images and presentations and to see yours in the midst of them. I know, been there, done that. If you can't find any to attend follow David's advice and look at the images on other websites. My favorite is the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. They show a whole set of images, not just one, which tells a broader story.
I understand your frustration but blaming ZAPP is misplaced anger.
That system certainly makes it easier for many more artists to apply and competition can be fierce for the top shows. The best images (as Holly explained) will give you the best chance of being selected.
Perhaps you should look at as many show websites as possible and try to find images of other artists' work in the same category in which you are applying. Look at and analyze them carefully to see how they are presented. THAT is what you are competing against, not some imagined slight that your images were somehow ignored by the jury.
Your images have a very short time to grab a juror with the wow-factor of your work. If it doesn't wow 'em, you won't make it to the next rounds of jurying. The uniqueness of your product isn't, in and of itself, what is going to grab jurors if the image is just average. A great image will.
Harsh, yes, but that's the reality of it.
I judged a little photography contest once for a local camera club. After I went through and pulled the obviously bad photographs I was left with about 2 times the number I had prizes for. What I ended up doing to pick the prize winners was looking for flaws to eliminate the ones I needed to. I'm thinking that jurying may not be that different especially monitor jurying where the juror can go back and forth as needed to choose. If there is a tie where one person gets in and one person doesn't, even small flaws in the jury shots could hurt you.
Why would it be the fault of ZAPP?
It's a service, not the jury.