I am unpacked from the 50th Annual Havre de Grace Art Show - which is put on by the local Soroptimist group (Women's Service Group). At one point in time, this juried event was very large with upwards of 300 vendors. These days, it is about half that number of exhibitors, with more craft than art. The show has shrunk over time as the volunteer staff has greyed and fine art draw has decreased.
The booth fee for the event is very reasonable (under $200) and the venue is a mostly level and somewhat shaded Tydings Park in Havre de Grace, overlooking a marina populated with large powerboats, and small yachts (which might seem a good demographic). The whole venue overlooks the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay, just south of where the Susquehanna River flows into the bay... There are plenty of eagles, osprey, heron, egrets and other cool birds to see... It is usually a two day event, with a relaxed set-up on Friday. There is food, music and kid activities. The event is held close to Aberdeen Proving Grounds (military base), which hosts a huge number of military personnel and contractors. Many of these folks were unaffected by the 'sequester', but you couldn't prove it by my art sales this year...
My wife and I did a booth apiece - side by side. She staffed the River Road Candleworks booth and I the Art of Mark V. Turner booth. This year being the 50th Annual, the management added a 4 sales hour stint on Friday night (normally just a set-up day) from 5 PM - 9 PM. There was a good latin jazz band and a very small fenced (as reqd by Md law) area which dispensed adult beverages.
Small Problem: It gets dark around 8PM.... Most vendors didn't have lighting. So most closed up as darkness fell. My wife and I used my LED lighting system off the deep-cycle batteries and were able to stay open until closing time. The soy candle booth did over 100$ that evening and I sold one $50 original acrylic painting.
Saturday dawned to good weather and we arrived and set up uneventfully. The weather was good all day and the event was well-attended by the public. My wife did well selling our ~$6.00 scented, dye-free, hand-poured, all soy jar candles. We had lots of repeat business and referral customers. Meanwhile, I was only selling two additional small originals. However, I was awarded the blue ribbon for painting! This came with a check that was equivalent to selling two additional small original paintings.
(Photo by Leo Heppner, Heppner Imaging, Copyright 2013 - Used by Permission)
The show director also picked out a small painting for her grandson (no, she wasn't one of the judges). In fact, I didn't actually recognize any judges as such during the event... This is not the first blue ribbon I have collected at this event for painting. However, I am honored by the judge's decisions as there was good competition in the fine arts category this year. The show closed up on Saturday with the threat of rain overnight and into the AM on Sunday. We buttoned up the booths and went home (Nice to do a show where one can go home and sleep in one's own bed).
Sunday dawned grey and overcast. It rained overnight a bit and also briefly on the way down I-95 to Havre de Grace. We left a bit late and were not quite set-up as the crowds came on. For some odd reason, this event seems to have a rain event in the overnight Saturday to Sunday time slot each year. However, this year it didn't come down in buckets like it usually does... Last year saw several tents wiped out from water weight, but none were noted this year.
Sales over at the candle booth were steady, while I racked up next to nothing for my part. However, I did get to flaunt my blue ribbon in my tent during the day and many folks stopped by to admire the work....just didn't buy....
In the end, our craft division sales were same as last year. However, my art sales were approximately 1/4 of what they were last year. But as so many know, fine art painting sales at any given event are a total crapshoot if you do not produce and sell prints...and I don't/won't...
There was some buy sell at the event - notably a male vendor with Virginia plates, who was selling colorful Ghanaian style woven baskets at high prices. He has won ribbons in times past for his merchandise (note I didn't say 'his work'). Many vendors have seen him before and knew him for buy/sell, but show management didn't seem to know and he got in again... I sent show management links to web pages where you can buy the merchandise he sells....
Overall, this event was good for my two businesses - the craft business b/c we made money and the art business because I was again honored for my creative abilities - even though my inventory didn't shrink much.
Here comes the Opinion RANT.... All jewelers and wearable vendors without thick skins need to go do something else now and not continue to read. While I admire most wearable vendors abilities to generate considerable revenue for themselves, they are like too many ants at a picnic. Show directors, I propose a way to weed out some of the plethora of wearables with an honest criterion for decision making
All the jewelers I spoke to did well in their sales, with almost all who would say, reporting thousand to multi-thousand dollars in sales. And as usual, there were a lot of jewelers, but most whined about the overall number of jewelers and all the other artists who had a 'jewelry' component as part of their merchandise mix...ie glass and ceramic artists with pendants. I have very little sympathy for them seeing as their booths probably took in 30-50% of the gross sales overall - while despite being best painter in show, I did less than $500.00 in sales...
I am looking for non-jewelry fine art events. Jewelers and wearables need their own events in order to understand what fine artists endure season after season. Fine artists take a beating at most events because of the number of jewelers and wearable vendors... If you look at the demographics, the majority of attendees at these events are women (most with non-buying or non-buying decision-making male companions). These customers will almost always buy something to wear in preference to or before buying something to put on the walls or on an end-table.... Wearables suck the revenue out of too many events - leaving very little for fine artists. The number of 'jewelers' at events is confirmation that artisans know where the money is to be made and many have chosen to go the wearable route b/c of the guaranteed sales factor - to the point of 'wearable; saturation at many events. Many events are at 40% or more of vendors having 'wearable' merchandise
Very few 'jewelers' make their own findings, settings, chains, pull their own wire or half-round ring shank stock, cut cabochons, cut stones or create other components for their products. It is the extremely rare and talented Jeweler with a capital J who does all of the preceding... Those rare birds are not part of this discussion.... The same goes for many wearable vendors. I do not include those who do their own weaving, spinning and dye-ing as part of their process as being part of the problem I am seeing - which keeps most fine fiber artists out of the discussion. I also do not consider quilters to be part of the issue b/c they make their component forms out of what used to be scrap...
As a fine art painter, I use paint, hardboard and frame components. However, the only obvious store-bought item visible to the customer in un-altered form is the frame which I assemble myself and I minimize this aspect of my product. If a jeweler was only allowed to sell products which they made completely from feed-stock materials rather than incorporating out of the box ready-made components, there would be only a few who could compete at each event - rather than the over-supply of wearables at every event I attend as either an exhibitor or attendee..... Show directors if you are still reading, this aspect of outdoor shows has to change....
Plenty of jewelers and wearable vendors will tell you that there are too many of their discipline in any given exhibit or festival. Yet, none will suggest a method by which to reduce those numbers. This is one way to up the quality ante and increase the originality and hand-production aspects of the exhibitor. It would also reduce buy/sell wearables at all events... It would eliminate the store-bought "bead-ers", store-bought component assembler jewelers and most of the ateliers mass-producing jewelry in general...
I am quite ready for the flames - just look at the number of wearable artists on this board. So if you have a blowtorch out and at the ready because you buy most of your stuff ready made and only do 'creative assembly', I encourage you to make the most of your opportunity to cook me in the shell so to speak...
Comments
Much Success Mark!
Peace and Blessings
T.Howard
Alan, I do both the Seafood Festival and the Art Show. Bring lights and power supply for the Friday night part of the art show. The place gets dark before the Friday night portion is over. Last year, many exhibitors closed up when it got dark.
The two shows use the same event mark-outs if possible, The Seafood Festival is perhaps the higher quality event for size and organization, but far more crafty than the art show. There are some fine artists there, but way more craft. I stock my booth with my soy candles and moderately priced art work (paintings priced $150 and under with the majority being in the 50-100$ range) The art show was very selective in times past, with 200+ exhibitors (some say 300) back then.
But as the volunteers and staff aged and stopped participating, the standards dropped on the craft end and a lot more craft of non-fine variety gets in. As the quality dropped on the craft end, many fine artists drifted away to other events. So it ranges from country craft to fine art (painting, ceramics, glass, sculpture and marketry, some furniture). The price for a booth is right, though. My candles (country craft) jury in based on their standards... And the candles sell better than the art at this event..
As for stripers, you are in the bay, pretty far towards the headwaters... so no telling whats there to fish for. But there is a yacht basin below the event venue.... I keep hoping that their boats and mansions need original art. I have had collectors buy multiple pieces there... but its all a crap shoot.. The audience varies from outlaw bikers (Pagans MC) to millionaires... I've met all of the above at those events.
Theresa, I don't do jewelry for a living... so comments on what I used to do don't have relevance except to show that I know the custom and wholesale ('fine' jewelry) side of the business. This also means I can discern crap from quality, mass production of bread and butter pieces from real originals.
IMO a good portion of what passes as 'fine' jewelry in shows which are less than top tier is not good quality. Precious metal content, hand made pieces, semi-precious and precious stones make quality pieces which belong in these high quality shows which are advertised as fine art and craft.
Stringing beads on wire or elastic isn't something that belongs in higher quality shows (2nd tier or better). We molded pieces which were exceptional. I know that there are entire catalogues of fine jewelry waxes to select from.. from which 'fine original design' jewelry is made. This is why I know that so much of what I see is made in essence from kits. If you are buying waxes and casting them, you are cheating the other exhibitors who design and execute their own pieces. Once you have molds and a wax machine, volume production is all about being able to finish what you cast. Same goes for assemblers of pieces from nothing but pre-made settings and store bought components.
As for my craft business: it supports my art business. Since I don't do prints (because I am philosophically opposed to the idea and it's inventory costs I don't bear), I had to find a way to make up a revenue gap not currently supported by my all-original fine art business.
I don't say that my soy candle business belongs in a top shelf or even 2nd shelf fine art show... I don't apply there with this product either (reading comprehension problem?). I could care less how much schlock jewelry appears at the garden variety craft show where table fees (a good way of discerning craft show from art show is 'booth fee' versus 'table fee') are less than $100.00. I also generally do not try to get this product into juried shows which have actual working art professionals, artists and artisans doing the jurying. That would be silly.
OTOH, I do enter it in shows which are jury by check.. It's a low-price item which women buy before they will buy jewelry.. This is why I have the opinions about my markets and potential customers. I am doing the same thing at these table fee shows that I see the 'jewelers and wearable's' exhibitors do at higher quality shows. My craft product line is a good product made with all-American made components, which I sell at a very reasonable price. I make more money with a higher margin at these table fee shows than I do with original art at fine art shows. I do it to support my fine art aspirations. But even though it's high quality for what it is, its merely craft, or 'country craft'. Plain and simple, with high quality standards and low prices...
The fact that I am collecting awards and prize money shows, that at least in the events where I am jurying in, I am hopefully in the running with my original works for collector purchases. That's not ego, that's factual. I am proud of those awards and the prize money. After five or six blue ribbons, I can say that what I do is recognized as quality, original and innovative. But being an all original operation takes time to build volume and all for price increases to the point where it pays for itself... Without being an artist who makes the majority of their revenue off print sales (and that is a lot of artists on the circuit in top-level shows), that volume and sales momentum can take 20 years to develop
Again my beef is that when the sum total of wearables exhibitors is over 30-40% of an entire event, it's no longer a fine arts and crafts show...It is now a fashion show with fine arts and crafts components.
I am having my apprentices memorize this: "......if you are good at what you do, you don't have competition, your customers are waiting for you and only you, they wouldn't be so easily side tracked by the lower levels of art such as ........ .... the rich don't live in neighborhoods, they own neighborhoods and they can buy whatever they truly want and if they want your Art, they will buy it..... Very well said Teresa!!!!!
Mark, I think you should re-read all that you have written three times over, I think that you would see several things. The first would be EGO (truth, no harm meant) because you spend a whole lot of space bragging about what you can do and have done in the past. The second thing you would see is contradiction... like where you say that you do use store-bought frames, but that you frame in a minimalist way... they are still store bought and where you say you enhance your store bought paint but don't buy your pictures pre painted for you (that would be buy-sell). The jeweler who uses beads or the person who makes wearable art is using fabric or beads as their paint and they don't buy their products pre made for them either... I think you are confused.
As far as your comments about Traditional Fine Arts and Crafts shows and Lesser Shows... why don't you stick to the Traditional Fine Arts and Crafts shows and if there aren't enough of them for you, why don't you and other's who seem to feel that they are above the Lesser Shows upon which you seem to attend and depend on often, create some. You seem to believe you are an expert and all others are the Lesser, so surely you could do that and then you could keep all of the Craft people out of your way. By the way Mark if you are good at what you do, you don't have competition, your customers are waiting for you and only you, they wouldn't be so easily side tracked by the lower levels of art such as wearables. Mark the rich don't live in neighborhoods, they own neighborhoods and they can buy whatever they truly want and if they want your Art, they will buy it. Nobody is taking anything away from you Mark, you have to make what your customer wants or go where they are. Shows were not made just for you and your kind of art and if they were then they would be just that. And what about your cheaply sold soy candles that are made simply of melted wax, perfume oils and string, perhaps poured in jars lined up so that you can fill them as quickly as possible? Is that art or even a craft, and shouldn't you have the right to call them that if you wish to and shouldn't you have a place to sell them?
Mark, I do think you should check your self and your thoughts, maybe you would see that you are just one of us, but you don't want anybody to play in your sand box but you, so that you can have all of the toys. And by the way Mark, making a mold of quality pieces from a pawn shop does not constitute fine art.
Have you done the show before? It has become craftier as time has passed. It used to be very hard to get into and very large.
Having drawn both gold and silver wire from charcoal block ingot, using a draw plate and pliers, I know what goes into making round, half-round wire.. square, etc.. If you are making pieces from one piece of wire, drawing long lengths can be difficult as annealing gets really hard below a certain wire diameter..
If you really value authenticity, I suppose you could actually draw wire at festivals like lampworkers make beads and small items. I have even seen glassblowers set up in larger exhibition spaces..but only for multi-multi-day exhibits and ren-fairs. And if you draw your own, I imagine your time to draw significant lengths comes into play
So Alan, No, I don't have any issues with wire-wrappers (working in silver or gold), or for cloisonné enamelers or any of the other precious metal jewelers who do their own castings of component parts rather than buying them from supply houses.
But the issue we started with really is about the number of wearable fashion exhibitors at juried art shows/festivals.. and that's still my point... Too many makes it difficult for traditional fine artists to make money at most events with the exception of the top drawer events. At the top drawer events, you have real money coming to buy top end 2-d and 3-d art. At these events, painters and other traditional fine artists actually have a chance to make sales - compared to so many second shelf exhibitions and festivals.
And again, remember this is a rant from 2013..... but I still believe in the relevance of the issues
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