I don't have a full review of this show, for reasons that will be clear in a paragraph or two. But I wanted to get the conversation started among artists who attended this Howard Alan show, held in Sarasota, FL's St. Armand's Key.
St. Armand's Circle is a shopping district well-known for its upscale shops and fine dining establishments, including the not-to-be-missed Columbia Restaurant, which features the best Cuban-American fare this side of Miami. Artists' booths are located throughout the shady interior of the traffic circle. Additional booths run along a block or two of one of the "spokes" leading away from the circle. Artists within the circle could set up all day Friday; the "streeters" (including yours truly) needed to wait until Saturday morning.
I've done this show twice in years past (2008 and 2009), when it was held in October. These shows featured sweltering heat and humidity; the monsoonal rains that hit during load-out in 2009 dumped about 5 inches of rain in three hours and taught me never to stack work along a curb if I ever wanted to see it again. Anyway, this unfortunate spate of late rainy-season luck prompted a move to November. And despite my two mediocre sales experiences here, I was anxious to see if both meteorological and sales gods would be smiling on me in 2011.
Well, one of the two delivered. We couldn't have asked for better weather this year: two days of cloudless blue skies by day, with cool temps at dawn to make setup a comfortable, shall we say, "drip-free" experience.
But the sales...aggh, the sales! I had browse bins full of old and new work, boxfuls of 2012 calendars, a new 2.5x3 foot canvas that I shot on Tuesday and printed Wednesday, and high expectations. But sadly, an early flurry of browse-bin sales in the first 90 minutes died out, never to return. I sold enough to pay booth fee and make expenses (largely because I opted to commute from Ft. Myers, 85 miles to the south, instead of taking a hotel room). When your biggest sellers are your $20 calendars and 3-for-ten-buck notecards, you're in for a long weekend. Sunday was no better, until I knocked some of my $75 16x20s down to $50 to stir up a trickle of buying interest.
So, here's my problem from a show-review standpoint: I have insufficient evidence to know if this show was a winning sales experience for others, or not. I had enough traffic coming by all weekend that I couldn't leave the booth for an extended walk through the show. What I can report from my neighbors:
* One, who sold interesting, kinda avant-garde long stem flowers fashioned of glass at $100-300 price points, had a killer Saturday and a long, slow Sunday.
* A husband and wife team with adjacent booths of functional ceramic art both zeroed on the weekend (but had unbelievably great attitudes in the face of no results).
* A well-known and talented photographer of Italian doorways and street scenes, whose subjects hit the "sweet spot" with buyers seeking to decorate their predominantly Mediterranean style homes, seemed to do his usual gangbuster business.
* A young Florida landscape and wildlife photographer had about the same results I did.
* A well-known abstract painter, fresh off a strong show in Estero, just covered his expenses.
So, lots of unanswered questions: Was customer traffic heavier in the center of the circle than among us "streeters"? Were there lots of buyers carrying packages around? Were folks there to buy, or were they strolling the show while visiting all the shops and restaurants nearby? My answers are, respectively: "No idea," "Without a clue, " and "Beats heck outta me."
Some help, eh? If there's a Pulitzer for blogging, I've blown it with this entry.
So I need you folks who did the show, particularly if you were in the central area, to chime in with comments below and fill out this picture. As for me, I consider this to be a "Geoff problem, " not a show problem, so you'll hear no whining from me. I've done five shows in Sarasota now (three with Alan, two with other promoters) and I'm still looking for a strong sales result. If my bird and wildlife images don't get Sarasota's collective pulse racing but sell strongly in Venice, only 15 miles to the south, well, that's good information to know.
So: How 'bout the rest of you out there? Chime in, please!
Comments
Thanks for weighing in, Ken...very useful. It's never to late to post! Folks will be reading this post in June when they start booking their late fall and winter shows.
Ok, I'm a little late on this one.....I was there at St. Armands. I was on the inner circle. I make very contemporary ceramic art - not very functional, but very nice to look at. Saturday seemed to be a Jewelry day. A guy who sells beautiful carved coin necklaces had an incredible day on Saturday. Another jeweler next to me had a good day also. I did about $600 bucks. Another potter two booths away was miserable....I never saw him get out of his chair
Sunday was completely different. You could feel the difference (anyone who has done art shows for a few years knows what I'm talking about). I did three times as much on Sunday.....I don't know if people went home on Saturday, thought about it and decided they just couldn't live without one of my pieces, so they came back on Sunday and bought......who knows. I do know that being on the inner circle was better than when I was on the side street ( in November). That was frustrating.....people would walk fast by my booth without even turning their heads.....on their way to the circle.
Now if you've done the math, you'll see I had a decent show......not an incredible one, but enough that I'll probably do it again next year ( not so sure about the November one, though)
Thats great news Patrick - well done! So what are the things you've changed?
I love being able to hear the comments of other artist here. It has given me a sense that I am not alone in this constant evolution of learning how to carve out a living in this unpredictable world of art shows.
I am almost ashamed to say that I was spoiled during the years prior to 2008, when I felt that I could do no wrong in the realm of art sales. Every show seemed to get stronger and stronger. I did my best to strategically break down the elements of each sale, and determine why did this individual purchase that particular piece, or why did they step into my booth to begin with? Yes , the art of sales became my passion because I loved it , and I could see the results from it. But something devastating happened in Jan. 2008. Banks stopped lending and people began to panic, my sales suffered, and so did I. I felt as though my little world was crumbling. No matter what I said or did, I could not close a sale, as they constantly uttered the same old, "my 401k is now a 201k"
As the years passed, I drudged along show to show revising my sales stradegy, slowly regaining momentum and salvaging some self confidence.
So, to make this story come to an end, I can report that this has been my strongest fall season since 2008 and I can truthfully say that I can afford to buy peanutbutter and jelly again!
It helps that the Alan group has a helpful staff on the ground with a sense of humour that keeps a stressful thing like setting up and taking down a little more palettable. Even dealing with a prima donna like me.
Geoff, thanks for the rundown and I'm sorry to hear that the show wasn't successful for you.
I work to an idea of having the largest amount of work in the mid price range (for me $80-180) a few more expensive pieces and a couple of aspirational pieces. Then I put a small selection for the bargain hunters/impulse buyers. This allows you to cover quite a few bases, but the majority is in your mid range which is where a decent amount of sales gives a good result.
... I'm not a cricket and wish I could answer your question. You are so right to not examine your sales in the light of others. It seems as though each artist must take responsibility for their sales regardless of what their neighbors are doing. If everyone is dying, you get the message. If everyone is selling well, you get that message. This is the eternal question and I know you are always questioning this -- where do I sell well and where is my market? or what do "they" want that I want to create? My idea of Sarasota is that it is a more highly educated area of Florida with "old" (not in age, but in longevity) residents, and people who have been exposed to culture. I'd think this is a place for upscale, higher priced, exclusive looking work. But what do I know?
Yes, I'm placing you in the running for the Pulitzer. Consider yourself nominated.
Hi Ana: You're certainly entitled to your opinion. But as I wrote above, I consider this to be a "Geoff problem", not a show problem, until someone who actually did this year's show weighs in on their sales. There must be somebody out there among the 200-plus who have read this post who can speak up. Hello? <cue the crickets>
As far as I know, Sarasota was never good place for shows-art fairs. And Howard Alan shows are as bad as could be. Avoid that promoter!!
Hi Lorrie, that's a valid question if I understand it (I'm not sure what you mean by "be cane rarities"). My notecard images, with only two exceptions, are NOT found in my larger print sizes. The images I use for notecards are small birds like warblers, certain sandpipers, and flower and scenic shots that I don't carry in larger sizes.
I have sold a half-dozen calendars at each of the last two shows (at a $20 price point--close to the cost of a matted 8x10). And yes, some (not all) of the 13 images in the calendar can be purchased in larger sizes. But I'm reasonably certain that the buyers were looking for $20 gifts for Christmas, so it wasn't a matter of a calendar sale losing me a sale of larger-sized prints.
I think some markets are just that way. My average sale per customer in Sarasota at the five shows I've done is just a little over half what it is everywhere else. But your concern is something I'll continue to evaluate. Thanks for suggesting it!