Posted by Bill Sargent on September 28, 2009 at 10:30pm
This was our first time at the Plaza show and we came with great expectations (a self inflicted condition). It went well enough for us and was by far our best show of the year to date.We had been apprehensive about parking and had been told not to move our vehicle for the weekend once we found a good spot. We found a fabulous spot completely by accident and followed the advice since our hotel was a fairly short walk away. No one we know of complained about parking, though. One other friend left his vehicle in place all weekend once he’d found a good parking spot.The setup went well and artists were assigned a time to roll in and dump their stuff within 45 minutes. This turns out to be plenty of time. Friday is a heavy day since you set up in the morning and the shows runs from 5 to 10 PM the fist day. Crowds are heavy Friday night and we actually sold more that evening than we have at many other shows for the entire weekend.Results were mixed for artists. The mixed media guy behind us did about 300 for the whole show. A photographer friend reported 9300, which was an all time high for him. Another photographer friend and veteran of the show sold 3K. Two years ago he had taken in 12K. Yet another photographer who habitually sells in the five figures at this show was down about a third this year. A painter who had sold 12K lat year was up to $750 by early Sunday morning.The level of work was about as good as it gets. The judges did a fine job in selecting the winnersCrowds were thinner this year, according to some of its members. We were near the food and beer in the row next to the river, so there were plenty of people and our booth was crowded for most of the show.As in Fort Worth, you don’t want to leave your chair unattended if it’s outside your tent. I found a drunk comfortably settled into mine just when I wanted it the most. I finally talked to him and he was nice, if a bit clumsy, when it came to moving. Too bad he spilled most of his beer on the cushion in the process. Fortunately it dried out before noon the next day after exposure to a bright sun and low humidity.Later the next evening I was ready to sit down again after hours on my feet and I looked up to see the very same drunk comfortably settled in my chair. Again. Not wanting to risk another Pabstism for my cushion, I left him alone until he finally wandered off.Teardown went smoothly in our area and we were out of there in a reasonable time.The next day we were looking for something to visit and stumbled on the museum that features the steamboat “Arabia” which was sunk in 1859. The artifacts that were recovered were in such good shape that they were able to put together an exhibit that is much like a large general store you would have walked into that year. Much of the cargo consisted of orders for various merchants and the artifacts are fascinating. Some of them were items the existence of which was unknown before the excavation. The museum is located in the City Market. Just punch City Market into your GPS and it will take you right there. There are also many interesting shops and a genuine Kansas City BBQ eatery.We will keep this show on our application list permanently. It would have been a profitable stand alone show but it was the first in a four-show out-of-state tour for us.OK, Nels, I have purposely dispersed seven grammar, punctuation and spelling errors in this post. I expect you to find them.
I was at the Kansas City Plaza show this weekend and I viewed it as a patron as I was up there from Florida visiting my family. I have walked alot of art shows but I have to say that show was without a doubt the best Art Show I have ever seen. The quality of the work and the booth presentations were fabulous. The show really excelled in 2D and 3D works which were in my opinion highly innovative and excellent. I did not see alot of packages in peoples hands though and that bothered me. I was at the show on Friday night, saturday afternoon and late sunday. I did ask some artists as they were preparing to take down how the show was? Everyone I spoke to said it was a "bad show", or "slow sales" and "disappointing". The weather was absolutely beautiful all weekend and the crowds were incredible. I am in wonder to as "Why" the artists did not do better. I did see alot of people drinking beer and just wandering from booth to booth as though it was all set up for them to just sightsee. I bought a $100 2D mixed media piece that I love and would have purchased more if I had been home and not had to carry the work back to Florida.
Bill, I am too busy reading a great novel at Phil"s Tavern, in my adopted summer home of Saugatuck,drinking a great Makers Mark Manhatten, chilled up with a cherry, so who cares about a few grammer errors from a great one like you. When you do them deliberiatly, it is not nearly as much fun rooting them out. Would you like to have Ann diagram that last sentence of mine. Good shooting in the fields of our Lord's Dodges--aloha, Nels. By the way, we are seeing Rich and Kim off tonite. They head to Florida tomorrow. I guess they did not want to slide around in the upcoming snowdrifts.
Comments