Blog

July 11 & 12 

Noteworthy:

We were excited to get in to this fair because we believed the reviews that it was truly a fine art fair. It is not. 

Although the show is well run and people really did their best to be helpful, the prevalence of booths filled with inexpensive craft items, especially in our row, hurt our ability to sell more expensive one-of-a-kind glass art. 

Positives about the show? Helpful staff, very good entertainment on main stage [only once was the volume enough to interfere with conversations with potential customers], a beautiful setting, easy loading, and a great value on a cooperating hotel. The promotional campaign is very strong and brings lots of people, as do the main stage acts, which seem to attract the families and friends of the local performers. And no dogs are allowed in the park during the show, which seems to invite more attention to booths.

Negatives? If we were the only ones to have poor sales, I would assume it was our work and that we were a mismatch. We talked with lots of artists with similar price points, however, and only one was having a successful show. When we spoke with artists who had been there before [with one notable exception], their sales were down. We're not knocking crafters -- our neighbors could not have been nicer. We just think that if we had been in a row full of higher-priced items, we might have done better. People spent time in our booth looking at our work, but our sales were abysmal, which has not been as true at other shows. Another negative: the hours are unnecessarily long: Friday night 4-7:30, Saturday 9-7, and Sunday 9-4. 

We did have a fierce storm on Friday night, and the staff and fire and police departments were attentive and helpful about closing the show down early. That didn't necessarily help sales, and the ground was damp all weekend, but there were crowds there nonetheless. 

We can't help but wonder if this show is living on its past reputation. Apparently it once was a first-rate fine art show, but now they seem to be adding a fair number of craft booths.

Suggestion: If you choose to do this show, ask for a booth in the main upper section, above the sidewalk. That had the best array of fine art and heavy foot traffic.

I'm going to write a VERY brief review of this show, for reasons that will be revealed in a paragraph or two.  This was my first visit to beautiful St. Simons Island, GA.  Although the state has less than 200 miles of coastline, it boasts beautiful wide barrier islands teeming with birdlife.  I've driven past their exits countless times on I-95 but never had time to stop.  So after Connie posted a call to artists a few months back, I jumped at the chance to apply and was accepted.

Glynn Art hosts two shows yearly in Postell Park, which is in the downtown of St. Simons.  This time of year, anyway, this is a tiny hamlet with relatively light traffic, lots of small eateries and retail shops, and the art association HQ, which occupies a pretty space right across from Postell Park. 

The spring show featured about 60 artists, in facing rows along the brick pavers (bring a rug!).  By admission of the director, it is "lightly juried" and  heavily skewed toward country craft, low-end craft, and a smattering of manufactured products.  There was lots of jewelry (some quite nice, some cheaply made).  A few of the Art Association members exhibited paintings and watercolors, but generally speaking, 2-D was hard to find. 

The overall ambience is laid-back, relaxed, and friendly. The show was laid out in maybe five sections of artists, scattered throughout the small park.  When I first arrived I wondered aloud about the discontinuity, and whether attendees would miss a section, but one of my neighbors, a show veteran, said it wouldn't matter...and it didn't.  Although booths were tightly pole to pole, the facing rows are quite short (maybe a dozen booths long) and you have lots of storage space behind.  Setup was Friday, from noon until 5 (you could stay later to set up if you wanted); security (local police) was provided from 6 PM to 8 AM each night).  It was an easy, beautiful three-block walk along the two-lane street, lined by live oaks, to the artist parking lot...though I noticed many artists with oversized vehicles used a commercial parking lot on one end of the show and were not bothered by anyone. 

Weather was beautiful, the booths were comfortable even in mid-day, and yet attendance was light.  However, for most of the show it was comprised of the affluent residents of this laid-back island.  They were casually but neatly dressed, knowledgeable, and friendly. (Sunday afternoon was dominated by day-tripping familes from inland Georgia, who were mostly browsing, and more interested in spending a day with the kiddos.)

I made only two sales on Saturday, but they were my largest, most expensive canvases.  Sunday brought smaller but still respectable sales through mid-afternoon. I wound up, surprisingly, with my second- or third-highest sales total of the year...plus an invitation to have a month-long at the art gallery on nearby Jekyll Island sometime in 2016. 

Demographics:  As noted, the demographics here skew to the very high end.  Housing is expensive, surroundings are beautiful, and many of the homes are quite large.  It was sort of a interesting mix between Sanibel Island and a small New England town. Seemed to be an equal split between vacationers coming from other parts of Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas) and residents (many of whom were year-round).  I talked with only a few Midwesterners. 

Everyone I spoke with, including the director, said that the fall show (Oct. 11-12) is even smaller (about 50 artists, tops), much more tightly juried, and better represented by 2-D art. I don't know if I could recommend it to an artist from far out of state, but if you are in central or panhandle Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina this might be worth trying. 

Overall, this was an excellent well run show and an excellent weekend for us. 

We applied to this show in 2013 and were rejected.  We usually have our best shows in the mid-Atlantic so we decided to try again. Happily, we were accepted.

Bethesda is just inside the DC Beltway and traffic in and around the area is usually a nightmare.  But, that also means lots of people in the area.

The show stretches over portions of two streets that make up part of the Woodmont Triangle area.  The show is produced by the Bethesda Urban Partnership (non-profit) and is not affiliated with the also well-known/respected Bethesda Row festival in the fall.

We arrived on Friday to scope out the layout and look for our spot.  We park the van, turned the corner onto the closest festival street, and started looking for space numbers.  After staring at the curb for a few seconds, we looked up toward the middle of the street and discovered we were standing in front of our space!

And a perfect space it was.  We were a few feet from the entrance to a parking garage that had plenty of clearance for the van, a few more feet to a building that had really clean, artist-friendly bathrooms, and a few more feet to the breakfast/lunch/show info desk. 

We also noticed that the space next to us near a fire hydrant was not marked.  A miracle – a free corner booth.  The next day when the tents were all up, we realized the practically every booth was a corner with the tents set in pairs and empty space on each side.  What a great way to set up a show.  (The booth fee was on the high side - $425 – so I guess that corner wasn’t really free.)

Each artist was given a set-up time.  Ours was 7AM, which meant we would have to hustle to get ready for the folks that showed up before the official 10AM start.  We decided to test the waters and arrived at the site at 6:40.  We were promptly told that 7AM meant 7AM.  Good for them.

Observant folks that we were having noticed that fine parking garage, we asked if we could park and dolly in.  The volunteers were thrilled that we were willing to do that.  One less van on the street.

We got a prime parking spot at the top of the ramp into the garage and rolled it all downhill to our space just a few feet away.

We setup pretty quickly and were ready to go.  Unfortunately, it was a slow start for us.  The painter next to us had a $2500 sale in just minutes after 10AM and other large pieces started walking out as well.  We had a lot of lookers and the promise of the never to be seen again be-backs.

As the day wore on, the crowd was steady but not overwhelming.  All week the weather forecasters were predicting rain from dawn Saturday until late Saturday night.  As it turned out, it didn’t rain at all until late afternoon and then only for about an hour.  Still, I think a lot of patrons were holding out for Sunday, which was forecast (and correctly so) to be gorgeous.

This is an "originals only on the walls" show and people were clearly buying 2D. The matted prints/repros that were carried out seemed pretty big too.  There was a glass artist across from us who seemed happy as well.

We were not happy on Saturday but the Sunday crowd was thick and buying and saved the weekend.  We sold a couple of decent size canvases and a bunch of small ($125) framed pieces.  We also had success with small repros (8x10 matted to 11x14).  No one complained about tax and no one pushed back on prices.

We could have snared a very big sale if we only had the piece available.  The customer wanted a specific size of one of our digital works.  Sadly, they weren’t willing to wait and we saw them later walking out with somebody else’s very nice piece.

There are also decent prospects for after show sales once some measurements are taken.

Load-out was a very easy dolly.  We thought that the garage ramp would have been a real strain uphill so we got to the venue early Sunday and got a prime spot on the street just about 100 feet from our space.  We were loaded up and out by 6:15PM

The “Nels” data:

About 130-140 booths.  Spaces are 10x10 but each has an open side.  On our block there was plenty of sidewalk storage behind.

Breakfast (bagels/coffee) was provided both days, as was lunch (pizza, chili, BBQ).

Boothsitters checked in regularly.

Overall quality was excellent and the competition for patron dollars was tough.

There was music but we never heard much of it where our booth was.  No stiltwalkers and no kettle corn that I could see.

There were three judges and some nice awards.  Pet peeve – two of the judges were very interested in talking about our work.  The third opened with “Do you make your own batiks?”  When we said no, any interest disappeared.  We use purchased fabrics the same way that other artists use purchased materials (paint, metal, etc.) to create their art yet we seem to get dinged for doing so.

Bottom line, we loved doing this show and will certainly apply again next year.  We’re hoping to get Bethesda Row too as this is clearly a great market for quality art. 

Nothing but the highest praise for the Urban Partnership, the show director, staff and volunteers. 

We also got to meet AFIer Courtney Gillen who stopped by and practically guaranteed a great show!

Final unrelated self-initiated blog-jacking:  I know some AFIers did Rockville a couple of weeks ago.  We were waitlisted and never called.  How about a review of this second year show???

(Wow, I reviewed this show four long years ago! And it's still valid on the show particulars.  Check it out for more details.)

As perhaps the only artist in Florida who has never even applied to Winter Park, much less exhibited, I headed to Sanibel Island this weekend for its third, and last, show of the winter season: the Sanibel-Captiva Lions Arts & Crafts Festival.  Although I really shouldn't call it a "weekend"--it's a Friday/Saturday event (with an easy Thursday daytime setup), the timing of which throws off an artist's oh-so-regular show routine and makes even remembering when to put out the trash and recycling a week-long challenge.

As you might expect given the location and the organizers, it's a casual, community-friendly, intimate show on a postage stamp-sized, sandy layout that is pretty easy to navigate for show-goers despite its apparent randomness.  Tents are pole-to-pole in some sections, spaced apart in others--the layout driven largely by the configuration of palm trees and shrubbery.  On a sunny, cloudless weekend like this one, you'll get every bit the tan you would on one of the nearby beaches, so sunscreen and umbrellas are a must. 

The show starts at 9AM, and on day one (Friday) there were about 50 folks lined up at the gate to pay their $5.00 admission (benefiting Lions Charities).  Traffic and sales were fairly brisk until just before noon, when folks departed for lunch and beaches, leaving artists mostly to talk among themselves and take heat breaks in the air-conditioned Community Center.  I did somewhere north of $600 in sales by 12:30, and that was it for the day. 

Saturday brought a nearly precise repeat of the sunny weather, but without many folks waiting at the opening bell.  Traffic never really got heavy, but buying energy picked up around 11 AM and continued for a couple of hours.  Most of my neighbors reported that traffic was lighter on day 2, but sales were much better.  And that was true for me, too, with six good-sized sales (including both of the uber-large works on the back wall). My hunch, based on conversations I had with booth visitors, is that vacationers comprised most of the crowd on Friday, and homeowners on Saturday.

I wound up with my strongest show of the season, and some valuable contacts in the community (especially since I live only 20 minutes away). The customers were, nearly without fail, a joy to work with: knowledgeable, friendly, relaxed--hey, they're on freakin' Sanibel, why wouldn't they be??--and best of all, their wallets were wide open and access was haggle-free.  A nearby painter of superb Florida landscapes and wildlife sold at least three high-priced works.  A photographer friend who had struggled most of the weekend told me that he sold three large images ten minutes after the show closed. Both of my neighbors--a jeweler and fabric artist-- were satisfied (although both said they had done better in 2013).

Although there were some very fine artists in the mix of offerings, this show lets in a lot more inexpensive jewelry (see  comment below), beachy buy-sell and manufactured stuff than the other two art shows in this space (Thanksgiving Weekend's Sanibel Masters, produced by Richard Sullivan, and the local Rotary's mid-February offering). The show prospectus says that that buy/sell and manufactured items are prohibited, but my guess is that the show committee is not trained in this, nor willing to risk irritating a long-time "vendor" by throwing them out of the show.

As such, the show is a bit more targeted toward impulse-buying vacationers than the homeowners. But still, I got the impression that many residents, seasonal or year-round, realized it was their last chance this season to pick up work for their homes, and came prepared to buy.  Overall, it was a Chamber of Commerce weekend on a first-class Florida beach, with just enough buyers to go around. And when even the friendly, helpful traffic cop regularly booms out "It's always a great day on Sanibel!" to street-crossers, it would seem unsporting to argue. '

To sum up: The amount of buy/sell and manufactured stuff is concerning.  It's not a show I would travel any distance to do.  If you are in the area, you're trying to build a client base nearby, and you have the "right stuff" it's not a bad change-of-pace option.  And if enough quality artists applied, who knows? Some of the junk jewelry and kit crap might not make it in.
I just might ask the friendly Lions about their jury process, give 'em some feedback, and see what I can learn. 

*** 
What sells best?  2-D (beaches and birds abound); warm-weather wearables. Small stuff (for vacationers).  Jewelers did well if they were already known to the islanders.

What struggles?:  Functional 3-D, abstract and modern work of any kind

Other stuff:  Awards are limited to a $350 best in show and three other awards that award varying percentages of credit toward next year's booth fee.  Artists are urged to donate a small work to the show for the silent auction, announcements for which are regularly made over a loudspeaker.  "Raffle Ralph," as he calls himself, is pretty loud for conducting business but has a good sense of humor, so artists generally take it in stride.

Survival tips:  Book your hotel room / campground early; it's peak season in SW Florida, and rates are at a premium but deals, I'm told, can be found if you work the Web. Bring sunscreen, sunglasses, plenty of water, and a way to get dust and fine-grained sand off your work. Be willing and able to ship and to deliver on-island after the show (given the oh-so-tight parking and heavy traffic, many show visitors walk or bike)

Naples National was the second of my first two ever art fairs in florida.  I have commented on Artigras on Nel's post.

My first impression as a first-timer is that Naples National is a very well organized show.   It takes place in and along the edge of a park a block away from the business district.  All artists were given check in times dependent on booth location. ranging from 7:30am to 5:30 pm or later.  I set up in the morning, but when my husband and I strolled back after dinner big lights had been erected and people were still setting up.  Artist booths were in the park- some shady on mulch, and some sunnier spots on grass, and also on the street that runs along the west side of the park.  A visitor could start at one end and wind all thru the park and not miss anything.  I thought the setups on the street were a little disconnected from the rest of the show and quite hot, though not as dirty.  (There was a constant deposition of brown dust on everything, I assume stirred up from the mulch)

There was a very efficient artist shuttle to and from the parking lot for artists, (though it was a pleasantly walkable distance) that ran all through setup, the fair, and take-down.  I thought the quality of the art was superb.  Lots more wall art than I am accustomed to see, and less ceramics and jewelry.  Naples is a place of great wealth (We saw more Bentleys and Jaguars there in two days than I have seen in my entire life), and I would speculate that a higher percentage of people are looking for paintings/prints for the empty walls of their condos than at most art fairs.  I would be interested in hearing from a 2-d artist on their take.  My next door neighbor, a potter with lovely wares, said he was disappointed because he brought the wrong price points - he brought the cheaper stuff, and he sold out on his more expensive pieces.  My other neighbor, Zacki, was a character with aggressively modern paintings and did not sell anything. 

For my part, my booth was always busy, and I made more money in two days than in three at Artigras.  The sales were mostly in the $40-120 range with enough larger sales to make me happy. 

I found that customers were interested and not jaded, and in the mood to be pleased.  There was extremely little ethnic and racial diversity.  I don't know what the average age was, but there were no strollers here.  I got the feeling that price was not as much as an object as finding exactly what they wanted.  I was delighted to get into this show, and would be delighted to do it again.

For all the organization at setup, takedown was something of a free-for-all, but seemed to work ok nonetheless.  Organizers seemed to concentrate on coordinating vehicles the on-street portion of the fair, but the big lights did make their appearance which helped a lot in making sure everything got back in the van. 

On the fun side, the beach at Naples is great, and the food is wonderful, if pricey.  The best meals we had were are Bha!Bha! a persian bistro on 5th.  Wow.  We stayed a short (walkable) distance away, at LaQuinta.

If any of you drive north (or South) thru Florida from Jacksonville to Ocala/Tampa on 301, you should stop at a great local restaurant in Starke called Grannie's Country Cooking.  I liked all the fruit stands, too, and am still eating the oranges!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice.  I recently got into the Columbus Art Fair in Columbus, OH.  I know this is a large show and, as I've never attended it, would love some insight on what spot might be good.  I am a painter and do NOT love to be in very windy spots (who does).  After reading another post, I understand that part of the show is on a bridge?

Does anyone have an old map of the show that they can forward to me?  I would love to be able to see it.

Thanks so much for all your help and if you are at the show, too, I hope we can meet!

Amy

When Staci and I decided to try a Naples show this year I first talked to Florida West Coaster Geoff Coe.  

We’ve run into Geoff at a number of shows and he has seen the bright colors that permeate Staci’s work.  While cautioning that of course there were no guarantees, he suggested that Mercato might be the best fit.  The crowd is just as moneyed as the other Naples venues but it is younger (relatively speaking) and probably more interested in bright contemporary and abstract work that at the other Naples locations.

Geoff was absolutely right.  Unfortunately, the attendance at the show was way, way down (according to a number of repeat exhibitors that I spoke to.  Of those who did attend on Saturday (the best day), there was real buying interest but sadly even with some enthusiastic buyers, there weren’t enough to go around.

If the crowd had been of normal size, I think most would have had a great show.  As it was, while the painter on one side of us probably did $4K, the painter on the other side had to rely on a previous customer’s repeat purchase to make expenses.   Most of the bags we saw were from the high-end retailers that make-up the Mercato shopping plaza.

What went wrong?  At least 10 locals we spoke to said they had no idea there was a show this weekend.  They had seen no signs, billboards, or TV ads.  When the crowd is small and what I would call “coincidental”, there is not enough to go around even if they are the “right” people.  Where did our booth fee go???

Repeat exhibitors described wistfully the elbow-to-elbow throngs that have characterized Mercato in the recent past.  We could have had a great show if they were there.  As it was, we didn’t make mediocre.  Geoff had it right – this was our crowd; sadly, “crowd” is a misnomer.

Details

Weather - Perfect!

Venue – upscale shopping plaza with many restaurants, movie theaters, shops

Easy set-up starting at 3AM.  We showed up at 5AM and parked in our space to unload.

Teardown was easy too.  We parked fairly near the booth and rolled it out over flat terrain.

Good storage behind the tent. 

Artist parking was in a big field behind the venue and a fairly short walk.

Artist amenities were okay. – Coffee/muffins in the morning and access to the volunteer center bathroom.  (There were also clean public restrooms throughout the venue.)

Booth sitters aplenty and very friendly volunteer group.

Quality of the art was excellent – a lot of work that we would love to have on our walls (if we had walls that is).  Very contemporary with just a touch of the traditional Florida beachy stuff

Looking West - Midday Sunday

Looking East - Midday Sunday

Our Space

I'll be heading to Gainesville, Florida for my first fair of the year.  I've only read one post about the show and it wasn't a positive one.  What I liked about this show was that it offered an interdisciplanary category that encouraged artists to branch out from their main category.  I primarily work in oil and acrylic, but also have started in encaustic (I also make jewelry).

I was wondering if anyone else is going, so we can meet!  I would just like to  meet other artist who are on this site!

Best of luck to everyone this year!

Cheers,

Amy

We were at the Howard Alan Boca Fest show this past weekend.  The show has been mentioned/reviewed on AFI a number of times so I’ll just hit the highlights of the logisitics.

As with most HAE shows, it’s a 5AM setup on Saturday morning, although many tents were up earlier than that.  The load-in is easy if you get there early enough but not horrible even if you’re late.  The HAE staff keeps everyone moving and we didn’t see any real logjams.

Spaces are in the parking lot at the Boca Town Center, an upscale shopping center in a very upscale community.  The layout is a series of fairly short row bordered by a long row connecting the short ones – think shopping center parking lot and you’ll get it.  The aisles are very wide and the spaces are 18 giant feet deep – think parking space.  If you had enough panels, you could display art the entire depth of your space or you could store everything you own behind the tent.

The weather was perfect all weekend – mostly sunny, not too warm and gentle breezes.  On Saturday the crowd was steady but not the throng we had expected.  Contributing factors may have been the torrential rains that had flooded the streets of many Boca neighborhoods in the few days before the show.  Also, it was the Jewish Shabbat combined with the Ariel Sharon funeral. 

In any event, Saturday was slow for us and for a number of the other artists we spoke to.  Of course, some were vey happy.  Just like every other show.

Sunday was very crowded  - HAE gets them out with lots of promotion/ads.  Unfortunately it was just as slow for us as Saturday.

Sales were very disappointing especially after coming off a very good weekend at Las Olas. Last year we did the Hot Works Boca show (Patty Narozny) and had light sales as well.  Combined with this year’s result – Boca you’re dead to us!

A painter across from us practically sold out and we did see lots of bags being carried – though many were small.  The quality of the art was very, very high and there were buyers – just not for our fabric art.

Highlights:

We had a buyer on Saturday who was waffling about taking a piece because the colors might not match.  We did the old pay for it now, take it home, if it doesn’t work, bring it back routine.  On Sunday morning, she walks into the booth carrying the piece.  We immediately assumed that our slow sales were to get even slower.  Instead, she said the piece worked so well she wanted another one just like it.  Yay!

Also, we had enough Marriott points that we got a “free” weekend in the onsite hotel.  (Of course it’s only free because we have paid for so many other nights.)  It was great to have a two-minute walk to the room for air-conditioning/bathroom breaks.  It also ensured that we could be in the hotel bar for happy hour within seconds of getting the tent zipped up.

We saw and talked to many artists who were also at Las Olas. This week we were next to AFIers Gary and Maureen Shull and right behind Melanie Rolfes-Leonard.  We enjoyed meeting them in person and comparing notes with them on past/upcoming shows.

Teardown was as easy as it gets.  With an 18’ deep spot, stacking everything behind the tent and then getting the tent down meant that the already wide aisles became even wider.  There was plenty of room to drive right to your spot and load the van.  HAE staff tightly controlled entry to the venue.  We were on our way in no time.

Lowlights:

It really came down to sales.  We covered the booth and a few meals but that was about it.  If we didn’t have the free room it would have been a loser.  Boca Raton is clearly not our market.  There were plenty of artists who did well here; there were also a number who weren’t happy. 

Bottom line:

Great venue, big crowds (mainly on Sunday), professional promoters, poor sales.