Ive been waitlisted at the big ones, bayou, woodlands. Are there any other decent shows for painters in texas or nearby in the spring. I'm either leaving florida to go to texas in late march for bayou city if i get in, or april then to the midwest for the summer. I travel full time so I'm flexible. I've applied to many, but havent gotten a good schedule sorted out as of yet.
So ya, looking for some recommendations, I havent done any in texas yet.
Spring (2)
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.
