Blog

September 23-October 15
Brooklyn, New York
Presented By: Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC)
400 Artists
Deadlines: Early bird: August 6; Final Deadline: August 6

PODCAST: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 5 PM ET

The fastest way to earn money with your art is to participate in art fairs. The buyer enters your booth, loves the work, hands you the payment and your work has found a new home. It's not always that easy of course, but it has worked for years for thousands of artists.    

Many artists have multiple streams of income including gallery representation, selling work online, image licensing, hosting studio tours, participating in small boutique events and being in gallery shows. How about your own gallery? The nearby empty storefront beckens you.

Today's show includes digital artist John Leben, supporting himself for over 40 years in the arts who is contemplating opening a gallery. Unlike art fairs this is a 365 day commitment. John wants to know: should he do it? Read his opportunity here.

Joining the discussion is artist Sandhi Schimmel Gold, the "Queen of Junk Mail Art." About a year ago she posted Towel ... Throwing ... in on ArtFairInsiders.com where she announced she was opening a gallery. Sandhi will share her adventures in moving from the streets to her own art gallery.

Terri Belford is a business consultant. She started her first business in her 20's and has developed numerous others since then.  Her last business was a gallery of fine art and contemporary craft that continues to thrive under the direction of a new owner. She blogs at craftbizblog.com.

Should John open a gallery? Sandhi and Terri give him some answers.

Have you been part of a gallery operation? Do you have some useful information on this topic? or questions to be answered? Put them in the comments below.

Do you want to be part of this podcast? Comments welcome, contact me, and I'll add you to the program. 

Click here to listen live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artfairs/2016/08/30/judges-jurying-awards-at-art-festivals

            

            

  A GALLERY SHOW 

             

July 26-August 17  

New York City, New York
Red Hook Waterfront, BKLYN
Opening Reception: Sat. July 26 2-6pm   
Gallery Exhibition: July 26-Aug 17, weekends 2-6pm
Early Bird Discounted Deadline: May 19
Final Submission Deadline: June 2

Open Call for Submission from artists all over the USA for an exhibit in our gallery, The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) - an 8,000 square foot civil War-era warehouse on the Red Hook Waterfront. With its trendy restaurants, bars, boutiques and billon dollar view of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor, it's an exciting place to visit and EXHIBIT.  

The enormous space of the gallery affords us the opportunity to exhibit really huge work, and we welcome it.  We are pleased to be joined by a prestigious juror-Lauren Hinkson, Assistant Curator at Solomon Guggenheim Museum. With her experience, expect an exceptionally exciting exhibition.
        

Lauren Hinkson is the Assistant Curator for Collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.  She conducts permanent collection research with a focus on contemporary and time-based art.  

        
Best of Show Silver: $500 at the Opening Reception, the artist whose work is juried "Best of Show Silver: by Lauren Hinkson will receive a $500 cash prize.

People's Choice: $250: The artist whose work is voted "Best" by attendees during the course of the show will receive a $250 cash prize.

Curator's Choice: $250: The artist whose work the Show Curators choose for excellence will receive a $250 cash prize.

Certificate of Recognition $1,000: $100 each for ten winners.  All selections will be made by the juror, Loren Hinkson.
 

Artists accepted into Color can also send one additional work that will be exhibited in our Affordable Art area.  All works must be smaller than 12"x16" and must be priced for sale at $500 or under.

"I think if pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it"- Alice Walker, The Color Purple

"Mere color unspoiled by meaning and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways"-Oscar Wilde

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange"-Vincent Van Gogh

ELIGIBILITY:
This call for submission is open to all residents of the U.S. and its Territories, 18 years of age or older.  This is a juried exhibition for artists working in all traditional and non-traditional 2D and 3D media, including film/video when part of an installation.  

All artwork must be original in concept, design and execution.  Note: Crafts, kit work or reproductions of original works in other media (such as giclee print of oil painting), unless used as part of a mixed media work, will not be considered.  

Oversize Work, Assemblages and Installations are welcome at the discretion of BWAC, but must meet all other specifications and be delivered, installed and removed by the artist (or their agent) upon arrangement with BWAC staff. All work requiring electricity must auto on/off with the line power.

JURYING:  Entries that differ significantly from their digital images may be rejected.  Decision of the judges is final.

SUBMISSIONS AND FEES:  
Only original works may be submitted.    The Early Bird discounted fee is $45 if received by midnight, May 19, 2014 PST.  The regular fee is $65.  The fee is for up to three (3) images, plus $5 for each additional image.  Sculpture and installations:  artists may use two additional images for details, at no extra charge.  Contact bwacinfo@aol.com if you need them.  You must have already applied before you can request extra images.

All entries must be registered/received by midnight, June 2, 2014 PST.  All entry fees are non-refundable.

CONTACT/QUESTIONS:  
Please direct all questions to bwacinfo@aol.com
To Reach full Prospectus (PDF): click here
To Apply: click here         

I ran across this today and thought there may be someone out there that needs a part time job in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area to supplement their income.  Plus, working in an Andy Warhol Museum could be fun.  Here is the info:

The Andy Warhol Museum seeks Gallery Attendants to assist in the orientation and provision of positive, quality museum experience to all patrons during open hours and special events, including the protection of the Andy Warhol Museum's collection from various potential threats. Must have ability to gain familiarity with all the areas of the Visitor Services Department to ensure smooth daily operation. Duties include greeting and assisting patrons with orientation to the museum, providing general museum information to visitors as needed, monitoring collections and displays, maintaining the visitor information areas, operating computer ticketing system, operation of phone switchboard, tracking information gathered during daily operations, and assisting the Visitor Services Manager and Assistant with all levels of customer service.

For more information and to apply, visit http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/hr. EOE

Public Art Project on Tour in Basel, Manfred Kielnhofer

Shared by Austrian artist and designer Manfred Kielnhofer. The “Light Guards” project is further developed and become a ghost car touring in Basel art show during June 15 – 19 2011.

http://artobserved.com/2011/06/ao-on-site-art-fair-news-summary-and-final-photoset-art-42-basel-2011-in-closing/

Eccentric art was also at Basel, if not as dominant a presence as the traditional buys. Ghost Car by Kielnhofer was a large white van with hooded figures driving outside the fair, and the Bleifrei (which translates to Lead Free in German) Art Collective told Art Info: “Art is like Jesus; it died and it’s coming again.”

Manfred Kielnhofer, Ghost Car (2011) Basel, via Kielnhofer.com

The grim seeker after truth
Anyone wondering why these grim reaper style figures were seated on this white van - look no further than the latest installation from artist Manfred Kielnhofer. He is from Haslach an der Mühl, in the district of Rohrbach in Upper Austria, Austria, and is an artist and designer whose work usually centres around the human anatomy. His recent piece of art is the Ghost Car, which is a product of the developing ‘Light Guards’ project. This project surfaced from the theory that humankind has always been able to boast having guardians in different ways, in potential danger from only themselves. This idea intrigued the artist Kielnhofer, who approached it with his artwork, intertwining the theme of longing for security harboured by all humans. The Ghost Car portrays a sizely white van driving, seating sheet-covered figures. Perhaps this reflects individuality, exploration and recognition of current events in society, as it seems to interpret the theme by suggesting the hooded figures are looking to the drapes and car for protection as they are possibly ghosts, who are afraid of the life after death, and long for safekeeping.
By Alessia De Silva
http://austriantimes.at/news/Panorama/2011-08-06/35422/The_grim_seeker_after_truth
http://kielnhofer.com

After all my booth fees I didn't have funds to create a professional website. I asked the web wizards if there was a good free site. Thank you Jim for recommending weebly.com. Looks pretty decent, don't you think??

Excuse my sentences or miss spellings, I have to ask my husband to help me to correct it. English is not my 1st language,just learned it 10 years ago, but you can check it out in the meantime at : www.carlabank.com

hope this helps more artist that need a site, it was so easy to make.

Just wanted to say I had a very interesting experience in Scottsdale, AZ just a week ago.   As I am about to set this up, I want to quick mention that this post is geared for those who sell both at art fairs as well as art galleries - say in the same time too.  But this may be entertaining to all those who don't fit into that category...  Now onto the set up...

It was my first time in AZ, mind you, with my husband.  I went because I wanted to experience the Grand Canyon, see Scottsdale (my mom's favorite place to visit), spend time with an old high school friend, check out the AZ Ren-fest (I have friends who work there and have a podcast hobby where I go to ren-faires and report on the experience I have there for other Rennies), and of course see what the art is like in and around Phoenix.  Mind you I am an East Coast gal from Baltimore.  I must reiterate - it is a pleasure trip, not having a show to do and kick back a few days while I was in the area.    An actual vacation which also happened to be  affordable as I stayed with friends (my friend from high school and his wife) who insisted on driving us everywhere (God bless old friends!!!). 

One of the many memorable places I got to visit while in AZ was Old towne Scottsdale.  Now I missed the Art in the Park Festival (not sure if that is what it was called), but City Fest. was going to happen the next day - if that means anything to anyone.  I have to say I felt like a fish out of water - granted most of the people there were 25+ my age.  I walked around some streets of Old Town with a real hunger to check out the galleries (the food was great too).   I wanted to know what was being displayed.  Was it all Southwest themed with Native American work or broader, tapping into some unique modern/contemporary art forms? The first gallery I entered was where I got my shock.  The gallery owner was a major A__hole.  The gallery, nice with plenty of Native American pottery and paintings.  However, I was followed the whole time by the gallery owner who BOASTED how he was the owner of the gallery for 25 years and NEVER forgets a face as he runs it by himself and never has taken a day off.  My friend from high school, who happens to be wheel chair bound - since childhood - in a motorized scooter, did not have a problem maneuvering around the busy displayed gallery, but the gallery owner was quite the vulture talking to us the whole time, trying to get my friend to use a different exit and tried to move  things around him (like paintings that were on the ground leaning up against a display) when it wasn't necessary.    I didn't know if I should stay in the gallery to piss the guy off or get out of there as quick as possible as I couldn't take the mightier than thou attitude.  My friend shrugs it off as - "that's gallery people for you", I said I have never been in a gallery where it is their point to watch every customer like a hawk, making them think they will damage property at every turn and not for any good reasons such as being anxious to help you at a moments notice with questions.  Where was the customer service there?  And for those who have never been this this huge gallery area, there must be 50 galleries - at least - vying for customers.   A lot of heavy competition in a not-so-bustling economy.  Which makes me think long and hard, why be a jerk and make customers feel like strangers and extremely uncomfortable?   I was glad first impressions didn't ruin the whole gallery walk as another one two doors down happened to be spacious and well organized specializing in Native American work.  The breath of fresh air is that this gallery owner was eager to please having public handicap accessible restrooms, friendly in that the owner mentioned a piece or two but backed off AND had a guest artist that day in the gallery demonstrating!  Night and day difference! Others offered refreshments like lemon water, friendly chit chat, and pieces of history about the area or the gallery OR the artists.

First question....  As artists, when entering a gallery just to look or purchase something, have you had similar weird vibes and said something?  I was tempted being an artist, but really felt it wasn't my place as some I just don't think you can get through to them.

Second question...  For those who sell both at art fairs and galleries - If you happen to do an art fair in or near the same town as a gallery that houses your work, do you make it a point to visit that gallery (as a secret shopper or not) and even promote it when at the show?  Or not?

Third and final question...  Also for those who sell both at art fairs and galleries.  Do you have struggles with gallery owners with their "attitude" in how they do business say over the phone coming across as nice and peachy, yet in person or with customers they are quite different?  When it comes to pricing your work do you have issues with gallery owners especially if you are selling at an art fair in town? 

Sorry for all the questions, but I haven't really seen this discussed much on here - granted it is artfairinsiders.com .  - Michelle, www.bythebaybotanicals.com