I did this show for the first time in 6 or 7 years. Back then it was run by Howard Alan. I quit doing Howard's shows then for various reasons, not the least of which was his $15 jury fee for every show you wanted to line up. When you do 4 shows a year with a promoter for 10 years, why do you have to pay for him (or her) to look over your work to see if you're up to snuff?
Remembering back to the Naples' New Year show my wife and I wanted to do it again now that it was to be run by a non-profit art center. We were not disappointed. Marianne Megela set up the show and, from what I heard, cut it by 50 spaces. She laid it out in 4-booth quads so each artist had a corner and a few feet between his booth and his neighbor's. Then there was a good 15 feet to the next quad. It made for an easier set up and break-down not to mention a free flow of foot traffic. I remembered back to old days when Howard filled every square foot of street with a booth (though to his credit, he did give us 12' spaces) you had to walk to the next corner of the block to get to the other side of the street. I heard the merchants were happy with the new layout too.
The crowd was great both days and sales were the same for me and my neighbors. Some, I heard, only did average, but I think most of us were pleased with the outcome. The only thing I noticed that was different from other museum shows I do was that there was no judging and no awards were given.
My hat is off to Marianne and The von Liebig Art Center.
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