I traveled to Chicago for the Ooaksthis past weekend. I had never been to one of those shows before. I was very excited to go to a show held in the Merchandise Mart. We arrived on Saturday just about the time it opened. I don't think they could get any more people in that place. It was packed! It was so tight that we could only take tiny baby steps as we moved around the show.
The wearable art seemed to be doing very well. The booths were packed with ladies feverishly examining each item. Not only were they looking, they were buying, too. Some shoppers told us they come every year and I think they were all coming on the same day, too. Shoppers could be seen carrying multiple bags as we inched our way down the rows. There were gorgeous silk scarves, winter coats, designer dresses, and lots of fancy scarves made from really cool yarns. Plus, we saw lots and lots of fancy hats. The hats made me wonder why I don't ever see anybody wearing one. Maybe hats are token purchases that vanish into thin air once they hit the closet shelf. :-)
There was lots and lots of jewelry! I think one artist told us there were 160 jewelers there. Twenty six percent of the booths were jewelry and that does seem high to me. I don't think the jewelers were very happy about that. As we walked along it does seem like everywhere you looked there was a jeweler.
I did see something I hadn't seen before. There was an Etsey area. Exhibitors that had Etsey stores were all together in one area. It did seem like there was a good number of them there. The work in that area did seem a bit different to me. It wasn't quite like the art work I am used to seeing at Art Shows.
As we got to the other side of the building we could see what I would call traditional art. I am referring to the painters, photographers, sculptors, and others. There were shoppers in those booths but not like the shoppers in the clothing booths. There were some very good artists and if money wasn't an object I would have made several purchases. I did talk to some of those artists and they said they were doing well but not quite as good as they did last year.
Of course, there were a few booths that made you wonder how they got into the show. For the most part their work looked nice but it just wasn't really art.
We did go back Sunday and it was much easier to get around because the crowds weren't so thick. I suppose the artists would rather have the crowds though. I took a few photos. Bare in mind I used a tiny little Nikon Coolpics camera. I noticed they are a little fuzzy but you will get the idea I am sure. The photos that have less people in them were taken on Sunday.
I am already planning my trip for next year. Hopefully, I will see you there, too.
This artist sold all kinds of fancy things for the bedroom. Her display looked very attractive.
Anne is an AFI member that I stumbled upon.
The art on the far right was really cool bells.
The Fashion district, too bad I am not a clothes horse. I would have gone nuts.
Sorry, I know this one is blurry.
Suddenly, I can't add any more photos so I guess that is my hint to end this.
Jacki B
Comments
Well....let's say an additional $500 in expenses (and that's probably way low) = $3500.
+ raw materials = $3500 and then his labor $3500 so he had to sell at least $10,500 to break even. (yes I do have a specific formula I use) so 140 before it started to truly be worth his while.
Yes, it must have been the same person - a corner booth, nearly empty on Saturday afternoon! Amazing prices for nice work. How many pots do you have to make and then sell at say, an average $75@, to pay for a $3000 booth fee?
If it was raku, it was probably the same potter my friend bought a vase from ($60). He had a corner booth. I didn't see any other raku. If I didn't have way too many pots as it is (being something I trade for all the time), and at least 8 of them raku, I would have gotten one myself. We were there at the beginning, and he looked like he was worried what he had gotten himself into. At that time he still had a full booth. I didn't know there was a storage area. I sure hope he did well. It was great work.
Yes, we did turn right from the elevators. I'm too programmed!
This is the second time I have attended, the other time a few years ago. What I would do differently, as an attendee, is to turn left out of the elevators, rather than to the right. I think there were more new people and a wider range of "product" on the left hand side.
Speaking of potters, I don't remember who this was, but there was a pottery booth with only a few pieces left in it. I said something to the person in the booth and she said the artist was down in the storeroom restocking. Really nice work -- the price range was remarkable: maybe $50- $125, which certainly made it "giftable", raku with nice glazes and semi-functional. I'm thinking he made a bundle, but most of the time I feel that potters are selling their work by the pound, way too cheap for the work put into it.
So…all the newcomers were placed in a Newbie Ghetto? That’s sure a deterrent to applying. I went to go see the show for the first time, attending on Friday. I didn’t run into anyone I knew. Saw a few familiar names, but didn’t want to cost anyone potential business by taking up too much time. Artist anxiety level looked pretty high.
What surprised me a bit was how many artists were exhibiting that I had never seen at an art fair (from among artists whose signs told me they were within my travel range, I mean). It made me wonder where they normally showed their work, if not at an art fair.
And the pottery: where was it?! I saw only two booths of pottery in the whole show. That is a really big category to go so underrepresented. Why? No interest among potters? Afraid the customers won’t want to carry something heavy?
Another surprise was an extremely wide range of price points within the same booth. It was like even jewelers who had higher end work felt obligated to show a small rack of very very inexpensive earrings (like $10 or $15! I can’t think of anything I would want to make, let alone afford to make, for $10). I thought that was a fluke at first, but then I saw it any number of times.
I attended with a non artist, an older male friend. After the first hour he commented, “You know, there’s almost nothing here for the male customer, unless you want photography. Come to think of it, there’s got to be at least 300 women attendees here to each man.” Which I had not noticed until he pointed it out. He did find gifts to buy for female relatives, but said from the enjoyment perspective, he’d much rather attend a typical art fair, as there was too much that he was not interested in. He bought a nice raku vase from the one of two potters we saw. After the first few hours I could tell he was going to burn out. So I looked at the map and planned what was expendable. Gave pep talks periodically, like : “We’ve now seen half”, etc. We skipped the fashion district. If the jewelry had all been segregated down there, I would have seen none of it. :( We both had run out of steam before we could do the Etsy section, either.
What interesting information by all of you who added information as well as the first posts. Loved reading about this, and the pictures really helped, too! Thanks everybody.
It's weird, I did not see Lucia's answer before, only when I posted mine.
Steph, I am not Jacki, but I can tell you, yes, they provide walls(painted many colors by your request), carpet, lights and trash can for every booth.
Steph--yes, I did this show and just got back from Chicago. You get walls, electricity, lights and carpet in the booth package. I thought the show had a lot of good things about it even though I wasn't in the main section, sales in our part were quite good for high end stuff and because it wasn't so crowded people had a chance to see the booths. There were really good crowds of people which I think is the most important thing even if there is a variety of true handmade art and undeniably not handmade stuff. Another plus is Fed X and the US Post Office on the 2nd floor of the building--we were able to ship stuff in and out very easily (I flew from CA to do the show, by shipping Will Call with Fed X Ground ).
I meant to say hey in Seattle--I did the Best of the NW show just before this, but didn't get a chance!
Sheesh, typo, sorry. The "are" is silent, ha, ha.
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