July 5, 9 am ET, please join us as we discuss they perils of buy/sell to the art fair business with solid information and support for art fair organizers to help them greatly reduce the incidence of this occurring at the shows. Guests will be Carroll Swayze, an artist who has spent over two years researching the issue and putting together a paper documenting the problem with many useful leads and Carolyn Edlund, executive director of the Arts Business Institute, blogger at ArtsyShark.com, a jeweler who ran a production studio for 20 years and who has been "in the trenches" at large wholesale shows will share her experiences.
We're gathering additional data that will be presented also. If you know someone who can speak authoritatively on the topic please have them contact me: info@artfaircalendar.com.
This show will deal only with buy/sell issues. A second show is in the works dealing with dealers and reps of small businesses, drawing the line (or not) on production studios and partners splitting shows.
We welcome your input in the comments below.
Comments
Thanks, Barry. Yes, there are many ways to listen in addition to Barry's ideas above you can also find it on iTunes. Search in the podcasts for "Art Fairs". The BlogTalkRadio.com feed that I use automatically adds the episodes to iTunes.
Just a reminder that you can listen to this anytime, follow the link, or, you can download it and put it on your smartphone and listen to it on the way to your next show.
Traci,
I am a painter and a potter. I don't make my clay or glazes and I don't make my paint, brushes or canvas. These are raw materials.which I use to create my original works. Your beads, wire, bits of glass are also raw materials which you use to create your pieces. This is not buy/sell. Buy/sell is when someone buys completed or mostly completed items (like the hats in my previous post which shipped flat and required some assembly) from importers located in China, Malaysia Thailand or wherever and just sells them st art fairs passing them off as their own creations. Hope that helps.
I am new to Art, Art fair and the blogger world and have been reading all of the comments about the buy/sell issues and am freaking out. I do glass etching and I have to buy the glass I use and I use my computer to create the images, and then I sand blast the images onto the glass. Is this considered buy/sell. Or I also do beading and am getting into bead wrapping. I do not make my own beads, but I do go out to antique markets, scavenge yard sales, etc, to find an array of beads that I love, to create something new and exciting. Is this considered buy/sell?
I also was wondering about a things made from a pattern. If the pattern is something that you designed and you made the item as well, that OK, but if the pattern was another person's design and you made the item, or the design is yours and someone else made the item or it was a collaboration between friends, or teacher and student, (my mother-in-law is teaching me all of this glass stuff, along with fusing glass and the beading), is not OK? And if the teacher is teaching you the basics but you come up with the design?
I'm all confused. I don't want to get into trouble with someone thinking I didn't make something I did just because it looks like I didn't make it. Oh and what about stuff made from a mold, like a teardrop mold for fused glass pendants?
I would love to have some help as I would really like to get into some juried art fairs, but I don't have enough knowledge of the art world, to know if what I am doing is art or crafts or buy/sell or who knows what else.
Please help. :) Thank you.
Thank you Lori! If only they were all like you. I have not done your show but still, thank you and your volunteers. The more that happens, the less of them there will be.
as the director of the Melbourne Art Festival, I do not understand why it is hard to remove an artist who has buy/sell....we have removed artists right after they have set up...by applying to our show they sign an agreement stating they have made the artwork they are selling, and the application clearly states that we do not allow buy/sell. Unfortunately sometimes the jury is fooled...if it is too hard to remove them during the event, shut the booth down. We have had volunteers stand in front of a booth and not allow patrons to enter explaining the situation.....they can remove the booth at the end of the day....it is up to the show directors to police their shows and to react when there is a violation. We do not always know who the violators are...we appreciate when artists come to us with a possible buy/sell vendor...I have heard that not all shows are appreciative and that is unfortunate. You all are out there every weekend, you know who is a valid artist and who is not....Since we are an all volunteer organization we are not into this for our salaries, we just want a good art show and good sales for you all.
JFoley -- I'll be posting the podcast soonn on the Radio link (up top on the tabs) but in the meantime you can listen here: www.ArtFairRadio.com.
I have to tell you, I am always impressed with the forthcoming nature of the people I interview for these podcasts, so much solid good information and good will exhibited.
JFoley, VERY WELL SAID! Creditable promoters who want to do something about this, who think you have no recourse if they are at the show and you can't get them to leave, Be ready with signs to post in front of their booth explaining just what they are. I'm sure that the artists, if creditable, would be happy to post signs near them as well. If we don't let the public know what is going on, we lose our credibility. Because once they are duped they won't trust any of us. I have had to explain time after time to friends and customers just what buy/sell is and why it is so bad, and how it is destroying the art market. Artists start your own proof file, to have on hand at the shows you do, to give to the promoters and maybe customers. (pitchforks and rakes might not be a bad idea too....just kidding) But we should stop standing by nicely letting them get away with it. Buy/sell drives me nuts! But I think that AFI is on the right tract and maybe the tide is turning there is power in numbers. Maybe a new category of jurying should be started "juried and pre-show validation" this should include internet research as well as references from creditable artists.
or shows that are allowing flea market vendors
As i got my email at 8am I missed the podcast at 9. Is there any info that can be passed along to us on this issue? I agree with all above, show promoters need to make sure that in the contracts you include the words "all items must be made by you".. "failure to comply with handcrafted items only will result in your removal from this show. We resaerve the right to remove questionable items and vendors with no refunds of your booth fee's or expenses at any time" As long as it is put into writing about who, what where and when, you are covered and can eject from your show. Problem here is the show promoters who dont give a hoot. They just collect the fee's and close thier eyes, they dont care. I stopped going to shows that allowed thisw to happen, some of these shows were big shows,but when I started to hear customers complaining about the flea market vendors I knew it was time to move on. This show even called me begging me to come back and when I told them I cant make a piece of jewelry and sell it for $2.00. I was told they needed the money and they did not think it would matter. There are so many shows that are going down hill fast and it is all because of the fraud flea market vendors. This epidemic crosses all types of shows and I have seen so many shows taken over by this, causing attandance to drop resulting in the show being labled on the circuit as a flea market show losing its good vendorws and good customers. This my friends is death to a show. Show promoters MUST listen and enforce rules,they MUST walk around verify what they see, they SHOULD also walk around taking pictures so they KNOW for certain not to let offender back in. Show promoters should at a minium google the product being submitted for approval. There are so many ways to cheat the system, its time to make the system work for you. Adding a few more words to the contracts will and can save this headache from exsisting. You as show promoter can protect your shows just by adding words to the paper.... "Removal from show at any time for failing to comply with application process". "Removing import tags is a federal offense you can be charged with a crime and fine and confiscation of produts." "Reselling of merchandise is strictly prohibited and you wil be removed from show for failure to comply" If you put things in writing you give the law more to work with. Just saying.... put quality first, ask for references, ask for other places they show at, all things combined will protect you and keep your quality vendors from leaving your show. Yes I am all for a list that tells about flea market vendors.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next