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Sausalito: This is it!

Posted by Leslie Jensen on September 13, 2011 at 5:27pm

When Brian got juried into the Sausalito Art Festival, there was no way I would let him go alone! So we drove for 3 days through 6 states and arrived with time to spare. Thursday morning set-up went smoothly....what a professional set-up it was...complete with a private cart and driver. That gave us most of Friday to ferry over to San Francisco and be tourists for the day. Friday ended with the opening party on a yacht. Okay, the yacht was parked at a dock, the drink lines were long and the food was sparse, but we enjoyed our time with Minnesota friends Darren Olson and wife Karissa, and new friend and wood sculptor, Sean. Work at the festival was very impressive, with several "museum artists" making rare appearances at an art fair. Brian was honored to show with the best of the best, but that's right where he belongs! 

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We rocked to some big-name musicians from our era, like Edgar Winter, Carlos Santana and Kenny Loggins, and met some incredibly nice artists like Vic Lee and John Gavrilis. A volunteer TAPED a fire extinguisher to the corner post of John's booth and it dropped onto John's toe. OUCH! The weather was nearly perfect and I can boast a star sighting...Robin Williams strolled past.

We added a brief vacation to the end of the trip and saw Yosemite for the first time. It was on my bucket list. The photo is me with Eddie our Yorkie, the van and AFI sticker in beautiful Yosemite Valley. Unfortunately, Brian is on the other side of the camera.

Kenny Loggins summed up our Sausalito experience quite well shortly before the festival closed, singing "This is it! Make no mistake where you are. This is it!"


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Comments

  • Christine Hauber October 6, 2011 at 7:10pm
    It is unfortunate that the food/drink lines were so long. Especially if you spent the huge amount to get a ticket for your partner.  Artists like to eat and the shows should be prepared for this...especially shows with booth fees and extra food ticket prices as high as this show.
  • Jay McDougall September 17, 2011 at 10:51am
    I also drove from MN. I think this was my 6th time there. I've had my best show ever in Sausalito so I can't help but be lured back. This year, as is most often the case, the weather was great and the crowds good. Terrific crowds and buying energy on Sat, Sun totally fell off for me, and Mon finished strong. This year was a good solid show for me (more than double of last year). As usual there were winners and losers. I felt that the scale tipped a little more to the winner side this year. A couple friends had terrific shows, one obscenely so. The Friday party this year was a loser. In past years the artists booths were open for a few hours so that the heavy hitting patrons could shop early and some actually did. This was accompanied by a decadent array of appetizers and open bars with minimal lines. This year the artists weren't open to sell and the handful of VIP's were on the 3rd floor of the docked cruise yacht separate from the artists, kinda bogus in my opinion. Anyway, I'd gladly exchange that kind of party for one more day in my studio and one less hotel night. We'll see how they handle it next year. They also increase the gate this year from $20 to $25. We won't know what effect this will have until next year. I have shared these concerns with SAF in the post-show survey. The bottom line is what it's all about and for now this show is still working for me. The Bay/Napa area is a great demographic for my work with plenty of affluent young collectors and an international art market. I don't believe this is a show for lower price point work but what do I know?
  • Leslie Jensen September 15, 2011 at 9:11am
    I spoke with a few other artists. One reported his best Sausalito ever. It was his fourth or fifth year. Packing up, I got the feeling that some did well and others were disappointed. Maybe others will report on this site and give you all a better overview.
  • Ruth Finkenbiner September 14, 2011 at 11:15pm
    Leslie - while you don't share much on your sales, but state that overall it was worth it, what were you hearing from other artists?  As artists based in Seattle with this show on our "serious list" for 2012.  However,  we've been warned away by other artists that we know that keep telling us the huge booth fee and a drive from Seattle wouldn't be worthwhile.  I understand the experience part and we're looking at a  road trip with 4-5 shows and a month in Northern CA in the sunshine, so that could be great for us, but I am wondering what other artists stories were.
  • Alexandra Kube September 14, 2011 at 4:50pm
    Good to hear. Thanks.
  • Leslie Jensen September 14, 2011 at 2:59pm
    From all we'd heard about Sausalito, we expected huge sales. Brian made sure he had an inventory of his best pieces to show. Sales were not as high as we had hoped--perhaps our expectations were too high. However, when we add up the experiences of learning to participate in a top show, meeting the best artists in country and having such a great time doing what we do.....we consider this a fantastic experience. We would love to go back again next year!
  • Alexandra Kube September 14, 2011 at 12:14pm

    Hi Leslie,

    Same question, how were sales? But It sounds like a great experiance! Love the photo!

    Alex

  • Alison Armstrong September 14, 2011 at 9:50am
    I did this show in 2008 and everything about it was amazing. How were your sales?
  • Connie Mettler September 13, 2011 at 8:09pm

    Excellent, Leslie! Great shot, Brian. Good review of this legendary event. I'm pretty amazed that you did the trip from Minnesota, but this is part of what this business is about. We are so lucky that we get to travel the country and spend "insider" days at places most of our stay-at-home friends only dream of.

    So... and the big question is... do you want to go back next year?

    (That's the best photo of the AFI sticker yet)

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