Posted by Connie Mettler on September 8, 2009 at 10:30pm
Normally pretty loquacious on this site, you haven't heard much from me lately because I've been up to my elbows in art fair preparation since late August in Pontiac, MI, where I am one of the art directors (along with Lisa Konikow) for this rambunctious festival.
Now I have to tell you, I'm feeling pretty intimidated writing this. Nels Johnson has set such a high standard on entertaining, yet informative, show reviews ... what's a girl to do?
First of all the tequila report -- oh, oh, I was too busy to get around to sampling the tequila bars in Pontiac. Suffice it to say a little Bud Lite Lime during the marking of the streets for the booth spaces does not count. Nor, a few glasses of red wine consumed at the wine bars available within the show site. Ever hear of "Little Black Dress" wine? Not bad.
Here's the behind the scenes report: there is limitless paperwork to be done for an art fair, applications, acceptance letters, databases, press stories, lists of artists, directions, maps, site access passes, rules and regulations, show information, credentials, booth signs, press releases, lists for the newspapers, lists for the printers. You get the idea. Readying it, writing it, proofing it, getting it printed, collated and stuffed in packets seems an endless job.
Finally it is Thursday afternoon, the materials are ready. We set up the check in area (we - Lisa Konikow; Farah Darwish, my daughter who has driven in from Kentucky to be our assistant; her daughter, Mariah, our go-fer) with check-in packets, maps, layouts, sign in information and the staff is ready to go with walkie-talkies and golf carts.
In the final hours there are four artist cancellations so the map, layout and databases have to be altered.
They finally close the street and a volunteer and I take the map, the layout, the chalk and the measuring wheel and spend three hours squatting in the street marking spaces. Definitely the most glamourous part of the job.
Late to bed, up at 6 am to meet the staff and be ready to let the artists setup. This is a very urban area, we are very strict about security and want to protect everyone and their property so we are sticklers about the rules. No one sets up without checking in.
We deploy the street team -- Farah, Lisa, and three volunteers. The rest of us meet and greet -- my favorite time as I get to meet new artists and visit with old friends. Everyone is happy at check-in because there is great hope for the weekend ahead.
New this year -- because we have lost the financial support of Chrysler this year we have gated the entire festival area, at least eight city blocks, so we can charge admission. The festival site includes two long blocks of art booths, around seventy restaurant booths, six stages, a carnival, a children's art street and a "Green Street." The large parking lot has large booths with automobiles from the Big Three. As a visitor there is a lot to see and do. The community loves the festival and attends in full force, usually around 250,000 people over four days.
For the staff Friday is the hardest day because we are there from 6:30 am until around 11 pm. The art section closes at 9 pm but there is always paperwork and phone calls to be made for problems that occurred during the day and also to prepare for the next day.
We had a new electrical company this year. The new generators were diesel and the fumes were pretty noxious and the sound not so great either. I spent most of Friday afternoon talking with the artists and the electrician, moving generators, deflecting exhaust and easing tempers.
On Saturday we had to shut down a quarter of the show's electricity while the electricians rerouted the wires and reconfigured the system. On Sunday we had to shut down another area while they moved a generator to another area. Finally by Sunday afternoon all the electric was meeting everyone's needs. (See I told you this wasn't going to be as interesting as reading Nels.)
Saturday starts early for us because we meet the jurors to get them started for the jurying. It always amazes me how thorough and conscientious the jurors are. We usually have one of them be an art fair artist because we feel they will "get" the whole art fair thing. This year we had jeweler Adam Shirley, who was taking the year off from art fairs to get his MFA at Cranbrook Institute. Our other juror was Maureen Riley, former director of the Detroit Festival of the Arts.
The winners: Best of Show - Clifton Henri, photographer
First Place - David O'Dell, printmaking
Awards of Excellence:
Bruce Holwerda - painting
Neptune Hot Glass - glass
Walt Majewski - drawing
Laura Junge - painting
Robert Trisko - jewelry
Paul Adams - painting
Zhou Yu - painting
Andrea Anderson - fabric
Spirit of the City Award - Jan Kaulins
We always give a cash award and a ribbon to the best artist helper, the Golden Dolly Award. James Greene, partner and schlepper for fiber artist Deborah Greene was the winner this year. It is represented by the traveling trophy, a bejeweled cart that is painted gold and signed by all past winners. Last year's winner, Bill Beaubien, presented it to James, complete with Bill's embellishment, a bicycle bell. My advice: keep your ears tuned at your next art fair, James may be rounding the corner with a load of goods!
More tomorrow.
nice Connie. I know it is a lot of work but do tell us more about how sales were going. Aloha,Nels I am now sitting down to do two blogs for the two shows I did this weekend--made lots of moola.
I can actually relate to your long hours and piles of paperwork, Connie. I was doing the same thing last year! Of course this year we canceled our events, but feel good about that decision now as things are more hectic in my life and the way our community is handling the economy - a lot less spending, with ads and such sky rocketing. But I have to add I love the idea of doing a Golden Dolly Award. Not only is it clever the way it is made and handed over, but the significance behind it. It would be awesome to see other shows adopt a Golden Dolly Award too - there's many deserving parties of one. Oh, now that the event is over - maybe you can finally take a "Tequila Break"???
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