Well, I have been vey quiet lately, in case you noticed, not many show blogs out of me.
My philosophy being, if I can't say a lot of good about a show,why tear it down with criticism.
This spring has been one of the worst for me in the last ten years. And it is not just me. I have talked to countless friends who do jewelry,ceramics, photos, paintings, etc. They too, for the most part, are crying the blues.
Out of 14 shows I have had maybe three that I called a real success--where I made serious granola. Most barely paid expenses with a little left over. Then three were absolute stinkers.
Here is my assessment on what is going on. It is only that. I have done shows for more than 30 years and now weathered at least three great recessions--this one being the worst--with no end in sight yet.
Our beloved middle class buyers out there are decimated in their spending of disposable income.
The rich and well-off still got it and are buying big expensive pieces. The middle has down-sized their buying--think $50 and under. The lower middle--they are just looking, they are not even buying pop corn or ice cream.
My sales of 16x20 framed photos, that readily sell at $160.00, are down 60 per cent. That is a lot. Even the matted sales at $80 are down 40 per cent. Low end,$40 and under, are barely holding their own.
My large sales, $200-$500 have held their own with last year, with a slight increase in framed sales. When I run into a couple decorating their walls of a new home, I have good sale. There are just not enough of them for me and everybody else out there.
We are more and more standing around at shows twiddling our thumbs and subdueing yawns because there is no action in the booth.
The Bonita-Naples market is over-saturated. I will probably pass on those shows on Fifth Avenue in downtown Naples. The sales do not merit the 3 am setup and nearly $500 booth fee.
The patrons are jaded, they walk their dogs, and keep moving on. It is hard to get them excited about anything other than an upturn in the stock market.
For artists doing originals only, like my wife Ellen, a pastelist, it is especially brutal. Yeah, if you are in a biggie like Winter Park, you can make serious granola. But how many Winter Parks are there?
Last weekend at Melbourne she got a nice big red second place ribbon worth $850.00. How were her sales for the show--zero.
We asked the wonderful people at Bank of America who hold our mortgage if they would consider adding her ribbon to their corporate art collection and gives us a partial payment credit--they said, "Nada."
So I will suffer the crowds and heat at Fernandina this weekend and make a little bit of money--probably more like gas money to power the Ford van north to Saugatuck for the summer next week.
After East Lansing in late May comes the real "tell" Columbus Art festival in June. Most years it produces steady, great sales. But this year, who knows?
It will be very curious summer, I can't wait.
Comments
I have been doing shows for 25 years and I started in Houston, Texas in 1984 when oil was at $9 a barrel and in a total depression....This year has been worse then that!!! it is scary to think that after being in business for 25 years you could make less money than you made in the 1st year.
As far as the Naples area goes, we did 6 shows on the west coast this year, rather than the east coast...all of them were terrible.You are right, the customer is jaded...someone figured out that between Tampa and Naples,between Jan and March there are 53 shows!!!! We are now living in Florida and we are going to cut way back on doing shows there....even being local and keeping the expenses down,it is still not worth it.
Glad to have you back Nels. I think we all wondered why you had been so quite. We look forward to more of your blog posts.
Nels and all - great information about what is really happening to art sales in this economy. Last year it started down hill for me with the Mystic Show in August as a real eye opener. That show has always been a strong one for me and I barely made expenses there last year. Same amount of people in attendance, lots of past clients, but very few able or willing to let go of the money to purchase. I gave up Florida a couple of years ago: expenses often outweighed income over the long haul and calculating true costs of framing and materials in addition to hotels, gas, and booth fees. Alternative venues: art center shows, small gallery shows have not proved to be money makers either. Truth seems to be the majority of the public is no longer interested in owning unique, original art - mass marketed decor decorates the walls nicely thank you Pier One, Crate & Barrel, and the huge print on demand business available on the internet.
We thought that moving to Florida for winter shows and then heading to the midwest would be a great change from the western US. And after three years, we moved back home to Washington. Best thing that we've done for years. We had decent sales here and fortunately came back to decent sales.
Florida is an interesting market. Lots of people but alas too many gray hairs and not enough folks with a disposable income. Hey if I could only sell an all-ya-can-eat from an inline 10x10, I might of had something there. Hell, I even gave away a free Corona with every sale, but it seems that I had the wrong barley-pop flavor.
Unfortunately, a lot of dismal things have happened over the past few years. The early 2000’s were an interesting time. In 2005, a nice looking lady walked into our booth in Walnut Creek, California. She said, “ I have so much equity in my house that I just don’t know what to do with it”. I helped her solve that problem with a few beautiful pieces that I loaded into her car. And, then there was the billboard we noticed on the way out of town. “Buy five houses in southern Oregon with NO MONEY DOWN! Let us show you how!”
Everything goes in cycles and while this cycle seems extreme, it too will pass like slick oyster followed by a shot of Jose Cuervo Black Teguila. Nels, if you haven’t tried this then you are truly missing a rare treat!
Sounds good Nels, have safe travels up North. Don't forget to let us know when you return in October!
Nels - nice to see you back here! And unfortunately, you are not alone in the "down" season.
My observation from the opposite corner of the country, we've only had 2 shows so far, didn't get into one of our usual March shows so yes, we are already way down for the year just based on not getting into that one show. However, for the 2 shows we have done, I've also noticed a big decrease in attendance.
The show we did this past weekend (Astoria OR), didn't seem to attract near as many attendees from Portland OR or the Seattle area. In the past years, they've made up 90% of our Saturday sales at that show, this year about 50%. So, I'm fearing the gas prices are keeping our attendees away.
Our next 2 shows will continue our Oregon road trip, both shows are new for us, so we'll have no basis for comparison from prior years, but hoping for good results.
Ever the optimist.
Thanks for all your contributions to this blog, as I feared, I am not alone in experiencing a "down" season.Jim Parker, I will run into you somewhere this summer. Janet and John, the time draws near to go north, but in October we will go to the new steakhouse in Ybor, Carne. Look forward to it.
Nels you are right about the Naples/Bonita area. The art shows are no longer special anymore, there is one or more every weekend and patrons just are not that excited about art shows. You can't blame them. The exception to that was the January Bonita Springs show, it turned out to be very good for us. But then it is one of the first shows of the year so that helps.
Winter Park is consistently our best Florida show. But the reason for that to me is fairly obvious; they only have two shows in that area each year that I know of. It remains a special event. Funny, Gasparilla used to be a great show for us. You would think in our hometown we would get some sales. Now it is one of our worst. I know some do well there, we do terrible. Have no idea why.
Ft. Myers is such a well run show but we can't seem to do very good there. The director gives it her all, she could not do more but the buying just doesn't happen, at least for us. ArtiGras was also disappointing, the only reason we did okay there was because of some repeat patrons from last year. If we had to rely on new clients it would have been a bust. John did 4 Bridges Chattanooga a few weeks ago and it was terrible. Main Street Fort Worth was good, John sold a lot of small pieces and only one large one. But the sales added up very well.
So it is very scary out there; you have no idea what to expect anymore. It really is a roller coaster and not a fun one like the one at Coney Island. So you enjoy the highs when they happen and try to roll off the lows. It still beats working a corporate America job..I did that for years and hopefully will never have to again. Of course at my age I don't think my odds of being hired are all that great. Let's hope the summer shows are good.
Well as I told someone this weekend, the only people in Florida who aren't depressed are either independently wealthy or not paying attention. Today, woo hoo, we sold our house in Florida. After paying for it for 12 years we finally sold it after sending the bank almost $5,000.
Nels, glad to hear from you. I was getting worried that you had fallen off the face of the earth. Florida was a stinker for me this year. Even Winter Park was only so-so. Looking back at the numbers, I did about the same at Winter Park as last year, minus the nice award money.
But the rest of the shows were, at best, poor. Fort Myers, Artigras, Coconut Pointe were the only three I did in February, and I was happy that I didn't do more. Had to cancel the Boca show due to health issues (resolved). Didn't make a dime in February after I tallied up all the expenses. A really dismal outlook.
And the trend continues. Bayou City Memorial Park was way way down, too. Came home with my tail between my legs. At least I came home with my trailer! Then off again to Dogwood and Fairfax.
Just got back from the Paragon Fairfax show. It was feast or famine, there, as well. Dogwood looked like it was going to be a bust until Sunday, when many artists experienced a hallelujah afternoon, myself included. I'll try to contribute reports on Fairfax and Dogwood as soon as I get some sleep.
Glad you're back Nels.
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