We juried the Royal Oak Clay, Glass and Metal Show Monday. A few observations.
First it amazes me every year how creative people are able to get within these few mediums. One hundred and twenty booths and each stands out as creative and unique.
Secondly, while I did not feel that the booth shots were given more weight than the work images, the majority of rejected work had poor booth shots and the majority of accepted work had professional images for their booth.
I say majority because it is not universally true. We accepted some work from artists with poor shots, even from an artist that had no booth shot. For this event at least you can't entirely blame the "fourth image".
I try to be communicative with the applicants so I did send some specific notes to artists regarding their displays. Of course those reflect only my opinion, but if you would be interested in seeing them, you could check out the posting on my website- Integrityshows.com/blog.
If you have not looked at R. C. Fulwiler's blog yet- Can the System be Improved? I would suggest doing so.
Comments
Wondering if there is a market for this kind of art.
Thanks so much Robert!! I do tend to stagger the tops and also tend to crowd too much in.
Wondering about this booth shot. When I am actually in a show, I also have a black draped table and a print portfolio stand and usually price cards. A workshop advised us not to have price cards, but a show host said the people in that area wanted to know prices.
Tim, please post your request as a separate thread in the discussion forums. There is a category for booth critiques here:
http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/categories/show-me-your-booth/...
Thanks
And shows do expect that you will sell originals and that other similar work will replace it.
A few comments back someone mentioned that shows don't check your booth against your photo once you set up. What they do have is the photo on file, so if your real life setup is unprofessional or doesn't match the standard of the show they can come back and say "this is what you juried with, where is it". As long as you fit in to the running show they usually don't care.
The only thing I can tell you is that my level of shows and acceptances improved after ceasing a scattergun approach of showing my diversity in the jurying stage. I have xerographic transfers (or did have, the last ones are now retired), Van Dyke brown prints, Cyanotypes, Black&White silver gelatin prints, figurative work, landscapes in monochrome and color, urban landscape, and political/social satire using GI Joe and Barbie figures. If I tried to show some of all of that in the booth shot, I wouldn't get in half the shows I do. Most of the diversity of material goes in the flip bins, and I hang more during the show than I do in the booth shot.
The fair goers may not be normal gallery goers, but the push is to have mini-galleries on the street. My earliest experiences at shows including propping work up in the gutter. It's evolving upwards.
You state, "Artists should not be pigeonholed and neither should they be constrained to one style." Unfortunately, it's a moot point if you can't get past the gate keeper, and you have to play by their rules. I don't make the rules, but it's a no-brainer to figure out how to get around them.
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