It seems so simple to get things right. The thing about KRASL that makes this show stand out is the attention to the little things that make this show great. It starts with the setup and ends with the breakdown. This is one hassle free event. Setup is painless. It starts at 10 AM Friday and you have all day until 10 PM to arrive, check in and set up. And guess what kiddies? The artists get to control the whole thing. There are no committee members with ego problems bossing you around, treating you like it's your first show. Committees can turn a 2 hour load in into an 8 hour stress fest with load in times, directing you to your spot, etc. You all know what I'm talking about. At this show, the artist get to work things out among themselves, so, things go really smoothly. There is an artist party starting at 5, at the art center, which is at one end of the show. At the other end is a large tent put up by Shu's restaurant, for artists that was serving drinks. Everyone had free assigned parking lots close to the show, so if you had to access your vehicle it was just a minutes a couple away for everyone. There is a program where townspeople allow artists to stay at their house. It's somewhat limited but the people who do this have embraced the concept. I saw where one artist had their own suite which faced a small lake. The homeowner left a welcome basket for when they arrived, and stocked their own refrigerator with beer, water, and juices, etc. Of course, they had to post pictures on their FB page gloating about their good fortune.
Surprise!! Surprise!! The show starts at 10AM on Saturday and people are streaming into the show. I started making sales immediately. I think my first sale was at 10:05 and it was steady until about 3PM. Then it slowed down but at no time did it stop and there were people walking the show right up until the end. Same thing with Sunday. Unfortunately for me, but not really, all my sales were $130 and under. Two years ago, Nels Johnson chastised me for not having low end pieces for the Ann Arbor art fair. So, I made a bunch of $40 pieces and plenty in the $120-$130 range. Well, I still won't have many of those pieces for Ann Arbor because I sold a lot of them this past weekend. Everyone around me was selling steadily and just because I didn't sell any high end pieces it didn't mean that everyone had that experience. One friend had a $1600 sale. The person next to me didn't sell anything until after 3 PM on Sunday and then they had two sales in the $2800 range. I even sold my most expensive piece at 5 PM right at the end of the show. At every show there are a few who do great and a few who have goose eggs. The thing that made this show great is that the majority of the artists had decent sales, not great, but, healthy. This is one show where they invite a number of artists back, not just the award winners. I know that some people are going to be unhappy because they will have to jury in again next year.
A word about the quality. The quality of the artists and the artwork was excellent. This was my fourth year and by far this year had the best artists. There were some questionable work, like in "How did they get into this show?" Guess what kiddies? Sara had a couple of us go around and note the booths that were glaringly not up to quality of the rest of the show. They will not be returning next year. The show is limited to 200+ booths, I'm not sure of the actual number. Every year there is a suggestion made to make it bigger. Sara, who is the long time director, will have none of that. She wants a relatively small intimate show of high quality and she achieves that.
The show is on one long street facing the sidewalk with booths on both sides and then some booths in a second row on the grass in a row. I don't believe there are any bad spaces. You get extra space on your sides which makes this show really comfortable. The helpers are friendly and eager to help with any request. There are water booths strategically placed. One great thing is there is an artist lounge in the upscale hotel in the middle of the show on the other side of the street. There is a free artist lunch. Or, if you want to get out of the sun, you can just go there to rest and recharge. There is plenty of soda and water to drink, too. I almost forgot to mention that Shu's puts on a nice breakfast for artists in their hospitality tent on Saturday morning. This is another nice touch.
One of the best things about this show is how the artists treat each other. There is a spirit of we are all in this together. I had a ball. Shu's is a really nice restaurant and groups of artists like to go there together for dinner at the end of the day. There is a really fabulous pizza place at the train station down underneath the show closer to Lake Michigan, where we went one evening. Tosi's has great coffee in the morning where people congregate. There are a number of online web sites where we all have made relationships with people that we never met in person. I got to see a number of these people at KRASL and the real time experience was as good or even better than the online one. One night, after dinner, a couple of us gravitated to the about mentioned hotel where a few people were closing down the bar. After the bar, Scot Causey, Chris Bruno, and I finished off a bottle of wine in a little park by the booths. It turned into a night of testifying. Chris was one of those people I wanted to meet because our group of trouble makers had gotten into it with him at another popular FB artist's site. He turned out to be a great guy and we hit it off right away. He kept telling me that he was prepared to really dislike us. Reluctantly, he found us all to be really great people and that it was impossible to not like the few people who had gotten into it with him. That night was a hoot and I found myself having a hard time keeping my eyes open at 1:30 AM. I never do late night partying because I need to be really fresh and alert during the show. I didn't suffer too much and was in great shape Sunday morning.
Even the weather cooperated. There was a storm coming in Saturday evening. Miraculously, it missed us by a hair. South Bend, Indiana, which is just south of St Joseph got the brunt of it which turned out to be 4 inches of rain. All we had was nice weather with a breeze coming off Lake Michigan to cool us down.
That's it for now. I have to be somewhere soon. If I forgot something I will post it. I'm sure Nels will cover anything I leave out in his blog.
Comments
You people have made something out of nothing. For one thing, I was too busy to go around making judgements about booths. What happened was that in walking through the show I thought some things were out of place based on the extremely high quality of most of the work there. In a discussion with Sara during the show I made that point, but, at no time did I mention anyone by name. Since she agreed with me, I assume she thought the same thing. To say that I or anyone was "running around" doing whatever is ridiculous. To say that I could influence anyone being kicked out of the show is ludicrous. If there is any director who enforces and follows their own rules, which by the way is a rarity, it is Sara S. I've done the show 4 years in a row and the quality of the artwork has improved each year. I'm assuming next year will follow that trend.
This was my first time at Krasl. It is obviously a well-run show. The staff and volunteers treated me great. My hopes were high for this show, but the sales were not. I was in the third row- the one back in the trees. This was great considering it was very hot in the sun. We were fairly cool the whole show. I don't know it this had any affect on the amount of people that came to our booth. The artists on each side of me weren't doing well either. One of them said it was his worst show of the year. We did talk to an artist that makes jewelry (she was not in the trees) She said it was one of her best shows.
So once again, I left an show shaking my head wondering what the hell I should do......
Hello,
I want to thank you Barry for your review of the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff, in St. Joseph, MI. I appreciate all the accolades you gave us.
I want to address the comments about the on-site Jurying for the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff.
1. We have 5 judges, and one quality control coordinator; each visit and leave a sticker on every artist’s booth sign.
2. We value feedback from artists, we always have, but artists do not determine who will be exempt from Jurying.
3. Our official policy for concerns about another artist's work is to fill out a report (that we have just for this purpose). If we think we need to respond, our quality control coordinator will check it out.
4. If we have concerns, generally it is to determine if the artist is in compliance with our guidelines/rules. In the past five years we have asked two artists to leave our show due to non compliance with our guidelines. This is not an easy decision and requires several people on the art fair committee including me to make this decision.
5. From our onsite jurying, we invite a percentage of artists to return the following year who will be exempt from Jurying. This is based strictly on the top highest scores in each of our 19 categories. Last year we invited about 35% to return. This year it will be approximately 30%.
It is my goal to be transparent in every way with our Jurying and all other process related to the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff.
Our digital Jurying is open to the artists and the general public. We include this information in our prospectus of the number of available openings each year.
Your questions, comments and feedback are important.
Thank you again Barry and other artists, who made positive comments about our show and who questioned our process on this Blog.
Thanks for listening to me and please feel free to contact me.
Fine reviews from all concerned. As I posted elsewhere, it sounds like the only thing missing from Krasl is a vowel. The other is: Where is the show held?
Based on what everyone has said about this show, I don't think that the artists who were asked their opinions are going to be the final arbiters of who will be invited back or juried in. Sara probably wanted the feedback of other artists for confirmation on her thoughts. As I mentioned in another post, the images submitted can look fantastic. Then you see the work up close and it isn't as wonderful as it seemed. In other cases, from a distance you wondered how they got in and close up, you see the intricate details that the judges probably saw in the images and then you understand why they are there.
Barry and Nels, great reviews!! What I felt from this show, besides being amongst the greatest art imagineable, was also being part of a comraderie, if you will- a wonderful group of artists that are so friendly and talented, and fun! At every turn, I was introducing myself to people I have blogged with on artist web sites,the crowds were kind although not always acquisitive...we even sold a piece to one of the judges. Sara was a dream- very caring and she really was so glad that we loved the spot she chose for us. We stayed across the street, because Bob dollies from our trailor, it was so convenient, and the Boulevard Inn is glorious! We are already dreaming of next year, same time, same place...we would love to be there again!
I want to add a little more about the judging. Sara doesn't spend a whole lot of money on judging preferring to keep booth fees down, etc. So some of the judges might not be as qualified as some others. I found that the older, more experienced judges were the ones that spent time in the booth, asked questions, and really looked at the work. There was some young girl that was one of the judges and she spent barely a nanosecond in the booth. Using Nels example it shouldn't matter how much of his booth had Florida shots. He lives in Florida, it makes sense. The only thing that should count is quality of the work, the concept, etc. There were 6 judges and I hope that maybe Sara threw out the highest score and the lowest score.
Sara is the Geri Wegner of show directors. She loves the artists and the scene as much as Geri does. I forgot to mention that this show is about the art. There are no beer hawkers, stilt walkers, fireworks, and most importantly Verizon stages. The food booths are back in the section of a parking lot and only a few venders are near the artists.
Something else I didn't mention is that there is a concert at the stage on the beach, Saturday night. It is always smooth jazz, not hip-hop, or rock and roll. It creates an additional layer or class and sophistication to the event. I don't think a whole lot of artists take advantage of this. This year they had Nelson Rangell. Last year they had Richard Elliot, who is an amazing sax player and the year before it was Mindi Abair.
Barry, now that's the experience I'm looking for! Great review - so glad it was $$ for you too and others.
Great review Barry and I can feel the great vibe that was at the show from your description. Perhaps that's another reason whey the show does so well for so many artists - they're happy to be in a well run, respected show and the customers can't help but respond to all those good feelings, they want to join in on the fun! Congratulations on good sales and an enjoyable time :)
Awesome Awesome AWESOME!! I am so happy for everyone! The artists, The public and the show coordinators! Yes! What a fantastic collection of images and visualizations for us all to aspire towards - from every angle. Thanks for sharing.
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