Mid 1970's to early 1980's. Looking closer I bought that guitar in 1976. I set up a motorized camera with fisheye lens on top of my peg board display at a mall show at the Roosevelt Field Mall. I taped the release cord in the grooves between the floor tiles and sat on a bench in front of my booth with the remote release. It looks like I had also brought my guitar to play while I sat there.

2021 has been a very peculiar year, we may never see another one like it again.

In January, lots of artists, in Florida, decided to brave it out and do shows.  COVID be damned.

I remember doing my first show at Bonita Springs in January.  Had not done one for nine months.

I remember setting my booth up in the driveway before Christmas.  What a chore, took me forever.

I remember all the apprehension I had going to that first show.

Was anybody going to show up. Would we all be masked.  Were we going to rub down every surface a patron touched. Were we going to hide away when somebody sneezed.  Would we make any money.

After a nine month drought,I was hungry like the wolf.

Then the crowds materialized.  They were happy to just being out.  There was electricity in the air.

Then they started buying, from everybody.  We all cleaned up.

Of course we were full of doubt.  Did I come up against a COVID victim.  Did I catch anything.

When I returned to NSB (my home, New Smyrna Beach) I got tested for COVID.  Came back negative, I breathed a big sigh of relief.

My second show was Howard Alan's new show in Naples. I felt a little more at ease.

Howard had the booths nicely spaced apart, we all had our own art islands. I did not wear a mask all the time because I stayed nicely spaced from patrons in the rear of my booth.  If I saw somebody hesitate seeing me unmasked, then I put mine on.

I remember constantly sanitizing my hands after touching credit cards.

It was easier doing the ccs when people did not have to sign..We just sent them a email or text.  Everybody was ok.

At the time many artists were wary of doing the shows.  Too risky.  I understood that.  By November there were still a lot of artists timidly venturing out.

I felt confident that I would stay healthy.  There was less competition and I prospered like others.

We were like the early pioneers wading into the unknown, looking for rewards while taking risks.

During COVID in 2021 I devised a strategy to make me safer when eating out at a restaurant.

By myself, I always eat the bar.  Here was my strategy. I sat down and on both sides of me I ordered a draft beer to be set on the counter, that way I had my spacing.  If somebody asked if they could move in by me, I would say that my brother and wife were enroute and the beer was for them.  Nobody gave me a hassle, and I stayed safe. I figured my life was worth more than two draft beers.  I did this all year at the best of places.  Bartenders liked my strategy and I always tipped well.

Because of COVID, the shows gave us a lot more space, it was heavenly.

The shows did not get the high numbers of applications.  I think it made getting into shows a little easier.

People we're hungry to just get out and they had plenty of moola. Sales were awesome almost everywhere I went.

 As I continued thru the season into late summer I kept running into artists who said this was their first show of the year.  Even in November, at a Naples show, it was the first time for a lot of artists.

So there was a lot of trepidation out there.  Artists were still wary.

Me, I just kept on trucking. I got both vaccines plus a booster, I kept my distances, tried to eat and drink in airy outside places.  Always had a mask in my knapsack. Just took prudent measures.

I ended up doing the fewest number of shows,15, in my 45 year career, yet I made plenty of money.

One Des Moines show equals three to four of the grinders we all do.  I also had Winter Park and Kansa City to add to that list.  It left me more time for golf and reading books.

Also during the first summer of COVID,2019, I worked on a new body of work which kept me focused. I came up with over 100 new images.  Then this year I sold a goodly number of them, over $10K.  So it was a worthwhile effort.

After I returned home from Michigan in early October, I ended up only doing two small shows. There are no biggie

fall shows in Florida, they are just grinders, you setup and sell and hope to maybe put $2K in your bank account.

December is always a good month for me to assess sales, throw out non-selling images and plan the next season strategy.

I am very hopeful about 2022.

On to the future.

Here is my schedule of shows for January thru April.

January: Bonita Springs and Images in NSB.

Febuary: Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Art Fiesta in NSB. Love when you can sleep in your own bed when doing a show..and, make money.

March: A killer month--Bonita Springs, Vero Beach and Winter Park. I applied for Bayou City but will turn it down, cannot do enough work and I do not want the long drive to Texas.

April: Got Mainsail in St. Pete.  Turned down both Dogwood Atlanta and Woodlands in Texas.  Will do Melbourne.

May: Got Artisphere in Greenville,SC, do not need anything else.

It is going to be a hellacious spring.  I am going to be cranking mats and frames.

Here is my forecast for 2022.

Although we all loved the spacing between booths because of COVID I see most shows cramming us all close together.  Not good.

I see not everybody jumping back into shows.  Still worried about COVID and flagging sales.

Means it might be easier to jury in to shows because of less competition.

I see shows being just as greedy about their jury and booth fees.

I see shows continuing to micromanage us by having more rules. We are not as free and easy todo shows like years ago. This has taken a lot of fun out of doing them,

I see a lot of artists retiring from the biz.  We are an aging group and lifelong health problems are cropping up.

I see shows becoming more and more commercial and homogeneous. They really do not like independent thinkers.

I see it as still a very viable way to earn a living, but it's getting harder all the time.

For me, the future is challenging. I am 76. I tiremore easily when setting up.  Takes me three and a half hours, then a deep nap to recuperate.

I had open heart surgery a decade ago.  There are a lot of consequences that go with that.

I have severe arthritis,bone on bone, in both my right shoulder and right knee.

Getting cortisone and another series of injections for the knee.  Might be looking at a knee replacement operation next fall.

Do not get old, it is not fun.

Because of these ailments I am trying to make my life easier when setting up. No perfect plan has appeared yet.

I am hoping to adopt a friendly Boy Scout Troop who could follow me around to the shows and setup my booth.

So it is another year coming in the biz.  It still thrills me.

Chime in with your comments, they are always welcome.

As the Hawaiians say, "Mele Kelikimaka and do not smoke too much Pakalolo."

Later, Gators.

Nels.

I first met Connie Mettler and her husband, photographer Norm Darwish when I was in my Penguin and Flamingo phase.  This was the early eighties.

I was doing a lot of shooting in Key West.  There was a famous emporium there called Fastbuck Freddys. That is were I met the Penguins.  I bought four life size 

plastic ones.  Being a Nordic kind of guy, I named them Sven, Ben, Ken and Len.

I took my tribe everywhere and set them up in front of Niagara Falls, Sloppy Joes, Miami Beach, the Deco district. 
With silly putty I attached small plastic flamingos on them, sometimes had them hanging off their beaks. I made lots of clever images and some actually sold.

Then I had a great idea.  At the art shows I would sometimes "Penguin" one of my favorite artist' booth.  I loved hiding in the shadows early in the morn and watching their expressions when they discovered I had "Penguined" them.

Got a little rep for this over the circuit.

So, I was doing the Crosby Gardens show in Toledo, about 1985.

I had seen Norm at many shows, he always did well. But he was not an easy man to get to know. I always smiled big time at Connie, she was a beauty.

So I got inspired and decided to "Penguin" Norm's booth early Sunday morning.

He showed up and saw them and he was very annoyed. 
Well, I humbly gathered up my tribe and quietly slunk away.  I noticed Connie smiling.  She was amused.

Thus started my long association with Connie and Norm.  He would put up with about three sentences from me and then tune me out.  We were not going to be best buds.

But Connie always smiled.

Years later Norm retired from the biz and passed away.

Connie was on her own and needed some way to make income.

She started ArtfairInsiders.

I was an early convert.

It was a forum where I could blog about the shows I did.

People followed my posts religiously and often commented their opinions back at me.

Soon found out I had a real flair for this, and I loved writing.

God bless Martha Pence, my eighth grade English teacher at Southside Junior High in St. Petersburg.  She taught me well.  I can still remember how to diagram a sentence.

Connie encouraged me to write as often as I wanted.  And she rarely edited any of my prose.

With her retiring, I feel I have lost my muse.

But, I still have plenty to say and I will keep on, I am only 76.

Not ready to retire.

The Penguins still remember Connie. They would chirp at me, asking, "Hey did you get a great smile from that blonde?" I would smile back--and then we all would eat sushi.

Aloha, Connie, keep on smiling.

PS.  Sven and Ben are in the photo with Buzz the Wonderdog, circa the eighties.

Len and Ken booked off to Sweden with Ursula Andress for cheap sushi.

To all my dear friends in the Art Fair Community,

I will be leaving my post at the ArtFairCalendar.com websites and social media at the end of the year after 40+ years in the business.

The good news: I’m so proud and honored to introduce you to Mary Strope, our incoming manager. Mary and I have worked together for over 30 years in various art fair related projects. She is the perfect successor who really knows our art fair industry.

Perhaps you read the helpful business articles she wrote for craftspeople in The Crafts Reportmagazine (2000-2004). Surely you met her if you visited or exhibited in George Little Management’s wholesale shows (1997-2004) where she managed the Handmade division at 7 gift shows from New York to San Francisco. During this time, she was a steering committee member for the Craft Organization Development Association which published The CODA Survey: Impact of Crafts on the National Economy (1997- 1998). 

 

If you go way back, you may remember her from The Guild’s Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair (1986-1996) where she started as a student intern fresh out of college and worked her way up the ranks to eventually become the Executive Director, where she met Connie and her husband Norm Darwish.

 

Mary has also worked with or consulted for Integrity Shows, National Association of Independent Artists (NA(A), and Buyers’ Market of American Crafts. Mary, who lives in Michigan, has worked in the fine art and fine craft business, both wholesale and retail, for almost 40 years.

 

“Mary’s background will be a strong addition to the team. Her depth of experience and industry-wide relationships will be a great asset helping us continue to support artists and art fairs nationwide,” says Connie Mettler, founder and Publisher of ArtFairInsiders.com; ArtFairCalendar.com; CallsforArtists.com; and ArtShowReviews.com. 

 

You may reach Mary via email at Mary@ArtFairCalendar.com

 

P.S. You'll be meeting Mary here on AFI, you're going to love her. She'll probably do a better job here than I did!

Hi, 

I live in upstate New York and I'm looking for a gently used light dome tent. 

Sally Packard

QuirkyDigs@gmail.com

As many of you know, Carroll Swayze has worked tirelessly for the benefit of all art show artists for more than a decade. While serving as chairperson for the National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA), Carroll has contacted art show directors to create fair policies and correct unfair ones, to guide their decisions to benefit all of us.

Carroll has never had a job! She has earned her living selling art at art fairs since she was 14! One of my favorite podcasts was with Carroll a few years ago where she shared her methods of keeping going: Fewer Shows, More Money. 

Whether you are "old" or new to ArtFairInsiders.com you are so welcome here. Since we were forced to "update" the website earlier this year there have been lots of changes -- and -- it has brought us lots of new members. (Yes, and lots of talk about selling tents, but we are here to do so much more for you ... and not just buying tents.) We're pleased to see so many of the new members adding a photo of themselves to "My Page". How about the rest of you ... so easy to upload an image to the site. We also encourage you to add a larger background image to your page so we all can see what work you do or what is important to you.

E.g., here is mine: 

We've found many people making connectons at the in-person art fairs as a result of their presence here. This is a network and we are here to learn from one another and to get help.

Best tip if you are new:

• use the search box at the top of the page to see if an artist you know is a member here to get in touch
• to check for info about an art fair you are thinking about participating in. Even if the info is old the authenticity of the review will help you make a decision
• to learn the nuts and bolts of participating in art fairs, what to do and what not to do, what to pack in your van, how to set up a tent, how to be a good neighbor
• probably the most important info you'll find is all the tips on how to "jury" --- specific details not to be missed
• also helpful information about equipment
• best of all, if you find something you'd like to know more about you can directly "message" the person who wrote that info using the system here. Of course, you can also post it directly on this site, questioning the author, then that will help all the rest of us.

What do you think is the most helpful asset of this site?

A must visit if you have the time and it comes to a city near you. A friend and I visited on Friday morning and it was an amazing experience. I posted about 20 pictures on my Facebook timeline but here's a sampling. I used the iphone 13 Pro which did an great job.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Just when we thought WeWork, Hertz, Airbnb and the XXX Festival of Art had been killed off by COVID, here's the news:

• WeWork last week became a public company worth $9 billion — after spectacularly imploding in 2019
• Remember Hertz, the #1 company in car rentals? Their stock tanked at $6.09 a share, yet today up over $100 a share.
• Airbnb was on its knees as people stopped traveling. Right? When is the last time you booked an Airbnb on the way to an art fair? Their stock hit a low in early August ... but wait! Here it comes back again. 

Now I can't say for sure about the XXX? Festival, but this we do know, this pandemic nearly killed off the art fair business, the art festival treasuries and the floating income of artists who must float with the economy, let alone the art buyers.

I am hearing of fairs and festivals with empty coffers laying off staff. I am hearing of artists who are hanging it up. I'm hearing of artists at least semi-successfully doing many fewer shows because they have been able to transition online at etsy, virtual events, etc. I also heard them saying, "wow, look how much less money I have to make when I just stay home!"

Are you hearing glimmerings though of really decent sales at the real events that have occurred in the last six months? Are we all emerging stronger afrer the quarantines made us reevaluate? Where do you stand on this? Inquiring minds want to know. 

Death? Resurgence? Hanging on by your teeth? Getting a "real job"? Selling your tent on ArtFairInsiders.com? What about you? (Me, hanging in with all my might).

Monday, October 25, I turn 76. Will be starting my 46th year in the art show biz.

In the photo above, that is me at my first art show in Hawaii in the 1970's while in the Army.  Only made $25 but I was hooked for life.  I am the one with the camera,

Yesterday, was a whirlwind of medical activity for-me.  I got "nuked" and "pinned."

I have a new heart doctor now that Ilive in New Smyrna Beach.  She had me undergo a nuclear stress test to see the condition of my heart.  Remember nine years ago I had open heart surgery with four valve activity.

In this test, you are injected with a nuclear isotope which ends up stressing your blood vessels and your heart, makes them get dilated. It is no biggy if you can withstand a minute or more of shortness of breath, mild nausea and a little dizziness. Four minutes later your body is back to its normal rhythms.

Later I-went to Walgreens to pick up two prescriptions. I casually asked if they were giving booster shots yet.

I got my two Moderna vacs back in the spring. The clerk said they had the Phizer booster. So I got it in my right arm and my annual flu shot in my left arm. Did not even feel the prick of the needle.  I was lightheaded for about 10 minutes.  That was all the side effects I got.  Slept well all night and I have a slight soreness in my right arm ( the booster one.)

So, you are probably asking what does this have to do with show biz.

I would say,"a lot."

Will feel safer now with the booster at shows.  Will wear a mask if mandated at a show, otherwise, will keep my distance.  After all, we are outside in moving air, and nobody is standing around in your face for a long time.

After 46 years I am finally starting to cut back on the number of shows I do.  For years, I routinely did 27-33 shows a year. This year I did 21.  For 2022, I hope to do 18.  We will see how the jurying goes.

What helped me this year was getting into three of the biggest, Winter Park, Des Moines and Kansa City Plaza.

Sales from these shows equal three or better of the routine shows we do, where you are grinding it out to make 3-4K$. I did well enough at the Plaza that I cancelled my two October shows.  I will do three in November and take December off.

I have three in Florida in January, will probably do 2-3 in Feb, see how the jurying goes.

I love doing the outdoor shows.  I find it so much more rewarding talking directly to my customers.  Sales online, and galleries are nice, but not nearly as rewarding, plus they will not pay the bills.

As I age, the only part of the biz I do not like is the show setup.  At my age the setup wears me out big time. Usually it takes three and half hours to setup, that is erecting the booth with all tarps and awnings and then stocking it.  I usually need a solid one hour nap, or more, to recuperate.

TEARDOWNS are better, only one hour and a half.  I still am exhausted. I will drive home if I can make it in two hours or less. Otherwise I am staying in the hotel.  I always get a good meal, good sleep and a early start the next morning.

For you younger ones, you do not have to deal with failing night vision yet.  It is a serious factor when driving.

I had cataract surgery in my left eye last year.  Plus I get a shot monthly in that same eye to combat macular degeneration, the wet one.

Oncoming car lights create a hard spherical glow.  It is difficult to see clearly the middle road line.  So I keep my eyes on the road sideline.  An old trick I learned in Drivers Education back in 1962.

For the first time in my career I paid a tent guy to setup a Lightdome with Propanels, did it at Winter Park last May.

The $300 for the rental was money well spent.  For a biggy shows where you sell $5K or better, the cost is neglible.

I just bring the art and hang it.  Teardown is easy-peasie . Put the art in the van, then take the money and run.

I plan on doing this the rest of my career.

We are in difficult times with rising expenses  in every category--show fees, jury fees, fuel,cost of goods.

Only the good and smart will survive.  I plan to be one of them.

I still get the thrill of making a sale, no matter how much it is. It takes me back to my first show in Hawaii in 1975. By a waterfall, only made $25 that day, but I was hooked for life.

Still feel that same spirit.  I am a lucky man.

Aloha, look forward to seeing you all in the upcoming months.

Stay safe, stay focused and make great art.