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I would like to know from your experience, if I can sell my handbag designs by taking orders during Art Show? My business model is made to order. Can anyone tell me the best show for my product.

Thank you so very much!

I am a newbie to the art fair business and am in need of a photographer in the Houston Tx. area who is familiar with the Zapp process.

Wells Street Art Festival or better know as Wells Street Drink Festival.

This had always been a very hard to set up and hard to deal. I never saw what happen this weekend. Regardless of the drink you can count in this show to bring money or good connections.

Lets start you need to paid for electric. That means add 150 to your booth fee. Parking can cost you another 100. You want to be closer to Schiller that any other spot. Use to be closer to North your better you will be but you also need deal with drunks all day long. In simple terms you want to avoid to be close to any bars. You need to be on line by the time they schedule to set up. Please follow the instructions because is one way. There is not to much organization by the promoter and they are there to make money for the organization not for you. You need hope for a good captain in the area for things run well. If you are selected to donate a piece as I did you are in for next year but you still paid for the booth fee. Make sure to put a explain what is minimum you will take since half of the sales is yours.

I got there at 545 am but I could get in until 615 and Food vendor was blocking your way to the booth. It was just freaking nightmare to set up. There one thing you need to know you only get 10X10 space. Booth are back to back and side to side. I will recommend to get corner or a double space.

The show started at 10 the good buyers come in morning and the party start at 2pm Saturday. I only did one sale for 70 all Saturday. Did I mention that the show start 10am and does end until 8pm but you can pull your car from parking lot provide to artist until 10pm. And yes you paid for that parking space. Around 25 to 50 artist took off Saturday because it was just out of hand.

Sunday crowd was better less drunks and more buyers. I did some sale and recover all my expenses but to me was more important the three connections that I did . One is in progress and the other two I hope that they happen. One the one I am waiting will be very good for me. I plan to follow up in this connection. The artist next to me make a killing and I was very happy since she had great work and price to buy.

I think that you need to do the show again and again but you need to use your mailing and email list. You wont get that much help from the promoters. I trying not express how really feel about this show but if you are not from town avoid this show. My 70 old mother came with me to the show and she mention to me people are here to drink and woman are dress to go the beach or pick up man for the night. 

Spring Cottonwood Art Fair

I wanted to have pictures of the trip but did not happen.

Cottonwood is held in Richardson, Texas. This a town just north if Dallas. The hours for the show are 10 to 8 Saturday and Sunday 10 to 6. Out town artist can set up any time Friday and local artist can set up Thursday night. The Break Down goes Sunday after closing. The show is held in a park. Free parking for artist and very good dinner for the artist Friday night.

I am from Chicago so start my trip Wednesday morning (5am). It takes 16 hours to drive down to Richardson, Texas. After talking to several artist I was planing to divide the drive into days but I end doing the trip in one day. Each way I took off at 5am and make to the hotel or home by 8:30am. No speeding just a smooth ride. My advice is very simple you need to drive only with daylight. I can tell you I do want to cover the route during the night. If you running low in gas fill up the tank as soon as you see the gas station. The gap between station are big. Gap between town is big. If you see bad whether you want pull into a town and wait for it to pass. I took I 55 to I44 to I 65 that become I75. I could have the roads numbers wrong but you get the idea. All this will let to believe you need to have two days regardless if you can the trip in one day.

The set up and break down is just to died for it. You may get help but do not count for it. You need to get there Friday early in the morning and get on line. You pull over in the middle of the park and dolly your work into your booth space. That could 10 feet or 120 feet. The east side of the park does not have any trees and the west side does have tree. I think you better in the west side of the park. On thing you need to do is get electric. Just paid for it regardless where you are. You will need fans. All spaces will allow you to use one side wall to display as well as your back.

Most people told me sales where down for the show. There was a show piece sold by a potter for $65,000. So money is not an issue in the area. You need to bring your best work to the show. Bring big stuff. This is a show where you need to do several times because people will follow you. There are no bad place in the show since people walk the show several times before they buy. Link your website the show website. Since most people visit the website first and then come and buy from you. People are very smart and buy what they want. Just be polite and happy. I plan to go back during the fall show as well next year.

Many thanks to the members who make this website work so well for so many. The members have voted and the following people have been chosen as the most generous and friendly and appreciated for their constructive contributions:

• Annette Piper - member since 3/11, our only international member who greets all newcomers with cheer and joins in the discussions and keeps them rolling along. A member like this is a treasure! (over 400 sharings)
• Ruth Finkenbiner - member since 3/11, brings all the West Coast news to our site and has great stories to share with everyone. Also, I suspect she has been a great recruiter for AFI in her neighborhoods, participating and initiating over 300 posts
• Dave Hinde - member since 4/09, almost one of the original members here who has continued to share his information with the East Coast with generosity and graciousness; participating in nearly 300 discussions
• Steve Appel - member since 6/09, and still sharing information and keeping the discussions going in the West

These  members can be identified by the Red AFI symbols on their photos.

Thanks to them from all of us. We appreciate all your contributions.

This morning in my email I found a PayPal payment for a link to the Supplier's section on this site from a website in Hong Kong. What a nice thing to get up in the morning and find money in your mailbox!

Here is the text they plan to place on AFI:

The text for your ad, 40-50 words

-- Title: fine art paintings of oil painting portrait and more
Description: Here you can find biography of 350 famous painters and many free techniques to paint, as well as art materials for sale.

·  your url
---- http://www.oilpaintingfactory.com

What do you think my reply to them should be/or was?

I hate it when I tell people that I'm an artist and they immediately ask what my husband does for a living. I especially hate it when I'm showing at a festival and someone is IN MY BOOTH and asks what my husband does. Are you trying to tell me that my artwork sucks and there is no way I could ever make a living off of it?? Because that is what I'm taking from this conversation!

I want to say "Lets get this straight! I am not a starving artist! Art is a business like any other, and I'm good at both the creative and business aspects! I OWN THIS BUSINESS. I am CEO, CFO, and every other three letter acronym. Yes, my husband works too, but I don't need him to pay my bills for me."

Instead I say he works at a boring job and change the subject.

I wish the starving artist term would be banished from existence so the next generation could see artwork for what it truly is -- important.

I just don't understand why people do not consider artwork worthy of manking a living off of.  I'm not getting rich, but I'm not struggling to pay bills either.  I go on vacation. I eat out.  I buy occasionally rediculous things like pumpkin costumes for my dogs simply b/c I want to buy them.  And I work my butt off.  I am not idly sitting at home "waiting for inspiration".  I am painting, creating, researching, responding, applying, editing, experimenting, eatingbreathingsleeping my business every single second of every single day. 

I guess what I would really like to say is: 

Don't dismiss my work so quickly just because it is different from yours.

www.britthallowellart.blogspot.com

I recently spent 4 long days in the hospital taking care of my husband after surgery. I learned tricks on my iPad that I never had a chance to explore before.

I loved the art apps. Believe it or not I designed couple paintings and when we came back home from the hospital I ran directly to my canvas and started painting some of those ideas.

Doing a little more research here are some great art apps for when you are on the road and feel creative, I hope you like them! :

http://www.redbubble.com/people/redbubble/journal/8972882-10-apps-for-creating-and-discovering-art-and-design?utm_source=bubblewrap&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Story1&utm_campaign=june_2012

I put this on the NAIA forum but wanted to get opinions here as well from people who know how to work the Facebook thing, thanks for any info.

-------------------------

I've been looking into signing up for Facebook. Here is something I have heard about FB, and it has always given me pause. This line, in their Terms:

---
You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:
For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
---

In effect, this gives them permission to use any photo I post to their site in any manner they want, for free. But I'm wondering about the part that says "you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings". Does that mean there is something in the settings that would NOT allow FB to use my work for free?

I also don't get the difference between the personal and the business pages, but I could probably figure it out. I'm just not interested in putting my actual art images on their site for them to use for free. (Do artists actually do that??) As for casual snapshots, it's still wrong for them to get all that for free, but I probably wouldn't care that much. It's the art images that I might put on the "business" page (if I set one up) that I am concerned about.

How do you FB users handle this?

: DA :

I am guessing that I am probably not the only creative soul who is over-sensitive.  I'm sensitive about my work, my life, everything.  When I was very young, it caused a lot of problems in my life, including one rather awful relationship that would have made for a very difficult life if things had ended differently.  Luckily, I had a happy ending and I am supported by a wonderful husband who encourages me in every way.  I hope you have a partner in your corner, too.  We artists can use all the positive influence we can get.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads this Sunday!  In my blog today, I wrote about my favorite father in the world... the father of my two boys.

http://pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/06/ode-to-joe-or-how-i-used-to-be-idiot.html

 Thanks so much for the kind words you've given me about my writing and stories.  It's a joy for me to be getting back to writing.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the drive from Denver to Omaha. I decided to make a "Road Trip" out of it as I had consulted roadsideamerica.com before leaving in order to map out and see all the fun and eccentric stuff that I thrive on: Largest ball of stamps, metal backyard zoo, Carhenge and more! And, of course, I had to drive the old Lincoln Highway which is pretty much as it was left after I-80 was constructed. If I have to go somewhere I'd rather make it a photo opportunity rather than just blowing down the highway.

This was a first timer for me and I choose to do this show as I had read a couple of positive reports from the past about it in Sunshine Artist (should have looked at AFSB instead!) and thought it might be good to go in a different direction for a change. Now just the facts:

Show Organizer/Promoter: Omaha Summer Arts Festival  http://www.summerarts.org/2012/index.html

Fees: $30 Jury Fee on Zapp, $325 Booth Fee. Taxes are collected after the show with a form from the Nebraska Revenue Department, no advance license is needed. Unlike all the shows in AZ where each of the individual cities gouge you with their tax license fees.
Quality of Art: One previous review suggested that the range was pretty wide in the past. The show promoters must have been doing their homework with this years show as the quality and variety didn't seem to diverse, with some exceptions. I didn't see anything that was even suspiciously B/S, it all appeared hand-crafted.

Logistics: The show is very generous in that set up runs all day on Thursday. The show takes place on a wide one-way avenue in downtown Omaha. Load In/Out was very easy on our end (15th - 13th) with a little more congestion on the 10th-12th avenue end. Artists are given entry passes with staggered times. Your entry is strictly enforced by the local police who also provide security for the show after hours. If you try to enter even a few minutes before your scheduled time you will be turned away (did I get turned away? Okay I tried to get in 5 minutes early!) Parking was plentiful near the show and on Sat and Sun street parking at meters was free but I heard a rumor that the city might change that by next year.

Show Hours: The show runs from 11-8 Friday and Saturday and from 11-5 on Sunday.

Amenities: Reminded me of the "old days" when the shows that I did really took care of the artists! An artists lounge with snacks, ice, computers, chair message was available all three days. They came around with water on a regular basis, one note about that...in the artist goody bag they included a water bottle that was refillable! Kudos for that I idea as I dislike the idea of all those empty water bottles being tossed in the land-fill! Saturday morning at the awards there was a very nice full breakfast and Sunday a nice continental style breakfast.

Demographics: Unlike most of the shows that I had done in Arizona this past winter this show had a wide cross-section of age groups!  I was hoping for more of an upwardly mobile young urban crowd.  Who was buying? That seemed to be more of the middle age bracket with the low end age group buying inexpensive art reprints. What sold? Mostly the $25-$100 range. I read a past review (2009) that called this the "Wal-Mart" crowd. Although perhaps not that bad it didn't seem like there were a lot of high end art buyers present either.

Food and Such: There were some great restaurants in the area and the usual way over-priced fair-food. One exception was the vendor with what seemed a reasonably priced steak sandwich or ribs with fries! The show featured some great musical acts from all around the country on a stage put up on one of the side streets so the sound wasn't too loud to drown out the artists trying to talk with customers. Most of the food booths were set up closer to the stage area so there was some distance between the stage and the artist booths.

Reflections: One thing about this show that seems to be consistent with what I read is the miserably hot and humid weather! Got up to 90 or so each day with what felt like 50% humidity! Growing up in Chicago I'm no stranger to humidity but living in Denver for 35+ years has spoiled me. Whew! Luckily the rain and wind didn't show up this time as previous shows have been hit pretty hard. The rain didn't show up till 6:30 on Sunday and I was pretty much put away by then but the tent was in high running water at the curb when it did rain.The show promoter was a previous artist/exhibitor and he really seems to know what it takes to run a show. Just about everything I thought of that they could do was done. The initial email version of info was supplemented by another packet at check in which had much more info. like local restaurants, parking, etc. Not only was there an artists name tag but on the back were phone numbers for the concierge service, art delivery, show coordinator and manager. They seemed to think of everything. I only wish they could have done as well with the crowd, but I guess that is asking for something out of their realm. Friday had a thin but steady flow of visitors, Saturday started out with Friday like numbers and really boomed mid-day thinning out soon after 2 (must've been the heat), Sunday was just a tad bit more crowded then Friday. There didn't seem to be a lot of high buying energy throughout the show even the promised "Sunday is the best day" didn't materialize. Although I did make sales from items in my mid-price range most were from lower end items. The jeweler next to me said she did okay but a lot of it was from some stuff in the $16-$22 range. The "Junque" artist next to me did good with several high end pieces and then a lot of lower priced items, he felt that the few higher end sales saved the show for him. From comments I heard on the street it seems that the show promoter is doing a good job of trying to keep the quality of the show up as previous incarnations of this show were rated pretty low in quality.

Three Rivers Pittsburgh

First to note that I'm not an exhibitor there anymore. It's my local show and I did it for about 20 years and now sponsor an award of my photography or imaging services each period. I did booth pictures for a half dozen artists this year.

Though there was a mix of responses, overall the artists I spoke to did well. There are two different weeks and new this year were 20 Saturday and Sunday two day spaces on the island in the middle of Penn Ave facing the plaza part of the show. Those Penn Ave spaces were a little confusing on the map sent to artists prior to the show because there had never been booths there before. But the exposure was probably the best in the show and most artists I spoke to mentioned that they would have preferred to be there if they were only going to do two days. The first Saturday I was down there about two hours before the show opened and those spaces were mobbed even before the artists finished setting up.

A little history. This was the third year since they dropped the last week and limited it the show to 10 days instead of 17 days. When they did that, they turned the food booths around to face the park and put about 50 artists booths on the sidewalk lining the perimeter of the park. Those artists faced two problems. The stage is also in the park and the music can be loud, and there is no where close by to unload and dolly from. You can't drive into the park. Additionally they scheduled artists to be in the park even during the week for the first time this year, breaking it up to a seven and a three day period. I think it should have been two five day periods like the plaza spaces, but I guess they felt that having almost the entire show turn over at the same time would have been too much stress on the downtown area with no close place to unload from. There are open surface lots that vans can fit in but they are a few blocks away. The closest parking is the open lot in front of the Post Gazette building a block away. Even closer are two indoor garages that only minivans can fit.

I feel the plaza (between the Gateway Center buildings) is the prime space to be in the show. When I used to do the show, I always opened up around 9:00 (show has always opened at noon) and was able to catch people walking through the plaza on their way to work.

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

You should have been with me in New York City! Last week a triple dose of fun:

• Book Expo America - the tradeshow for the publishing industry at the Javits Center where I met favorite authors Barbara Kingsolver, Richard Ford, Alix Kates Shulman, Richard Ford and Joyce Carol Oates and SO many more and scored so many free books I couldn't lift my luggage into the overhead on the flight home. If you love to read this show is nirvana. Visit the link above and hear Dan Rather's presentation.
  
  Barbara Kingsolver presents her Bellwether Prize for Socially Conscious Writing
  
  My son, Scott Fox, was a presenter at both expos and was signing his third book Click Millionaires (my excuse for being in New York)
  
  
• Blog World & New Media Expo - the world's largest conference for bloggers, podcasters and online content creators. I was on a panel moderated by Scott Fox titled "Making Money from your Favorite Niche Market." The other panelists niches were Walt Disney World, Security Guards and Backyard Chickens!
  
  I know some of the members here are bloggers. There are some excellent links at the Blog World site that will give you tips on growing your blog: http://www.blogworld.com/ Also, read the article about Social Media for small businesses that have no time for social media.
  
  (Testing out the new Trek Desk on the expo floor -- supposedly sitting at your desk is as bad for you as smoking! Who knew?)
  
  
• New York City. Need I say more? It's been a long time since I've been there. What great energy everywhere. It's a marvelous city. We saw a Broadway show, had another birthday celebration for me (Manhattans in Manhattan), walked the new High Line Park through formerly desolate neighborhoods, saw the space shuttle on the Intrepid.

This photo is for my granddaughters - in addition to Elmo everyone seemed to be near Times Square that evening!

Have any of you been in New York recently? Was anyone at Lincoln Center last weekend? Would LOVE a report on that one and probably should have stayed a day or two more for a visit.

Here's a link to an interesting article about a study that purports to show the positive impact of arts on the community.  Although this article (from the Ft. Myers, FL News-Press) takes a local slant, if you read the story you'll see that this is a nationwide study.  

Here's a link to a 24-page summary of the report findings.  It's a very quick read!

This is Kathy Coons writing, not Don. I am standing on my soapbox!

We were at the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, KS last weekend. As bored artists are wont to do, conversations ensued. The favorite topic is of course, "Why can't I get into shows anymore?" Well, the conjecture seemed to revolve around, "It's Zapplications fault!" There is a rumor (I call it a conspiracy theory) that Zapp offers shows the opportunity to have Zapp jury the show for them. They pay extra for this service and that the bigger shows do this, i.e. Cherry Creek, St. Louis, etc...This presents a very real chance for unfair bias, or vendetta's against certain artists or styles. This is why established artists are not getting accepted into shows that they routinely or at least occasionally used to be invited to.

Does anyone have any solid evidence for this? And why would a show do this? More importantly, Why would Zapp risk their reputation by doing this? I guess it could cut down on the promoters expenses by not finding, bringing in jurors, housing and feeding them. But it seems like the shows would want to change up jurors every year, and have a choice in who picked their shows.

I can imagine that this "jury" would get really tired of seeing the same images, over and over. They would be inclined to say, "Seen it, been there, done that, rejected."

So, if this is the case, do we need to get a new body of work images as well as a new booth slide every year! It is quite a challenge to come up with a new set of jury quality work, have the pieces professionally photographed and go to the expense of framing them. And then finding a place and appropriate light to set up your entire display, set it up, photograph it, tear it all down, pack it up again. Hey folks, many of us are retirement age. This is a lot to ask of a greying population of artists!

Why do the applications rarely tell artists who the jurors are? I think that is a fair question. Why would a traditional painter apply to a show with only contemporary museum quality jurors? I would think shows would want one experienced art fair artist on their jury. Don't they realize that the reason shows are in business is to provide the public and the artists a chance to meet and buy art goods for their home? Most people want a good mix of art to choose from. Not all Realism or Nonobjective art. 

So, has anyone else heard of this?? Anyone have any proof?? If it's not true, then we should quit speculating. If it is true we should be uproarious with our hearty disapproval.

Their web site announces "View the juried works of 183 of the regions’ best artists and craftsmen, sample fine cuisine and select wine tastings, enjoy live entertainment and take a walk through history along the brick lined streets of Colonial Annapolis, Maryland."  Wow!  Sounds great!  Sign me up!  Oh.  Wait.  I just got back from there.  The reality of it is the event kind of sounds like you'll be on the lush, green grass of a stadium but instead you're on the hard, rocky surface of one of the stadium parking lots.  It would take a good two pound sledge and a great amount of brawn to put in a stake, as a lot of people found out.  As for the power some of us paid $25 for they hung some outlets on one end of the fence so if you happened to be 100 feet away from them and only had a 25 or 50 foot extension cord you were pretty much out of luck unless you happened to be close to the booth of a computer engineer who had a long enough power cable and enough space on adapters to help out his two neighbors.

Before I talk about the "183 of the regions' best" let me say that I really don't care what you sell as long as you make it.  But there are shows I won't do because I know the atmosphere pretty much guarantees I won't sell very much.  Why show up if you know you're wasting time and money?  But a juried show with 183 of the regions' best and a wine tasting?  Well, you're not going to find any marshmallow shooters there, right?  Sigh.  Let's just leave it at there were several people there that one would not associate with the hype they were handing out.  One big tip-off was the home improvement company tent set up over in the wine tasting area.  Another as the surprising number of first time attendees there.  Oh, and any time you get a name tag that says 'vendor'....  Need I say more?

I'm sure you all may want to hear about sales.  I saw a *lot* of wine going by.  I heard more than one person comment on wishing that maybe they has saved back some of the money they spent on wine to buy other items.  After that were general crafts and precious little art.   A couple of the locals seemed to be doing OK but I certainly wouldn't recommend traveling any distance to this show.

To leave things on a more positive note, the Annapolis area is beautiful and the people were very nice.  If you want good seafood in a relaxed atmosphere where the locals go head for Mikes Crab House where I got a seafood platter with great taste and a hunk of fish hanging off both sides of the plate.  Double T's Diner has good breakfast and while they emphasize the 50's style they don't push it like some places.  And they serve scrapple with lost of their breakfast dishes. 

I have been making jewelry for a long time and just starting to do shows.  From research and visiting the shows I want to do, I made some changes to my booth to make it more professional.  However, I lost something in the translation!  It needs something on the walls and some signage.  I also have a problem with my tent...how do you get the sides to be nice and taut?  Or do you just cover them? help/input/comments would be greatly appreciated.  Be honest, I can take it!

      Last weekend (June 2-3) I did Farmington's Art on the Grand for the first time. It was a lovely town and seemed like it would be a lovely art fair. They had live music…nice live music, artsy live music. Classical in the morning, folksy in the afternoon, and jazzy in the evening. That was perfect…it was backdrop music and was the perfect volume to enjoy and still be able to talk to your customer. The crowd was nice, lots of people despite the threat of rain. Not a lot of bags going by though. The booths around me did not seem to be doing a ton of business but no one complained of not making booth rent. Except me. I did not do very well, but I have a bit of a niche market when it comes to my art. Some places I do really well….others..not so much. I'm still learning where I fit. I might do this one again though…It was a pleasant art fair and I want to see what it would be like without the threat of rain hanging over head.

    The rain threatened us all weekend. The forecaster's called for it in every newscast on every channel. The weather channel app on my iPhone said rain for every hour all weekend long. But the radar app on my iPhone showed it all above us,which was good, but I'm not so sure the other reports didn't keep away potential art fair goers though.      

     Saturday and Sunday both were bright, mild temps, and sunny (with the exception of a brief shower Sat. at 5pm) but it was windy……REALLY windy. I'm not good at guesstimating but the artist next to me said probably the gust were between 15-30 mph or more. My little  EZ-up was shaking. But I've got a Flourish stabar for my mesh walls and that seemed to help a lot. Others around me were not so lucky. We saw an entire jeweler's booth moved piece  by piece down the road. We thought they we're packing up but it turns out they were trying to find a spot more sheltered from the wind.

     Two tents over they had an EZ-up with the kind of weights that you slide the tent feet into…...they weren't fairing so well. By mid morning Saturday they had someone fetch them those large round 15-20lb weights from someone's weight lifting gear. By the afternoon they had also added 3gallon jugs of water. On Sunday they were just sitting, one on each of the front legs of the tent, and hanging on to it….live weights if you will. 

     The worst was the ceramics artist kitty-corner from me. She had a trim line tent. It weathered the wind's buffeting well except for the back tent wall was blowing in and out buffeting her shelving units. Early Saturday it knocked a piece off the shelf.  The Artist next to me ran over to catch the other couple of pieces he saw rolling around that looked like they were next. She moved her shelves inward and away from the walls in an attempt to keep them safe from the flapping walls.

It seemed to do the trick….for awhile.

     An hour before close on Saturday the sky really began to darken. And the wind….blowing strong all day…increased it's force. As the rain started we got a HUGE gust of wind come through, like 50 mph. I heard a horrible sickening crashing sound. I looked across to see the ceramic artist's entire back shelf pitched forward on to the ground. People were running in to help steady her tent. Which was good because seconds later a second HUGE gust ripped through and her two other shelves would have gone the same way if people hadn't been there to catch them.

      My EZ up with it's mesh walls swayed about a bit but it held up. The framed pieces I had hanging on them buoyed out away from the panels with the winds a bit  but stayed in place. They were double hooked and I think that helped.  I didn't have to let my sidewalls down until the rain came through so the mesh walls let the wind pass right through. And the stabar unit really helped the rest of the tent remain stable and weather the winds.

     Her Trimline had held up but her sides were just buffeted and billowed in that wind.  In the end that's what did all the damage, those billowy side walls. She lost about 75% of her stock. She had a show to do in two weeks time and her full compliment of stock was on those shelves. And she was not insured. So she lost her stock, she lost her ability to do the next show and thus any booth/jury fee's she'd paid out for this show as well as the next one.  Not to mention hotel, gas, food, etc…if she wasn't close to home.

    It really made me think. I don't have insurance either. Can't really afford it. If my stuff came crashing down in those winds I would have only to replace frames. Insurance might cover that but insurance can't replace my work.  And if my work got wet I'd be screwed….I don't have replacement art sitting at home. Oh, I've got one or two "hole-fillers" for when I make sales but that wouldn't be enough if I lost stock like she did. And I've prepaid for a lot of shows for this year already. About one every two weeks….that's not a lot of time if I had to replace work. I have a full-to-part time job and other obligations besides my art. I'm already burning both ends against the middle. 

    My goal for this year was to swing my art out of the niche market it's in and be a little more salable to the average art buyer. But now I think I've got to readjust that goal and make sure that having a backup of artwork is one of my priorities as well.  I'll look into insurance. I might buy a better tent. But I definitely need to have "backup" art at home.  I can always get a tent in time to do my next art fair….but I won't be able to do that art fair if I don't have back up art work. Mother Nature can only make a fool out of me if I let her.

It is never fun when a show has to cancel for any reason.  Today the new show Peachtree Hills Festival of the Arts  in Atlanta was canceled because of all the rain forcasted for today.  We did have yesterday though and I had some AFI members ask me about this show so I can write a bit of a review.

This was the first time for this show.  AFFPS puts this show on and like I have said many many times they are excellent to work with.  They are all about the artist.  I am very excited about this area.  ADAC is right there and supports the show.  That is where artist parking was.  Many art galleries and a few restaurants in the area.  They had a fancy wine place, a fancy restaurant that was too fancy for me after a hot day working and a great restaurant/pub with misters and the best grouper sandwich or salmon blt and of course cold beer.  There couldn't be a better place to go after a long day working a show and it was just a few steps away from my booth.  A real neighborhood in the middle of everything.  I think I actually want to move to this area one day.  The houses aren't huge but have lots of character.  They remind me of the houses in Ann Arbor near the painted rock.  30 somethings mainly, a good market for me.  

Set up was on Friday from noon till 8 and you could drive up to your booth.  Nice and easy set up.  There were not many artists, maybe 100 and good quality.  Booths were on the street across from eachother and there was a sidewalk behind the tent with a fence on the other side.  Perfect for leaning you stuff up for set up and break down.  I had enough room behind my booth to set up propanels on my 5' awning to create an extra room.  I think everyone had this much room in back and we all needed it because there was not any extra room between booths.  It was tight.  There was some craft but that was in a different area from the art.  It was a very nice Art show, mainly about the art, not too big and not too small and not a ton of dog walkers. 

The crowds were not huge on Saturday but did seem to pick up later in the day.  It was a nice day for June in Atlanta and advertising was great.  There was an electronic billboard right on Peachtree directing folks to the show.  I set up some appointments for Saturday morning because I figured it wouldn't be crazy busy and I am glad I did.  Sales seemed slow for most on Saturday.  Before closing staff came by and told us they may have to cancel Sunday due to weather.  We were told we would get an email in the morning.  Some folks packed up, and some even left.   I went to the pub for dinner.  Sure enough Sunday morning around 9am we got the email.  It was suppose to rain all day and just get worse.  We were allowed to drive up to our tents so our work wouldn't get wet.  All very civilized and went smoothly.  It is never fun to breakdown in the rain, but if you have to, this is the way to do it.  

I will be back next year.  I am excited about this area, and I have many clients who live there.  Until it becomes better known having a mailing list would really help.  It is an easy show for the patrons, not too big, easy parking and easy for people to get their art back to their cars.  If you have to travel for this show you might want to let us locals build it a bit, but for the local artists who do well in Atlanta's ITP market this is a show to watch.