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I am not at the show, but my wife is as an exhibitor.  We have talked back and forth over six times, Sat. and Sun.

One new, bad , development by the show promoters.

They have managed to put a large live music stage up at this show, that is new.  Unfortunately, most of the music coming from it is so loud and raucous, that it is hard for an exhibitor to have a conversation with a patron.

For many yesterday, sales were off.  Ellen sold one small piece for under $300.  This is a hard show to break into with a high booth/parking fee that is over $600.

Again, exhibitors are being used more as shills to get a crowd there that buys beer and food and not a lot of art.

That is not to say some exhibitors are having a great show.  But what about the other 200-exhibitors.  OLD TOWN how far you have fallen.

Will give a full report on Monday.

Los Angeles, California - May 8th, 2012 -- Market stalls at Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles (CPLA), a transformation of two enormous World War II-era warehouse structures into a hub of arts-based activity, have been leased by over 75 craft-artist partners as the June 29 opening date approaches for phase one of this major new attraction.
 
By opening weekend, Crafted’s independent artists are expected to number over 100, representing diversity in the hand-crafted world. Every artisanal tradition will be on display: one-of-a-kind jewelry, ceramics, knits, leather goods, up-cycled stationery, sauces, hand-carved wood, accessories, extraordinary snacks and confections.
 
Criteria for craft-artists to be included in this curated mix of crafts are rigorous. Products must be hand-made in Southern California and impeccably crafted. No imported articles will be available.
 
CPLA will be open Friday through Sunday. In addition to colorful shopping opportunities, visitors will be able to enjoy live music, daily demonstrations, gourmet food and entertainment for everyone. It’s a major new weekend entertainment option for Los Angeles families and visitors, with free admission and convenient parking.
 
When it expands to its full build-out occupancy with 500 artists displaying their work in 135,000 square feet, CPLA will become the nation’s largest year-round indoor crafts market.
 
“The tremendous response we’ve received from the craft artist community has exceeded our expectations,” said Alison Zeno, CPLA’s executive director and general partner. “There’s great enthusiasm among craft artists for the opportunity to have a permanent home in a beautiful, spacious setting.”
 
“This project represents a new way of thinking about arts and crafts.  We are proud of the part we are playing to bring original creations to the public in an accessible way." said Wayne Blank, the powerhouse behind Bergamot Station and majority partner.
 
Crafted is a key element of the new L.A. Waterfront at the Port of Los Angeles. The L.A. Waterfront project will cost an estimated $1.2 billion including a waterfront promenade, new parks, a new recreational marina, and the installation of the historic battleship U.S.S. Iowa as a visitor attraction. The development, rolling out with the June 29 opening of Crafted, is a world-class waterfront experience for Southern California residents and visitors from throughout the world.

I am looking for information on this art show.  It is held in San Jose, CA in September.  Does anyone know if it is going to be held this year?  Any of you west coasters know anything about it? 

Recently, I read a blog on AFI about the perils of:

1) Donating your works for charity.

2) Giving a piece of your work for raffle at the Art Fair you are attending.

3) Well, let's not enumerate on… the post was against GIVING AWAY your ART for any reason because it lowers its value.

Why? The jist of the post was that it’s BAD for BUSINESS!

Yes, I have the concept correct, unfortunately. Artists need to be savvy business women/men with cost sheets of realistic pricing, trend analyses, web maximization, facebook advertising, search engines that keep you in the forefront, gadgets that slip on your iPhone to scan credit cards... and on and on and on.

The theme of the post was ANATHEMA to me (nothing personal to whoever wrote it.) and I feel honor bound to represent artists to the best of my ability. While I’m polite to a fault, truthful about costs, and I’ll avoid conflict at all costs - I’ve never told anyone this before and am reluctant to now - that post forces me to take a very public stand:

Every show I find a way to give a piece of my work… to a charming child, a harassed mother, someone with a light pocketbook but the right eyes, a lovely aging beauty…

Isn’t the greatest gift an Artist can give ONE that is personal, rare and God-given: your own art? I think generosity is a civility I see and read about here on this blog daily.

So I am asking YOU.

I am the Director of Global Outreach for the Rainbird Foundation, a non-profit committed to the end of all forms of child abuse with no child left out. If you would like to participate in an act of generosity that would delight the recipient and contribute to the financial stability of this great organization, join me in contributing a piece of your art to them. I’ve never met a more deserving group of people, and their work will go far with our support!

IF THIS APPEALS TO YOU, FIND OUT MORE @: www.Rainbirdfoundation.org

OR CONTRIBUTE A PIECE OF YOUR WORK AND MAIL IT TO: RAINBIRD FOUNDATION, W311S7433 Arbor Drive, Mukwonago, WI 53149

Please, price your work. It will be sold in the Global web store.

Starting sometime early next year, I am looking to feature an artist a month in the store. If you are interested, write me at AFI.

With gratitude,

Linda

I'd like to hear from anyone who has started using the card reader that plugs into your iPhone to process credit cards.  I'd like to hear both the pros and the cons.  Have you found it to be efficient?  Have you gotten any static from customers as a result of not providing a hard-copy receipt?  Have you managed to reduce your credit card processing fees?  Anything you might have to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Have you ever been asked to fix another artist's work?  I've only done it a couple times.  My blog entry today is about adjusting another artist's work.  It's also about how I used to draw at all my kids' sports games.  Sometimes I worry that they'll look back and think of me being half there, distracted by my constant need to work work work.  Isn't it hard to balance art with family?

http://pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/06/bad-sports-mom-gets-hug-from-lepoleon.html

Cincinnati SummerFair last weekend was the beginning of  back-to-back shows in June. Big show, some 300 artists on meandering paths in Cony Island right on the River. Immediate confusion coming in, as I feared my GPS was taking me on an "adventure" when I crossed the bridge from Ohio into Kentucky. Can't be right...but heard a  voice in my head, "Trust the GPS Thomas". I  forged on, and sure enough  the highway curved back into Cinci, right to Coney Island. Happy I was.
During setup I got to watch all the cowgirls and guys make their way to the Lady Antebellum concert. Big thunderstorm interrupted my setup and the concert, so I hid in my (new, sturdy, well anchored, waterproof) tent for an hour until it let up, listening to the screams of concert-goers streaming back to their cars (to get their raincoats? cause the concert paused, then continued). The main complaint I read about with this fair was how hot it normally is. Not a problem this year, thanks to the rain.
 Friday; I think they got visitors got their moneys worth. Common to see them checking their maps, making a plan on where to go next, so as to not miss anything. A bit of concern when I saw so many walking around with beers, often in what seemed a really big cups: they pay to get in, then pay for alcohol, for food, will there be anything left for arts and crafts? Worst two fairs I have had were festivals mixing these elements.... This means, time for the Bag Check: Lots of people walking around with bags, a good sign sales are happening. All OK.
 I didn't sell as much as I expected (that guy Paul, when I told him I was going to Cinci said "you're going to make a lot of money!" -more on him later) Suffice it to say it didn't meet my (or his for me probably) expectations; I didn't sell a large number of pieces, but I did sell some higher-priced pieces which made up the difference.

 My biggest attraction was something I wasn't selling, but a sign I posted (because of Paul):

I had to put this in my booth after what Paul said.

 I swear, thousands pointed this sign out to whomever they were with. Only one mom replied to her son, "yes it does". There was no 'kidding' in her delivery. Some thought I made the sign and wondered where I found the license plates: Smiley Face: its a picture a friend posted on Facebook. But I am going to make it into a ceramics piece (cause that's what I do) and sell them by the thousands. When patrons  talked to me about it, I told them The Story:  "This guy comes up to me at Indiana Artisan, last March, raves about this piece:

Paul said it was the best piece in the show. That's like a major award.

 He really loves it, stands there a long time, then leaves, saying he will be back. He comes back at the end of the show, more raving, even says it is the best piece in the whole show (gosh, blush). hand on his chin, he then adds, 'but I just don't have anything green in my house anymore'."

You know how it is when you say the same thing over and over to people who come into your booth, the tag lines, the hooks, the conversation starters? Clearly this is one of mine. The patrons love it. But when I got tired of it, I began to add to it, telling them the guys name is Paul, and, See, over there? (point),  by the Tilt-a-whirl?,  well he's right there! Why don't you go over and ask him if he STILL doesn't have green in his house, o,r is he sure he doesn't have ANYTHING green, or, wouldn't this bowl then GIVE you something green, or, funny and I thought you were Irish...You get the idea, and patrons make their own suggestions too.. I like Paul. I'll see him at Woodland, do the same thing. Smiley Face. He's probably getting business from it.

I could tell every time the photographer next to me made a sale. He would unfold a bag and pop it open with both hands with a large snapping sound. Heard a-lot of those, so I think he did quite well.  They had a record 10,000 on Saturday alone. So, 30k for the three days? Possibly.

 At break-down I looked at where the jeweler tent to the left of me had been , you could see how much traffic had been there. Looked like a cattle drive had taken a detour through the booth. The photographer said the jeweler shouldn't have been there because it was "beads". I stayed out of it. She was nice, she was juried in, she there. Art Fair can be a misnomer; it isn't always art or fair.

It can be one thing to get into bigger shows, and another to sell well at those same shows. I spent some  time  looking  at ceramists/potter's booths. At some, I was amazed, nay, awestruck by the floor-to-ceiling inventory (have I even made as much as they are displaying in a year??) .  Beef up inventory, yeah. Checked out the Ceramics prize winners . Exact opposite. Like a gallery, with, seriously, maybe 10-15 pieces on display, closer to what I do. Both probably did well.

Organizers did a great job, helping setup,take down, providing amenities; a breakfast bar where they charged a nominal fee- (really was cheap, probably just covered expense of food), award banquet featuring two, count-em , 2- 10.00 coupons to redeem with the food, beer/wine vendors. Large Holy Trinity bourbon chicken, rice and beans got both my coupons. I saved the second one for lunch the second day. And J.D, he didn't have to, but he used his left-over money from his turkey wrap to buy me a corn-on-the-cob. Buy one of his pots next time you see him, will you? Say Thomas sent you. Say the same to Paul, he'll know what you mean. maybe we can get him to go green.

 I was quickly reminded a couple weeks ago that summer has fallen upon us as I sat in my booth In New Paltz while the heat and humidity started to become unbearable. I was unprepared since after all it was still only May.  Usually I’m more prepared for those 95 degree days with my ryobi battery operated fan (from home depot), spray bottle and an ice pack cooler with a towel inside to wipe off. So as I was reading some of the older post I came across a great blog started by Jacki Bilsborrow last July that had some great tips by readers on how to stay cool during the outdoor summer shows. Based on the unusually warm winter we had here in the Northeast, I’m predicting a few very hot shows this year so get ready.

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/how-do-you-stay-cool-at-art-sh

The 45th annual Summerfair was held at Coney Island this past June 1st - 3rd.  Over 800 artists applied for one of the coveted 305 spaces. Accepted artists represented 31 different states.   Set up was held Thursday afternoon with Friday morning set up available.  Set up is relativley easy for most of the spaces as you can drive right up to your space. Show hours are:  Friday - 2:00 - 10:00, Saturday - 10:00 - 8:00 and Sunday 10:00 - 5:00.  The gate fee for art fair customers is $10.

There are 10 art categories for applicants.

Categories                        # of accepted Artist     approx. % of exhibitors

Mixed Media 2-D & 3-D               24                                     7%

Ceramics                                      42                                     13%

Drawing/Printmaking                    15                                      5%

Fiber/Leather                              36                                     12%

Glass                                            28                                      9%

Jewlery                                        54                                    17%  

Metal Sculpture                           36                                    12%

Painting                                        29                                     9%

Photography                                 27                                     8%

Wood                                           34                                    11%      

The show began Friday with below avg. temperatures and a chilling wind.  I believe the temps never reached 60 and was cold and damp all day.  Cutomers did attend but never reaching the typical Friday numbers.  Sales were sparse for most with a few stating they did have a good day. 

Friday night was the Artist/Awards banquet located at the Gourmet Arts Food area of the fair.  Each exhibitor was provided with  (2)  $10 food vouchers to spend as they wished at a variety of food booths.  Susan had the barbeque chicken and I settled for the amish noodles and chicken with mashed potatoes.  After a long, cold day, the warm meal was much appreciated.  Summerfair awards $11,000 in prize money with $1000 for Best of Show.  Category awards were for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention.   All award winners are automatically accepted into the 2013 art show event with their jury fees waived. 

Saturday was an awesome day, both weather-wise and for sales.  Art show customers came by the droves to view the art and spend time in the picture perfect weather with temps. reaching the lower 70's with brightly sunny skies.  It was a welcome change from Friday's chilly weather.  Susan and I noticed many art customers carrying around their purchases.  A wood puzzle artist accross from us was busy all day with customer purchases.  A Florida artist with beautiful rope/hanmmock chairs and swings did very well.  We had a steady stream of interested customers that made Saturday our best sales day and helped us have a nice Summerfair show.  It wasn't a home run this year but it was a double and we will take that. 

A wildlife photographer located at the entrance to the show was busy all day and another wildlife photographer had a very nice day/show.  A jeweler I spoke with had a decent Saturday and a "ok" show.  One potter I spoke to had a good Saturday and did well overall.   On the other hand a landscape photographer along with a glass artist and painter struggled for most of the show including Saturday.

Sunday was another picture perfect weather day.  Although art fair customer numbers were not quite as good as Saturday, the show was busy.    Some artists had a great Sunday while others did mediocre.  I would guess that there were approximately 20,000 - 25,000 customers that attended for the 3 days. Just received an e-mail from  Summerfair stating that they had 25,000 paid customers walk through the gate.

Like most Art Shows, the Summerfair layout has it's good (high traffic) locations while others are in what I would call a "lesser traffic flow" area.   There are plenty of shaded spots and lots of sunny spots.  One just has to reference the booth layout map and figure out what location would be best for them. 

Teardown is not too bad.  The staff stages the vehicles/trailers outside of the show in the parking lot and then lets them drive into the booth space area around 30 minutes after the end of the show.  There is a staff member that is waiting for each vehicle who will stop you and help you get to your booth location.

The Summerfair staff was very friendly and helpful.  They made themselves available by driving their golf carts throughout the show all 3 days and trying to resolve any problems that occurred.  I do know they relocated one artist that had issues with his space and both the artist anad the staff were happy with the result. Overall the jury does a nice job of selecting artists and the quality of the show was very nice.   One small perk I enjoyed was the  Summerfair VIP Concessions.  It was located on the 2nd floor of Moonlight Gardens and offered the artists discount prices on drinks, snacks, bagles, fruit etc.  How often is it that you can get a .50 soda and/or Dorito snack bag at an art show event?

Both Susan and I like exhibiting at Summerfair. Over the last 3 years we have established a nice following.   It is the only time we exhibit our work in the area.  Also my mother lives in Loveland, 25 miles or so from the event so it gives us a chance to catch up and visit with her and a nice place to stay. 

I originally discovered AFI when I was starting to search for shows outside the Pacific NW and discovered a lot of good information on this site.  I was particularly interested in all the information on improving images for jurying and improving the booth image, etc. as we were discouraged last year on continued rejections from shows we really wanted to participate in.

So, we signed up for the Virtual Jury process offered by AFSB, net result, we needed a new photographer and bigger “Wow” pieces, not just our bread and butter best sellers.   So we proceeded to design some new pieces, hired a new photographer, we revamped our booth and hired Larry Berman to edit our images and drastically clean up our booth shot.  We have one show we need 7 images for so in the end, between the new photographer, the virtual jury and the photo editing we spent over 1K in preparing for 2012 applications.

End result? We’re still sorting that out.  However, I tend to be the overly analytical person in this partnership while my husband is the total opposite and he had a good chuckle when he looked at part of this post.  I’ve already driven him nuts with my verbal analysis and ongoing conversation so I thought I’d share the results with this community in hopes that someone might be able to offer a unique perspective or some feedback.  If I’m spending 1K, I want to know if it was worth it and given a 16 year work history in the CFO organization of my day job, an MBA in Finance and a work career in which I’ve had “analyst” in my job title for over 20 years, I tend to overanalyze everything!!  And yes, my husband is snickering over this part of the post:) 

For the first time ever we were only waitlisted for one show this year, all others were outright acceptances or rejections.  That in itself was a great change, we usually have 4-8 waitlists that leave us wondering, agonizing and trying to decide if we needed to change travel plans at the last minute.  Unfortunately the one that we were waitlisted for was a show we’ve done for 4 years in a row and has been in our top 5 shows every year.  So that didn’t feel very good as it is an early season show and was one of the first shows we submitted our new images to the jury. 

As the acceptances / rejections continue to arrive, here are our final results:

• Shows we applied to for the first time: 5 declined, 11 accepted, a little better than our normal average of about 65%
  • A little more disclosure on this, of the 11 we were accepted into, I truly believe 5 of them were “jury by check”, but they were back up shows if we didn’t get into our first choice.
    • 2 of the shows we were accepted into, we had been told were very hard to get into, so that left us feeling relieved and able to back out of 2 of the jury by check shows.
    • 2 of the new shows are already completed with dismal to mediocre results which made us question our decisions for show scheduling.
• Shows that declined us this year after previously accepting us with our old images: 1 – ouch, that didn’t feel right
• Shows that waitlisted us after previously accepting us with the old images: 1 - ouch
• Shows that had previously rejected us
  • And still rejected us: 7
  • 2012 accepted for the first time: 2, Yay!! Both of these were shows that we’ve been wanting to do for a while, however, both will replace solid, fairly reliable 2 day shows with 3 day shows and will result in an additional trip out of town.  So, until we see the show sales results, the jury is still out, so to speak.
• Shows we’ve previously been accepted at on a regular basis and still want us back:)  7
• Shows we’ve previously been accepted – but never consistently on a  year to year basis:
  • 3 shows, 2 accepted, 1 rejected
• Pending – still have one left to notify for a December show, but fully expect to be accepted, although I should never think that anything is an automatic in this business.

So, we applied to 37 shows for which we know the results. 15 declined, 22 accepted, shows we’ll actually do: 17, some were apps for the same weekend and a couple shows we declined because we couldn’t put together a road trip that made sense, only getting into 1 out of 3 shows that were a 13-15 hour road trip away didn’t make financial sense.

We started the year with a disappointment after not getting called off the one waitlist we were on, we now have 2 shows on our schedule that we’ve tried to get accepted into in the past that are highly rated that are leaving us with high hopes.  We also have 3 other new shows that we applied to for the first time that we have high hopes for, plus our regular schedule of favorite shows that are “tried and true”, so we’re hoping the rest of the year will be stronger than the start of our year.

Was the $1K worth it?  We think so, we feel like we’ve gotten into a few better, more promising shows.  However, getting waitlisted for the spring show we have done for 4 years and getting rejected from a show that we were accepted into last year left us feeling a little perplexed when we felt like we had a better jury submission.  In the end, sales results will tell us if it’s worth it, we’ll continue to track the results and come back to this question in December.

Not sure if this helps anyone, but thought I’d share our journey through the process of trying to improve our images and “up our game”. 

Mine is a little different from Lebens.

I just spent a hour and one half writing this and then lost it all before I could save it.  That's life.

I am gonna give you pluses and minuses, you draw your own conclusions.

HERE ARE THE PLUSES:

Over 300,000 attend.

Held on a beautiful riverfront in downtown Columbus, OH.  Well advertised.

Easy staggered setup, most can have their vehicles in front.

Three days to sell, Friday-Sunday.

If you have low-end price points, art/craft to sell, you can make a lot of moola.

They give you electricity.

Nice awards and breakfest

Nice break areas and restrooms.

The best Artist Market Director ever, Patty Matthews.  She is available, she listens, she responds.

NOW THE DRAWBACKS, THERE ARE SOME SERIOUS ONES, MOST OF THEM WILL NEVER BE CORRECTED.

Overly long show hours.  From before noon til 10 PM on both Friday and Saturday.  That means you can eat dinner at 10:30 PM, yipee!

Most sales stopped at 6 pm or 8 at best.  Both nites I did about $250 in sales after 6pm.  Show needs to end earlier.  The show will never do it, can you hear the concessionaires howl?

Trouble with show layout.

It runs across two bridges over WIDE SCIOTO RIVER, then along the river front on both sides. Then there are two dead-end spurs with a single rows of artists on them that go off this great circle that the herd follows.

Guess where I was? Second from the end of the show, or the beginning, depending on your direction of coming or going.  People rush by ya to go see the show, forget sales.  People on the spurs lost 40% of the crowds, yet paid the same high booth fee of $500.

Tried to tell overall Show Director, Scott Huntley, about this, but he doesn't want to hear it.  He does not understand the concept of "show-flow" like we artists do.  Anybody on a dead-end row knows what happens.

Booths on the bridges get blown all over, every which way by high winds.  Good luck tying down tarps in the back, good luck trying to sit back there.  It causes a lot of stress to the artist psyche.

Weather at Columbus will always be iffy.  I have done the show more than 20 times since the 80's and can count on one hand when we had easy good weather.  It is usually very warm and humid, or it is very windy and rainy.  This year it rained most of Friday with chilling winds that went right thru you.  It killed sales for most of us.  I made a whopping $435 that day.

They tell ya you will have electricity and they tell ya you will have ample storage behind ALL BOOTHS.  NOT! 

If you are one of the lucky ones, say about every 14 booths, you get stuck with this giant metal cabinet which everybody plugs into for electric.  It measures about 4-foot high, 18 inches wide, and three feet and a half wide.  It doesn't move out of the way.  It is right behind your booth.  I hit the trifecta.  I got the cabinet, I got a fire hydrant, and a metal sign post, all behind my booth.  So much for ample booth storage.  Curiously, nobody ahead of time at the show mentioned this situation about the boxes.

The show map is useless, it doesn't really show any booth configurations.  Go to St. Louis Art Fair's site and look at how a professional show does a map layout.

Preshow communication with art show staff is very iffy.  Forget about getting a return email or call from show coordinator Shana Scott.  She doesn't return anything.  Finally got a hold of Festival Director Scott Huntley right before show start.  He was very helpful.

Show costs are dreadful for average return of sales.  Realistically, it costs close to grand to do this show if you are traveling for eight hours or more.  Some exhibitors did five figures or better there this year, they were the lucky ones.  A number did in the $5K-$7K range, but most did under $4K like Leben.  He was happy, I wasn't.  It was my worst Columbus ever.  Last year we could blame poor sales on the Sat. nite destructive storm.  This year I will blame it on being on a dead-end spur.

It is mostly a low-end sales show.  Not a lot of big sales going on.  This is a very traditional crowd.. Good luck if you have contemporary work.

There, I will let you draw your own conclusions about this show.  Personally, I think it is too big of an investment of time and money for the return, for the average exhibitor.  We do not need to be there 28 long hours trying to sell to a beer-swilling crowd after 6pm.  Guess what?, the show aint gonna change.  They have their grand plan and tough luck if you don't buy into it.

NOW SOME DESERVED KUDOS TO THOSE WHO HELPED ME AND SAVED MY SHOW AND MADE LIFE QUITE BEARABLE UNDER TYING PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

Just so you know, I have been diagnosed with a faulty heart valve which cause fluid backup into my lungs, feet, legs and a few places between my legs.  I can't walk or lift anything.  It is getting repaired.  That said, show people helped me lot, I had booth helpers to set up and tear down.  I made it thru, barely.

So Patty Matthews, the Artist Market Chairman, was a life-saving angel, I can never thank you enough.  She is the best.

My setup angel Karen Holtkamp who came all the way from Cincinnatti with buddy "weatherman" Joe and completely setup and stocked my booth on Thursday in under three hours.  They were true life-savers.

Kudos to Nicole Vanover, an emerging artist there, who was slated to help me tear down and pack up.  Ended up, I did not need her, but she was there for the calling.  Mahalo plenty--that is Hawaiian for "Thanks a lot."

My hat goes to artist Patty DeMaria who sent her son Tristan to help my wife Ellen Marshall set up and tear down her booth.  Then he came over helped me pack up my booth on Sunday nite.  We were out of there in two hours.  Tristan you are a life-saver, and a quick learner.

Thanks to "Uncle Dick" Cunningham, stalwart South Florida photographer who came over to help on Sunday after packing his own cube truck.  He killed them at the show, I am so happy for him.

Well, health prevents me from doing Hinsdale, just cancelled.  I see the Pulmonary Specialist next Wednesday and get a diagnosis and a course of action.  I am ready.

Let's hear your comments about Columbus.  If I lose this post, I am going to shoot myself.  No alcohol for two weeks now, cold turkey, it is no fun.  Aloha, Nels.

I've been looking forward to doing this show, as I finally got invited after a few years of applying. The show is put on by the Yellow Breeches chapter of the PA Guild of Craftsmen.

Boiling Springs is a little south of Harrisburg, about 2 hours 15 minutes away from my home, and I decided we'd just leave really early in the morning to get there for the 6am set up. We headed out at 3:30am, and got there  as everyone was pulling in down a somewhat narrow one way street with booth spaces marked on both sides. The show had a cadre of volunteers that was amazingly helpful. They made sure all artists were parked as unobtrusively as possible for traffic flow, then one or two people jumped in and helped unload...amazing!

We were nervous because we were towing our trailer, which gives us about 3'more width than our SUV and neither my husband or I are incredibly adept at precise manuevering. But after unloading, other volunteers got my husband quickly turned around further down the road and parked facing the fair, so as the show ended, all artist vehicles were poised for exit.

The literature had wisely mentioned to bring shims, as our space was partially on the road and partially in a driveway and partially on a berm. If we hadn't had shims, there's no way we could have gotten our tables level...this was a drastic drop and difference in heights.

My husband and I agreed since the weather was so lovely and there was no wind, we would use our pop-up tent rather than taking the extra half hour to put up our Trimline. BIG mistake, as the wind kicked up around 10 am, and the entire tent was rocking and lifting, which tilted our table-top shelves that we chain to the tent for stability, and kept dumping my jewelry and displays off. 

We spent about 1 -1/2 hours trying to hold onto the shelves before finally taking one down and putting all my work tightly packed on the table top. It didn't look pretty, but left one of us to write up sales while the other held on and talked to customers. 

The customers come early, so even though the show starts at 9am, plan for people to start looking by 8:30. The crowd was friendly and savvy, and our sales were as good there on Saturday as another show that we've been doing for 6 years. There seems to be a lot of customer loyalty to the show, with customers telling us they come back every year.The show closes at 4pm.

The volunteers really made this show a pleasure to do, with offers for booth sitting, water, and all the help loading and unloading. It was a good first year for us there, and we hope to be back in future years.

Columbus is my second art fair of the Spring season after returning from a tough Florida string of seven winter shows. My first show this spring was in East lansing. Both East Lansing and Columbus have been moderately successful for me, both grossing more for me than they did last year. This trend is encouraging, and I'm hoping it continues.

This show moved this year to its original location on the riverfront and from my perspective its a good move. There has been a lot of trepidation among artists about locating booths on the two bridges over the river, and rightly so. But, even though we are certainly more vulnerable to the wind on these bridges, the setting is dramatic and beautiful. The crowds love this location and they came out in droves to support this long-running show. I was on the Rich Street Bridge, which, I was told, had not even been open to vehicle traffic yet. Construction on the bridge was finished the day before the art fair opened.

Setup was on Thursday, and it seemed to go well with setup times staggered to avoid congestion. Friday was cold and rainy, and, as a result, crowds were meager. Fridays shows for me are seldom worthwhile, and this one was no exception. I was able to keep dry and warm with multiple layers as I watched the occasional person wander by.

Saturday was sunny and much warmer, but windy with gusts up to about 25mph. I heard of one tent on the Rich Street Bridge that blew over, but word-of-mouth was that no artwork was damaged. Sunday was also warm, and windy, but the wind didn't keep the crowds away. both days were busy, busy, busy. The people of Columbus certainly support their art fair... at least with their attendance.

From my limited perspective of the artists around me, the crowd was buying low-priced items. They seemed to admire, but take a pass at high-priced original paintings. I'm a 2-D artist and I'm curious about how 3-D artists did at this show. Two painters next to me were very disappointed in sales. I'm a digital artist, selling limited edition prints, and I seemed to have a price point this crowd was looking for. I grossed $3234 with 44 sales averaging $73.50 per sale. My biggest sale was $200. My smallest sale was $20. I have a feeling low priced items were the rule at this show with a lot of small sales at other artists booths as well. In fact, I use Square for processing credit cards as do many other artists these days.  I had trouble swiping cards on Saturday... maybe because of such a large volume of sales. I had to write down the credit card numbers and process those sales after hours in the evening.  

Hours at this show are long. Friday and Saturday hours were 11:30-10pm. Sunday was 11:30-6pm. Lights in your booth are a must for the evening hours but the show provides plentiful and safe electricity in big metal plug-in boxes spaced conveniently behind the booths. There was plenty of storage space behind booths as well. I was flying solo for this show, so I didn't get a chance to walk around much and see the artist's lounge of the other exhibitors. One odd thing though. The organizers did not have coffee in the artist's lounge on Friday or Saturday. I guess there was such an uproar from the artists, that they broke down and supplied coffee on Sunday morning.  

First, I would like to thank my fellow artists who diligently provide information regarding shows they have attended.  Needless to say, I wish I had acquired more information from the 2010 poster before applying to the Piccolo Spoleto Craft Festival (Wragg Square, Charleston, SC). This is not a complaint report per se. It is more of an FYI.

The Show overall was a good show. Volunteers were outstanding. Artist hospitality spectacular. Would I apply again? No, unless they changed venues. The problem in one word, "Dirt". Not dust, which is in the air for every outdoor festival, but dirt! Just think, soft black beach sand in and on everything! Our weekend was extremely windy which may have contributed to the high levels but from what I was told from veteran artists it is the norm. I have included some pictures so that if you choose to apply you can think of ways to prepare and protect your work. These were taken @ one hour after having wiped down my cabinets. The Swiffer shot was from one shelf.

Another roller coaster year for us at NW Folklife (Memorial Day weekend in Seattle, WA).  I’m finally getting around to posting this review for NW Folklife over Memorial Day weekend. Why?  Because it’s taken me that long to recover and  get caught up on my day job and the rest of life after a grueling 4 day festival.  I blogged about the load in / load out, etc.  last year so don’t feel the need to cover those details again:  last year’s details:

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/northwest-folklife-festival

One item I did leave out last year is that they do have a Saturday party for the artists and volunteers.  We’ve never gone to the party simply because we were too tired and wanted to get home.  Maybe we’re just too old  (NOT!!) but to start the party at 9 PM on a Saturday night and knowing that we still had 2 long days ahead of us on Sunday and Monday and about a 45 minute drive each morning and evening has never made us want to attend.  Nice of them to offer.

This was our 4^th year participating, 2009 and 2010 were very good for us for sales, last year was dismal.  Our goal going into this show was simple, determine if this is a show we want to leave on the list.  We were hoping that 2011 was the anomaly and that our sales would return to previous levels, if not, it would be an easy decision to remove this show from the list just due to the 4 long days and the fact that the music/dance of the festival are the primary reason people attend, the art booths are secondary.  However, it has worked for us in the past and the 2009 show still ranks as one of our top 5 shows ever for sales, so we were reluctant to take it off the list just based on 2011 results. 

However, due to our pathetic results in 2011, our booth assignment in 2012 was less than appealing. Or we thought it was based on knowing the traffic flow and knowing that due to the building locations we would only get about 2 hours of direct sunlight in the late afternoon.  We asked to be moved but were told there were no other options.  So, we decided to go ahead and figured a bad booth location might make the future decision that much easier.

I’m happy to report that this year’s festival got off to a much better start for us than last year.  The festival officially opens at 11 on Friday and by 11:15 our first customer of the day had already purchased enough to cover our booth fee and parking expenses.  We also had a great day on Saturday so as we left to drive home we were breathing a sigh of relief that it appeared that our sales were going to more closely align with our 2009-2010 results for Folklife and help make us feel like the 4 day grueling show was worth it.   Sunday had ALWAYS been our best day that this festival, so I was trying to not have expectations that were too high, but thinking that we had the possibility of our best Folklife ever.

Sunday morning arrived and the entire day was rain free, just proving how unreliable our weather forecasters are in the Pacific NW.   Sales started really slowly on Sunday, which is not unusual.  The problem was that they NEVER picked up for us.  Other artists did report having a better day on Sunday than Saturday, but not us.  We ended the day with our worst Sunday at Folklife that we had ever had, even compared to last year’s overall dismal results. 

So on the drive home, I voiced my frustration that this wasn’t helping us to make a decision regarding future Folklife events.   I wanted to have a black and white decision, but by Sunday nights our sales were trending towards the average of the 3 years we had done the show and I didn’t want to be operating in the “gray” decision making area where it’s not clear cut.  This is such a long, hard festival an then with the horrendous load out, I was hoping for an easy decision.

Monday the crowds were much lighter and by about 5 PM  we had hit our average for the Monday at this show which meant that we were just slightly above our average for the overall show but not back up to the previous levels, however, it was a vast improvement over 2011. 

We also learned throughout the weekend that while we thought last year’s location was better than prior years, for some reason it was invisible to some of the patrons.  It wasn’t quite in the flow of most other booths but in a more central location between the 2 rows of booths which one would think would be good, it could be seen from all the booths lining Founder’s Court.  However, we had at least 5 customers comment that they didn’t see us last year, all 5 had bought from us in prior years and all 5 bought from us this year.  That left us scratching our heads a bit, but made this year’s perceived bad location feel a lot better!!   This was also our first show with a few selected enameled copper earrings.  With the ongoing rise in the cost of metals we decided to try a small selection in enameled copper and we were pleased to see that they sold well.  Always nice to have positive feedback on new designs!

Our section of the show ends at 7 PM Monday evening and by 6 PM the crowds were almost non-existent.  The artists were chatting outside their booths, some were starting to “rearrange” and others were even starting to blatantly pack.  About 6:30 my husband left to fetch our hand truck and bins knowing we had a place we could store it around the corner until load out. About 6:45 a charming lady from Georgia entered our booth and asked to see our second most expensive bracelet.  Upon trying it on, she commented that it was a little too big, I explained that it could be shortened, and we could do that on site, almost immediately.  So, she decided to take the bracelet!!   Yes, a last minute sale and a high dollar one at that.  So while my husband was shortening the bracelet she and her Mom were looking for earrings (with my help).  The customer then decided to try on a necklace, had me write down our inventory number and description of the item, the customer was positive her husband would buy it for her online.  Her Mom then commented, “if you know he’s going to buy it, just get it now and save him the hassle”!  Gotta love shopping companions like that.  The customer asked if we would include the earrings for free if she bought the necklace and bracelet. No problem!!  Our big, last minute sale just got much bigger and became our single largest purchase all weekend.  All this was concluded by about 7:15 PM, after the show had officially closed.   Just proving my husband right again:  It’s not over until the fat lady sings!!!!

Final result, the best Friday, Saturday & Monday we had ever had at Folklife and the worst ever Sunday.  Total opposite buying patterns of every other year, but in the end it was our best Folklife of the 4 years we’ve participated and yes, we plan to return, decision turned out to be an easy one to make in the end.

Unfortunately results were mixed among other artists, most said it was better than last year, however, there were at least 3 having their worst Folklife ever including 2 fiber artists and a illustrator who have done this show for years.  However, other jewelers and a couple of wood workers we talked to said it was definitely better than last year.    The fiber artists both suffered due to 2 days of warmer than usual temperatures and no one wanting to try on hats or sweaters.

A few other notes:  Weather forecast on Friday AM called for sunshine Friday & Saturday, rain on Sunday & Monday, pretty typical for this area over Memorial Day weekend.  Friday and Saturday were sunny and warm for the end of May in Seattle and while the crowds seemed to be smaller than previous years, there also seemed to be less of the ill behaved youth hanging around.  Friday night we had a very short lived thunderstorm with a minimal amount of rain, but it got everyone’s attention because thunderstorms are rare in this region.  Sunday was cooler, as was Monday but luckily the rain held off both days, proving the weather forecasters wrong again.

Friday night there was a shooting that occurred after we had closed down for the evening. We were also warned about a couple of theft incidents that had occurred on Friday by a group of 3 young men working together, so we were on our guard for the rest of the weekend.  And while we’ve decided to return, we’ve had a lot of family and friends wondering about that situation just due to the shooting.  Previous conversation that I had raised on this topic, and I do appreciate the responses:  http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/topics/shooting-at-a-festival-are-we-crazy

3 years ago I made the leap to drop jewelry entirely and focus on just glass.  My first season I tried to work with displays that had been the basis for my jewelry booth... I painted the wood white so the colors of the glass would show up and came up with a start that left patrons snowblind, although I didn't think of it that way until I looked back at the pictures.

Last season I invested in chrome shelving to give me more depth (the white shelves were 8 inches deep) and to break up the white.  By the end of the season I had found light green fabric and . created curtains to allow me to raise the walls without taking in the background view of whomever was next to me. .  I was getting complements about the cool, spa-like feel of the booth but I wasn't done.  The wire shelves were a pain to setup, worse to tear down, and difficult because even with plastic tops things liked to fall off and through.

For this season I invested again (and gave the chrome shelves a good home) and bought wood folding bookshelves.   They take up less room in my car, go up and down far easier and look much nicer.  To see pictures of this evolution check out my blog post at

http://heartfirestudios.blogspot.com/2012/06/booth-evolution-or-dont-panic.html

My next steps (hopefully complete before my next show in 3 weeks) are

1) a smaller folding bookshelf to use as a "desk"

2) higher chairs (hidden behind the tall shelf on the right)

3) final work on the curtains to make them fit properly

4) hiding the weights at the front of the tent.  The curtains hide the back weights.

If I get all of the done for the next show I may be able to focus on just glass!  For the first time I feel like the end of my booth evolution might be in site!

We did the show in Thousand Oaks, CA, this weekend. We took two checks and deposited them successfully in our account in Madison, WI, with the app. We wholeheartedly recommend the app!

Dave & Judy Peterson

September 15 & 16
Park Forest, Illinois
Downtown
100 Artists
Deadline:  June 30

The 57th Annual Park Forest Art Fair will be held on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16 in downtown Park Forest.  Hosted by the Tall Grass Arts Association, this is the second, oldest juried fair in the Chicagoland region.  Known as an exceptionally artist-friendly fair, artists from all over the country display works in a variety of media from paintings and photographs to jewelry, sculpture, wood, glass and fiber arts.

Artists typically report that fair-attendees do not simply walk past booths but stop to chat with the artists, as well as purchasing their artworks.  Several artists have exhibited continually for over three decades. Each year, they are joined by new artists.  In 2011, several second generation artists joined their artist-parents at the fair. 

Tall Grass provides breakfast and dinner for artists on Saturday and a variety of prizes.  The fair features musical entertainment all day, both days, many art-related activities for children and food vendors.  The fair is advertised on WFMT and WBEZ radio during prime drive time, local newspapers and social media such as Facebook and other websites.

The application for jurying can be downloaded from the Tall Grass Arts website at www.tallgrassarts.org.  Once juried, artists need not jury again but will automatically be invited to return to exhibit at the fair. 

For additional information, contact the gallery at (708) 748-3377, contact fair chairperson Janet Muchnik at jmuchnik@sbcglobal.net, check the Tall Grass Facebook page or website. 

I've sort of adapted my booth development process around the theatrical process...  

When you're rehearsing a play, you start out in a variety of different ways, but eventually you start a process called "blocking", which is where the actors and directors figure out where the actors are physically positioned and begin working on fleshing out the dialogue.  Then you move onto "working" rehearsals, and eventually you get to a "stumble-through".  From that point, you keep doing the play over and over, tweaking bits and pieces until you can start "run-throughs", and then suddenly you find yourself in technical rehearsals, dress rehearsals, previews and opening...  It's an interesting process, and I like to think that my booth is heading toward it's opening but I'm not there yet.

Today, I did my first "stumble-through".  I had a plan, I knew where everything was going to go, and I decided to give it a shot.  Wow.  Did I learn a LOT.  Even without my stuff there to display, I learned a number of different  things that I need to develop in my "working" phase so I can eventually get to a series of "run-throughs" allowing me to practice setting everything up over and over and over until it runs smoothly.  By that time, I'll be ready for a "dress rehearsal" (which I may make into an invite-only trunk show) before I hit the big time and do my first real, upscale art festival.

Depending on whether I can get juried into one.  : )

But obviously, I have to work toward a goal.  I'm taking things slow, yes, but I believe that (much like a theatrical presentation) the opening night audience pays for the same tickets that the closing night audience does, so they deserve to see the same show.  I'm going to make sure I've got my booth ready for my first show.  And that's just gonna take a bit of time to ensure it's right.

So my stumble-through was incredibly productive.  As I said, I learned a lot.  I've included pictures here of my initial endeavors.  My banners arrived this week and I was excited about them, so I was very keen on doing a trial run this weekend to see if they were going to work.  Of course, I hadn't brought any of my stuff from storage, so there was only a handful of current projects in my studio that I tried to spread out as much as I could...  It makes the booth seem quite spare and empty.  But I'm workin' in baby steps here, so it was a good thing I didn't have it in my way...

Things of a general nature that I learned:

 1) 8' walls don't measure 8' from the cross bar at the top to the stay bar at the bottom.  The walls themselves do, but the metal structure on the inside is smaller.  My 2'x4' grid wall panels were too tall, as were my banners.  Duh.  I hadn't thought that all the way through...  This caused some logistical problems I had to figure out...

2)  I need more practice putting this thing up. A lot more practice.  This was the first time doing it by myself, and I practically wiped myself out.  I have to get the "choreography" memorized in order to make it as swift as possible.  Otherwise, it will take me too long to set it up, and the shows will open around me, and I'll be a bad artist who won't be allowed back.  And wearing comfortable clothes, gloves, and sunglasses is a must.  Being in southern California, sunblock is a no-brainer.

3)  Marking the tent poles with permanent marker where the grid wall should go is a good idea.  I tried guesstimating, but soon whipped out the ol' tape measure to do it right. 

4)  Having a plan is a must.  I wouldn't have been able to progress this far unless I had already drawn out what I wanted over and over, asking for opinions and imagining how it would all go together.  A good director plans (generally) what he wants the audience to feel and understand when they see his show.  He knows the high points and the low.  Likewise, a person doesn't build a house without a set of approved architectural plans.  Don't "wing it" when it comes to your booth.  You'll think it's fun to organically develop things, but in the end you'll be frantically trying to get things done, and lose any sense of salesmanship you might have had because you're too tired from setup.  I learned this the hard way as my neighbors came over to see what was up, and suddenly I found myself explaining my work with the few pieces I had on hand in my studio...  I was tired, and it took a lot of energy to be "on".  Don't let this happen to you.

Things of a specific nature that I learned:

 1)  I need to make my banners a smidge shorter than they are by taking 2" off the top and the bottom.  They're just a wee bit too long.  Good thing I have the technology to do that...

2)  I may be horribly particular, but I don't like how my gridwall overlaps.  I plan on shaving off three rows on the bottom pieces so they actually hang correctly without overlapping each other.  And maybe that's just an accepted industry standard.  But it drives. me. nuts.  Looks sloppy to my eye.

3)  I have a series of things I still need to purchase--a long mirror for above the display table, a rug, weights, more display heads, a marine battery, a tool box, clear crates for my product storage that will fit under my tables...

4)  I have a lot of things I need to make, too: an informational banner that I'm going to create that reminds people of custom ordering possibilities and the one-of a kind nature of my pieces, a fanny pack/apron for my "bank"that I can wear, and pennants for the poles above my business banner in front.

5)  I need to order more zip ties.  I'm gonna run out of the 1000 I already bought at the rate I'm using them... I think I will be clipping away zip tie ends in my dreams tonight.  It looks terribly sloppy if I don't...

6)  I forgot to put much time into my table display--a sorely needed aspect that I can't neglect.  I have to seriously ponder what I'm going to do there...  While it's the "fun" part for some people, it's frustrating for me--I was so concerned with the layout of the tent I hadn't really thought about what my table top was going to look like...

7)  I didn't even get around to setting up any electrical stuff, as I still need to get a marine battery and all the accouterments...  But I did realize that my Christmas tree lights that I purchased last year probably will run the battery down too much, so I need to get LED lights instead...  ...  That was disappointing...

8)  I made my sheer striped panels too long, and need to shorten them so they don't pool on the bottom stay bar in such an ugly fashion.

10)  I need lights to show off the rhinestones of my neck lace items which will be on my table top.  The natural sunlight is too diffused by the transparent panel in the ceiling of the tent to be effective.  And I've read that "sparkle sells"...  If I'm going to use rhinestones in my items, I might as well show them off--I mean, seriously, I work in show business!  I gotta have my spotlights!!  : )  So I'll be investing in some lighting once I get my marine battery mechanism.  I have the stay bar for them (which I am also planning on hanging some of my recycled tin can mobiles from) it's just a matter of buying the fixtures and the lights themselves.

This was a very educational day.  I learned a LOT.  I put the fourth wall up on my tent and left is standing tonight, just to see if it would make it through the night and what it would be like tomorrow morning.  I don't want to go to my first festival and try that for the first time...  That sounds like a potential disaster in the making...

Anyway, it's done for now.  Time to turn my attention to the new mountain of work I need to accomplish to be ready!  Haha!!  If you see anything in my pics that stands out as something I might need to address (o ye sages of Artus Festivi) please let me know!  I'd appreciate the feedback now while I can still do something about it!  : )

And remember to Live Life with Relish.  After all, isn't that what it's all about?

This show was recommended to me by someone I met at another show.  I'm just starting to try bigger shows out of my area, so even though the show violated one of my personal rules (my jewelry doesn't sell well at shows where the primary focus is not arts/crafts) I applied and was accepted.  I had been led to believe by friends living in the area that this show was hugely attended and that people come from surrounding states (it is at Fernandina Beach...you can really see Georgia from there).  While I found there were a lot of people, it wasn't wall-to-wall like I had been told.

The area is charming and I found setup to be easy and parking was abundant on surrounding streets, as long as you got there before the show opened, since those same spots are where the visitors park.  Then the trouble started...

I traveled near 200 miles and so far I had found my planning & preparation was successful.  I pulled in and found my booth space, only to find the man three booths away had parallel parked across my space as well as the two booth spaces between us.  He apologized, but proceeded to unload and set up, as opposed to unloading, moving his vehicle and trailer, then coming back to set up.  I sat on the curb and waited for nearly 1 1/2 hours.  We supposedly had "block captains" but I saw no evidence of that.  Someone did come back (maybe the block captain?) who asked me about the situation.  She nodded, then wandered off, never to be seen again.

The rest of the setup went fine and I ended up all done and enjoyed a nice dinner at a local thai restaurant.  Can't remember the name, but it was very good.

I had high hopes since the only other big out-of-my-area show I had done was Mt Dora, where all of my expectations were dramatically exceeded!  The two days were filled with lots of lookers, lots of cards given out, and lots of be-backs.  The good news is that some of the be-backs really did.  Two women who came in separately who said they had local shops each tried on a particular necklace.  Then they actually came back and bought those very necklaces!  Another one did come back, but in the meantime she bought some other non-jewelry item so she had to buy a lesser-priced item from me.  But it was still a sale. 

Overall, given the fact that I had the entry fee, gas for the almost 400 mile round trip, hotel, and meals (plus an auto rental since my car developed a problem at the last minute), I was disappointed.  I barely made my entry fee over the two days.  Everyone who came into my booth loved my jewelry, whether they bought or not, but most of the people just walked on by.  Other exhibitors had the same experience.  My neighbors on either side were disappointed with their sales, although one of them made a last-minute sale of a significant piece.  The man across from me (photography) actualy commented, "Have you ever seen so many people walk by without looking left or right?"  All of these people were there for the food and the fun & games.  I think he managed to do okay by the end of the show, though.

The economy?  Maybe.  But I believe it is the type of show.  I now have confirmed that I will not do another show that is centered around a particular food and/or has activities for adults and children.  Pure arts/crafts for me next time.

One final word...I think the show was generally well organized and well run.  On Sunday the clouds and thunder rolled in and we were told to secure our displays for a brief thunderstorm.  This was at 3pm.  We all did that and sat inside our tents while it thundered and poured.  Then it reduced to a drizzle, so I peered out, only to find that many of my fellow artists/crafters were packing up.  Being a responsible exhibitors, I didn't, since the rule is "stay until the end of the show".  Finally, it got to be too much and around 4pm I, too, packed up.  My neighbor pulled their vehicle in, which resulted in a fracas with the show management, who even called the police, since they said the show wasn't over.  While I understand it wasn't over and there were a few people still milling around (and buying some low priced impulse type items), we were all miserable and wet.  It was still raining when I finally got packed up and on the road about 5:45.