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Dunedin was okay, just that, okay.  Of the three shows in central Florida for this weekend (Halifax, Lake Mary, Dunedin) it is probably the best.  But not by much.  The layout is confusing.  Buying energy was almost non-existent and if a potential customer walked away to “think about it” they would have a hard time finding you again.  My space sucked.  I bought a corner.  My first thought upon seeing my space was “I can’t believe I paid extra for this”.  It should not have been a space at all, terribly unlevel with some major dips in the ground that never did get filled in despite promises.  Too close to the water.  If I had leaned back in my chair too far I would have ended up in the pond.  Obviously it was rather damp which is just lovely for work under glass….  To add insult to injury when they emptied the trash they placed the bags of trash for pickup about 15 feet away from my booth and only picked them up in the evening after the show ended.

One very high point for me – they actually had SODA along with the beer and wine at the artist dinner.  And not poured into little tiny cups either.  I got to have an ENTIRE bottle of diet Coke.  I’m not being sarcastic here.  It is a huge pet peeve of mine when the artist dinner has beer, wine, and water only.

Load in and out wasn’t bad.  In my area you can drive right up to your booth. 

What seemed to be moving most, for me and others, were low cost impulse items.  I saw very little framed or large work leaving the show.  The people were very hesitant to buy.  I heard “Let me think about it” many, many times.

In the end, I did about average for a fall Florida show.  I made a little money.  I was hoping for more, but it was …. okay.

1. That exhibitor booths (10 x 10 with no storage area) cost $3500

2. That bloggers aren't as cool as artists

3. That I have to go mobile or die

4. How to play Angry Birds

Sometimes you just have to step outside of your comfort zone. I know the art fair world pretty well so I took the time and money to go to Los Angeles, November 3-5, to attend BlogWorld, held at the LA Convention Center. I attended with my son, Scott Fox, author and online small business coach, to learn more about the industry, ways to grow my business and to network with others who are in this category of "web workers."

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

It was attended by bloggers, software developers, authors, hosting agencies, interactive advertising agents, social media managers and people wanting to meet all of the above.

Most of my time is spent here at my desk, doing work online. It is work that I really enjoy and I interact with lots of people everyday, but being in a bigger world is quite exhilarating. All of us in the art fair business are wanderers who look forward to the next town and the next new event so it was great for me to leave these four walls and meet others who live their lives similarly.

There were more than 375 speakers with over 150 sessions, covering social media business, tourism, fitness, food, mobile, traffic, communities, marketing, creating content, apps and monetization. It was pretty overwhelming, but they leavened it with great parties each night.

I met Phil Hollows who owns Feedblitz (for all of you who get my RSS feeds) and strategized with Scott, about my art fair websites and where to go next with them. Actually he built my first three websites and then said, "go Mom, this should work for you." I came away with more ideas to enliven all the sites and extend my outreach to bring more customers to you at the nation's art fairs.

I was especially interested in finding anything about art, not much there, except artist Natasha Wescoat who was painting on site and her painting was going to go up for auction to benefit the United Way at the end of the conference. The most interesting person I met was Hugh MacLeod, a cartoonist whose niche is helping companies with communicating. That's his work above.

Natasha at work

Woodworker Bobby Hagstrom has a very cool site: theartofwoodshopdesign.com. The information there would be helpful to many artists in putting their work areas together.

If you're interested in learning more you might enjoy this video that Scott put together: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150528350592837

Home now, still processing everything and ready to go mobile. Heaven help me, I am not enthralled with learning new technology and will need your help.

One of our recent contributors to my latest post, Ruth Finkenbinder, got me thinking.  How do I write an interesting blog?  I am not necessarily witty like Nels but I want to contribute good info.

So here are a few pointers that might head you in that direction.  Read on, you just might like some of the ideas.  Think of it as a free workshop on writing.

Ernest Hemingway, one of my all time favorite authors used to say the best way to get over a mindblock about writing was to just write the simplest sentence you know.

It could be like, "The darn cat ate my lunch."

This then begs the question, first, how did the cat get in the refrigerator, and second, what did he think of it?  You see, it gets things going.

Another simple lesson from my early days of journalism, was the use of the "Five Ws and the H."

This stood for "where"' "what"' "when"', "why"' and "how".

If you could answer those questions in your lead paragraph it would give a lot of info consisely, and easily lead into other things.

So for example if you were coming back from the Dunedin Art Harvest show last weekend you might start off like this.

"Just finished Art Harvest in Dunedin last weekend, a two-day show with a Friday setup.  A lovely show held on the grounds of a local art center that is put on by the local art league, now in its 22nd year.  I decided after bombing at Halifax for three years and never getting into pensacola, that I would give it a try.  Boy am I glad we went..."

There it is all in one concise paragraph.  Then it leaves you multiple directions to go on.  You can talk about setup, awards, sales, artists you saw, how it compared to other shows you have done recently.  I hope you get the drift.

Most of us are not blessed like Barry Bernstein who can type with one toe and give more meat than an All-You-Can-Eat at Porkys.  Or Munks just let

s Bill the Cat, his eager alter ego write for him.  Me its all about pre-meditation--no tequila needed.

When you are driving back from a show that is the perfect time to think about, organize and picture what you want to say.  When you get home write a brief outline of topics that are important to you to tell us about--it is just that simple.

Another way of getting into the mode is to think how you would tell about the show if your best buddy, like Terri causey was listening.

You might say, "Terri, I was at Dunedin last weekend, can't get in Pensacola.  You should a seen the lowend stuff go by my booth all day.  More "art on the stick,  They were killing them."

When I was driving back from Pensacola, an eight-hour drive, I knew right away how i was going to start my blog using the "Pufferfish" as my opening.  Then one thing lead to another and I had it.

Nobody, especially if they are uncertain about writing, nails an absolutely perfect blog, but who is keeping score.  The more you write, the easier it will come.

Remember, keep it simple and expand like a conversation with your best friend and you will be amazed how things will pour out of your subconcious--and we all will be the better recipients for it.

And of course it never hurts to have a little glass of bubbly, or a good wine, or even a  great cocktail at your side.  I know Hemingway always did and I learned from the best of them .

Well I hope this little primer helped.  Love to see more info and insights coimg from some of you "lurkers" out there.  Aloha, Nels.

Last week I was in Los Angeles attending the BlogWorld Expo, a tradeshow and media event for web workers in all kinds of media. Every tradeshow requires a few parties. Imagine my surprise when the first party at Icon, a rooftop club in downtown LA, was sponsored by Eu4rik make that U4RIK, a tequila that was making its first appearance at the conference! Seemed to me there was no excuse not to attend. However, the complimentary tequila did not arrive that evening, supposedly stuck in traffic.

Next day, next party. Friday night we had 3 party invitations, first sponsored by LiveWyre. Held at Seven Grand, not far from LA Live, this is an amazing whiskey bar with a huge selection of whiskey, six pages of selections in the menu! The selection was so large that there was a library ladder that would slide along the back bar to access the top levels of bottles.

They specialize in pre-prohibition cocktails served in vintage glassware and the bar tenders were true artists. Glasses sprayed with a glazing of absinthe, hand mashed mint, burnt orange peel (they actually did burn it right there). Every cocktail was 'constructed.' Amazing.

I had a Duck Hunter, limited edition rare 10 year old Kentucky straight bourgon, stirred with Carpano Antica Formula & Amaro Lucano! Honey, let me tell you, this is NOT available in Coldwater, MI. Scott, my son who attended with me, had the New York Cocktail, made with Wild Turkey, shaken with fresh lime, grenadine & brown sugar, served up with the Absinthe rinse! Did I say this was an amazing place? Put it on your list for your next trip to LA.

We had dinner at Mas Malo, a new restaurant based on simple, locally sourced and high quality ingredients, that is on the ground floor of Seven Grand. It is a converted jewelry store with amazing architecture and then there is the food! Mas Malo features a range of classic dishes, exceptional cocktails and an extensive tequila and mescal collection. Scott ate Goat Barbacoa and I had the Baja Shrimp tacos. Sorry, forgot to take photos of the food.

Then on to the conference's evening party at the J Lounge on Olive Street, where I confronted the publicist for Eu4rik U4RIK and he apologized for the delay of the previous night's tequila. He has promised to send me a bottle and I'll be sending it on to one of the members here. Still I did my best to remain true to the tequila drinkers on this site and did a little tasting.

The J Lounge was another amazing location deep in the heart of historic Los Angeles. I do care about food and drink but even more was thrilled with the old restaurants and historic architecture we found in the vicinity of the Convention Center including the Figueroa Hotel. I'll be back.

hotartnow

The email dialogue below details an exchange with the Des Moines art festival yesterday. It was really refreshing to get detailed info from a show. Heck, I don't even care if they look at my slides at this point; its just great to get such detailed information from a show.

This contrasts, markedly with the note I got from the Winter Park Spring show earlier this week. It really was a stock rejection note, complete with instructions on how to archive my zapplication, and a note of encouragement to apply again next year. There was no information on how many applications they received or how many photographers applied. Nothing useful, really. I mean, it was courteous ...

What do y'all think? I wish every show would send detaild medium-specific information regarding applications. Heck, Zapp ought to have a "Show Jury Report" button in it. A show could elect to turn it on or not. I personally would not apply to shows that turned it off.

- Robert Green

   Photographer

   Winter Park, FL

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Green [mailto:rrgwpk@cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 1:28 PM
To: 'Stephen King'
Subject: RE: Des Moines Arts Festival

Thank you for your note Mr. King. I have probably applied to 150 in the last 4 or 5 years. Your communication, below, is the most informative that I have ever received from a show during or after a jury process. Keep up the good work!

Robert Green

Winter Park FL

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen King [mailto:sking@downtowndesmoines.com]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 12:58 PM
Subject: Des Moines Arts Festival
Importance: High

Thank you for applying to the 2012 Des Moines Arts Festival.  This email communication is intended to share information about what happens from here.

*We are currently working with Zapp to prepare the submitted images for the projection jury

*Our jury is Nov. 16-18 in Des Moines. 

*The entire process will be streamed online as we have done the past three years.  Detailed information about this will be emailed the week of the jury.

*We start our jury on the evening of Wed. Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of every application from start to finish.  Mediums are shone in random order.

This screening is open to you.  If you would like to attend, please join us starting at 6 p.m. for light hors d’oeuvres and beverages (adult and otherwise). The screening takes place in the Arthur Davis Conference Center located at 700 Locust Street on the street level – look for the signs.

*If you have never seen your images projected for the jury, this is an excellent opportunity.

*Scoring will begin on Thursday morning and continue into Friday until all artists have been scored.  After all artists have been scored we will stop the stream.

Our goal as stated in the application is to send communications with jury results no later than Dec. 2, 2011.  We will also post on our web site.

Application Results –

·        1,093 applications received (1,097 in 2011)

·        1,085 applications approved for jurying

·        1,054 applicants were professional artists (1,061 in 2011)

·        39 applicants are Emerging Iowa Artists (36 in 2010)

·        Applications were received from artists in 48 states and two countries

·        174 spaces will be available through the jury process. The balance of 11 are reserved for returning award winners.

·        1,085 applications represents 6,510 images

·        Over 850 artists will be eliminated 

Applicants/Invited by category:

2-D Mixed Media, 104

3-D Mixed Media, 54

Ceramics, 86

Computer Generated, 25

Drawing/Pastels, 22

EIA, 39

Fiber, 70

Glass, 58

Graphics/Printmaking, 35

Jewelry, 184

Metalworks, 45

Painting, 136

Photography, 127

Sculpture, 55

Wood, 45

Our Jury –

David Bryce was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently completed his MFA at the Queens College of the City University of New York.  He has been a featured artist in numerous galleries and exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery, Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, the New York Museum, and the Museum of Art (Munson-Williams Proctor Institute).  He is currently living in the Berkshires in Massachusetts with his wife and their two children.

Laura Burkhalter has been on the Des Moines Art Center's curatorial staff since 1999, serving as Curatorial Assistant till 2004, Assistant Curator from 2004-2009, and Associate Curator since then. Her exhibitions include Meet the New You, World Histories, Surface Value, and various incarnations of Iowa Artists. Burkhalter has also served as the Art Center's Docent Educator since 2005. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a B.A. in English and Art History, and is a native of Des Moines.

Born in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1952, Jerry Allen Gilmore earned a BFA in fiber and painting, a minor in both art history and creative writing/poetry from Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, and an MFA in painting and drawing from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. Over the past thirty years, Gilmore has built a unique and impressive career as both an artist and arts administrator including a combined fourteen years in Director and Curatorial practice at MARS Art-space, Phoenix, Arizona, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, Colorado, the CU Art Galleries, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, and most recently, Visual Arts Director / Curator at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, Colorado. Upon relocation to Saint Paul, Minnesota, Gilmore has continued his curatorial projects, artist portfolio reviews, jurying for both regional and national art institutions and continually discovering his own personal artwork and writings.

Gilmore has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, New Zealand, Peru, and Mexico.  His work also appears in the collections of the Nordstrom Corporation, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum and among numerous private collections throughout the U.S. Gilmore’s intimate miniatures and sweeping, large scale drawings are deceptively personal as he adopts a cast of animated characters and symbols to relate his own story, this work playfully addresses the often awkward issues of stereotypes, self identity, sexuality and religion with a keen sense of humor.

Peter Goché is an installation artist based in Ames, Iowa. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at Iowa State University. Goché holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Iowa State University. He taught in the Department of Art at Drake University before joining the faculty at the Iowa State University, where he coordinates and teaches design studios exploring architecture in relation to culture, landscapes and fabrication. For the last decade Goché has produced research assemblies specific to the ritualized landscape of Iowa. He is co-investigator/author of Guidelines for Spatial Regeneration in Iowa funded by the 2007 AIA Board of Knowledge Committee. Goché has presented his design-work and scholarship at many conferences and cultural institutions in North America.

If you have any question regarding the process, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Stephen King, CFEE
Executive Director, Des Moines Arts Festival^®700 Locust Street, Ste. 100

Des Moines, IA 50309
515-286-4927
fax 515-286-4942

Well, it was year ago today, when I almost died of "extreme Pufferfish poisoning" from this festival.  Still got the collection of slings and arrows, all 283 of them, which I look at fondly from time to time, reminds me to be careful what you photograph on those white fences.

That said, it is now a year later and I went back with high expectations--needed them after the six-inch-rain-drubbing at Bayou City last month, my last show.

This is my first show since I got back to Florida from wonderful Saugatuck,MI. where I spend almost six months based while doing the Midwest summer circuit.

Pensacola is the first weekend of November.  You can do Halifax in Daytona, or Art Harvest in Dunedin, or one in South Miami, or the one Geoff reported about in Coconut Point.  Many choices on any given weekend in Florida, but what's new about that.

For my money I will take Pensacola every time.  Potential to make much more money there. Why? It is a small show itself (lots of scabs and a Heritage event linked with it) so the fine arts and crafts really stand out at this show. Also the town does not have a lot of other events like this to compete and drain it.

It is not an easy show to get into. The committee runs their own show and juries it.  I noticed a number of long-standing artists were not back this year.  A few chose to opt out--many others didn't make the jury cut.  Top flight artists in every category.  Very little buy/sell.  The town has money, lot of it old money.  You have a large Navy presence here, a strong University and a thriving port.  So the potential for sales is there if you can coax that lucre out of their little shrimp-stained purses.

Pensacola is an old southern town, it might almost be a little more Alabama than it is Florida.  Perched right on the western-most edge of the state, bordered with a spectacular bay and world class beaches.  Life is slow and elegant here.  Strangers look ya right in the eye and hold the door open for ya as your going into the Wafflehouse--and they say, "Good mornin to ya" and mean it.

Easy town to navigate, filled with great bars and restaurants--yeah, seafood is king here.  Go to Wintzels for $5 raw oysters and eat all you want with $1 drafts.  Eat yourself silly with Shrimp 'n' grits everywhere.  In my favorite breakfest spot, the Coffee Cup, they had a great logo--"No grits, no glory."  

OK. Back to the show.  It's a three-dayer with an easy setup on Thursday in Seville Square.  This is an old oak-treed park with sidewalks and lots of mulch to keep the dust down.  Bring a floor covering. Parking can be tight, everybody copes with it.  Everybody says they dread teardown which starts at 4pm on Sunday--what a civilized idea, why don't more shows do this?

Most people have room behind for storage.  They actually come out on Friday and buy stuff--although this year it was lot slower and colder.  Bring heavy coats, this is northwest Florida, it gets cold here.  It is very refreshing, you can actually experience fall in Florida.

Friday nite, show end everybody hurrys over for frees eats and cheap drinks put out by the show,  Awards are then given.  In past years I have noted the food was gone in 30 minutes with no replenishing, this year was different and for the better--keep those raw oysters and shrimp coming.

Saturday was warmer with good crowds who mostly kept their hands in their pockets.  Lots of grumbling and jaw-nashing (i know it is spelled wrong, but it aptly describes the situation)--hey. at least I knew the difference.

Sunday dawned with many of us forgetting "fall-back" our clocks--that darn DST thing.  We all were expecting great things--especially, since this is not a Monday show.

Well. It started just like Saturday and got a little better as the day wound on.  A noted Alabama painter who has exhibited here for 30 years had his best show.

My neighbor, from Thomas Edison land killed them as usual.  She is a "hottie".  Saw Andy Shea, all the way down from Minnesota, and he was doing just OK.  I think he had thoughts of being Susan Gott's next helper.  they are both very talented hot glass artists.  Many, like Andy , pair this show up with Disney one, next weekend, to make it a worthwhile trip.

All in all, it was an OK show for me, off by 40 per cent over last year, but I still made money, just not as much as I was hoping for.  I just didn't see a lot of buying energy in the patrons this year.  Maybe it was just an off year.

I know one thing though--I 'll go back to it in a heartbeat.

By the way folks, that's how you write an interesting blog that gives a lot of meat and a little wit and wisdom.  You don't have to be Einstein to do it.  Sure would like to see more of you step up to the plate and give some meaningful info.  A few of ya have caught on--kudos to ya!

Charlotte Fine Arts Festival.  First year show.  Symphony Park, home of the Summer Pops series in south Charlotte is an amphitheater area located adjacent to Charlotte’s high end mall, SouthPark, as well in the same vicinity as some of the wealthier neighborhoods in the area.  I think I’ve mentioned there is a dearth of solid art shows in the Charlotte area even though there are two thriving arts districts.  I wasn’t sure that all of the advertising in the world would bring the fine folks of Charlotte out to buy.  I was wrong.

This was my first show with a promoter.  I almost bypassed it even though it was in my own back yard. Trepidation abounded.  Wasn't sure what to expect...  shouldn’t have worried.  Bill was everywhere and making sure that all was well. 

Setup/teardown was relatively easy.  Some were able to pull in and unload.  Others dollied in.  None of it seemed to be a big deal…Saturday dawned bright and blustery…I was happy I took the plunge and invested in my Trimline.  It was my second time out with it and it was a rock with the heavy vinyl sides protecting my glass from the wind…and the people started coming through shortly before the 10am start time and continued until the 6pm close.

And they bought.  They were pleasantly surprised that it was a ‘real’ art show and not a craft show.  They were pleased that someone was catering to their market.  They were happy that it was all about the art and not a carnival.  I had my first sale 20 minutes into the show and the trend continued all day when a gentleman who had stopped by earlier came back at closing time.  He had coaxed his wife out of the mall to show her the piece he wanted to buy.  Her response?  “Honey, that costs more than the pair of shoes that I wanted to buy!”  He bought his glass piece and I suspect that she’ll get her shoes as well… My sales were lower on Sunday but still contributed to an extremely nice profit for the weekend.  Since I faced the entrance, I saw large pieces walking out as well as many small jewelry bags but can't speak to anyone else's sales but my own.   

The advertising brought people in from the immediate area and from north and south of town.  The excellent signage brought in people who were unaware of the show.  The people came and they were hungry for us.  And they want more.

I've reviewed this show several times before, so I'll keep this one short.  (You can read earlier reviews, including details on the area demographics and show logistics here.)

If you like to take your art without side orders of carnival and kettle corn, the Estero Fine Art show is a good way to go.  Run by Patty Narozny's HotWorks LLC, this is the fall installment of her biannual shows at Miromar Outlets in Estero, FL (about 15 miles north of Naples).  Over the last four years, the event has developed a nice following among fine artists and local show-goers.  It's not a big event (only 75 artists this year), but it's high quality, with a good mix of local and international artists, a wide variety of media, special programs for youth and disabled artists, and solid awards programs ($1500 in artist awards, plus several purchase awards). There's a lemonade stand, but no food hawkers (and they're not needed, with a plethora of mall restaurants within easy walking distance.) The music is pleasant but mellow. And the artists are well cared for, with ice water and booth sitters available throughout both days.

Patty puts her marketing savvy to good use in promoting the show, with good airplay of a 30-second TV spot, good media placement, and nicely designed glossy postcards, 

And it seems to pay off.  We've all done shows in shopping malls and seen "patrons" strolling the show with armfuls of bags from mall retailers, but none from artists. But as the show unfolded this weekend, I noted that although attendance was moderate, a large percentage of visitors were actually stopping in to browse, converse, and (sometimes) buy.  Saturday sales were more than respectable for me, under brilliant blue skies and coolish (for SW Fla) temperatures.  Sunday was unseasonably hot and a bit more humid, and a bit uncomfortable in my tent for this time of year.  Buyers enough, but more small purchases, making for a lower sales volume.  I was down about $350 from the previous day, but given that my home is only 15 minutes' drive from the show, I can still chalk this one up in the "Win" column.

Most of the artists I spoke with were satisfied with their sales totals.  A husband-and-wife mixed media team reported that sales were up 40% over last year's more-than-acceptable take. One well-known local painter sold two of his large (roughly 4x5 foot) acrylics on Saturday;   Several high-end jewelers said they were happy enough with their totals.
Two photographers, new to the show circuit, made enough sales to be encouraged. "Decent, but not gangbusters," said one jeweler, and that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment.  With the economy in SW Florida still lagging and the seasonal Green-bucked Snowbirds just beginning to arrive, that's not a bad commentary.

Upsides:

* Patty and her staff stroll the show frequently.  And she goes out of her way to find out how artists are faring, sales-wise, and is generous with her suggestions on how to improve booth appearance and saleability of one's art.  In my view, this makes her shows particularly desirable for emerging artists who are talented enough to be juried in, but eager to improve their quality and marketability.  

Downsides:

* As in years past, some patrons were heard complaining about how hard it was to find a parking space near the show.  (Some of that blame can be laid on artists who chose to ignore the artist parking, about five minutes' walk from the show venue, and park close in to the tents.) 

* Despite fewer artists this year, the show had a tighter layout: Booth space was reduced from its previous 12x12 foot dimensions to 11x11, which made for one tight setup.  There was sufficient space behind your booth for your inventory,  but unless you were on a corner space or had a back door in your booth it was difficult, if not impossible, to squeeze between tents and get to it.  I'm already looking forward to the January 2012 installment of this fine show, but I, and especially my sore back, hope that it will mark a return to the 12x12 layout.

(Postscript: In a post-show thank you email, Patty explained that the tighter space was due to her desire to avoid a repeat of 2010's "split show" layout (which was a concession made necessary by the owners' redesign of the area in which the show was held). "Therefore, we have a smaller area to use, because we want to remain on the front part of the mall with high visibility from the roads," she noted.)

So since it’s been a while since we’ve had a show posting, thought I would throw this one out there ‘cause it was just an enjoyable show for me…

Bluffton, SC is the gateway to Hilton Head Island.  Bluffton has two faces…new housing development, outlet malls and big box stores.  And then there is historic Bluffton full of charming homes, fine art and fine craft galleries and non-chain restaurants.  Historic Bluffton can be considered a transitional area…older homes mixed with restored treasures…

Now on to the Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival…It’s during prime shrimping and oyster season so the food was excellent.  It runs for two weeks with activities every day culminating in the Arts Festival on the last weekend.  I walked it last year to see if I wanted to do it and gave it the nod because the quality is pretty much spot on.  Jewelry and Fiber art is specifically excluded from this show.  Paper application.  They are trying to keep it to around 100 artists.  Setup and teardown doesn’t get any easier than this. Pull up to your booth site and get it done.  Artist parking is about half a mile away with a bus to take you back and forth.

It’s set up bowling alley style down the main drag of Calhoun Street with booths on each side of the street.  Visitors are bused in from a nearby parking lot and they came in droves.  Volunteers greeted each visitor as they got off the bus followed by a small cluster of chiropractor, newspaper and latte/smoothie/pastry booths and then the art starts.  And thank heavens for that coffee booth as the mornings had a nice chill…

Artist booths are not stacked up on top of each other.  For the most part, some space between booths and storage behind your booths on the sidewalks.  It didn’t feel like it was crowded and it didn’t feel like it was too spread out. There were about 40+ booths and then the music and food booths for a break for the visitors and then they continue on with the remainder of the booths, 40+ booths.  I think 95 artists total.  Now I can’t speak to how it was for artists down by the food or music stage.  I was in a good, middle of the pack location with open space on all sides.  For those who left their purchases for pickup on the way out, it sometimes took well over 2 hours before I saw them again as they meandered, shopped and ate their way through the festival.

Sales?  My Saturday sales were stellar for selling my glass.  It’s a good measure of sales for me when I use up a full roll of bubble wrap in one day.  I goose egged on Sunday but enjoyed the weather and talking with folks.  The multi-media artist next to me had outstanding sales both days.  I talked to some folks who did just OK and some who did well.  All I can say is that the show management did their job and got the people there.  An ad in Southern Living, the local papers, flyers placed around town.

Oh yeah…last but certainly not least…the organizers and volunteers.  Communicative, helpful, organized.  They set the tone by being easy going about the whole thing.  Someone was always there to provide a break, let you know about coffee and donuts in the morning, where to go, checking in to see how I was doing, etc.  This was just a relaxing show to do…

Time to decide – May Shows  - Go South or Stay Home?  The rainy season has definitely started in Seattle and we are thinking we really wanted to cut the rainy season short with a road trip to Northern CA.  Earlier this year we decided that staying in the Pacific NW for all of our shows didn’t make sense, too many months with marginal shows, too many gloomy months, time to head south and enjoy some sunshine while working!!

After lots of research using this site, Art Fair Calendars, AFSB, FNO, etc. we’re more undecided than ever before. We keep hearing that California shows are not worth the drive (over 1000 miles from Seattle), Arizona is still economically depressed, Nevada has few good shows, so what do we do for May and September?  We’re tired of setting up for rainy Seattle shows, but we don’t want to waste our time or energy heading to Northern CA only to be disappointed and feel like we’ve wasted our time.

Here’s our dilemma, I’m still working that “corporate job” while trying to help my husband as much as possible establish his niche in the art show markets.  I have quite a bit of vacation leave, but it's quickly used up with travel to shows.  He’s the primary artist, I’m the “class A” personality with a few pieces of art, but my contribution is more in the bookkeeping, organizing, business planning, etc.  BTW, did I mention my corporate jobs have been in finance, accounting, process re-engineering and sales support?  So no, I’m not a full time artist, but totally supportive of my artist husband and trying to do everything possible to make his art career a success.

We started doing community art shows / art walks in late 2005, graduated to a few fine art shows in 2007 after we spent a few frustrating months realizing the community events were NOT our market.  We have  a  reasonably predictable schedule in the Pacific NW after the past 5 years of participating in fine art shows, but have a few months a year with few or no show opportunities, hence our idea to expand our market and try a few shows in Northern CA.    We’re a bit tired of the “gloom and gray” of Seattle and the thought of an extra month or two (May and September) of sunshine was worth the travel.

Are California shows really as bad as I’m hearing from other artists in this area? Do we take the risk?  How much vacation time am I willing to burn on this experiment?  Or do we decide to use our airline miles and just have fun on a quick getaway to the sunshine?

Trying to decide if we need to try a different direction for 2012 and would appreciate any feedback or insight.

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Find more art fairs for 2011 & 2012

www.CallsforArtists.com 

1.  Call for artists: Stained Glass  St. Mary's School (Medford, OR) is currently building a Chapel dedicated in loving memory of Patrick Naumes. Seeking artists to design and create our 32 stained glass windows and provide art for the 14 interior art niches. Deadline 11.30.11. Download the Request for Proposals here.

2.  UM: Artist Residency The Ann Arbor Chronicle, 10.19.11
Applications are being accepted from artists and designers interested in the Witt Residency Program at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. "The Witt residency provides students an alternative learning opportunity to engage with practicing artists who make use of resources across campus, therefore the ideal candidate must value collaboration, have good social and communication skills and be interested in generating creative partnerships across disciplines." In addition to a $20,000 honorarium, the residency provides housing, studio space and up to $5,000 for materials. Deadline: 1.10.12

3.  Creative Illustrator Needed for Medical Project
Interested in using your illustration skills to improve family bonding? Help develop an informational poster to introduce families to the developmental benefits of using sign language with infants. The final product will be published and displayed in our clinic. Looking particularly for illustrators who have experience with graphic design. A small stipend will be offered. Please email as soon as possible with examples of your work or any questions to Linda Schultz lschul@umich.edu

4. Plus, read all about Ann Arbor's Lynda Cole reflections on placing third at the Grand Rapids' ArtPrize and winning $50,000.

Many thanks to the Arts Alliance newsletter for this information, a wonderful resource for arts information: http://a3arts.org/

When I posted my blog piece "Why aren't I selling?" I did not expect the response that I received. All I can say is WOW! I just finished reading each and everyone of them and appreciate the various comments, opinions and thoughtful insights that others have on the subject.

Michael R. made the remark "... sold to 4 out of every 10 that stopped by? Really?" To that I have to respond, "Yes, really," however, when I gave that figure, I did not say whether or not the individual had gone by my booth before without purchasing something. This in fact happened several times and a few of the "4 out of 10" came back either the same day or one of the following days of the show to purchase. When they returned they told me they just had to come back because of the amount of energy, the way they were made to feel important, especially when I would excuse myself to answer someone's question, tell that person I would be right with them as soon as I finished with the other person, and then return to talking with them, tell them to enjoy their day even when they didn't buy anything the first time around. I even joked with one person and told them I felt like a used car salesman when I explained about the festival and what we were striving for. The response I received was that I never made the person "feel like" they were being sold a bill of goods.

I have to agree with Michael that if my numbers matched and/or balanced out with the total number of attendees then it would have been a highly profitable venture to say the least. If I HAD sold according to the attendee numbers, I would have been out of stock the first day of the show. LOL. Believe me, I realize just like everyone that sales don't always go by the numbers and in a perfect world we would ALL realize the fruits of our labors. To me, however, building good customer, or potential customer, relationships is extremely important. I did have several people that were pleased that I was still doing the festival as they remembered me from last year (they did not purchase anything from me then), the referrals to other vendors I had given them when they were looking for something specific and directions to various places of interest within Alpena. They even brought others to the Festival this year to meet me and they all purchased something with a promise that they would return again next year.

Word of mouth on the positiveness and/or negativeness of an experience at a show can make or break a show or a vendor. For example, a vendor had a customer complain about a shirt they had purchased last year that was handpainted. The customer even brought the shirt in to show how badly the paint had come off. The vendor looked at the shirt and asked if they had "hand" washed it according to the instructions they received when they purchased the shirt. Even though the customer did not follow the insturctions, the vendor told them he felt bad about the results and gave them two different shirts at no cost to them. The customer was floored by this and even stated that a lot of BIG companies wouldn't do that. He ended up purchasing a stained class and hand carved mirror from this same vendor. When the customer left the show, he stopped at the ticket/information area to tell them that he would definitely be back and bringing others because of the way he was treated months after a prior shows sale by a vendor.

At Festival, even in these tough economic times, we've tried, for the most part, to be very upbeat and positive. We must be doing something right as we will be hosting our 17th year in 2012! The Festival goes out of its way to make sure that the vendors have what they need, when they need it and be as supportative as possible. However, there are a few that no matter what you do, that are not happy but that happens anywhere.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments and for the food for thought. Mike R, just want you do know I appreciate YOUR comments as well as wasn't picking on you. The numbers and rationale were right on the money, just felt that your comment was a good one to use as an example of how numbers can be tweaked and not really give a good accurate result. May each and everyone of you have a successful show, meet wonderful people and enjoy all the best that life has to offer.

If you are one of those who is unimpressed with photography and the creativity that is required, you have to take a look at this work by Angelo Musco. If you have a few minutes, take a look at the video at the link also.

Some people might say that humans beings are herd animals. But these stunning images appear to prove the adage beyond any doubt. 

These surreal mosaics, made from thousands of swarming human bodies, were the talk of this year's Pulse LA art fair.

The awe-inspiring pieces, created by New York based-photographic artist Angelo Musco, are, literally, making waves in the photographic world.

i need opinion from anyone.   i am in process of designing a sculpture for someone in tx.  they originally want 100 pieces now supposedly they are down to 20.  I have been redesigning this piece now for over 3 weeks.  They did not like this, i changed it,   they did not like that,  i changed that.   Finally sent them a picture of a final design. Now all of a sudden they want my prototype, sent to them ups for final approval.   So i went from 100, to 20 to 1 

I am not in the market of sending prototypes.   I am sure this is for xmas.  actually they are an oil co in tx with i am sure a lot of welders.   I feel like i am getting jerked around and i told them they are running out of time  since i have 4 shows in 6 weeks time for the holiday    need your opinion