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I wanted to know the view of artists when it comes to patrons taking photos of your art work. I have been known to delete photos from cameras of those taking pictures without my permission. I don't quite understand the reasoning of artists that just let people come in to their booth with these huge cameras and take photos of their work...mainly 2-D art. I had a person with the the Sheriff Dept several years ago take a photo...made cards out of my art, photoshop my name out of the image and then used it as the Holiday Greeting card for the sheriff dept. I had to hire a lawyer send a letter and hope this person ceased...if not it was my understanding that it could cost 'me' several thousand dollars to fight this person in court. That translates to time and money I could not afford to be wrapped up just to slap someone else on the wrist.

Recently at an art show. I stopped a woman from taking a picture of my art and she was very upset. It was on a Sunday and after the show Rick and I decided to eat then go back and tear down our booth. We took our name tags off and went to a local diner only to be seated behind the same woman without her knowledge that we were there. As her friends came to join her they started sharing on their cameras the different images that they were going to go home and print out. Photo taking has become very common at the art shows and it just surprises me how many artist really don't mind one way or another if a customer takes a picture. My question is, why should they buy your art when they can just go home and print it out? I would welcome views on this topic...I'm not a guard dog...however, when it comes to protecting my art I have had to learn to watch my booth very carefully.

By early August, nobody really needs to read another review that talks about the heat, and besides, I'm tapped out of metaphors on the subject.  But as long as heat continues to keep folks from venturing to art fairs, or shuts down the neurons controlling impulse buying and pursestrings, it's relevant. 

And so it was at Cooper River last weekend.  Low 90s and drenchingly humid for Friday setup; drier but low 90s (again) on Saturday and Sunday.  Run by Bill Kinney of Paragon Events, this is definitely an "Art in the Park" kind of show: in a large lakeside park a few blocks off the main shopping drag, with no shopping venues or restaurants close at hand.  Crowds were light all weekend. To be fair, some of the folks who showed up really wanted to be there.  But a sizeable number were browsers who just came to the park hoping for a breeze or bike ride and got curious when an art show happened in front of them. 

Visitors were unfailingly friendly and fun--I'm a Philly guy, these are my peeps!--and Cherry Hill is only five miles across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia.  But it wasn't really an art-buying crowd.  I made about three times booth fee, and felt lucky to have done that.  One of my neighbors, who runs one of those "spell-anything-with-photo-letters" businesses that I'm seeing more and more of these days, barely covered expenses and said that if it wasn't his worst show ever, it was close.  A couple of high-end 2-D artists I spoke with fared no better.  Even the burger-and-lemonade vendor near me said that it was a break-even event for him.  Now that's surprising!

To his credit, promoter Kinney wasn't all roses and sunshine in a post-show letter to his artists, citing the unrelenting heat, humidity, and even "indecision over...raising the debt ceiling" as factors in the "spotty" buying, though he noted that some artists' sales "left them happy given the brutal circumstances." He also shared details on his advertising spend and media placement for the show.

I appreciate Bill's efforts--he's a pretty straight shooter and knows how to recruit and run a show (although the 6 PM close on Saturday made little sense to me, with nothing to draw people to the show over the dinner hour). But although the park's ample parking lot and wide-open spaces made setup/teardown a breeze, that was the only breeze to be had all weekend, and the few shade trees around all lined the bike path, meaning they were unable to provide relief to artists and patrons.  I suspect this is a great venue for a spring or fall show, but in the dead of summer, the odds are against this being a comfortable show to do, or to attend. 

I needed to wait a week to write my comments about Ann Arbor.  A friend of mine called me last Thursday and she said she still hadn't recovered from the grueling 4 day show. I was feeling the same, except that I had another setup on Friday and then 2 more days of direct sunlight. So, it's taken me another week to get it together. 

I think I am uniquely qualified to talk about Ann Arbor because I have watched this show for 45 years from different perspectives.  When I was 15 years old, I thought I was an intellectual.  I joined a summer group that introduced me to a lot of very cool things.  We listened to Coltrane and Charley Parker.  We read Ginsberg poetry and James Joyce novels. We went to the old Hillsberry theater to see Shakespeare and to the movie theater to see "Raisin in the Sun," Lastly, we took a trip to Ann Arbor to see the art fair.  In those days the show was on just South University and East U. Artists leaned there paintings against ladders and potters displayed their pots on old crates. That was 1964.  After I got out of college, in 1972, I ended up working as a store manager and buyer in the shoe business.  We had 6 stores in Michigan and I ended up at the Ann Arbor store on South U., where I ran our store for 2 years. During the Art Fair we brought all our sales merchandise from the other stores and set up racks on the street.  We did 1/3 of our yearly business during those 4 days.  In those days, the Ann Arbor Art Fair was the premier show in the country and many of the artists were museum quality. Realizing that retail was not for me, I went back to school and took clay classes at a college.  I started doing art fairs in 1981 and got into the State Street show in 1982 and I have done it off and on for the past 30 years.

By the time I got into the Ann Arbor shows, they had morphed into 3 shows, the Original, State Street, and the Guild.  The reason for this was that the whole business community wanted to get into the act of selling their old merchandise during an otherwise slow time.  This worked throughout the '80s and the '90's because the artists did well and the merchants did well.  But, make no mistake, this was always about the merchants selling their wares.  We were just there to get the people to come to Ann Arbor.  The show committees never did much for the artists but it didn't matter because we did really well.  And expenses were low. You could get a room at the Michigan League or the Bell Tower for less than $80.  You could park in a lot for less than $5, but, if you got there early and left after 10PM you didn't have to pay anything. Show fees were less than a third of what they are today.

In those days, the Original show was considered the best show, State Street next, and then the Guild.  But it worked because once you got into your show and got a space, you stayed in your space for years so that your customers could find you. The shows had grown to over 1200 exhibitors. Consequently, the quality of the 3 shows remained high and there wasn't much difference in the shows.  Everyone had their preferred space.  I know plenty of great artists, like John Long, who had a spot on Main Street(the Guild Show), for years. The State Street show liked to put its best artists on North University to compete with the Original show.  I was on North University in those days and I loved my space.  North U. did not have any vendors on the street except for Moe's Sport Shop.  The rest of the street was dedicated to the artists. I regularly did between $6000 and $10000, which in todays dollars would be $10K-$18K. The Ann Arbor shows were considered in the top 2 shows along with Coconut Grove.

In the late '90' things were starting to change.  Sales were still good, but, we would hear grumbling from the merchants wishing we weren't there.  And, you'd hear about the locals saying they go out of town during the event.  And, it seemed like everyone with a parking lot or an empty building were renting out spaces to anyone willing to pay for it. And, the 3 legit shows kept adding booths, opening new streets. Starting around 2001 things started to change.  Attendance started to go down very slightly.  The buyers starting staying home because the shows had gotten too big.  None of the serious art buyers wanted to wade through all the junk to get to the good stuff.  Even though sales were off all little, they were still good, so, nobody really complained.  

Things really started to nose dive in the mid 2000's(2005? I'm guessing) when the Original Show had a problem with the South University Area Association.  I can't speak to the problem because I don't know any of the details, but, the Original Show was moved to the campus on North University abutting the State Street Show. The SUAA started their own show in the same location of the old Original and now there were 4 legit shows.  Show fees started to skyrocket, there was absolutely no free parking anywhere, and if you wanted to stay at the Bell Tower it would cost you $350 for a room.  It is my opinion that the attitude of the merchants and Ann Arbor, in general, crossed a line.  They never welcomed us warmly except to thank us for bringing all that business to the local community. But then around 2005 it seemed that they started taking us for granted.  Many, many really great artists stopped doing the show and over the years are being replaced with average or really poor exhibitors. And, more and more commercial vendors showed up on the streets and in spaces where artists used to be.  And still, none of us really complained, except a few of us, because sales were still decent and since the majority of exhibitors hadn't done these events during the golden age, they accepted the status quo.

Then came this year, and because of the heat, which kept people away and kept people from buying, you are all whining and saying all the things that I have been saying for the past 10 years.  I agree with everything that was said in Nels review and everything that was said in the comments.  I've always been accused of whining too much.  I really glad some other people stepped up to the plate and said what needed to be said.  This was the worst year ever in the history of the show.  I would have been embarrassed to show some of the things that I saw being sold in the booths.  With the reputation that Ann Arbor has, you would think they could attract better art.  Oh yeah, ridiculously high booth fees, high parking fees, inflated hotel rooms, and commercial vendors encroaching on the artists spaces.  Maybe the smart ones are doing something else.  On any weekend there are now 5 shows to chose from.

Some of you talked about reducing the hours and making the show 3 days.  That will never happen.  Nothing will ever change because the Ann Arbor events are about and have always been about the merchants selling their sales merchandise.  I heard some grumbling about boycotting the shows.  None of you have the balls or the commitment to do that and that would be the only way to change things. As I've said many, many times we create business for any community that has a show.  That, in turn, creates taxable income, so that the city and the state benefit from our being there.  Ironically, no other community benefits more from a show than Ann Arbor and no community takes us for granted more than Ann Arbor.  So, unless you are willing to make a real commitment, nothing will ever change.

Now about the economy and the show in general:  I talked to a lot of people.  The thing that makes the Ann Arbor shows great is that it attracts people from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.  No other show does that and because of that fact, there is always the possibility of making great sales no matter what the conditions are.  What was missing this year were the buyers from the North suburbs of Detroit, who make up the majority of the buyers at this show.  It was way too hot.  The radio stations were telling people to stay inside and not go anywhere, which meant not coming to the show.  And in talking to everyone, it seemed that everyone I talked to were from other states.  I talked to nobody from West Bloomfield, Birmingham, etc. Those people stayed home and that was the real reason why people did poorly.  In fact, there was some indication that things are turning around for those of us that make one of a kind objects.  I base that on the fact that I hadn't seen any gallery owners for 2 years.  I could always count on at least 1 gallery order at any show that I would do.  In the past 2 weeks, including Ann Arbor, I had 4 galleries come into my booth and express wanting to do business again. One gallery had sold all my work this summer and needed more. Two of the galleries were galleries that that I had sold to regularly in the '90's but hadn't bought in the past 10 years.  They are now eager for new work.  Because of this, I feel that things are turning around for us. 

I will probably do the show next year because I've always accepted the situation and am willing to live with it.

Ok here's the meat, along with a few pictures. First off, this is a small show in a small Chicago suburb that lies between Highland Park to the north and Winnetka to the south. Lots of money here, and a very cute little downtown area. The show is on Park Avenue, a block west of Green Bay Road, and on Vernon.

Park Street View, looking west. Middle row of booths on right side.

It's an easy set-up, with two flights two hours apart. Setup continues as late as you need. The layout places artists on both sides of the street facing each other, backs to the businesses, and then there's a third row of booth down the center of both streets. It does add to the energy, as there aren't a lot of people at any given time. Packing the booths in a little tighter makes it seem busier, even when it's not. And there were many times when it was very not busy.

My booth, with Penelope Osio-Brown parked in front of it, watching her booth (off stage left)

I had a spot on the end of the middle row on Park Ave. I was right at the corner, where Park met Vernon. Since the booth had a facing on both sides of the street and in the front, I had to alter my standard corner configuration to allow for doorways on all three sides. There was a bit of space behind the booth, too, so I did have a little space to store the toolbox and a duffel bag. Plus, I was right across from Starbucks. Bonus! Karyn likes Starbucks. And there were a couple of good little restaurants right there -- the Food Stuffs grocery and deli has amazing sandwiches and salads. The Homestyle Pizza place also has good salads. Nobody starves here.

Lots of AFI'ers were there. Geri Wegner came by and introduced herself to Bob and Patti Stern, who were right across from me on the north side. She's a hoot! Hi Geri! Nice to meet you! And Carla Bank stopped by, too. I got snagged by a customer, and by the time I finished answering a question, Carla had gone on. Sorry I didn't get a chance to chat with you more, Carla!

Loel Martin, after making his first sale of the day

Cheryl Ward, PJ Commerford, Wendy Zoschke (L to R)

Marc Zoschke

Stevie Ray Baldauf, doing his rock-star imitation

Paul Zerjay and Jim Parker. Why are we smiling? Who knows!

Stephen and Cheryl Ward, manning two separate booths

Paul Zerjay was there, as were about a million photographers, including Rob and Jim Copeland, Loel Martin, Scott Fishman, Scott Fincher, Igor Menaker. PJ and Dick Commerford were there. So were Wendy & Marc Zoschke, Steve & Anita Baldauf, Cheryl and Stephen Ward. Lots of artshow couples. We had a huge dinner on Saturday night at J. Alexanders in Northbrook. That was fun, but I didn't consume any tequila, Nels. The prime rib sandwich was excellent, and the shoestrings fries are good as long as they're hot.

Rob Copeland, scoping out the competition (me)

Traffic was good early in the morning. People started coming around 9:15, fully 45 minutes before the show opened, on both Saturday and Sunday. Taking advantage of the cooler morning breezes. But sales were like pulling hens' teeth. Everybody was singing the blues on Saturday. Many of the artists still had not made expenses by the end of the day on Saturday. The hours are civilized: 10-5 both days, and so by 5:15 we were on our way to cooler climes. There was a bit of an artist party, with cheese and crackers, but we skipped that, since my niece was visiting with her husband and 7 month baby. 

Sunday wasn't much better. I had a few sales , mostly smaller prints. The Sterns sold a bit, as did our painter friends PJ and Dick, the Baldaufs and the Wards. But mostly it was slim pickins. Paul Zerjay told me that it was one of his best shows last year, and was looking forward to it this year. But somehow the heat kept the buyers away, and by 3PM, the artists were all wandering around talking to each other.

Load out is pretty easy. Big parking lot on the south end of the show for trailers and RVs was reserved all weekend. Again, Amy had two flights for load-out. The artists in the middle were to pack up and bring in vehicles first, then the artists on both sides. In practice, it was easier for most to park outside the show and dolly out. We had a load-out record of 1:45 -- and I was able to bring the trailer in to load, which helped. We hit the road by 7:30, and got home to Michigan at around 3AM. It was an exhausting weekend, mainly because of the heat.

Amy does a good job of organizing the show, publicizing it, and running an up-to-date website. Her communication is excellent, business-like, and she's visible throughout the entire show, along with her green-shirted staff. But she can't force people to come when it's hot out. The thermometer was in the 90's both days, with slightly less humidity than  Ann Arbor. But it was uncomfortable in the sun. There was lots of shade behind the booths, which is where this Streetwise vendor was sleeping, near the Starbucks. And that just about sums up the show. Sleepy, but fun.

StreetWise vendor, working behind Penelope Osio-Brown's booth, near Starbucks. 

I call it "Nightmare on Montgomery Street"

This is billed as an art and fine craft show, boasts a tough jury, apps are through Zapp, cost is 260 for 3 days. There are money awards in categories and one "Award of Distinction" The show is set up around Columbus circle and the streets that come off it like spokes on a wheel. One of the streets, Montgomery, has had its own show for years... a "gypsy" show that has lots of good work but also some bad stuff and some B/S and some groups selling tshirts and posters .

A few years ago they started playing around with the date (never a good thing) and decided to schedule the art show alongside other festivals on the same day, also a bad idea. Why wouldn't a mid-sized city spread the fun around so you have something every weekend to look forward to and to spend unfettered time at? Why make people choose?But I digress.

I was ready to drop the show even though it was once a favorite, but an artist friend recently moved there and lives in a great house in the Strathmore district and always convinces me to keep doing the show because we have fun. Oh, OK. (she won the award of distinction this year after being juried out last year. Ah, sweet irony)

When we got there, we learned that we would be on Montgomery Street, that the Montgomery street show had been moved to a parking lot a block down and across a street that was open to traffic. We would be in front of the entrance to the soup kitchen and we had no less than 4 cops come tell us to never leave the booth and hide our money. I was perplexed and a tad irritated, but nothing compared to what I would feel when I actually left set up to walk to the bathroom.

The first half of our block was commercial. The half that led onto the circle, the half that the customers saw. It was anchored by BathFitters, featuring a lovely chicklet in teeny shorts and a tight shirt posing under the shower head, stepping in and out of the tub. Oh cheeses.

There were home improvement booths, a cutlery guy who looked so mean I was worried about the sharp objects in front of him. 5 booth spaces were left empty so as not to block the cheap clothing sale in a parking lot. Another 4 or 5 spaces stood empty so that a store could set up tables with used books and CD's. There was a wine slushy set up, 2 food booths, there were 2 booths with Native American "Art and Craft" that was neither, face painting, Syracuse University had the corner across from the bathtub gyrations and their book sale took up about 5-6 spaces. The art show resumed after all that crap and then was anchored at the end of the block by a big display from "Boom Baby" another cheap clothing emporium and a soul food cart.There were probably 20 art booths between the crap at the beginning of the and the end of the street.

I could barely see, I was so ticked off. Are you kidding me???

Everyone was upset, including the Montgomery show folks who were shooed off their traditional shady street to do time in the sun on asphalt.

Meanwhile, behind our spot, there were 2 arrests, one loud profane shouting match and an impromptu performance by a young man with an old boom box whose main talent was singing louder than the box and who considered himself part of the show.

  Someone a few booths down from us apparently was offended by the aroma of the storm drain in their spot and covered it. As a result, my booth had ankle deep water in it for several hours on Friday, I could only walk in it barefoot, that's how deep it was. The maintenance crew came by to check it out and said they couldn't do anything about it because the display was set up over it. Oh really? Let me give it a try. Several booths were affected, but mine won the depth award.

Yay me.

Anyway, I would work really hard on adjusting my attitude and start having fun with my customers again and then I would trek to the bathroom or food area and my gut would get knotted up all over again, It was about respect. How do you treat hard working artists and craftsmen this way? I talked to a lot of people in both shows and the verdict was unanimous and ugly.

So, we had little meetings along the street and it was decided that we would not address the issue with the committee in the heat of the moment when we were pissy and they were overwhelmed. We would write individual emails to Laurie, detailing the many problems. Lots of folks just said they weren't going to bother, they were done with the show. I wanted to try to save it. I like Syracuse.

And then the unheard of happened. Sunday afternoon a woman walked into my booth and said "Pat? I'm Laurie, I run this show and I agree with you 100 percent"

OK, how did she know what I was saying and how did she know it was me saying it? I was too stunned to ask.

She proceeded to run down a list of what was wrong, even adding in things I had never mentioned. She promised they would fix it. She explained why some of the problems existed, many of them having to do with the businesses on Montgomery Street.  So just put the show back the way it was, I thought.

One of the volunteers told me the show took over Montgomery because they added 40 artists. Really? Where? Most of the people in my block were veterans. Plus, this show extended their deadline which always makes me wonder. More is not always better, I told her. The word on the street was that the show was not making money so they had to take on sponsors and add booths. They also said the Montgomery Street crew had been a thorn in the side of the "real" show and they were looking for a way to hurt it.

I don't know about any of that stuff. I do know a few things. They had a really lovely show for a long time and over the past few years they have made stupid changes that mortally wounded it. I know that, for me, whether or not I can make decent money with my particular stuff is the major reason I choose a show, but you need to show me a little respect or I am outta there. I know that putting BathFitters in with art booths is a death blow.

On the plus side, I have been branching out with framed collage and I sold a bunch. I am inspired and gratified. And my friend's husband taught me how to make that art show standby food for us vegetarians. Artichoke French! That made the trip worth it.

This one had to be the show from Hell for me. It started going sour a week before. My van decided to go four paws up with a hole in the exhaust system that burned out the oxygen sensors, and then the power steering went out. A rental van wasn't available fro love or money. My old trusty Ford Escort wagon needed a/c which jumped from $800 to $1300 when a computerized control module waqs found to be bad. That gets fixed and the order is placed for a 4x8 U-Haul trailer to get my stuff to the show. Problem was a trailer hitch for it would be special order and wouldn't get there in time. It was a moot point as the promised trailer didn't arrive either.

So I bite the bullet and pack what I can in the wagon, leaving all the big framed pieces behind. The largest pieces I could take were 18x24 frames and some smaller stuff. The wagon is packed to the ceiling and the front seat has a 12 gal tub, my clothes, a tool box, and a cooler. The scary part was strapping 8 Pro-Panels to the roof using a couple of 1x2x4' furring srips to extend the roof rack bars. A couple of tarps to wrap it up and about a hundred feet of clothes line rope, and seeveral prayers and oaths to hope it all stays on top. It did, although with strange noises coming from the roof and tarps all the way from Indianapolis to Detroit.

Now for the show. It was a strange layout, a gigantic L shape that stretched out over a quarter mile along a service road that went around behind a shopping center and several commercial buildings. I was toward the end behind a stand alone Barnes and Noble and a hospital. Way behind those buildings. The space behind the booth was an earthern berm shielding off a condo complex.  The angle was steep and I wished I had brought shims. The guy next to me had several pieces of 2x4, and that helped a bunch, although I still had to dig into the ground with a hand spade to lower the back of the chair.

It was hotter than hell the entire weekend, and I drank more than a gallon of fluid every day and still only visited the nearby portapots once or twice a day. At least twice I gave my chair to a patron who dizzy and ready to pass out. Traffic was very light and many times you could have sent several bowling balls down the lane and not hit anyone. I saw very few people carrying packages the entire weekend.

The organizer was on top of it, and I'll give that to Patty Narovzny. Her crew was evident the entire time, bringing water and snacks around, maintaining security, checking to see how things were going. The judges were efficient and each came around and introduced themselves, and they had a helper with them keeping track of the time they spent in each booth. The judges asked decent questions, which is more than I can say for most shows. Patty came around with one of the judges, and dropped some tidbits to help out. I was sitting behind the booth with a small table in front of me. She told me I should be in front as that was more inviting. I concurred and spent the rest of the show sitting in the doorway at the back of the booth. People talked more, but the traffic was so low that it still didn't translate into better sales.

A few of the artists who had spouses or help in the booth (I didn't) were able to walk the show. Traffic was higher at the entrance and many people just weren't goimng past the corner. Another point of concern is that there were booths at the other end for home builders, window sales, and so on. That sounds more like a county fair to me rather than a high end art show.

The extremely long layout is a fatal flaw, in my opinion, for a show like this. I saw a lot of older people walking the show and heard more than one family group complaining about the long distance to walk. The front end of the show is close to parking and the mall stores, but the other end is off in Siberia, or that weekend, Hell's Half Acre.  Ample room was given for each booth space and if the end person in the group of 5 booths cooperates, the artists in the midddle can set up with a 6 foot space between the booths. Kudos for that.

Top credits for the organization of the show as far as logistics, low marks for the overly long arrangement of the show, lousy turnout which may or may not have ben the promoters fault. I was the last person clearing out as I had to remember how to pack everything back into the compact station wagon (BTW, I have a line on getting a Ford E350 XLT 11/12 passenger van in the next week or so), and a neighborhood person was walking their dog at dusk. He asked how the show was, and I told him truthfully that it was a lousy turnout. He said he usually goes to it, but it was too beastly hot to be out walking around in the afternoons.

Net result was that I had one sale on Saturday which didn't even cover the hotel expense. I would have to be crazy to go back to this show. It's on concrete, the configuration of the show is bad, and a high socioeconomic neighborhood still didn't translate into sales. A repetitive question was "Are these photos or paintings?" That question has seldom been asked so many times.

This was a show where my wife was able to say "I told you so!". She suggested cancelling when the transportation issue was looking grim. I've cancelled one show in 22 years when a vehicle began misfiring badly and blowing oil out of the crankcase back into the air filter when I was about 50 miles from home. I would have saved myself several hundred dollars had I heeded that suggestion this time. It's a shame when everything was in place except the crowd.

I am seeking advice on this rather nasty subject of trying to get the promoter to refund my booth fees and need help on how to get this done!  I applied to this show in Sept. of 2010, was accepted but had to cancel in early Nov. - cancellation deadline was Nov.27 so i cancelled well in advance of the deadline.  I can't get this promoter to respond to my e-mails or calls to refund my fees!  I've sent numerous e-mails and the one reply I did receive said something to the effect of "we're having some problems, we'll get to you when we can".   Nine months later and no refund!!!  Any advice on how to get this promoter off his butt would be very much appreciated.

Lynda

November 12 & 13

Westfield, New Jersey

Fall Fine Art and Crafts at the Westfield Armory

Set-up: Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 6am-9am

Show Hours:  Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10am-5pm

130 exhibitors

For artists who are not familiar with Westfield,  it is an affluent town in Central New Jersey, a bedroom community of New York City. The  median family income in Westfield is $147,000. The high end, tightly juried show is in its second year.

The Armory is located near the Garden State Parkway, Routes 22 and 28 and is approximately 35 minutes from New York City.

Each booth is pipe and draped with 8 foot white drapes. The aisles are fully carpeted. Move-in is easy with extra help and dollies available for those that need it.

The publicity campaign includes:

• Direct mailing of complimentary tickets to 28,000 past patrons of Rose Squared Production, Inc. shows.
• Two Advertisements in the Star Ledger, the New York Times, the Staten Island Express, The Courier News, the Home News and 16 local weekly papers.
• Two Billboards on US Highway 22
• Six 2 foot x 4 foot full color billboards placed by us throughout the towns surrounding Westfield
• Posters and publicity postcards placed in stores in Westfield and surrounding towns

More details at the website: www.RoseSquared.com

Also consider joining the many talented fine artists and fine crafters at Rose Squared's oldest venues:

September 17 & 18

Upper Montclair, NJ

Fine Art and Crafts at Anderson Park

and

October 15 & 16

 Bloomfield/Montclair, NJ

 Fall Fine Art and Crafts at Brookdale Park

 rated as a Top 100 show in Sunshine Artist

Just finished the Allied Arts show in Richland, WA. Richland is in SE Washington, one of 3 cities referred to as the "Tri-Cities", Richland, Pasco, Kennewick. It's an area that hasn't been hit real hard with the recession, the Hanford Nuclear Reactor is located here and provides steady jobs/incomes. However, layoffs had just been announced the week before the show and we were wondering how that might impact the show, I don't think it made a bit of difference in the buying habits. For us this was our best show of 2011 thus far, a great way to start our summer road trip with 4 shows in Eastern WA/ Northern ID.

This was our second year here and our sales were up 40% over last year, with many repeat customers from last year. We also had several that said they didn't remember us from last year, but were looking forward to seeing us again next year and we do hope to be back to this show. Most of the artists we know said they were having good to great shows, one painter said he was way down from prior years, a potter said it wasn't that great for him this year, but several other artists were indicating they were doing well, so once again, a bit mixed on sales, but definitely more positive reports from the artists I know than negative reports including a couple of artists who like us, were having their best show of the year so far. We saw a lot of packages being carried and the finance folks mentioned that they thought the overall commissions for the entire show were trending higher than last year when they came around Saturday to collect our tally sheet. Booth fee is $100 with a 16% commission with about 220 booths spread throughout the park.

The show takes place in Howard Amon park, on the Columbia River. It's a Friday/Saturday show with long hours. Friday was 9-9, Saturday 9-7. The show starts early due to the heat, this area of the state is notorious for being about the hottest area of the state in late July. This year we caught a break, like the rest of Washington State, temperatures have been cooler than usual and we did not have a triple digit day this year, YEAH!! I think that made a real difference in our sales on Saturday which were more than double the sales on Saturday for us last year. Temperatures on Friday hit the low 90’s, I think the high on Saturday was 95. The park has a lot of trees and most of the booths are arranged to take advantage of the shade. Each booth spot is 10x15 so for most of us setting up a 10x10 booth allowed plenty of room for storage and airflow between the booths. They layout is quite spreadout and one part of it was a little confusing to navigate. Due to all the trees, many of the booth do have issues with tree roots, so be prepared with shims, etc. Friday afternoon / evening we had a great breeze coming right off the river, we were all wishing for that breeze on Saturday.

Load in is easy, staggered throughout the day on Thursday, you can drive right to your spot and unload, etc. Saturday night is a little more challenging since everyone is getting their cars in at the same time, there's no control, the first truck we saw come in arrived 15 minutes before the show was officially over. No artist amenities other than booth sitters and RV parking available at the Marina in the park for $10/night, about a 10 minute walk to the art show.

Friday morning sales started off fast, we made our booth fee before we were officially open at 9, while we were still getting the jewelry out. By 10 we made all expenses and were well into the black on this show. Sales were great until about 1:00, slow between 1 - 3, non-existent in the hottest part of the day between 3-5. Picked up again about 6 until it got too dark to see our jewelry. This was our first 12 hour day with our new battery / LED light set up, we found out the entire set up will run 11 hours, 15 minutes. Since we have a spot at this show under a huge maple tree we were in shade, but that also meant it was dark when the battery ran out of juice at 8:15. That pretty much ended our Friday sales, no one could see what we were selling.

Saturday sales started a little slower but were relatively consistent throughout the morning / early afternoon. Things died at about 4 when the heat was feeling more intense with no breeze and a little more humidity on Saturday. I don’t think we had any sales after 4 PM, but overall we were very happy with our sales. End of show checkout for commission payment was pretty well organized, long line when my husband arrived, but moved fairly quickly.

Enjoyed a Sunday off with a bike ride along the river, a visit to a winery and then set up our trailer at our campground along the Snake River until it’s time to leave for next weekend’s show in Coeur d’Alene ID.

This is the poster for the Copper Festival in Santa Clara del Cobre, near Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan. 

Hello all!

I have a couple of questions... I am new to the art show world. I had a small store front studio/gallery (of sorts) up until 2 weeks ago. I converted one of our empty bedrooms in to a nice, convenient studio, which has me very motivated!

I am trying to figure out ways to promote my art and to market myself. I don't want to sound 'over bearing,' cocky, conceited and such.... Anyone have any suggestions? I would greatly appreciate hearing from you!

Thank you all!

~Crystal

I spent the first five years of my full time drawing career exhibiting at craft shows.  I didn't have a display for nicer shows and they were the first ones I found.  I still exhibit at some nearby craft shows (Step by Step Productions craft shows are worthwhile in the Chicago area... they are heavily advertised, well attended).  So I decided to give the Lill Street Craft Fair - a new artist section in conjunction with The Taste of Lincoln Ave.  Most of my images sell best in Chicago, so I'm trying to start venturing downtown more often.  The fest was PACKED with mostly 20-something alcohol swilling partiers.  Not exactly my target market.  There was no sign pointing to our short, shady street of artists and only the more sober or shade-seeking attendees wandered down our way.  Many of my greeting cards seemed to be disappearing on their own, probably during extended conversations with friendly drunks.  If they improve the signage next year, it could be well worth doing.  At $275, the price was low for a Chicago event.  Set up was easy, parking was horrendous - definitely locate the parking garage suggested by the promoters.  I'd suggest paying extra for electricity, there were lots of shoppers after dusk and only those with electricity were being visited.  Tear down was a bit of a mess.  If you waited till after 9 pm, you could drive right up to your booth, but most tired artists carted their stuff away. 

I haven't been very good about posting show reviews, but an incident prompted me to write about this one.  I would like your opinion about displaying on side walls.  At this particular event, we were snuggled up every ten feet like sardines.  I always pray that I'll have some room to display my work on the side walls of my tent.  No such luck this time.  Because of the heat, my very strange, negative jewelry neighbor took her entire tent down.  "Finally," I thought, "some room to hang on the side."  Crabby jewelry neighbor had first taped her signage to my vinyl side wall.  When I took that down, she taped her sign to my mesh display wall.  I told her I was going to hang a picture and that she should move her sign (that she taped to my tent without asking).  She immediately became bristly and said that people would think that the work was hers and it would cause problems for her.  Granted the attendees were imbibing, but would they really be clueless enough to think a jeweler would have a random pencil drawing hanging on the next person's tent?  She was quite nasty about it.  If she had been kind in the slightest, as I had been to her the whole time, I might have skipped hanging it.  But I did anyway and she carefully crafted a sign with bold letters disowning the picture with arrows pointing to it stating, "This is NOT my work, don't ask me about it."  So... is it rude to hang work on your own tent when it faces the display area of your neighbor?  And a lesson... be kind to your artist neighbors.  We're all fighting for crumbs.  I bought work from the WONDERFUL jeweler on the other side of me and bartered with the sweet pottery artists on the other side of Ms Crabby Pants (who were making sympathetic faces at me about said crabster.)  Three surrounding artists were all taken aback by the negativity and nastiness of this jeweler.  Customers all asked me about the sign, and sober and drunk patrons alike asked, "What's with her?"  But regardless of the mood or the personality of my neighbor, was it wrong of my to hang work on my own tent on the outside walls?

After describing my experience with Central PA last week I've gotten some very good input from others on this site and one of the most frequent suggestions was to seek the advice/opinion of others who have done a particular show or may know far more about the show than I.  So, I'm about to test this strange, new theory!

First, my work is with wood and some have referred to it as art but I have a problem with that description and think it would more accurately fall under the category of fine-crafts.  When I do the Bayou Festival in Houston they put me in Functional Art.  I have price points from $38.00 to $200.00 so, there is something there for the person who doesn't want to spend much money and something for the person who doesn't mind shelling out $200 for a wooden container.

I have been accepted into two upcoming shows that are large shows, highly rated and both lean toward the craft side.  One is The Festival of the Little Hills in St. Charles, MO in August and the other is the Frankfort Fall Festival in Frankfort, IL in Sept.

After CPFA, I've become gun-shy and would cancel the above if I thought there was a likelihood of having another one of those.

So, any suggestions, opinions, comments, etc. would be most appreciated.  Finally, there is a third show that I considered applying to and realize I quite possibly wouldn't have a chance of getting into. However, from all I can gather it's an outstanding show.  That, coupled with the challenge of just finding out whether or not I could get in and the fact that I love the State of Virginia causes me to be highly tempted to apply.  It's the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston in May.  Of course I could answer the question of whether or not I could get in and all it would cost is the app. fee.  But, if I were accepted, it would be difficult to resist going.

Connie, does this sort of thinking fall within the bounds of your comment regarding simply having the urge to hit the road again? Visit Virginia again etc.?

Thanks to anyone and everyone for any comments on the above.

I'm all set up for this weekend's show at the Chase Center in Wilmington, DE.  I'm space #132 in the lobby and will be demonstrating bead weaving and bead embroidery throughout the weekend.  Stop on out to say Hi if you're in the area.  It's all inside and very coooooool!

Megan

Do you live in Las Vegas?  Here is an opportunity you may not want to pass up.  This could be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for you if you live in Las Vegas.   Your work could be on display in the Luxor!  Check out the project description below:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

There are 3 alcoves in Luxor Hotel and Casino that serve as a place to present temporary public art works by Las Vegas artists. The alcoves are located in the main front desk area, which services needs such as check-in, guest relations and bell services. This area is where both thousands of international and domestic guests first encounter the hotel. The Luxor Front desk alcove paintings will be a unique exposé of artwork that embodies the commitment to local arts. Luxor believes there is a great opportunity to create extraordinary art for this space to be appreciated by guests from around the world and valued by the community.

Does this sound like something you might be interested in?  The deadline to apply is September 1, 2011.  You will find all the information you need at the link below:

http://luxor.com/call_for_artists/

The Luxor will be hiring an artist or an artist team to provide temporary artwork for three display areas in the Hotel and Casino.  That artist might as well be you!

 This was the second year for the Blue Water Festival, and my second year. The previous year it was on Quay Street, a smaller and narrower street. It was a great move to move on to Huron Street. Much more Space and it seemed to draw more people who where interested in Art. The Crowd was looking at the Art, which the previous year not so much. It seemed to be more people about than the previous year even though it did get really sparse on Saturday afternoon when the boats had all left.  Connie you are doing a great job of building this event and I know that a lot of the time you get more complaints than Thank You's.  So here is a Thank You and Keep Building this event, its a hard one but I know you can do it. Port Huron has really been hit hard by the economy ( a lot of closed stores on main street) but we have to start somewhere to rebuild.

Thanks Again. Good Luck. and See ya Down the Road.

Lanora Hartway

Lanora Hartway Photography