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Well, any show that starts with a fellow artist, stressed about having to set up all by herself, driving her Volvo, kaTHUMPkaTHUMP, right over your tent poles at daybreak, doesn't figure to go well. 

She hopped out of the van and started unpacking as though nothing unusual had happened, while I picked up my jaw from the asphalt and checked for damage.  Miraculously, there wasn't any (though there is surely a Trimline testimonial in my future).  I spoke to the artist a bit later and she hadn't seen the poles or noticed the lurching as she passed over them, and apologized profusely.  Turned out, in fact, to be a really cool lady (though not one I think I'd ever drive with willingly) .  And, in perhaps the biggest good news of all, this small (69-booth) show in tony Ponte Vedra Beach turned out to be a reasonable money-maker for me. 

The show has been around about 17 years--run for a time by Howard Alan Events, but more recently by Venues Event Planning.  Robin Conte and her partner Susan are young, personable, and really work hard to produce an artist-friendly show.  If you like artist amenities, this is the place for you: Volunteers wheeled cold water around twice each day, and provided brown-bag lunch (chicken wraps, orange, chips--not at all bad), and booth-sat if you needed one.  (No awards, though.)

The event site is just off A1A (which runs right along the Atlantic Ocean).  It's a fairly small shopping center, with a Publix, big-box pharmacy and an ABC Liquors (which was right behind my booth, how cool is that?).  Kinda upscale, but with an odd design: it's surrounded by swales, kinda like a sandtrap (this IS the home of the Professional Golfers Association; in fact, their offices are in the center).  It's odd, in that you can't see the Publix or the big-box pharmacy from the show site, even though they're technically in the same center.

So visibility is a problem. Nary a white-topped tent could  be seen from A1A, and zoning allowed only a couple of banners to promote the show.  Accordingly, attendance was (my guess) in the 2500-5000 range, at best, despite moderate temps and low humidity--probably the best show weather I've seen all season, and certainly far better than you'd expect in Florida by this time of year. And there were a fair proportion of BUYERS in the crowd.  My sales were higher than I expected, given the attendance.  My neighbor, a high-end jeweler, was happy with her sales, and a nearby acrylic artist sold a piece in the five-figure range.  Others didn't fare quite so well, but no one grumbled about the artist treatment or the load-in/out, which was a cinch (tent poles notwithstanding). 

Most of the artists were local (Jacksonville, St. Augustine), but some came from further south on Florida's east coast or from southern Georgia (the state border is only a few miles away). 

By next year, if public hearings go well, the center parking lot may be redesigned to "open up" traffic flow and visibility from the high-volume grocery, which might help attendance a bit.  Although Robin and Susan aren't intending to ever make this a huge event, they are working hard to make it successful.    They've got a companion show in the fall (October 15-16, 2011), and they'll be moving the Spring, 2012 event to sometime in April to capitalize on northern and midwestern artists who are migrating back from the winter circuit. 

As for me, this was a nice "paycheck show" to do as I photographed spring nesting season at St. Augustine's Alligator Farm.  As a bonus, there was even an Osprey family nesting in the corner of the artist parking lot!  So it's quite likely I'll return, and if you are going to be passing through the area--or if you're lucky enough to live in the vicinity--this is a show you might want to follow.

Today WAS supposed to be the big day, the premier of the Art History Channel's "The 21st Century Artists" show.  I cancelled all my plans so I could watch it, but when I went to their web site, I read....

Update To Our Viewers! "The 21st Century Artists" Show has been rescheduled to premier on Sunday June 5th, 2011.

As of yesterday, they were still saying May 10th.  Now I have to wait another month.  Bummer.  Still no word on where I can actually see this show, however.

I bet I'm not as dissappointed as the 191 'selected artists' they list on their web site for the now delayed premier.  

In this time of fierce competition for getting into shows, whether ZAPP, JAS, Entry Thingy, what have you, I'm still amazed that so many shows don't require an artist to show a picture ID at check-in/registration!  I just did a small show in which there were a number of booths run by people who even said they weren't the juried in artist.  This show did not require ID during check-in. 

There are a lot of shows, some of which have been in business for decades, that either don't care if the artist who juried in is the same one showing up or are naive enough to believe that no one would "fake it."

I'm talking about Coconut Grove, at the top echelon, and many, many more.  I've seen people selling stuff at so many shows who aren't the accepted artist.  When I've brought it up to what passes for a standards committee, I've been blown off, even insulted, that I would dare accuse someone of not being who they are.  And when I ask, "Why don't you ask them for their ID?"  the response varies from anger to disbelief that someone wouldn't be who they say they are.

So, what do the shows have to say for themselves, those that don't feel the need to ID the artists at check-in?

There is a very nice review written by John Leben on the 4 Bridges Arts Festival held in Chattanooga, TN.  You can read all about it when you click on the following link.

http://www.artshowreviews.com/2011/04/4-bridges-arts-festival-reviews.html

Interested in reading other reviews or perhaps submitting your own, check out www.artshowreviews.com.  New reviews are always welcome.

     This year Mayfaire set a record low two days in a row (well, record low for a high).  It did hit 90 toward the end of the day on teardown, but it took all day to get there.  For the most part, anyone who made the effort to rig for shade enjoyed reasonable comfort in the nice breezes.  Those of us near the secret electrical outlets were wallowing in the luxury of multiple fans.  

   Our booth was crowded with enthusiastic browse bin flippers for most of the show.  Unfortunately their buying was not as enthusiastic.  We did about half what we did last year.  A sculptor who averages 5K per show..  did about 600.  A higher end jeweler couple not far from us was happy with their sales.  Another jeweler, from whom I bought a nice bracelet for Ann for her birthday..  was doing "OK".   A potter friend whom I've known for 35 years had a good show selling functional pottery at good prices.  By the way, he's gotten pretty good at it after all that time.  

    I did not wander far from my booth this weekend.  Ann was able to help me for about three hours on Sunday before having to get a ride back to our house (lt's a local show for us).  She's recovering from knee surgery and we're told it's going to be a long time.  

   OK.  Now I am now going to go against recently established tradition for this website and list the award winners who did BETTER than I did.  

It's a long list, so you might want to prepare your favorite strong beverage before starting.  

    Ready?

       Best of show              $5000       Laurie Coppedge, Photo (That's right, Photo)

       Award of Excellence  $2000       Tony Eitherong, Mixed

       Award of Excellence   $2000       Kristen Holeman, Jewelry

       Award of Distinction   $1000       Eluster Richardson, O&A 

       Award of Distinction   $1000        Kathleen Dennison, Jewelry

       Award of Distinction  $1000         Tony Savoie, Mixed

        Award of Distinction  $1000         William Kidd, Clay

        Merit Award                $500         Richard Currier, O&A

         Merit Award               $500          Bret Miley, Photo

         Merit Award               $500          Jeff Eckert,  D&G

         Merit Award               $500          Thomas Mack, Photo

         Honorable Mention      $200           Kevin Kuenzel, Mixed

         Honorable Mention      $200          Marilyn Vallaincourt, Jewelry

         Honorable Mention      $200          Patrick Pierson, O&A

         Honorable Mention      $200          Scott Causey, Sculpture

         Honorable Mention      $200          Don Carter, Wood

    Anyone who sold less than I did had to wait until they got home before they could eat unless they brought along extra money from previous shows.  Fortunately, we live about a mile from the show.  If that.  

   Congratulations to my neighbor, sculptor Trent Manning.  I do believe he set a world record for packing out.  He had promised he'd let me know when he was leaving so I could park my van in front of my booth.  When I pulled in and parked I noticed that it was 22 minutes after closing time for the show.  I should have been taking notes.    

Lori's comment regarding the St. James hotel caught my attention and wonder if anyone has a similar  recommendation for State College, PA and Ann Arbor?  I'd prefer a $100 room for $30.00 but suspect I'd better be looking for something in between!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Artisphere:

Arts - Culture - Life

May 13-15

Downtown Greenville, South Carolina

Well I’m now two weeks into the saga of getting used to shows outside of Florida.  This show is definitely different from anything I encountered in Florida.  There are three distinct locations, in the building, in a pole barn, and in the big tent.  In the pole barn, where I was, there are two different locations, inside pole barn, and outside pole barn, which mean exactly what they say, inside is facing inside and outside is facing outside.  I had an outside pole barn location.  Outside pole barn is like being inside and outside at the same time with all the disadvantages of both.  Weather and lighting were the biggest problems.  You are allowed to put up your tent frame but tent tops are expressly forbidden.

I have a great lighting system that I bought used a few years back.  It consists of several natural light spotlights that when shined up to the tent top reflect a wonderful even bright light.  Without a tent top to reflect them off of, they are really bright spotlights and not good at all.  So I spent a good deal of time over the weekend adjusting lights and never finding a good solution.

The front of my booth was exposed to the weather.  There is an overhang which works great as a psuedo awning but it will not keep out the rain and wind.  Overnight I took down my front photographs and clamped my tent sides to the front.  This worked.  It rained overnight both Friday and Saturday and I had no damage.  The wind neccesitates clamping on the sides as well as the top and means one tent side won’t do it.  So each morning I had a conglomeration of tent sides and clamps to undo.  What would work better would be a large tarp but bring lots of clamps.

The pole barn has two entrances that take people into the “inside pole barn” locations.  I was in the center with a corner booth on either side of me that faced the entrances.  Many people came in one side and went out the other without ever seeing me stuck there in the middle.  And did I mention that the booth spaces are once again, exactly 10’ by 10’.  So along with moving lights I spent the weekend trying out different chair locations to try and funnel people past my booth.

It was a weird crowd too.  Quite a few couples, my demographic, stared at and discussed photos at length, even discussing where they would put it.  And then walked out without even taking a card.  And the cards, hardly any went out.  I’m of the school that cards are cheap and I give out as many as possible because I never know when they might show up with someone who wants to buy something.  I did get a lot of great compliments including some from fellow artists but three sales total.  You know something is wrong when the biggest sale of the weekend is to the lady selling fennel cakes who has been staring at the photo all day.  I was told the crowd was down and others around me were not happy with their sales either.

I am attributing my low sales to a combination of a bad booth space, a low crowd, and a lack of equipment / adjustment to the space.  I will try it again but I will bring better lights, a tarp, and request a different and larger booth space so I can sit where I am used to sitting and get more traffic past the booth.

Other details – The staff is all volunteer and very dedicated, organized and present.  Load in and out at the pole barn is easy.  I’m not sure how it would be at the big tent and it looks like it would be diffcult at the building.  Artist parking is close by.  Bagels, coffee and other sweets are provided each morning as well as a nice artist dinner Saturday evening.  There are special exhibitor bathrooms and ample porta potties.  All of the food vendors had a special exhibitor line.

I got to meet Holly in person.  She says hello Munks.

Saturday morning as I sat in view of the mountains, and the bluegrass music started to play, I felt the overwhelming sense of being home, back where I belonged. 

I’m now off for the summer.  Clif has already planned an extensive journey into the mountains for next Saturday.

 Just started anew thread under the Forum, under "Everything Else.'  I think,  Anyways check it out.  I will do this on a weekly basis.  it will deal with my encounters in life outside of a "live" artshow.  I travel a wide circuit and experience a lot more than most of you.  Hopefully, you will find my encounters meaningful, life-experiencing, or at least humerous.  Anything short of pathetic should be a life-altering experience for most of you.

So live my life vicariously, without having to pay the price,  Enjoy, embrace and live life to its fullest.  I promise you not a dull moment.  Happy Moms Day to all of you.

Yesterday was our first outdoor show of the year. Every year it amazes me how many little details I forget from one year to the next. Re-learning how to pack the car just right, so everything fits securely it a big one. Today, I am all achy from the set up and tear down. I a few weeks, I will be past this feeling ... I hope.

The Madison Audubon Society Art Show has been running for 32 years. They moved to a new location 3 or 4 years ago. It is a much easier set up for the artists. But it takes awhile for the art lovers and buyers to find the new location. It seems that they have now found the new location. Traffic seem to be up from last year.

The forecast was for rain in the morning. But the art-gods must have been smiling down on us, as there was no rain. It looked like we might get wet for a little while, but we lucked out. It got chilly in the middle of the day, but the sun come out and made it all good.

The fair is set up for inside and outside booths. About a 40-60 split, with more outdoors. With a 127 booths, I think this was one of their bigger shows. There is plenty of room to expand, if needed in the future. The group seems to be well organized. And people were buying this year. Sales were not huge, but for us, it was exposing the interested, to an other area show that we will be attending, where they can buy from us.

...if a show will always be good!  

I had a single day show this weekend.  It was the fourth year I've attended and I was expecting much of the same sort (and size) of crowd and consequently the same sort of sales as previous years.   Boy, how wrong could I be!  

There has been new management the last two years, aimed at increasing the exhibitors with the result of some buy/sell allowed in.  These 'vendors' had increased a little but I wasn't overly concerned, believing my work would shine through :) .  

BUT, then the wall of people that normally arrive at opening time didn't.   The general 'type' of person was different - more kids looking for presents for their mums for mother's day, and less of the well groomed ladies with their hubbies in tow.

Hours into the show, numbers were still drastically down, interest from people walking around was low and sales were dismal.   I saw a couple of familiar faces from previous years but they were only looking, not buying.  

I started to second-guess my work.  I wondered if I wasn't engaging the potential customer enough (what customer - they weren't even stopping!?).  Was there something wrong with my set up?   I knew the effects of the GFC was still hurting people, but in the four shows I'd done over the last few weeks, there was a reasonable level of purchases.  Did this town suddenly just not want my work any more?

I took a few minutes out to visit some nearby booths.  Anyone with a handcrafted product over $20 wasn't doing very well at all.  However having a look around:

*the lady with the fabric bags (handmade ... poorly done but still handmade) had also gone into a line of buy/sell t-shirts and accessories and seemed constantly busy. 

*the woman with the buy/sell $10 candles in pretty jars had girls and teens 6 deep most of the day. 

*the woman with the $15 glass pendants had lots of blank spaces on her boards.  

*the bloke with the leather belts was doing quite well. 

This was "market" territory, not a proper 'show'!  WHAT was going on?

I ended up chatting to one lady who asked how it was going and I mentioned that there seemed a lot less people this year... she then told me that a lot of people were probably at the food & wine festival on in a nearby town.  Usually a week apart these had clashed this year.  *ahhhh*  All those nice prospective buyers and previous clients must have been living it up with gourmet food and boutique wines a couple of towns away!

Fortunately, towards the end of the day some ladies came by stating that they had promised themselves that if I was there they wouldn't buy 'much'.  Thankfully either their 'much' was substantial or they just couldn't help themselves and they turned my rather dismal day into at least a worthwhile event.

But lesson learned.  I'll now be looking at what else is on around the district and won't be counting those chickens quite so quickly next time!

Belleville, Michigan

200 artists

Deadline: June 1

I just received an email from Harvest Festival about a tour of nine, three-day, indoor (and optional outdoor) shows on the West Coast starting Sept. 9-11 through Dec. 2-4. Booth fees range from $600-775 (expensive) depending on whether you exhibit indoors or outdoors. Eight of the nine shows are in California. One in Las Vegas. Has anyone done any of the Harvest shows? Any recommendations? I exhibit 2-D fine art. Could be that these shows attract lots of buy-sell and low end craft. I'm a midwest artist and never exhibited on the West Coast but a tour of California in the fall has got me thinking...

jleben@lebenart.com

John Leben

This is not a show for everyone.  First of all, it lasts 6 days, from Tuesday thru Sunday.  Day 1 goes from 7:30 AM until 9PM.  The next 4 days the hours are 11AM until 9PM.  Sunday goes until 6PM.  Secondly, this is their fund raiser and they take a 20% commission. Thirdly, they handle all the sales and then send you a direct deposit into your account, which they try to do within 7 days, but, 14-17 days is the reality.  So, you have to pay all your expenses for the show before you see any cash flow.  Fourth, this show never closes early, so, if it is snowing and 32 degrees, you have to be at your booth even though there are no customers.

Loading in and loading out is really hassle free and easy. We can drive right up to our space and we get all day on Monday to unload and set up.  The show provides 36 16' x 16' tents.  Each tent is divided into 4 sections, so, each exhibitor gets a 16' front. The show lasts until 9PM so you need lights.  Most people brought their own lights, but, they had lights if you needed them.  And, they provided ladders, so, you could attach the lights to the top of the booth.  I got there an hour early and they let me right in.  That was cool.  What wasn't cool was that they eliminated a couple of tents right in the middle of the street that had the best location for traffic flow.  Unfortunately, I was in one of those tents.  They ended up cramming those tents on the left side against the curb and facing away from the main traffic flow.  In addition,  I was facing some trees that had really annoying birds crackling loudly throughout the show. And, they ended up perched on the electric wire right next to my space, pooping along the curb.  I was supposed to be facing the afternoon sun, but, I was mostly in the cold and dark. I went from having one of the best spaces in the show to one of the worst.  Because of a numbers mix up, other people were not in the spaces they thought they were in and I heard that some people complained.  The committee was apologetic, but couldn't really do anything about it, this year.  Having said that, the booths for the most part were arranged well and spaced so a customer could get to every booth.  There wasn't really a bad location in the show, except that nobody would trade spaces with me.

There were no awards for best of show, etc. but there were plenty of purchase awards.  There was a pretty good dinner for the artists and a pretty good breakfast one day.  A donut shop that has been in existence for 80 years(I'm guessing at the age) donated donuts in the morning and cookies in the afternoon. They provided very good coffee, soda, and water. Unfortunately, the donut booth was right near my space and I gained back all that weight I lost eating really well in Florida.  This show has an excellent helper system and instead of just booth baby sitting, they would run and get us anything we wanted.  Someone actually went to a restaurant to get my lunch for me.  The artists also had access to a couple of really good clean bathrooms that were close by.

The artwork ran the gamut from really good to "what is that doing here?"  I thought that this show had some of the best painters I had ever seen at an art fair.  Much of it had a Southwest look which was refreshing to me because I usually stay in the East and Mid-East.  There were a lot of California and New Mexico, etc. exhibitors there.  Something I found shocking was that there was a booth with watches that got in as jewelry.  The person in the booth called himself a rep and he talked about the fact that they had 6 "designers" who designed the work.  I don't know where the watches were made but they weren't made by the rep in the booth or the so called designers.  I heard that the jewelers all got together and complained about this booth.  I, also, had a conversation with a committee member who said they would kick them out of the show if it could be determined that the people manning the booth didn't make the pieces. However, nothing was done. There was some other so called "art" like a booth with clocks that appeared devoid of any human qualities, but, most of the booths had really excellent work.

Most of the exhibitors I talked to, in the end, had a really good show. They invite back 2/3rds or so, of the top selling exhibitors.  Since this is basically a 2-D show and a jewelry show, most of these people are jewelers and 2-D people.  This show also tends to be a low end show, to some degree, so, if you had work below $60 you could have done really well.  Consequently, functional pottery tends to do really well.  Doug Becker did an excellent business with his glass selling ornaments and paperweights.  He calls them "birds and balls." The show could be divided into 2 parts--the first part is Tuesday thru Friday afternoon and the second show starts Friday evening and lasts until Sunday at 6.  The show opens at 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning.  There is a heavily supported program where individuals and corporations pledge to spend at least $500 in purchase prizes.  The early opening allows the corporate execs to come through before work on Tuesday to get first crack at the work.  I've been told that at one time, the streets would be full of people Tuesday morning and every artist would have a number of purchase prize cards in their booth.  I've done this show twice and both times there were hardly any early buyers on Tuesday morning.  They could easily eliminate this part of the show.  It's really taxing on the exhibitors to be out there for a 14 hour day when there are no buyers in sight.  The rest of the Tuesday-Friday part of the show had people checking out the show for later purchases and a lot of low end buyers.  By Friday afternoon there were a lot of people complaining about extremely poor sales.  To be fair though, there were a few people that I talked to who had really good early sales with their high end work.  Then came Saturday.  The weather was excellent on Saturday and people started showing up early.  It was definitely a different crowd.  People came to buy.  I sold steadily all day long and I believe the majority of exhibitors had the same experience. In the end, I had 2 purchase awards and a pretty good show.  Almost, everyone I talked to was happy.  I did talk to a couple of people with really excellent work who had bad shows but I think this was the exception. 

The weather had a lot to do with how well sales went.  There was only 2 excellent days out of the 6.  Two days were extremely cold.  I figured the high was 50 degrees.  Friday had extremely high winds gusting to 40 mph.  This was stressful for anyone facing the wind.  There was some breakage.  I think this was the reason why sales were no existent on a couple of the days.  Two years ago the temperature was in the low 90's every day and no rain.  I sold at least one big piece every day.  This year I really only had 2 days of decent sales--Friday, the high wind day and Saturday, when the temps were around 80 degrees and sunny.  The worst day of the show for sales and weather wise was Sunday.  The temperature was in the 50's and it rained most of the day.  There was even hail for a few minutes.  Hardly any customers showed up.  It was too bad because I'm sure Sunday would have been as good as Saturday, but, no one with any sense was out on Sunday.  Except us, of course.  The committee should have had more concern for the exhibitors and canceled the show on Sunday which every other show I do would have done.  Every exhibitor I talked to would have packed up and left.  The top picture has me standing in front of my booth on Sunday with 2 sweaters on, my winter coat, a silly plastic bag over my shoulders, and my wool hat. AND, I was still cold.

Would I do this show again?  I would.  Unfortunately, I probably wasn't in the top sales that get invited back so I have to apply again.  Decorative ceramics doesn't sell as well as paintings or jewelry.  Personally, I think they should take that in consideration and invite me back. lol.

First off I am a lover of Trimline and will always be.  You will see why I say so further in this post.

So it all started 1 week ago when on a sunny yet windy day I got out my trimline to wash it.  Go through the steps of setting it up - never had an issue with this as I can pretty much do it in about 15 - 20 mins. on my own.  I did not rush doing this - in my backyard - as I wasn't setting up for a show.  With the roof on and fairly firmly attached I raised the legs and started to attach the sides to then spray with suds then hose them down.   Just as I got the sides up and about to attach them to the legs a big gust of wind came through.  That time I was able to get it to not fly off.  But just as I was going to try and anchor it, it fell backwards shearing off the joint where the leg and the corner of the roof beams attach.  The one bar did bend as well as the other joint - you should be able to see in the picture - faintly circled in red.  So all in all through this crazy experience the only damage were the two joints and one pole - no legs, no sides, nothing else was damaged.  Lucky.

This led me to really thank my lucky stars that this didn't happen at a show.  I have insurance - that wouldn't be an issue, but the horror of seeing this happen effecting possibly every neighbor beside me and behind me is something I cannot shake.  I have never had this happen - a flying canopy.   I have seen it at nearly every show I have done.  I am fully aware of the importance of anchoring a canopy and do so, but all it takes is a split second. 

Having said this - it is my fault that I did this - not Trimline.  So many times people quickly blame the canopy or some other thing/place.  And am thankful this was with a trimline as with any other canopies I have used you would most likely have to replace it - parts can be expensive and they might not be in (as such was the case with an EZ-UP I had two years ago).  The two joints are only $20 each and the one bar that got bent was about $30.  Also, if the same thing were to happen to any other canopy it wouldn't have been a lot more damage - legs broken, fabric torn, etc. 

So, today I am thanking my lucky stars that I did not set up my booth with in the toppled over canopy, this didn't happen at a fair, and the show I was going to do was a rain or shine event when the tornadoes hit and chose to not go forfeiting my booth fee.  Still have no idea if the show actually happened.  The show, funny enough was infront of a courthouse.  The best thing ever was this happened in my own back yard and with a Trimline.  Now if you want to do the same thing as me: 

1.  Set up your canopy when it is windy without any help - any other weather conditions it is easily doable.

2.  As soon as the legs are on, do not anchor it - it can be done later.  (yes there is sarcasm hidden in here)

3.  Do not properly secure the top - I did the corners and the "seat buckle" straps as instructed, but didn't do the ones on the sides where you would normally attach the sides.

4.  Put the sides on only having used the zippers on the top to create a wind-tunnel to help give the canopy lift. 

5.  Sit back and watch the kite fly. 

In all seriousness - if you are to take anything from this lesson, anchor your canopies and if for some reason you find you can't do it in time, always alway always make sure you have insurance.   The good news, the customer service with trimline is impeccable and got my parts Monday - I am good to go for this Saturday show - on pavement - with anchors already packed.  

- Michelle, By the Bay Botanicals

www.bythebaybotanicals.com

www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com