Blog

MAY 28 & 29 

                                                                  

July 16 & 17
Art at the Shops

Yorktown Shopping Center

Lombard

Approximately 75-100 artists

www.dwevents.org

More questions? Contact Debbie Netter at dwevents@comcast.net

I am painting my studio floor so my lovely outdoor studio is out of commission until the paint dries.  What Framer Dude and I had anticipated to be a 36 hour project looks like it may be turning into a nightmare, and I am facing the next week possibly painting at my dining room table where the light sucks.  I have a commission on my easel mocking me next to its ersatz place next to the TV.

Home improvements rarely ever go as scheduled.  What should have been an easy DIY task has already led me to an aggravated call to Valspar, the possibility now of grinding up the two coats of Porch and Floor paint we've applied, and another several days painting in the dining room, and eating over the sink (well, in front of the TV)

Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.  So what's y'all's beefs today? 

"Close to Home"

Born in Illinois, Beth has lived in Colorado, California, Maryland, New York, Mexico, East Africa and India before settling in West Virginia in 1977. Art school and a passion for drawing were bedrocks in her life. Selling images of mermaids to classmates in grade school, pencil portraits in Larimer Square in Denver for $5, being a courtroom sketch artist for CBS TV and then spending 15 years doing portraits from life as a member of the Artists Touring Association, traveling to shows in malls throughout the mid-Atlantic region prepared her well for her years on the road traveling to the nation's art fairs. It also developed her skills and her eye for catching the moment and the fleeting light.  

In 1990 Beth left portraiture behind and now focuses on rural landscapes and animals, sheep and more sheep. She says, "portraits are all about expression and people react to my sheep as adorable, without being cartoonish. In a small booth, rather than showing up with Noah's ark, I decided to be the sheep-lady. The public, for some reason love sheep, and they were the perfect counterpart to my haystacks. The shape, the skinny legs.
 
I always love my latest piece the most! Sheep or landscapes,  its the practice of applying the contrasting colors, like a tapestry or embroidery. Edgar Degas was my greatest influence, for his bold outlines and draftsmanship."

Upcoming shows:  

May 13-15  Artisphere in Greenville, S. C.,  

May 20-22  Artsplosure in Raleigh, N.C.    

Learn more about Beth and her find work: www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/featured-artist 

Whoo hoo!  Breakout the tequila, we just hit 5,000 members.

That is a significant benchmark.  When I joined a little more than two years ago I was like number 350 or something.

That is a lot of blogging, discussing and photoing getting around all over the world.  Right, Annette Piper in Down Under land.

Munks cat Bill is buying free shots for everybody tonite.  he promised me.  Now if I can only fiqure out which bar he is hanging out at.  Any clues Munks?

Everybody should give Connie a big hug, or a big sloppy kiss on the side of her ears.

Aloha, Nels.

Anyone here ever attend this show?

http://www.bigwestartsfestival.com/

The deadline for applications has been extended to May 31st.

I would like to share with you all the term paper I submitted at the end of the English Factual Writing class I finished a few weeks ago.

I am also adding the comments that Mrs. Sargent, the mean witch that gave that class, added to my paper.

It is a dictionary and dream interpreter, and it may be of use to the populace that abounds here. 

As the files are quite large I will release a couple of pages a week if enough interest for knowledge arises. 

The first release will be larger as I will include the first 7 pages. 

Careful reading is quite necessary in order to understand the depth of thought involved.

I hope it will be of good use to the readers, and your comments will be greatly appreciated ( I think)

When I applied for this show, I was looking for something close to the OKC 6-day show.  The Book & Art fair is held every year on Mother's Day weekend at the Century II exhibit hall in Wichita, Kansas as a fundraiser for the local art museum.  As the date of the show approached, my husband and I were faced with a couple of very unexpected and expensive events that had me questioning whether or not to do this one.  He talked me into going, but I chose to drive and set-up on the same day to keep my hotel costs down, something that I don't normally do.

Set-Up

Set-up is on Friday from 10 am 'til 8pm.  I arrived at 5pm and found easy parking at the loading dock.  I was able to unload quickly onto one of the provided flatbed carts and dolly my stuff to my booth space.  Set-up seemed to go smoothly for most people. Affordable electric ($35) was provided via an outlet on the floor right at your booth space, the floor was fairly level, and the aisles were wide.  I managed to finish setting up at 7:45, a respectable time when I'm by myself.

The artist's parking was an easy one block walk from Century II.  Because of my late arrival I didn't need to move my car to the artist's parking lot on Friday, just move it from the the dock space to another "loading" space.   Saturady and Sunday that short walk was much appreciated in the 100 degree heat.

The Show

The show opened Saturday morning at 10am, and there was a line of shoppers at the door.  Some of these folks went straight for the booths, others went right upstairs for the used book sale.  By 2pm the crowd had thinned out to a mere trickle and pretty much remained that way until the 6pm closing time.  Bargain shoppers abounded in the afternoon crowd, drwan in by the book sale.  The artists had plenty of time to walk around and visit in the afternoon.  I met many first-timers like myself, and one long-timer.  Several of the artists had been in OKC like myself.  All of the first-timers expressed that it would be nice to just make the booth fee for this one($200).

Sunday brought an 11am start time, and shoppers were once again lined up at the door.  Most folks managed to make early sales, but by 2 o'clock the crowd had shifted again.  The recycle metal worker across from me managed to keep the sales up for another hour or so, but most of the buying energy was gone.  At 3pm, an announcement was mad that all of the used books were on sale for $3 per paper grocery bag full, and that sucked some of the shoppers up to the balcony to look for bargains.  Several of the artists started a slow tear-down at 4:30 in preparation for the 5pm show close.  Those I spoke to didn't have great sales on either day and were gald when the show was over. 

Load Out

In anticipation of the forthcoming chaos of folks trying to leave a not-so-great show in a hurry, I brought in my own handtruck and packing materials when I arrived Sunday morning.  The flatbed carts provided by the site were in short supply at teardown and I was gald to have a place to stack my ProPanels off of the floor.  Everything was orderly and quick, and the hall was fairly empty when I departed at 6:30.

My Review

For some reason this show was very heavy on photography and jewelry.  The jewelry I get - Mother's Day and shiny, 3-D things to touch.  But photo?  I'm a photographer and this was totally not my crowd.  My stuff is higher-end, monochromatic, historic process work and this was a lower-end, 3-D, bargain-hunting crowd.  Unfortunately this show doesn't really have a website, and you're only given a list of participating artists at check-in (without a notation of medium), so reasearch can't be done prior to application or acceptance to see if your work is a good fit.  My hopes were that being sponsored by the local art museum the quality might be a little higher.

In terms of sales, under $100 seemed to be the hot price point.  A nearby jeweler sold a piece well above that mark but had give a significant discount just to make the sale.  In terms of 2-D, the hot item seemed to be the "print-in-a-bag" - no mat, just a flat print dropped in a clearbag.  Even notecards were a hard sell at this show.

In the past this show was held in conjunction with RiverFest (now held in June), which apparently brought in bigger crowds on Saturday.  This was the first year the the Book and Art show was on its own and despite a good advertising campaign the shoppers just weren't there.  And this is first and foremost a used book sale.  The art fair feels like a sideline - a few boothsitters, cookies at check-in, but that's it.  Everyone was very nice, but that doesn't put gas in the car to get you home.  If you live close by and need a filler show, this could be OK if you have lots of stuff in the $30 - $50 range.

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.