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I've decided that I'm going to post one artist a day while here at the Fine Art Expo here in Scottsdale.  My photography is lousy, my writing is amateur, but I'd like to honor all my peeps who devote ten weeks of their lives to exhibit at this wonderful show, and have extended a helping hand to me with my endless questions.  Today, for my first victim, I chose Cynthia Downs-Apodaca, who was the first artist I met here last Monday during setup.  She is the first woman I have ever met who is more of a rock geek than I am, and once you see her jewelry, you can see why.  What first caught my eye were the opals, since opals are my favorite gemstone and I can spot one at a hundred yards across an art show.  The silver wire braiding that she does is so intricate, I don't think my photos can even come close to doing it justice:

She also has these fabulous pieces she calls Tidal Pools, and in this one, the bottom stone- an Australian boulder opal- actually has a teeny beach scene in it!  Talk about the intricacy in nature! 

I'm also impressed whenever I see a woman firing up an acetylene torch and power tools, as she was hard at work one evening, after the show had closed.  Look for her wearable minerals at cynthiadowns.com. 

Cynthia, sans goggles and mask:

I can truly say she rocks!

May 21 & 22
Riverside, Illinois
Central Business District, Downtown
Saturday 10 to 5 Sunday 10 to 4
80 artists
Deadline:  February 1

Currently in its fifth year, the Riverside Arts Fair is sure to please artists and patrons alike. Join us as we celebrate two days of art in downtown Riverside, Illinois. This fine art fair has quickly become a community highlight. It complements and confirms the appreciation for high quality design and materials that Riverside residents and our neighbors find in this quaint community. 

Hosted by the Economic Development Commission, supported by the Village of Riverside and the Riverside Chamber of Commerce, the festival is held in the central business district of historic Riverside. A multitude of fine art patrons, music, children's art activities and more await those who choose to join us for this spectacular event.

The Riverside Arts Fair is organized by Erin Melloy of EM Events, a well established promoter of art shows in Chicagoland. EM Events are held in partnership with local business organizations bringing close interaction between each community and its' local art fair and ensuring you loyal patrons.

Learn more and apply: www.emevents.com

For additional information please contact: Erin Melloy - 630.536.8416 or emelloy@emevents.com

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Looking for more 2011 art fairs? Visit: www.CallsforArtists.com

My photoshop guilt is gone-- or at least subsided-- thanks to finding a display of late 19th Century photographers called "pictoralists."

the Phillips Collection museum in Washingtron DC recently had an exhibit on their work. As more amateurs were using cameras, these high-level photographers wanted to move away from plebian reality into what they saw as something more artistic. They used a variety of techniques to create "photographs that were more like paintings and drawings than the work of commercial portraitists or hobbyists."

They even added and subtracted segments to their "originals."  Gasp. Way beyond simply using different papers and chemicals. This was roughly 1850- 1940.  These pictoralists were supported and joined by luminaires such as Steinglitz, but eventually were overtaken by "Modernists" who primary goals were acuity and accuracy. (Steinglitz later switched sides.) I guess this is what produced the common belief that a photograph represents reality.

I still use photoshop quite sparingly, as I want to keep faith with the "original"  but feel better about the whole thang now. And it's handy for shrugging off folks who say in an accusing manner "That was photoshopped!"

Thanks old timers. 

(to whose for whom this is all old hat, I apologize for my late arrival.)

January 21-22-23, 2011

Merchandise Mart, Denver, Colorado

http://www.indianmarket.net/P1alt.html

What? Do an art show in the dead of a Colorado Winter, even if it's inside? Desperate crazy artists anyway...

www.rakubyshekinahclay.com

We've done this show for about 7 years, it's one of our most enjoyable, and better dependable producers. Winter weather is the big bugaboo, while we had 3 show days of sun, the travel day before was fraught with blowing snow storms around the region. Our trusty 4WD Toyota Tundra pulled our 6 x12 show trailer over the continental divide on snow & ice covered roads with ease, but it was still a nail biter half the time. Other artist coming from the other three directions got smacked by snowstorms too.

Down to the nitty gritty, sales results. We did an ok+, still not like the "great" years, but a bit better than just "ok." Other artists did dismal to super, sounds like most folks were happy with results. With our new direction in 2011 of doing fewer shows and increasing our web and wholesale sales, we started the year well with delivering 2 wholesale orders while at this show, and were approached by several others on the Front Range interested in carrying our work. Once again came really close to selling our large $4400 piece. Sales ranged from our small $20 pots to a $365 wall piece. Most sales were smaller and medium items.

Pricey booth cost of 10x10 starting at $570. But Promoter Randy, a former show person himself, is very artist friendly and advertises the heck out of the show. It occurs on the same weekend the 6 week Denver Stock Show was ending. Load up and out and setup are a breeze, large free parking area (also for customers), 2 huge semi-sized doors. We again stayed in the attached hotel, lower rate for artists, dynamite free breakfast, and most of all not having to drive the busy Winter Denver traffic.

Saturday is the big day, they were at capacity (4400) for part of the afternoon, counting folks leaving and letting in that number. Fri. & Sun. were good attendance. Sunny weather helped a lot. Entrance at $12 per person didn't seem to deter folks. Non stop top notch Indian entertainment didn't  keep folks from wandering the isles and buying.

As more of a "specialty" art show, it has a more narrow criteria for artists. Lots of really great art, and some of which may fall into the craft category. Randy's policies for buy & sell are strict, but can be hard to tell with some jewelry and other art. At least nothing real obvious.

We'll likely do this show again in 2012, both for probably ok to ok+ (maybe great) sales, and wholesaling. On the subject of wholesaling, we are looking forward to getting off the art show gerbil wheel and spending our time and travel to build steady accounts. We've done wholesale in the past, but just couldn't produce enough and maintain accounts and keep up with shows. If we take just a portion of what we would pay for shows in 2011, travel around our region, maybe combine with some R&R overnights, we figure we can do at least as well, if not better than doing art shows this year. Guess we'll see.

Did anybody do the Indialantic Art Festival?  How about some reviews of this show?  We'd all like to know how things went.

Jacki B

Hi, Im fairly new at the art fair scene and recently did my first art fair as far as Florida. I am very amazed at poeple who come out there and pretend to be making the art they are selling. I walked around and found a few artist that had work that I can get at home from one of my suppliers. I couldnt believe someone would have the guts to do that. A few of the other jewelers also noticed and it did get reported to the staff. The guy had actually taken the first place ribbon .but after finding out about him he was asked to leave and did not recieve the cash prize for it. I find the fault here was that they had one judge for 108 artists. It seems to me that one person cannot be an expert in all fields. I did suggest that to them at the end of the art show so perhaps they will learn from that.

     The show was not good for me,which I was sad about. However, after walking around and talking to the other artists I found out it was not good for them either. It was a smaller show and people said this year no one seems to be buying. For my first show out of Michigan it was a bummer. but the more I read on this web site that seems to be the risk we take as artists.  I guess Ill keep on creating and keep on going. 

Marketing,marketing,marketing...my sister who lives in Paris just Facebooked me how great the recent pics looked of us. Of course, I assumed that she meant of our recent anniversary trip out of the country, which we posted on fb...no, she said, the photos of the City Place art show! An aha moment,knowing that she probably won't hop on the next plane to Florida to art show shop, but,"the who you know, not what you know"helps each and every one of us to be seen...without HAE team creating this online venue, Sharon would not have seen it.

Okay, the juice of the weekend.Don't let the wind or chill scare you too much- weather comes and goes, and so does a crowd- wind creates fear within a person-no matter what show you are doing.The Palm Beach crowd can pick and choose where and when they go anywhere.So, that being said, they showed up with bells on to shop on Sunday- we zeroed on Saturday-not happy campers, but still prepared to perform what tricks were necessary  for all people interested in our work on Sunday..we never let them see us sweat, rule #1- bills due,college tuition, mortgage etc...we all can relate.We try to make our work important enough in our eyes to help appeal to our potential customers- visualization is everything- we ask alot of questions about their space so that they can visually "see" it there(Thanks, Dale Carnegie sales course) We were successful in selling two major pieces with a strong possibility for another one in February.Howard and Debbie, once again, pulled in the crowd..I don't need to see the advertisements to know that they job was done.

We are renting in Daytona for many months, so we are relaxed knowing we don't have to make the twice monthly excursion back and forth to Cleveland for three months...and thanks to Debbie Alan for placing an ad for us on facebook to make this all possible- who knew that a show promoter could also be a real estate agent...thanks Debbie.

City Place is the new kid on the block- give her a chance- she wants to "play" for years to come!

Well it was good for me and I’m very grateful for that since I really needed a good show.  I was beginning to get a little discouraged.  It wasn’t good for others.   One person near me zeroed and another didn’t make expenses.  I talked to others who were not happy on Sunday morning however I wasn’t happy on Sunday morning.  I didn’t start selling much of anything until about 2:00 on Sunday afternoon and then everything changed and I ended up with a nice profit.

There were definitely issues.  Please promotors, resolve this year to make friends with the fire marshall and include them in your planning!  This is the second time I have seen a fire marshall throw a monkey wrench into a show.  This one consisted of 10 booth spaces that needed to be relocated early Saturday morning.  Extreme kudos to the security staff who went above and beyond their job to do what they could to resolve the situation since they were the only ones on site.  The layout of the show was rather convoluted and relocating 10 booths made it even worse.   

Setup and breakdown were not bad for me but the layout was pretty tight so it might have gotten bad closer to the center of the show.  There was plenty of space behind my booth.  Porta-potties were sorely lacking (4 total) and at the opposite end of the show from me.  The coffee shop near me was very gracious with their bathrooms.  Artist parking was a long way away.  According to some artists that I talked to there was some buy-sell there.

Compared to the museum show in Boca, this is a more mid-range show.  I didn’t do well at the Boca museum show with mid-range work and high-end work didn’t seem to do well here.  Attendance seemed reasonably good but very slow in the morning for both days.   The weather on Saturday was chilly and grey.  Sunday started out very cold (by Florida standards) but turned into a nice day.

   I'm having problems trying to sign in to AFI from my iPhone.  When I punch my e-mail address and password into the sign in blanks, it comes up telling me I do not have an account.  Has anyone else had this problem?  

I’ve been told to adjust my expectations with this show.  On any decent weekend show, you’ll get 50 to 80 thousand people walking through, walking their dogs and such; at this show, over ten weeks, you’ll get 80 thousand people walking through, but they are art buyers.  So, the weekend seemed alarmingly sparse in comparison, but I’m assured that many of these people come back several times with their $12 seasonal pass, after they’ve measured their spaces. The crowd here comes to buy art, and quite a few of the artists are out of the gate strongly this year with a big sale in the first weekend, a change from last year.   Many of these buyers have several homes, and they want their selections shipped to their other homes, so be prepared to deal with shipping.  Home showings are also de rigueur, and those can turn into a terrific social event for the artist of honor.  I can’t wait.

One goal I have set for myself here is to learn to paint faster.  I am absolutely pea green with envy over the painters who can complete a large-scale painting in a week.  And those painters out there who can do one, two paintings a night?  Well, I just turn into the scene in the Exorcist, head-spinning, pea-soup spurting and all. 

I realize I simply cannot afford to spend six months on a painting, no matter how tightly detailed I am. From observing some heavy hitters in the field (a big shout out to Kelby Love, who has generously given me painting tips and is as magnificent a wildlife painter as they come), it can be done without sacrificing detail and quality. So, I am taking advantage of the relative quiet and have churned out several full color sketches ready to go to a finish over the past few days.  Today I worked productively on four different paintings, which I think is a record for me... my work is cut out for me.

Last night, we attended a private soiree given by a fine art photographer- Andy at Century Editions-  for artists at the Expo. Andy, you know how to give a feast!  If he can shoot as good as he cooks, he’s got my next works!  How he got a hold of buffala mozzarella that good west of the Hudson is beyond me, but for a few drooling moments last night I was back home on Long Island...

I have been concerned about Framer Dude getting bored out here in the middle of nowhere and doing something really stupid, like buying a super-charged dirt bike and tear-assing across the desert and impaling himself on a cactus. But, he has once again utilized his many faceted skills and abilities and has become the stand-in grillmaster here at the Expo.  The café king and queen here had to return home suddenly today for an emergency, and as Dude was being his usual yenta self, bored and helpful and inquisitive, he found himself the de facto short order cook with a recalcitrant gas grill and a stack of all-beef patties.   Tonight, he’s counting his tips and checking out Kawasakis and Yamahas...I may still find myself picking cactus quills out of his butt in a month.

Marjorie and Billy, the thoughts and prayers of all artists here are with you, and no one beats your chili!

Here is my booth, lovingly set up by Framer Dude:

And many of us right before the bell rang at 10:00 on Thursday:

This festival has everything a successful art festival should have, good crowds, beautiful setting in an upscale mall, middle to upper household income, artist ammenities, quality art, and a volunteer staff that is organized and helpful. Why then are the artists not making the money that this type setup should bring. First some hard numbers, I surveyed several artists in many different mediums and these are the figures they gave me. A husband and wife team from Tennessee with two booths, non-functional plaster and whimsical wood carving, grossed 250.00 each, metal sculpture 850.00, jewelry 1300.00 other artists wouldn't give exact numbers but none I spoke with were happy and I spoke with about 20% of the artists.

I do 35 to 40 shows a year in setups ranging from upscale neighborhoods to cow pastures. This show is held on a street that winds through an upscale outdoor mall which is in my opinion the problem. I saw lots of packages carried, Dillards, Macys, Barnes & Noble, Build a bear, Gymboree, but not a lot of art. What I noticed was that even if someone was coming for the art festival and strolling along looking at art then noticed Barnes & Noble on the corner and decides to go in.

I do successful mall shows and the organizations putting on these shows separate the art show from the stores by putting the art show in a visible space in the parking lot, eliminating direct competion. That is my suggestion for this show.

Co- chairman Pam and her volunteer staff work very hard to secure good sponsorship and advertising. I think this show has legs and with their continued guidance it will learn how to walk.

 The show fees are low (180.00) so if you're local or are looking to string a couple of shows together I would recommend this show.

Well, Ellen and I had last weekend off after three straight shows.  So we made the most of it.  We got tickets to visit the brand new Salvador Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg on Saturday, I got to play golf and win more skins money on Sunday, and then we settled down to some of Ellen's famous homemade chili on Sunday night.

Well, I was sleeping beautifully, getting into every art show in my dreams, when my stomach decided to come "unsettled" around 1:30 AM.  Gee do you think it might have been the combo of an extra bowl of chili, than butter nut pecan ice cream and a shot of Cardenal Mendoza  Spanish brandy that did it?  That's why God made Alka Selzter.  As I sat on the couch letting the healing salts do their work it dawned on me about our recent visit to the Dali Museum and Ellen's comment as we left.  She noticed the Fountain of Youth and it spurred a warm flash in the past, but at the time I couldn't quite get a handle on it.

By the way, the Fountain of Youth was a great tourist attraction figured out by the city fathers back in the 30s.  It was just plain sulphur water, the odor of rotten eggs flowing from a pipe.  According to the legend, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto discovered this on one of his gambling jaunts in this neck of the woods.  De Soto was not that great of an explorer, but he made it big time when he later opened up his famous night club in Southbeach Miami--Hernando's Hideaway,Ole!

Hey folks, I gotta take my shots where I can get them.

Anyways, the Fountain finally became apparent to me, and it took me back to the 1950s in St. Petersburg.

I grew up as a kid in a golden time in America,post-World War II.  It was an age of innocence and exploration.  In 1952, I contracted polio from a neighbor, who eventually succumbed to it.  This was the age of the "Iron Lung."  No Salk Vaccine yet. I was confined to a wheelchair for almost three years.  Went through extensive hydrotherapy and stretching exercises and came out unscathed at age 10.  No withered limb, no braces, no nothing.  I was truly blessed.  When the doctor told me it was time to ride my bike again, I was more than ready.  I had three lost years to make up.  Which brought me to baseball and my first home run.

Back then both the Yankees and the Cardinals played their spring training games at Al Lang Field on Bayshore in downtown St. Pete.  Next to the stadium were two baseball diamonds where they also practiced at.  Also Little Leugers played there too. I played for McGhan Plumbing along with my best friend to this day Richard Lane. It was my first game after polio and I was wired.

The Rebels pitcher, Dave Pontius, threw a terrifying fast ball.  We usually just started swinging at it the moment we saw his arm whip over his head.  We prayed he would never hit us, or we would certainly be dead, or maimed for life, probably consigned to being one of those "Artists of the Street."  It was the last inning, score tied, and I hadn't been able to touch a pitch of his yet.  He fired one high and inside, I hung in there and swung as hard as I could.  Lordy Mis' Clawdy if that ball didn't sail over the right field fence out of the park.  My first homer.  There would be many others but none like my first one.  OK here is where the Fountain comes in.  The original Fountain of Youth was located on the corner of Bayshore and Third Avenue south, right behind the fence and home plate.  Well I remember Richard and I both going over to the Fountain and having a drink.  Phew! That water stunk but we drank it anyway.  Richard told me if we kept coming here and drinking that stuff we grow up to be old men like the rest of them and probably get to hang out on the green benches by the old Doc Webbs Store.  Well, Doc Webbs is long gone but Rich and I are still here, but neither of us feel like old men--yet.

OK.  Now back to present day and our visit to the Dali  Museum.  Ironically, the Dali Museum is located where all those old baseball fields were.  In fact I parked our van in garage that was almost on the exact spot where I hit that home run 56 years ago.  How's that for deja vu!

This new museum replaces the original that was down the road the last 25 years or so.  It is an architectural masterpiece, crowned with this great spiral staircase that takes you from the ground up to the fourth floor, where the greatest single collection of Dali Masterpieces reside.  There are six out of Dali's 18 masterworks in this one museum, the rest are scattered around the world in collections.  A couple from Cleveland, the Morses, bequethed this body of work to the city if they would build a museum worthy of it.  So St. Petersburg did back in the 70s.  Then through a vast private fund-raising program, they managed to build this new hurricane-proof edifice that just opened on January 11.

Dali has always been one of my alltime art heros.  I even put him up there above Edward Weston, Cezanne and Matisse.  He was a eccentric but also a brilliant business man.  A master at self promotion.  We all could take a page from this guy.  He was a visionary.  He also was very facile and great at painting or any other medium he decided to throw himself into.  Who else would paint on a bronze like he did of the bust of Geronimo?

The docents told us that to be considered a "masterwork" the work must have taken more than one year to complete, be at least five feet wide and a gazillion meters high. Two of my alltime Dali favorites are here--the Hallouscigenic Toreador and the Lincoln in Dail-vision which is really called "Gala Contemplating the View from a Window." (hereafter the Toreador will be referred to as the "HT."  Mea culpa Salvador.)

Well here 's a neat little trick I learned about viewing these pieces.Before going to the fourth floor, hit the bar-restaurant on the lobby floor.  Have a pitcher or two of sangria, maybe even a shot of Patron, then go view the Lincoln piece.  Normally you have to stand back about 60 meters to see the piece evolve from Gala into Lincoln's face.  But thru the magic of sangria it becomes readily apparent at 25 meters.  Neat trick, don't ya think?

Then we moved on to the HT.  This is my alltime favorite.  It is at leat 10-feet wide by 15-feet high.  They will let you stand two feet away from it if you wish.  You can look closely and watch as these apparent armless busts of marble  torsos atop pedestels  change into the face and hat of a toreador and also some change into a fallen bull with many bandillollers stuck into him.  It is an awesome piece.

But then I had a curious revelation.  If Dali had,say, tried to jury into the Cedar Key art Show via Zapp they would have probably juried him out.  Heck, they would need more than a few seconds to figure out what this guy is doing.  And how is going to be able to fit that masterpiece into a 10x10 canopy?  So I suddenly felt a lot better.  I got juried out of Cedar Key and so did Dali.  I was keeping fast company.  This was as good as the Elvis thing at Nickos Diner (see my December 2010 blog about Elvis and the Diner and the meaning of life).  I can't wait to see what other famous guys I going to pair up with this year.  I am defintely on a roll.

Well, we left the museum and Ellen noticed the Fountain.  I guess we have come full circle.  As Bob Segar said, "Isn't it funny how the night moves?"

Well, this weekend I head to Smyrner-burner-land for Images.  Going to do my first "Tequila Report of 2011" from there at Clancy's Cantina.  I have $350 barter tab with them, so Webbie and I are going into serious training so we can overthrow that notorious tequila-swizzler, Connie Mettler, from her lofty throne up in Iceberg-land, Michigan.

 Watch out Connie--we are gonna get ya

Well, I hope I helped you off to a fun week.  I gotta go play golf.  The mats can wait, they are always there.  Aloha, Nels

PS: As was thoughtfully pointed out to me, it is "Salvador", not Salvatore.  What was I thinking?  Too much sangria.  Thanks Lu.