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Joe
I watch pretty closely for new shows and/or shows turning the corner and am so saddened when a good show goes wrong. Will you step up and share some thoughts on shows that you think are particularly well run and are "rising"? You know they are out there.
This can be in any category:
--the biggies
--the mid size shows
-- the volunteer run events
-- the museum shows
-- local fine art & craft shows
Through the year all kinds of shows get reviewed on this site that I've never heard of. Can you share your favorites, the places where is is more or less safe for an artist to put down their money?
Tell us...
Greetings to everyone and Happy (belated) Halloween! When I was thinking about Halloween one of the most frequent asked questions I hear is “what are you dressing up for on Halloween”, right? Well, it made me want to revisit a topic I talk about often (just not lately) and thought about it until just this week. I am referring to the topic of dressing for success – at an art fair, not so much for Halloween. :-) I do believe the way you carry and present yourself certainly reflects how people perceive your artwork. Today I am going to talk about what I think is and is not appropriate to wear for an art fair and why. (Note: The photo is one I took of my pekingese dog named Hayley while I had some down time at my part time job).
Question # How should I dress for success at an art fair?
First and foremost, dress comfortably. That doesn't mean you should dress “frumpy” in your old college sweatshirt with holes or stained t-shirt you just can't part with. This means wear comfy shoes (for starters) to prevent injury and aches and pains. Depending on the weather forecast, dress for the weather – if it is going to be rainy, bring an umbrella or better yet a durable raincoat. In hot weather dress in loose fitting airy materials like rayons, silks, or cotton blends that allow for “personal air-condition”. During colder months, dress in layers this way you can peel off one layer at a time if it gets warm (like some indoor shows I have participated in where it is freezing in the morning yet like a sauna come close down time). I can't tell you how many times people think it is far more important to dress in their “Sunday's Best” yet quickly find they are making customers feel intimidated or uncomfortable. I often see art sellers irritated because they are uncomfortable in their suit or dress, and their feet hurt and often do not see this affects the attitude of buyers. I guess some just have to learn the hard way – you don't have to!
I also find coordinating your clothing with your artwork could help benefit you in the long run. For instance if you sell tropical photographs or paintings wearing a tasteful Aloha shirt this could add to the ambiance and show you have a very laid back easy person to talk to. If you sell metalsmith jewelry, think about dressing in black with silver/gray accents or browns if you work in copper. If you demonstrate wear a smock/apron, this can show you aren't afraid to get down and dirty yet at the same time can take it off and start selling being clean and presentable. If you sell dog art/craft, perhaps a t-shirt or sweatshirt of your favorite breed would be ideal to not just advertise yourself but could be an ice breaker too. Another idea is to wear what you make like scarves, jewelry, hats, belts, etc. If you are proud of what you make, wear it proudly.
For an added professional look think about getting some professional shirts made with your business name and /or logo on it. I have done this in the past and not only does it work as a badge at shows as well as walking advertisement, it makes you look sharp and professional. This could be a simple personalized apron, polo shirt, button down blue jean shirt, or even a jacket. There are tons of companies, especially local businesses, that specialize in this sort of thing and often a lot more cheaper than shopping for regular clothing that you may find you will want to wear it all the time – outside of doing art fairs.
Lastly, whatever you choose to wear for a show at the very least make it clean. Some people do work up a sweat setting up – especially on those hotter than Hades days, so bring an extra shirt or pair of shorts/pants. Also, this goes for those who just can't avoid dripping ketchup or mustard on your clothing during a quick lunch break. There is nothing more distasteful than seeing a person with arm pit stains or holes in their shirt or pants, yet selling nice artwork. It leaves a bad taste in peoples mouths and if their first impression is you, before they see your booth, you will forever loose them as a customer. Wouldn't you think twice if you saw this at a show? Share with me and others how you dress for success and if it has helped in making sales by using the comment button. The next question will tackle good and bad spending habits artists are faced with when wanting to take your busienss to the next level. Until next time, hope you had a great Halloween! - Michelle Sholund, www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com
I already mentioned about the load in and load out, it really can't be beat. The setting is in a nice park and all the booths are on concrete wide sidewalks. There is plenty of free artist parking next to the show in the Chase parking lot. Security is provided and I heard of no issues.
The crowd was no where near the 50,000 estimated by the show. My thought is that it was around 10-12K. Many artists near me didn't do so well, but this was my best Florida show ever at around $1,500; it appeared that I had done better than many folks. That's not half what I'm normally used to doing at a bad show in the western US or Georgia. A photographer two booths from me sold two cards, and another four booths on the side sold one $40 print. The jewelry lady next to me (selling $10-20 dollar items) did ok but nothing great.
There were three booths in "no man's land". It appeared from the map that they planned for about 60-70 more booths than they had and these poor souls had gotten in last week. One artist moved his booth Sunday morning into an open spot near the ring of the show, and I couldn't speak for how he'd done.
Florida is an interesting animal to me as I've done five shows here now that are nothing like I'm used to doing out west; it anyone has some great advice for me, I'd love to hear it. I'd love to give a great tequilla and restaurant review, but my trucks immobilizer module died Friday night and left me scrambling to try and get it fixed. Fortunately, the great guys at Orlando Dodge took care of it this morning and had me on the road in two hours. Nice.
I'm excited to have been juried into the upcoming Indiana Art Fair to be held at the Indiana State Museum in February 2011.
Does anyone have any history with this event? I'm curious as to what I can anticipate in way of attendance size and past purchase behavior.
Thanks for any input you can share.
-k-
Karla Ries
It was cold in Atlanta this weekend. We went below freezing for the first time this season. This was the 2nd year for this festival. They do a fall art show, and then a spring art/craft festival in the same location. The people that orgainze this show are one of my favorite groups to work with. Patrick, the show director, is so friendly and goes out of his way to visit with everyone. Even at other art fairs he always comes by to say hello and give moral support. This show does everything they are allowed to do to make life easier for the artist. Golf carts run from the free parking to the booths all day. They offer to take patrons and their purchases back to their cars on the golf carts so people don't have to worry about how they will get larger pieces to their cars and the artists don't have to leave their booths to help get their art to peoples cars. They don't have many volunteers but the people who work the show actually WORK. They help with set up and break down. They deliver fruit, fun snacks and drinks all day and checked on each artist to see how everyone was doing. Even on the way out Betheny was at the exit handing out cookies to the artist as you drove out of the show. There was a lot more advertising for this show then the past Chastain Park shows. They had 18 minutes on the local news, commercials, billboards, great sinage, lots of different types of ads.
Booth fees were around $200 and they had about 175 artist booths. The crowd was ok, but not a ton of people. Saturdays weather in the morning didn't help. the crowd is mainly families and people walking their dogs. Booths are set up on one side of a narrow road that runs through Chastain Park. There is room behind the booths, some have more then others, depends on the terrain. About 1/2 the artist sit behind the booths and the other 1/2, like me, sitt across from the booth. On the other side of the street where I would sit I also had lots of room to store my stuff so the back of my booth was usable space for people to view art and not my junk. I had a great spot where we got some sun later in the day, which really helped since it was so cold. Artist who were in the shaded area were complaining about the cold, but as long as I was moving around I wasn't cold. I do sit, but not for more then a few minutes at a time, so the cold was preferable to me over the heat. You are able to start load in on Friday, the day before, starting at noon. The road is narrow, but since artist have all day to set up there was plenty of room to pull your car onto the side, unload then go park your car before setting up. They kept the road one way and were on people to fully unload and park your car before starting to set up. They were great about helping you unload to speed up the process. Load out also went smooth. It was day light savings, so it got dark early. Even with the narrow road, one entrance and one exit, there were few traffic jams, and when those happened the organizers were there to direct. They were strict and inforced the load out rules which was great becasue it prevents problems and headaches when people don't follow the basic load out instructions. I like to take it slow and wait till the frenzy dies down before I get my car. By the time I had my stuff broken down and off to the side it was totally clear. Sometimes getting out of a park show can take hours, but I was packed up and driving out with my cookies in just over an hour and a half after the show closed.
To the important stuff, sales. I think it was Beverly here on AFI that mentioned a game she has played at shows, have a drink after the first sale of the day or 2pm, whichever is first. I like this game so I usually play it. At this show I was set up next to a friend of mine. This game is more fun to play when you are not playing alone. As it so happens we had a liquid brunch on Saturday, it had to be noon somewhere right. Within the first 30 minutes of the show a man came up to my booth, not even in it, looked at my most expensive piece and said he would take it. He didn't ask what size it was, if I would take less, didn't need to wait for his wifes opinion or anything. Just wanted to know how I wanted to be paid, cash, check or charge, my choice. As I was handing him his receipt his wife and kids walked up and he mentioned to them that he just bought this 48"x72" painting. The wife mentioned she had a few things to show him and he told her that he had a couple other things he saw he wanted and they had only seen 1/4 of the show at this point. The rest of Saturday was pretty good for me. By the end of the day I had to get permission to drive my car to my booth so I could load up 5 large pieces I needed to deliver that night. Sunday also good, another liquid brunch because my friends booth sold a $1200 piece before noon. I sold some smaller pieces and a few larger ones on Sunday. This was definetly one of my better shows of the year, not my best, but top 5. I also have 6 appointments already scheduled to do custom pieces. I don't have the $$ for these yet so they are not closed, but usually my custom work closes. So if all the custom work closes and I attribute these to Chastain Park Art Show it may be my best show of the year. We will see.
I already knew many of the artists showing and then was able to meet many more. The jewlers that I knew did OK, made expenses. They would not come back. I didn't get a good read on how photographers did. I did see LOTS of canvases and other 2d art go buy. Not small pieces but large ones. So I wasn't the only painter selling at this show. This was a show for 2d art IMO.
One thing that I have noticed about doing this show is that I am not dog tired after it. Usually I am exhausted after a show. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday night I felt fine, and today Monday I was able to fully unload and put away everything. I even think I can go to the gym today, usually I don't the day after a show. I don't know if it was because of the ease of set up, break down, how the show was run, the liquid brunches, the cold weather or the new footstool I got for my directors chair, but it is a nice change.
I hope there will be more reviews on this show. I met more then one artist who enjoys AFI, but doesn't post, just lurkes ;) Hopefully they will let us know how they did, good or bad. It helps us all and I really believe it is good art karma for those who share there info. Everyone who showed around me was really nice and helped make the weekend more enjoyable. Did I forget anything?
Now that I have your attention , I'll mention that other artists' results varied: some of the 2-D artists I spoke with who sold only original works, with no reproductions at lower price points, suffered. But there's no question about the uniformly high quality of the art, the nice balance of the mix (not too heavy on any one category), and the fine treatment of the artists. Promoter Patty Narozny and her Hotworks LLC staff know how to run a show, and this one was as seamless as could be.
Miromar Outlets, the host venue, is an upscale outlet mall (there's an oxymoron for you) with a strong identity in this well-to-do community between Fort Myers and Naples. The show takes place in a cordoned-off section of the parking lot in one corner of the mall. Setup was available all day Friday, as well as early Saturday morning. This was handy, given that a strong cold front--the first of the season in SW Florida--had ushered in storms on Thursday night and stiff breezes and near-record lows on Friday morning. So it was nice to be able to watch the skies and plan my arrival accordingly. The load-in was a snap, as you could drive right up to your booth location.
Saturday dawned crisp, clear, and still a bit breezy, but that didn't deter the crowds. I had early arrivals perusing my photos as soon as I lifted the front flap, and crowds were steady and enthusiastic all day (and, except for a lull early on Sunday afternoon) stayed that way. My last sale, at 4:15 on Sunday, was my biggest of the weekend. As mentioned earlier, though, not everyone I spoke with was praising their sales totals...so it will be interesting to hear from other artists in attendance.
Artist amenities are prominent at a Hot Works show, and although I personally don't use them as a factor in deciding which shows I apply for, I will confess they're nice to have when I stumble onto them. Patty and her staff provided coffee and water during Friday setup, roving water deliveries during show hours, and an artist award breakfast at 9 AM Sunday (which I didn't attend). No booth-sitters that I know of, though, in case you're keeping score.
We Florida artists, like most traditional retailers in the Sunshine State, are always eager for the arrival of "snowbirds" (seasonal visitors from the north and from Europe). And there's no question that they've arrived: I had a number of customers from Minnesota, Canada, Germany and the UK, in particular over the weekend. Many of them come down in October or early November, then return home to see the grandkids for the holidays, and return for the duration of the winter in the first days of the New Year. So if you're selling 2-D, it's smart to have, and make known, a user-friendly shipping policy--and even better, small sizes that will fit inside a suitcase. I've started making my own packing bags from aluminum insulation, and they're cheap enough that I can provide them at no extra charge to customers who buy my large Gallery Wraps to help protect them in transit.
It was a treat, too, to be able to drive only 20 minutes to my home each night. No hotels, for the first time since May! But it was too good to last--I'm off to the East Coast this coming week, before returning to Estero for a Howard Alan show at nearby Coconut Point mid-month. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the weather, and the snowbird luck, holds through Christmas.
Well I was in the red-headed step child section. The show runs for three blocks, two on one side of a busy road and my section on the other side. Apparently a few artists decided not to show up or the show didn’t get enough qualified applicants or something because there were quite a few empty booth spots in my section. There were two empty booth spaces between me and my neighbor on the right and then three of us together and at least two empty booth spaces to the left of them. This became really important when the wind started to blow… We did get reasonably good traffic in the area mostly due to some entertainment and the pony rides. Saturday was an okay day and if I had done as well on Sunday as on Saturday it would have been an okay show for me but alas, I did not.
The good things:
I am slightly biased because I did win an award but I think the judging was good and the judging “experience” was well done. Both judges entered my booth and asked insightful questions. A lot of shows are trying to enforce this (judges handing you a card to prove that they spoke to you, spending an enforced amount of time in each booth, etc) but I can tell when they are just going through the motions and when they are actually interested in the work. These judges seemed interested. Photographs were taken of the work chosen for judging (and they asked permission to do it) and a photograph of the award winning piece was displayed when the award was announced. I like it when shows do that because I can see what was chosen. I didn’t get any chance to walk the show (being in the red-headed stepchild section) but all of the awards seemed well-deserved.
Minor artist support was good. I never lacked for someone to watch my booth so I could run to the bathroom.
The bad things:
My friends all told me “the weather is going to be perfect” Perfect my but! Saturday was not too bad although it was 45 degrees when I got to the show. At least the sun was shining and as long as I sat in the sun I wasn’t freezing. Sunday was cloudy, windy, and cold. The wind was especially devastating to the person on my left who had the two empty booth spaces beside her. She ended up parking her vehicle in the two empty booth spaces and tying her tent to the vehicle to hold it down. Sponsor booths across from us were horribly unprepared with non-weighted EZ-ups. To their credit, once the first one went flying they took them all down. The food vendor directly across from me never showed up on Sunday leaving a poorly prepared EZ-up with billowing sides which threatened to take off toward my booth all day. Sunday was not a fun day.
I guess I would call this part – enforcement support. During setup no one was enforcing the street closure and every once in a while some civilian would fail to read the huge street closed sign and sneak in the tiny space left for us to get our vans in. Some of them became quite irate that they couldn’t get through. A person at each street closure (4) would have saved everyone a lot of grief. I was at check-in when the police told the check-in person that they needed to do that. Several vendor vehicles were parked in the street until 1PM (show opened at 9AM) until show personnel came and got them to move. The food vendor across from me was especially aggravating. They were partially set up and didn’t even show up until 9AM to complete setup. They were completely brazen, driving in and out of the show while it was open to bring stuff in and then left their vehicle parked until they were made to move it.
I was not too close to the music but a friend who was across from it said it was too loud for doing business.
Hopefully I will be moved to Virginia before this show comes around again. IF I can manage to again line up the next 3 shows on my schedule this year and IF I can procure an RV for the trip I may spend November in Florida and I would do this one again because – well what else am I doing that weekend. I would not, in a million years, travel 600 miles to do this show alone.
Back in May they were just graduating from college so weren't sure at that time if they'd hold another show. But they did - and yesterday's was held on the second floor of The Village Gate, a former factory in Neighborhood of the Arts section of the city. It's an atrium filled with sculpture, artwork and plants, lit by center skylights and not enough electric lights.
I know they had way more applications than they had room for but they narrowed it down to a diverse 50+ vendors. When they started billing their shows as "indie", I was skeptical, I admit. But there really is stuff at their shows you don't see elsewhere. I'm definitely one of the older vendors - old enough to be the mother of most of them. But that doesn't bother me a bit - because I only feel 30 in my head, which would make me more like, um, the older sister. :-)
As I wrote in my show survey at the end, I wish they would offer more time for set-up. I need a good 2 hours just to set up my space, so opening the doors to vendors a full 3 hours before the start of the show is what works best for me. Yesterday's show offered a 2 hour window before the show but we went 30 minutes earlier in case the doors were opened earlier - and the building staff was unlocking the doors as we arrived, so I'm very glad we went early.
There's an elevator, thank goodness, or you'd find me lying on the floor with back spasms about now. The room is irregularly shaped with vendors around the edge and a few in the middle. There was plenty of room in front of my space to spill forward a bit without being any further out than my neighbor, because of the odd shape of the room. Electric outlets were located in the interior overlook areas but the organizers had a lot of heavy duty, very long extension cords they ran out to the vendor locations, securely taped to the floor. I was glad I brought extra lighting. No matter the venue, it's impossible to have too much lighting, right?
From what I saw I thought the show was well advertised. They use social media strongly, which is critical for their generation. (And me!) They gave swag bags to the first 50 customers, containing donations from various artists - and true to their May show, there was a line of customers waiting for the opening of the doors.
Another promotion was they gave each artist a dozen or more raffle tickets to give to customers who spent $10 or more. There were to be 3 winners and my understanding is the prizes were additional swag bags, meaning the winners received little somethings from various artists. I thought that was a great idea.
There was rarely a time when there were no customers in my space. I made more per hour in the 6 hours of this show than I sometimes make at multi-day shows.
The fee is inexpensive, vendors are treated well. Load-in and out was average, parking for customers was plentiful.
Not to shoot myself in the foot by temping YOU to apply, but their next show will be May 7, 2011, and a new venue has been secured - the Main Street Armory in Rochester.
tho it's late, any info about affordable holiday fairs? esp animal related? thanks
nancy
Pet Collage Paradise
The updates to the website are taking place now and our title sponsor, Raymond James, it hoping to have all of the updates done by the end of the year. We were hoping for much sooner than that but we are at the mercy of them since they maintain our website for us. There will be detailed info as you request on the new, updated website. It will be more user-friendly with lots of info for our artists pertaining to set-up, maps, etc.I will forward you thoughts to our board of directors as well. Have a great day!John
One hopes that it will provide answers for those who have been accepted to the 2011 show.
It may help if the artists who will be in the show voice their questions and concerns now so they may be addressed in the updated site. I am not connected with the show in any way that woud be officially meaningful (I was REJECTED, for God's sake) but I can pass them on to likely listeners.
Show Set Up and Lay Out
The folks who manage the show were well organized at check-in and very pleasant to deal with. The show is in a wooded area with several paved roads. It's easy to drive right to your booth and unload, and if you have a trailer, you can park it right behind your booth. Two big pluses so far.
The Show
Saturday morning people started arriving and I started to sell some of my teaser $40-50 items. It started slowing down in the early afternoon but I had an OK day. I walked around the show to get a feel and it was mostly hand-made with little buy-and-sell. Most everything was related to traditional or mountain-type craft of good-to-excellent quality.
Sunday was pretty much a duplicate of Saturday. It wasn't a barn burner, but considering the booth fee ($100), the ease of set up, and how pleasant the show staff was, I took in about $1,800. OK considering I had a place to stay. However, I will be looking for something else for my line. This is the same weekend as the Yellow Daisy Festival, but I didn't know about it until after the deadline.
Teardown
Organized and a piece of cake. I was drove in and hooked to my trailer and was out about 40 minutes after the show's close.
