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It's late and I'm tired but I wanted to get this out tonight!

Art in the Gardens (www.npbchamber.com/aitg) in located off PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and took place on November20 and 21, 2010. The show is located ona road in the Midtown outdoor shopping center between the main buildings andcan’t be seen from the road. Midtownincludes a 500 seat theater, 300 room banquet hall, and 225 condo units. This project has been around forapproximately five years (reported from repeat offender artists), and is quiteempty – I’d say at least 50% has never been occupied.

I choose to make the three hour drive Saturday morning versus spending a second motel night and arrived 15 minutes prior to the show’sopening. And this is after a quick stopat McDonalds in Okeechobee, Florida for a morning sausage McMuffin and blackcoffee. The security guard was adamantthat even though I had my packet and parking pass that I could not drive in forsetup until I checked in. Check in wasquick and included another packet with show badges and my name on an 8 ½ by 11sheet of blue paper. She also went overthe artist amenities which included coffee, water, muffins, and fruit in themorning, and a sandwich and chips each afternoon. Very nice. They were set up in a vacant store front which included an indoorrestroom for artists. I drove right tomy booth and set up – piece of cake as most artists had set up Friday night –it doesn’t get any better than this.

I took a quick walk around the show prior to opening and the work quality was very nice. However,there was a lot of photography and jewelry. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t see any pottery and there was one othersculpture artist than myself. In oneblock, there were four photographers in a row with one across from them; I knowhow I’d feel if I were one of them. I’destimate there were about 100 artist booths and a few chamber of commercemember’s booths.

Saturday, Day 1, had a light crowd that did not appear to be buying from most artists around me. Isold four smaller items but nothing of any merit. One copper artist near me sold threereasonable size pieces but told me he had to discount one by 50% and another bya smaller percentage.

Sunday, Day 2, was worse for me but a few of my neighbors sold a few pieces. One photographer Ispoke with that lives ½ mile from the show said he’s been coming since the showstarted five years ago thinking that he was going to make some money and ithasn’t happened yet. Another I spokewith sold a few things but it was questionable that he’d make any money.

Tear down was a cluster. A few minutes before the show closed, vehicles started driving in fromtwo different directions. Fortunately, Iwas parked at the end of the road. Threecarts and 34 minutes later I was able to make my escape. There were a number of artists that weretrapped on the inside but everyone was polite.

Joe’s View

The best thing about this show was meeting two fellow AFI’s – Hi Rich and Sherry. This show is in anarea that has potential to draw a great art buying crowd. Unfortunately, it’s got a lot going againstit including: being in a near vacant shopping center with the booths hidden fromthe view of PGA Boulevard; no real signage from the road indicating a fine artshow is going on; and a very low turnout of potential art buyers. I do want to stress that the promoters dotreat the artists well. However, we dohave to make money and it’s going to take some changes if that’s going tohappen here.

I did this show last year and it was the best of my fall shows so I had high expectations. It was definitely a Saturday show last year since most of the little shops and restaurants in Deland were closed on Sunday. So you can imagine my disapointment on Saturday evening when I went home with a little over expenses. But this year the shops stayed open on Sunday and I managed to do almost as well as last year.

Vounteers for booth sitting were numerous. The artist party on Friday night is very nice. They feed you both breakfast and lunch. Both were very nice although I wish if they were going to give us meat in slices (roast beef on Saturday, Turkey on Sunday) they would give us knives. I never like Saturday morning setup but this one is not bad. I always arrive early and unload to the sidewalk and then setup when the street is closed at 6AM. I hired help for both setup and breakdown (you have to be off the street by 7 on Sunday). I probably could have done both my myself but I get stressed easily when I don't have a lot of time for setup or breakdown and it was worth it to be done with both in plenty of time.

I find it strange that I do so well at this show. I live near the area and I just don't see the demographics but apparently they are there. Every other show this fall in central florida I have sold only one (or none) framed prints. The rest of my sales were all unframed. This show I sold five framed prints. People seem to walk the whole show and then choose. All of my big sales were people who had come by the booth at least once before. People do come by before the show officially opens so it helps to be open early.

One of my neighbors did not do well. I don't know how the other one did. I didn't get around much. I always feel I'm going to miss that one big sale if I leave the booth for too long so I don't know how others did. I talked to a few people on Sunday morning and they were not real happy but I wasn't happy on Sunday morning either. I hope everyone's sales picked up on Sunday like mine did.

I've got a lot of framing to do before I'm off to Naples this coming weekend.

Both super for me! For the Deland Arts & Crafts in March, see my comment to Tom Baron, Nov.21st. The Halifax Art Show has been on my list for awhile. I just got to it this year and will never miss it again! Loading in and out was the easiest I've ever done. I was on South Beach St. It is held in the "Old downtown" on the water, not on the beach. My neighbors were nice and had the same experience I did. There was some incredible art there. It was easy for me to stay in the area because my son lives about 10 min. away, so I set up on Friday. The judge breezed by without even a nod, which disappointed me because I made a couple of special pieces just for the judges. I've decided that at those really big shows, the judges preview from the slides and go straight to that artist's booth. No matter, I made $ and lots of admirers. The crowds were massive Saturday and Sunday, in spite of the bitter cold on Saturday and the wind on Sunday. They come before the opening time, so be ready. A friend came by and gave me a restroom break and I only had time to sit down 2xs on Saturday. There were booth sitters but not always when you needed one. I only had a couple of larger sales and everything else was $5-$50. A few customers walked the whole show and came back for good sales. There was serious consideration for my more expensive pieces but no sale. Customers were still being cautious with their $. This was the first time I actually sold out of my less expensive pieces! I had Flamingo Follies on the beach the next weekend and was panicked trying to get ready the next week. In talking to someone else who does copper sculpture, my experience was not necessarily the standard. The copper sculpture did not meet expenses even with small items like the tree ornaments. I kept my prices reasonable and did not bump up the silver price even though silver had shot through the roof that week. I think people realized the value for the dollar and were buying for Christmas. The show was huge - 252 booths, although I saw quite a few empty spaces?? People who paid the fee and skipped the show?? I couldn't afford to do that.

Now for Flamingo Follies - Ditto to above!! Only a couple of sales near $100 and every thing else was in the $5-$50 range. Not the crowds I remember from last year but we had 2 beautiful days and I was in the same spot as last year and customers remembered. It is harder to get in and out, but I had no trouble. It is one lane in the middle of the boooths, but with the side streets parking wasn't a problem. You set up in the a.m. and I got there a little late about 7:15 a.m. The restuarants on Flagler Ave. were accomodating for drinks and restroom breaks. Again I stayed at my son's so no motel expenses. An artist friend of mine had no sales on Sunday and she does mermaids and 2D work also. The crystal jewelry lady down from me wasn't selling on Sunday either. Still don't know how ppl found me and decided to buy, but glad they did!!

Best Italian restuarant in the area - We happened onto a fairly new restuarant on Rt 92, Speedway one block from SouthBeach St. on the intercoastal in downtown Daytona. EVERYTHING is made from scratch and it is family run. DON VITO'S ITALIAN RESTUARANT!! I've never had a meal so perfect in everyway. We all got something different and it was all delicious. Nice way to end a good show.

Hello, I would like to announce the website (with a few tweaks to come :) of the Florida Keys Art Guild.

We have been in exsistence for 10 years now and have recruited some new blood to bring the Guild into the 21st Century.

I would like to say a few things about the Guild which I hope will educate all who are interested.

We are a collective of hard working individuals who strive to bring the best artist from all around the county to our beautiful Florida Keys.

• We are painters(of all media types), photographers, sculptors, jewelers, mixed-media artist, glass blowers,woodworkers, potters, fabric artist and many, many more.
• We are staff artists.
• We are not an artists club.
• We are a Guild: a union of men and women in the same craft or trade.
• We jury artist based on a collective of different individuals who strive to bring high quality arts and crafts to the buying public.
• We don't fix prices or mandate pricing structure at our art shows.
• We need you. As more and more artist join our ranks, the bigger and stronger we become.

An advocate is:

• One who pleads the cause of another
• One who defends or maintains a cause
• One who supports or promotes the interest of others

The Florida Keys Art Guild is your advocate.

In closing, we are here to support artists of all walks. How about taking a walk with us.

Thank you.

Joey R. Smith (Large Format Photographer)

Show Chairmen

www.floridakeysartguild.com

I'm trying to decide between 2 art fests for March 26/27. 1 - Deland outdoor arts & crafts fest or 2. Lake Wales art show. I'm a fused dichroic glass artist, with most of my work being jewelry in the $25 - $40 range, and some ecthed dichroic panels in the $100 - $200 range, and kaleidoscopes in the $300 - $450 range. But by far most of my sales are from the jewelry.

I've never attended either show. In fact I'm new to the show circuit. Any input on either show would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I am wondering if anyone has any input on the Corus Christi festival of the arts held the end of March. For me it would be a 26 hour drive. I hear the economy is good in Texas.

Any information would be appreciated

Thanks

Linda

I participated in this show for the second time. It is held in a beautiful park in Ft. Lauderdale and the weather was perfect. Load in and out is very difficult, having to dolly in on cobblestones. There were no working lights in the park so we had to load out in the dark, causing some safety issues.

I never saw the judges and was shocked at the prizes ($) awarded to buy/sell, while obvious one of a kind art was ignored. No one I spoke with saw anyone judging. No check marks or stickers were put on the booth signs to identify that we had been judged!

There were some incidents that occured that I've never seen or heard about at any other shows.

The show committee works very hard and seems to want to improve the show in the future.

I would like to hear the viewpoints of some of the other participants.

Just when I was basking in the glow of a fine end of the year show at Bayou City and dreaming of the relaxing Winter ahead, that ominus email came from Main St. Ft. Worth.

You stare at the message header for a full 24 hours before you read the thing. It takes that long to steel yourself for the enevitable " thanks, but no thanks".But wait, there is always that chance it's good news you're in, or maybe even the purgatory of the wait list. Hell, you re did the booth shots after reading how much this counts in the jury selection, submitted what you felt was a creative representation of your work. You did the show two years straight, did killer numbers. Even schmoozed the director a bit for good measure.

Eyes closed, finger hovering over the mouse, gravity takes over and the finger plops down. Peeking thru parted fingers you slowly absorb the facts. They don't like me anymore. Damn.

It's tough to not take the rejection to heart. this is a show that will literally make the year, it's the Cherry Creek of the Spring (yeah, and waiting for that rejection too), the one show that people will make hotel reservations a full year in advance, and rent mules to haul their purchases off. Its two lanes of shoulder to shoulder,heel to toe happy Texans for four days and 8 city blocks just buying and buying and buying. But they ain't gonna be buying mine.

Maybe its karma, maybe I reamed a few show directors and there is this underground cult they all belong to that black lists people that call them out.Maybe the two years I was in was an abberation. Maybe my work really does suck.

Yeah. I know it happens to all of us.Photographers probably more than most others, simply because there are so damn many of us. Maybe I should become more run of the mill, stop trying to convey my own little take on the world thru my imagery.Become more mainstream.And maybe I just suck.

I have the whole cold and lonely Winter to think on it.