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My director chairs I have been using for twenty years are worn out. I have seen several artists with nice heavy wooden framed chairs and padded seats. They are not the x crossed leg directors chairs but four legged straight or slightly curved leg type. Can anyone tell me where to find them? Have searched on line but apparently not under the correct description.

Thanks

Ed Schmidt

Art at the Glen, Glenview

Show was at the site of the old Glenview Naval Airbase which is now an upscale community with condos, shops, etc. Set up is generally easy although some exhibitors had store customers parked in their booth space which presented a problem for those few. Otherwise set up and tear down is quite easy. Typical of any show, many did well and others not so well. Quite hot and humid which tried the paitience of many exhibitors there. We had a significant increase in sales, almost double of last year. Great response from customers to our work.

Gold Coast

New location at Grant Park this year. City would not allow the show to be in the old location on LaSalle Street, so it had to be moved. Chicago Bears scheduled a preseason exhibition game after show date was set. Chicago Police initally would not let to show open at all on Saturday. After intense lobbying with the mayors office, show was allowed to stay open only until 3:00PM on Saturday. Attendance and sales were slow on Friday and just getting started good on Saturday when we had to close. Sunday attendance and sales were excellant. Will take a year or two for the public to get used to the new location. Total sales were not as well as expected but still acceptable. All exhibitors had to be out of the park by 11:OOPM Sunday or there was a fine. Thought tear down would be "NIGHTMARE" but most artists and security personnel worked well and everyone was out well before the deadline. Always a hot head or two around who didn't want to follow the rules but they were quickly quelched. All in all show went well. Some problems with mud and standing water from the rain Friday night. Amdur was limited by the park commission as to the remedies (no mulch, hay ect). Put down topsoil and plywood and made the best they could of the situation.

Port Clinton

The name says it all! Attendance was great both days although Sunday was very hot and humid. Public still came out and spent. Again many exhibitors did well and others not. Tough competition in two dimensional work. Many in my opinion overpriced their work. Don't know if this was their regular price or raised them because it was Port Clinton. Many well known high end artist did well while others sold very little although their work was of excellent design and execution. We had our best show of the year and both days were our best selling days of the year. Sales started at show opening both days and continued after closing time. May have been the fact that were are the only toymakers in the show and our price points are in the $50-175 dollar range. Poster for the show was a play on the tortist and the hare theme and we were the tortist when it came to teardown as we were one of the last to pack out. Show lived up to its' reputation and looking forward to next year.

Ed Schmidt

Toys 'N' Stuff

Wooden Toys

I exhibited at the Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival in Gainesville, Florida last April. When I opened up my tent Sunday morning I discovered that watersprinklers had gone off in my booth during the night.yes""> The sprinklers were really buried in the grass and I didn’teven know I had sprinklers, in fact, it took me a while to figure out why partof my booth was absolutely soaked. Luckily I had placed my directors chair right over the invisiblesprinklers and that prevented the water from spraying high enough to soakeverything. I had $1460.00 indamaged work (watercolors) and another artist (photographer) had about twice asmuch damage to his work. The showorganizer, Kathryn Leyman, spent the next three plus months trying to get thephotographer and me compensated for our losses.yes""> The city owned the land the sprinklers were in - butSunTrust Bank owned the sprinklers - but a maintenance/landscape company was incharge of the sprinklers – the finger pointing went on and on! I think sometimes Kathryn was patientand sometimes she was angry but I do know she spent a lot of time and did notgive up! It’s a nice show and Kathryn wants to see to it that the artist arewell treated and fairly treated. The photographer and I owe her a great bigthank you for persisting. She gotus our money and justice did finally prevail!yes""> We couldn’t have made it work without her. Thank you Kathryn Lehman!

Christina Smith

Christinasmith.net

Saturday
November 20
Canton, Michigan
Plymouth High School
8400 Beck Rd.
9 am to 4 pm
Deadline: when full

• a small quality event
• low booth fees
• easy in and out in one day
• solid support by the community
• resulting in a day well spent by you

September 3-6
Royal Oak, Michigan
on the downtown streets
130 artists

All metro Detroit is excited about the reinvigorated Arts, Beats & Eats at its new location in the hip downtown of Royal Oak. Its rich combination of the best in art, music and food has us all eager to make the trek. A sterling example of "something for everyone", celebrate the end of the summer here!

• Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings
• Royal Oak Symphony
• Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit
• Matrix Theatre Company
  
• Nadanta Dancers and more
  

40 Questions Craft Artist Blog Series Question #30 Should I limit thetypes of art I sell at shows?

Welcome back to the world of art fairs, right? I know it seems I might havedropped off the face of the earth, however I am here, just beenworking on a pretty fun project, not related to art fairs per say,but in the realm of the arts... Before I get side tracked – I amhere about the blog series and most importantly this weeks question.When I walk a show – not so much the big, traditional,well-established art fairs, but all kinds, there are times I seesomeone offering some paintings they do and some scarves theyknitted. Another might sell handmade – beautiful and organic –soaps, however at the same time photography too. Am I the only onewho wonders, what are you really good at and now faced with a choice,should I buy one type of art or the other, or neither? Call mekookie, but I wonder if the artists themselves ever ask this ofthemselves too – what am I really good at and should I focus myattention on that. Here's my thoughts on this...

Question #30 – Should I limit the types of art I sell at shows?

Here's my wishy washy answer – yes and no. Here me out though – I havereasons and the answer, I personally can't say it has to be one wayor the other because there are exceptions.

So first the reasons why it can work... Two things come to mind when itcomes to having more than one type of art to sell at a booth at onetime. One, you are just starting out and you don't know what willsell. Two, you are experimenting with a new medium and want to testmarket it.

When it won't work are any other times other than listed above. I say thisbecause if you look at business in the past (or even present) who aretrying to do more than what they normally do, issues occur. Don'tget me wrong there is such a thing as cross promotion of items andpartnerships, however this isn't what I am talking about. Forinstance have you ever walked into your favorite boutique and noticethem starting to carry a line that is just all wrong. Customers getconfused. Is this shop going in a different direction? What doesthis mean about “my” favorite stuff – is it being phased out?Then perhaps you wonder about quality, because if you specialize inbeing a great pottery maker, why take up weaving and start sellingthat – one has nothing to do with the other?

The idea of limiting the types of art to one category is ideal for a fewreasons. Consistency is one. Another reason is honing your talentequals good quality work. Spreading yourself too thin means spendingmore money on different kinds of raw materials, equipment andbalancing the time in making two different kinds of art in twodifferent mediums. At the same time you'll need to consider how toset up your booth to accommodate the two mediums and other similarissues too. One other reason is that show promoters want people tosell one time of medium or else there could be an over abundance ofone medium throughout the whole show which will affect everyonessales. This is particular with jewelry. I have known some people todo one type of medium and then include earrings or bracelets – notcool both with other jewelry artists and the promoter as well.

If you are doing this, and decide that maybe you should narrow it down toone, it boils down to these two points. Really look at the one artform that you love to do – even if you didn't get paid and choosethat one – being happy making what you make will result in betterartwork. The other option is to go with the one you don't mindmaking, but is a sure deal to paying your bills and most costeffective to ensure better profits. The answer is going to bedifferent from one artist to another, so if all else fails make yourdecision the old fashioned way – make a pro and con list, sit on itfor a few days and tweak it, and then come back to it and make yourdecision based on the outcome of the list.

I really feel this is a topic that doesn't get enough discussion andhope my advice helps. The next question in the series will focus onthe whole debate between buy/sell vs. handmade and why customers buyone or the other. Thanks for reading and will be back soon with moreanswers to popular questions. Feel free to ask your own questionstoo – I will be happy to fit it in with the blog series! -Michelle Sholund, www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com

Just wanted a take on what other artists thought of doing Coconut Grove if your art is more traditonal/realism watercolor. I know that crowd could be more partial to flashy contempory. If any one has done that show and their work is more traditional give me a feed back. I do very well in the east coast florida territory and have done well at Naples Nat'l, Winter Park, and Bonita Nat'l. I realize about the economy but just want a view point is that was a place for my style and that type of patron. If anyone want to take the time you can go to my new website (unconstruction)

www.barbaragroenteman.com to see my style. :}

Yesterday I did a demonstration on making pine needle baskets at the Besser Museum. It was great and the people were quite receptive, asked a lot of questions and I gave out a lot of business cards for The Drake's Nest Studios. The demonstration was from 1 pm until 3 pm and they kept having to bring out chairs for people who wanted to sit and chat and watch. The only down side was when I first set up a woman came in as I was just starting a basket, which is the hardest part of dealing with the pine needles, and wanted to know what I was doing. When I opened my hand to show her and explain, she grabbed the little beginnings and goes, "Oh, what's this for?" and pulls off the needle guide and handled it so roughly that she broke the pine needles. Needless to say I was not a happy camper but very nicely told her she wasn't to handle the materials and ask if she wanted to see something. She got quite snotty about it, but I did manage to keep my cool as I recollected teh damaged work, undid everything and started again with fresh needles and ignored her. She soon left. All and all, it was a wonderfully enjoyable day. I was doing the demo as a member of the Thunder Bay Basket Guild and promoting our exhibit of baskets there at the museum. The exhibit runs until September 11th, so if you happened to be in Alpena, Michigan, do stop in and look. They also have a wonderful WW II Exhibit honoring those who fought the valient fight. The exhibit is made up of pieces from various collectors and most of the exhibit is provided by a Mr. Dove who is working on getting a history museum totally aimed at WW II started in our area. He could provide the entire museum himself as he has over 1000 pieces of memoriabilia. I provided an extensive collection of WW II Nose Art found on the airplanes back then.

My studio will be having its grand opening in 2-3 weeks. Just need to put everything in its place and tidy up, as much as possible as I will be commencing to work in it just as soon as I have everything in it. I will be posting pictures on my Blog, http://www.drakesneststudios.wordpress.com, and on my website, http://www.drakesneststudios.com, of the completed studio. So why not pop in for a visit.

Just a reminder that the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival is from Oct. 7-11 in Alpena, Michigan and the main even is held at the Recreational Center. I will be its official photographer this year and we will have all sorts of vendors from Stainglass makers, to wine makers to artists - both visual and recording. Not to mention artist, food and a down right good time. Do stop in and see us, it is the 15th year for this and is quite the thing to see. All the lighthouses will be open during this 4 day event.

Guess this wasn't such a quick update after all . Thanks for listening!

Terri at the Drake's Nest in fallish Ossineke, Michigan

Site: http://www.drakesneststudios.com

Blog: http://www.drakesneststudios.wordpress.com

Orlando Art and Living Expo (BEWARE):

I’ve started seeing calls for the Orlando Art and Living Expo stating:

-175 “juried” artists

-Art lovers of Central Florida have “strongly” supported the festival.

I did this show in February 2010 (before I became a member of ArtFairInsiders. My booth was directly across from Ron Mellott (who introduced me to ArtFairInsiders).

I applied about a month before the show. As soon as they received my application, Jim Barton (the promoter) sent an email stating that I had been accepted but the only way he could reserve my spot is if I sent my check in immediately. Which I did.

My designated setup time was 6AM on Saturday (before the opening of about 10AM). I arrived early but no one was present. At just prior to 6AM the promoter and crew arrived and stated “just wait and we’ll be with everyone in a moment.” They had to unload all their refreshments and brochures and registration materials. About 6:10 they said to come in from a different direction from where I had been parked for the past 45 minutes. That put me much farther in line (even though I had been the first one to arrive). I did and waited in line as they registered each artist is single file. After they asked “what is your name”, the next question was “HAVE YOU PAID YET?” I asked “was that even an option? And don’t you even know if I’ve paid or not?? What a circus!

Once registered, I asked “OK where is my booth”. Their response was just wait in line and someone will tell you where to set up. After waiting patiently, Jim Baton finally showed up and direct the next few vehicles into the site. By the way, some artists had already set up on Friday which apparently would have made everything much easier. I only had a standard van and I almost touched tents on both sides of the vehicle as I traversed the street to where Jim asked me to set up. He was merely picking spots at random as vehicles arrived so that no two people would be setting up as neighbors at
the same time. Apparently he was doing this to avoid congestion in any one spot. Once unloaded, I had to move my vehicle to the next block to park on the street. No designated parking was provided.

Load out was IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to get their vehicle into the tiny venue until most people had dollied out. So if you’re in a hurry, just be prepared to dolly everything to wherever you may be parked. I was not in a hurry and I took down my display slowly and waited until the site was pretty vacant before I retrieved my vehicle. If it had been raining it would have been a nightmare for me.

OK, let me backup. About a week before the event, I had received an email from Jim and I happened to jump over to their website and see their announcements, etc. All of a sudden, instead of this being
billed as the “Orlando Art and Living Expo” (and promoted as an arts festival), it was not ONLY referred to as something like “Orlando Musik Festival” Their advertisements stated “just bring your dogs, your kids and your blankets and lay out on the lawn to enjoy the music of [band 1] and [band 2].
After all artists had been filled the attention of the promoter seem to have turned to nothing but the entertainment. And the entertainment was LOUD. The stage was at the end of the street where the artists had their tents. I was located about half way down the street (right in the middle of the artists row. If I stayed in my booth I could have conversations with patrons. UNLESS they were outside my tent. It was difficult to carry a conversation in the street. Later I went to the restroom near the stage and asked several artists who were closer to the stage. They said the sound was “deafening”.

OK, how about ‘sales”? Ron and I had continuous conversations for both days of the festival about how NO ONE was carrying a purchase. There were people there, yes. But no one was buying. Only lookers. I know at least 20 people near me that zero’d or didn’t make their booth fee (of perhaps $150). Even the jeweler beside me (who was a local artist with no travel expense) stated he would NEVER come back to this show again.

I happened to get two purchasers which actually paid my booth fee and about half of my expenses. Another photograher, who ended up winning an award, zero’d for the show. And I know two more
photographers who also zero’d. That’s incredible given the fact that all the photographers also had
affordable prints in a bin.

And was the show juried? Hell no! I saw buy/sell locations. I had someone next to me yelling at patrons to buy his book. Later he offered to give me one but cautioned that it was a little vulgar.. Dogs were everywhere (because they were invited). And they loved to excuse themselves on our tents.

Bottom line… I think this show is a lie. It is NOT an art show. It is simply a way for this promoter to fund his event. If you do happen to apply anyway, I do recommend that you NOT pay until you arrive at that show. At least that way you can skip if the weather forecast looks bad.