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Brighton, Michigan
Downtown Brighton
presented by the Brighton Chamber of Commerce
125 exhibitors
Deadline: immediately!
Breaking news: Just last week our festival organization was informed by the City of Brighton that we have another block available to us to use for this year's festival (it was originally not available due to a large construction and building project). Therefore, we have space for over 20 fine artists and fine crafters.
The Brighton Fine Arts Festival is looking for fine arts and fine crafters to take advantage of this just-obtained additional event space, which takes place in the beautiful and unique downtown Brighton. The prestigious juried Brighton Fine Arts Festival has become a popular staple of downtown civic events and is still growing with new features.
NEW THIS YEAR -- PRIZE MONEY
People's Choice Awards
1st - $1,000
2nd - $500
3rd - $300
and
Artisan GUILD Award provides
Complimentary booth at next year's show!
People's Choice Awards
1st - $1,000
2nd - $500
3rd - $300
and
Artisan GUILD Award provides
Complimentary booth at next year's show!
Artist amenities include snacks, coffee, lemonade and water for artists, booth sitters, and complimentary vehicle parking with shuttle service, artist welcome bags and more.
All fine artists and fine crafters in all media and categories are welcome to apply. To ensure the quality of the show, all work must be designed and executed by the accepted fine artist or fine crafter. All work MUST be original - NO imports, kits, items made from kits or items using pre-manufactured components are allowed.
ONLY ORIGINAL ART WORK!
No buy/sell - this harms the quality of the show! Artwork must be in good taste and mindful of the show's intent and community's standards.
Brighton is an upscale community in Livingston County with easy access to Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing. It has a vibrant downtown with many specialty stores and is a desirable
Question?
Please contact Becca Boss
Please contact Becca Boss
via email: beccab@brightoncoc.org or 810-227-5086
**************
Looking for more art fairs for your 2010 season?
Well, the well has been capped for almost 3 weeks, and I made the very long trip to Bellevue, WA to do the BAM Artsfair with much trepidation.
In my case, the fear was for naught. First, about the show. It is held in a parking structure, with some more expensive booths outside on the street next to the mall. It is a little tight, with most of us having no storage behind the booth. The advantage to being in the parking garage (where I was) is that you don't have to worry about weather of any kind. After many windy shows this Spring, this was nice. You have to ask for a 8' space if you need it. I did, and I was between massive concrete joists, which knock the space down to 6' 8". For many artists, this was okay, but I have an 8' Finale from Light Dome, and this fit, sans canopy. Actually, I didn't even need the structure, 'cause we were totally protected. Just propanals and a cover for the front would have sufficed. If you are in the structure, this is good to know, for the following reason;
If you have a regular van, or a mini van, and you have a car top box, you will have to dolly in. I could have left mine at home, and pulled much closer to my space. A lot of the load in occurs from the rear of the show, and if you can fit under 6' 8" ceilings, your life will be easier. Dollying worked okay for me, load in and load out were fairly pain free.
It seemed that the street was busier than the booths in the garage, but that could have been the mall traffic, out on what I understood was one of the first great weather weekends of the Northwest. The serious buyers walked the whole show. There was a spurt of wealthy ladies on Friday morning, and they seemed to be making bee lines to their favorite returning artists. This was my first time there, and I had no repeat clients. Nevertheless, I equalled my best show ever (Fort Worth). Price sensitivity did not seem to factor for me. Now, I must say not everyone around me had a good show, but I talked to enough artists who told me the show was excellent for them as well. The Museum people were around all weekend, offering encouragement to the artists. There were tons of volunteers to booth sit through the entire show. They did not disappear at 3PM, like most shows. They are a great lot!
My one big beef was the artist parking. The lot was 2.5 miles away with a shuttle. I did not bother, with a priceline hotel less than a mile, I just walked. There were so many parking lots in Bellevue, many empty, and we had to park 40 blocks away? With no storage behind the booths, this is a problem.
I did hear that they had a lot of cancellations, and that they had to work their wait list, and I did see a couple empty spaces, but I, for one, am glad I made the trip.
I am glad that oil well is capped.
Question # 28 – Should I blog or do a podcast promoting my art business or my artwork?
The answer – yes, IF you have something to share with people that they haven't heard about before. The big question however is what should you blog about or do a podcast on? First look at what you are good at and focus your social media on that. Are you an accomplished artist in your field and want to share your expertise with the world (without divulging too many trade secrets)? Are you able to come up with comical remedies to crafting frustrations? How about offering ideas on how to display or use your work? Don't forget people like to learn new things – if you are a creative person not in just your field of expertise but able to tie other things to your work – this could benefit you too. I could see a person who loves to cook and knit, blog about colors in food and connect that with colored yarn in hopes to create a masterful recipe of knitting project ideas.
To promote your blog/podcast you need to come up with a good content, then find a decent website to post your blog. Wordpress and blogspot are two popular ones I know of ... Make sure the blog is neat and attractive – this goes for both podcasts and blogs as many who create their own podcasts use blog sites to post show notes and such to keep listeners up to date. Once this is accomplished, stick to a writing/recording schedule, consistently make it fun/entertaining/educational, as well as use some good photographs for visual aids. Sometimes reading can get boring – especially if posts can be long and in depth. Mixing it up with some visual aids really helps captures the readers attention. With my blog, I try to tie photos, but don't always have just the right ones for some topics. If that happens, don't worry about it – people will understand. You all do understand right??
Lastly, market your blog – this is what will help you sell your work or get your business recognized. Let your friends and family know about your blog. Tell your Facebook fans/friends know you have a blog and link new blog posts to your Facebook page when you write new posts. Include your blog site on your business cards or in salutations in emails. Also visit other blogs that are similar to what you blog about or where your target audience visits and write informative feedback content via their comment sections. Don't say, “Neat blog – visit me at www.myblogisbetterthanyourblog.dummyaddress.com “ as this is spam – people don't like spam. People do like additional information though and this could get people to want to learn more about you and what you have to say.
I really could go on and on about this topic, but to answer the question, yes blogging and creating your own podcasts can be very rewarding when it comes to promoting yourself and your work. If this sounds like something you want to learn more about many blog sites will walk you through the process and I am currently reading a neat book that covers this topic and more called The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. I am not a promoter of it, just a reader and do recommend it as it is a pretty current, easy to read craft book guide on how to sell your art/craft. I invite all who do have a podcast or blog to use the comment button and do a brief synopsis of it! Until, the next blog post – I wish you the best and keep cool during the dog days of Summer. - Michelle Sholund, www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com.
Don't hate us because we were successful at this years Orchard Lake Art Show.At first I was scared about the location of the new venue and did not think ANYONE would find the show..it was very far off of Orchard Lake Road.Patty Narozny. of Hotworks did her job with tons of signage and television coverage - which brought the people out. The Friday night preview party was packed! Bob and I usually don't depend on these parties to determine the success of any art show...drinking and shmoozing is what the crowd usually wants to do.That night we sold a very expensive piece to a young couple from Royal Oak, and we had no stress from then on.That is not the case for most of the artists we talked to. A much larger show(240 artists) larger than the previous years- good for the customers, not always for the artists.Set up and take down was a breeze....
And come to the show they did! The quality of art was fabulous! Lots of great artists who also did Ann Arbor the previous weekend.We sold three large,two medium and two smaller pieces at the show which added up to the best show of our summer so far..we also delivered and hung three pieces which I think added to the sales we made- customer convenience is something every customer wants.There was alot of money walking around the show...don't know if they all spent it, bnut they were there!!!
I think the crowd did buy from some artists- there were mixed reviews from artists around us...same as always.
We will be back next year and hopefully sales will be even better!
And , Nels...we missed you- sorry you had such a great Ann Arbor show and could not join us for dinner Saturday night at Bravo- we enjoyed our martinis anyway!
Every show has its challenges and this weekends show was no exception. But there was something a little different ... a little "off", on this show. The paperwork asked for a 6:45 a.m. set up. Which on normal shows, would be fine. But this show did not open until 12-noon on Saturday. I thought it was strange that it has a late opening time. I send an email to the organizers to request a later set up time. They told me I could arrive at 7:30. But couldn't make it any later. It will only take us 2 hours to set up.
When we arrived, it was drizzling a little, but soon stopped. The street was a little tight for tents on either side and cars unloading down the middle. But you make the best of it. We unloaded, got set up. We were all set up and ready by 9:30. So now we sat there, no customers and chatted with other artists for over 2 hours. There seem to be no good reason for us to be there sooooo early. We had traveled 3 hours away. So we had gotten up at 3:00 a.m. to sit there. We could have "slept in" til 5:00. We asked artists if they had done the show before. I did not find one artists that had done the show last --- not a good sign.
The gates opened at 12-noon. But they charged $7 to get into the area. This admission charge also included music at one end of the festival. This has a major affect on the type of person attending the show. These were people that were willing to pay for the (rock) music, but not interested in buying art.
The "services" provided to artists were strange as well. When we checked in, there were no name tags. About 1:00 on Saturday afternoon, they walked around and handed everyone a name tag. The "artists lounge" was open from 2:00-5:00=which was the peek selling time.
The show was to run until 10 p.m. but the artists were able to close earlier, if they wanted to do so. We left on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. out of boredom. Some others did stay open later, but did not sell anything. Sunday night they closed the show a 9:00 p.m. (do you know how dark it is at 9:00 p.m.?) Then an other hour or so to pack up and get out. We left at 7:00.
Total sales were very poor. We covered our expenses, plus $100. Not even closed to what we expected.
This seems to be a music show that added art. They are not really interested in developing the art side of the festival OR don't know how to run an art show. Too bad. It could have been a good show. But we will not be returning next year. Most artists around us did little to no sales. One artist next to us did OK on Saturday, but nothing on Sunday, told us he would not be returning next year.
I've always thought that there are two types of people who do art shows, and probably many that fall in between. Most are those that are creative and can take advantage of the concept of art shows by using that creativity to earn a living and support a family. And there are people that cant deal with the real work world and don't get along well with others. Its relative easy to tell which type that is when you're set up next to someone you either get along or don't get along with.
I became interested in photography in the early 1970’s and found that I had an innate understanding and love of the medium. I carried a camera everywhere and took pictures every day. It became an obsession. I spent a few weeks one summer on Monhegan Island (Maine) and ran into a woman who was selling her etchings. She had them spread out on a bench in front of the restaurant where most of the people ate. Intrigued by the concept of selling artwork, the following summer I brought a few boxes of my own matted photographs and the sales paid for my summer vacation. That same woman told me about a few shows in New York City that she had been exhibiting at. I made some calls and got the applications and I once I did my first show I was hooked.
Back then everything was low tech. There were no professional looking displays, everything was hand made. My first display was built with 1x2’s and pegboard with clear plastic thrown over the top if it rained.
There were no uniform bodies of work and no jury slide photographers to photograph them. Those specialties didn't exist yet. And it was relatively easy to get accepted to almost every show you applied to. You learned about shows by word of mouth from other artists, and once I learned about Sunshine Artist Magazine, I would pour over it from cover to cover looking for shows to apply to. I moved from doing mall shows to outdoor shows where you could earn more money in two days outside than for a week in a mall where you spent most of your time reading books and eating.
Once I started doing art shows on a regular basis, I became part of a "family" of artists. Friendships developed and we looked forward to seeing the same people from show to show, maybe sharing breakfast or dinner with them and you watched each others family change and children grow up. Doing art shows was a fun way of earning a living.
Technology started to affect the art show business, as it did everything else in our world. Displays began to look more professional. Bodies of work became tighter. Shows started getting more competitive. Even vehicles became more suited for transporting art.
Things were good through the end of the 1990’s. Some artists consider 9/11/2001 as the date things began to slide downhill because people cut back on non essential spending. But if you think about it, change was inevitable. Art shows became more about the money than about the art. Baby boomers were starting to age, they were the artists and the buyers of the artwork. The Internet had a substantial affect as people began to make purchases on line. You could find all sizes of art at very low prices at the big box stores. Costs related to art shows began to rise as sales dropped and artists began to earn less money. Then the move to online applications happened and the number of people applying to shows increased making it more difficult to get into shows where they would earn less money.
For some, the move from 35mm jury slides to digital jury images and the online application system became the reason or blame for the downhill trend. Better quality images of your art were now within reach of everyone, not just those artists who had hired a professional jury slide photographer in the past. With higher quality images being prepared by more and more artists, it was inevitable that applications would become more competitive.
So where will it end? Shows are no longer fun to do and artists no longer are able to make the money they did in the past. And that's where I'm going to end this essay.
Larry Berman
Digital J u r y Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
<1. Roy Schneider was absolutely correct in Jaws when he said 'You need a bigger boat'. Weights and a top line tent are critical.
<2. We were allowed to stake down in addition to weights. In fact we were encouraged by the organizers to do so. That's right! The locals know their weather and had clearly checked with the park on sprinkler line layouts. I did and so did my neighbors.
<3. It looks like there is safety in crowds. Only the one end tent appeared to be damaged in the main group. I was on an east end and we were really swaying for awhile. There was 30 ft gap to my east and then a jeweler with a Trimline that rode out the fury unscathed. (Note to self: Don't take a ridge line. She was located up there and asked to move on setup day). One of flimsiest, saddest looking, blue topped ez-up which should have blown away with a sneeze came through unscathed. It was in the pack and had what looked like 90 lb massive concrete blocks on each corner.
<4. If you have an iPhone, iPad, laptop or other device that you can look at weather maps learn how to use it and get to some of the excellent radar sites available. WeatherUnderground, Intellicast, NOAA, FAA weather. Can help give you an early warning.
Madison Wi ( art-fair on the square ) This was my third year for this solid show. 300 artist surround the capital building with another show just off the square for just Wisconsin artist. Quality runs the gamut at this show so there is something for everyone. With 100 invites handed out every year you are applying for just 200 spots. And this year there were a lot of quality artist that got juried out, while down the street there is soap on a rope and kaka on a stick. Ah, so it goes. This is Kate Hunters (the director) last year running the show, she is graduating and moving on. For me it was a journeyman show just average, some around me did well. I did hear a SICK number from some one who reverse paints on glass, they shall remain nameless. The best part was my wife watched the booth sunday so Mark Reynolds and i could sneak out and watch the final of the World Cup. A month earlier Reynolds picked Spain and I picked Netherlands. I still hate the Octopus. The rain came about 3:30 and everyone packed up early and went home.
My power steering pump went out on the way to Madison limped into town got it diagnosed friday afternoon, parts ordered. limped to the show, PS pulley shears off and drops the serpentine belt. No water pump, no battery ,no nothing. Get packed up on sunday and drop it at the shop. Did i say it was a $printer. Monday afternoon got out of Madison on our way to the west coast a little liter $$$$ Special props to Joe Van and Sharon Fujimoto who shuttled me and my wife around Madison for the weekend.
Salem art festival, this is a three day affair that should only be two. Being from Oregon (30 yr. ago) i had an idea what i was getting into. Just a filler on the way to Bellevue. While it was the lowest grossing show of the three it was the most pleasant one of the bunch. From the location, to the administration, to the setup lunch or dinner (two shifts ) the salmon burger was great. The catered preview party with live music and open bar and great food on thursday night to the artist breakfast (sat,sun) with the cook to order omelets and marion berry pancakes,accompanied by a stringed quartet, and snacks and drinks all day long. The weather was made to order,low humidity temp in the high 70’s . Debby Leahey and her staff made this show an easy one to do. Quality was above average, with comments that this was the best year ever. There are always the exceptions , the colorful pepper mills made in china ,and CNC marquetry spit out by a NY shop of 40 people. And this was the first year that the show was gated and a admission. For some people this might have been a issue, but for me having high end work,it cut the chaff. Anyone who balks at a 5$ dollar gate is not my client. They clog the show and we are just entertainment for the stroller pushing masses. With high unemployment the show was a uphill slog, comments like,” this has been a good show in the past and i don t know what happened “ were not uncommon. For me it was below par and just a filler. Now on to Portland and golf with artist William and Tamen VanScoys and family, we had three groups of 4. Tamen and my brother John tied at one under par.
Bellevue Wa, the Museum show. the most anticipated show of the group.Sales were the best of the three shows. But with a 900$ booth fee one would expect a quality show. 300 plus artist with 80% of the show in an under ground parking structure, ya i know sound inviting ? and 20% on the street where i was. But thats not all, two more show in the area bringing the total artist count close to AA status.. Word was that the show was a week earlier than usual, and some patrons did not know this, its usually the last weekend in july. And the weather was great , warm, low to mid 80’s probably to good. People boating, hiking, taking care of the house, as this was the first summer like weather the northwest had this year. But hey! are we just looking for excuses here!! yup.
` Friday the show was full of qualified buyers, and most had there best day, or should i say morning as it dried up in the afternoon. The show runs 9 to 9 for friday and saturday then 9 to 6 on sunday. It is held adjacent to a mall so there is plenty of built in traffic, so it was hard to say just who was here for the show and who was just shopping and passing through. There were plenty of Eddy Bauer, Macy, and you name it bags walking through. Spotted Michel Monroe (ex director for the Renwick, ACC, and Bellevue Museum) cruising the show early Friday morning. Word is he was unhappy with the quality of the show. And It was easy to see why, buy sell rugs, wooden watches with cheap inserts, a booth that sold prepackaged ceramic bowls that they designed. don't know if they make them. The parking garage looked like a flea market, anyone who had a check book could do the show. People who were rejected, were call to do the show, and they still could not fill it. I counted at least 4 empty spaces. What has happened to this show? I had heard such good thing about it. And have friends that have made serious money here, but I have no answer. not this year. I was thankful for what i did. The show seemed to have the most potential. I know lets blame it on the ECONOMY!!!!!
We drove to Portland and parked the van flew home for a month and fly out to begin the second leg of “The Great West Coast Swing” Sausalito,St Louis, and home for Atlanta art festival.
down the road.
M.
Thought you might like to see some pictures of the surroundings that inspire some of my artistic endeavors. There is a picture of my pond as seen from my front porch, the flowers in my gardens and some of the critters that visit. Enjoy!
Hope you enjoyed my little piece of artistic heaven! The studio door is always open if you wish to drop by for a cuppa!
Terri at the Drake's Nest in beautiful Ossineke, MI
Website: http://www.drakesneststudios.com
I know at least two ArtFairInsiders made the trek from Georgia to Oregon to participate (on the Ann Arbor dates) and really hope they did well. I believe there are people from Oregon who participated also. We'd love to hear from you. But I wouldn't be writing this if I hadn't seen this headline today:
Let's Turn this Fiasco into a MoneyMaker! Instead of backing down, the Salem Art Association announced plans to hold ANOTHER art fair — this time to pay homage to the Mid-Willamette Valley's great ...what's up with this?
Arron writes art reviews for the Jackson Hole, WY newspaper called Planet News.
Here is the article we wrote July 22, 2010
Art’s fair in love and war
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Aaron Wallis
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-If you're looking for art that comments on society or attempts at originality, you won’t find it at art fairs. Everything is safe and appeals to median taste because selling art is really the only reason to do an art fair.
I learned about art history from Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas movies. We know that Michelangelo was not afraid to yell at the pope and run off to Florence in a time when most men would not have dared look the Holy Father in the eye. Van Gogh had nothing but utter contempt for the taste of his day. Jackson Pollock once put out Peggy Guggenheim’s fireplace with his urine in front of a crowd of Manhattan socialites.
Looking back on last weekend's art fair, I recall little more than the usual suspects. Bad wildlife photograph stretched on canvas – check. Earnest yet completely unimaginative landscape painting – check. Something made out of bronze on your shopping list – got ya covered. Looking out across an empty Miller Park, I felt like Wellington must have felt gazing out across the Waterloo battlefield after repelling Napoleon’s forces.
I see the problem as one of improper labeling. The art fair should be called a craft fair. Any great work of art has a certain amount of craft and I respect technical expertise in many artists, but craft has never held back a great artist and a lack of artistic vision dooms many artists who lack imagination.
I walked past booth after booth of arts and crafts that had little more than consumption itself in mind. Perhaps it was not all that bad – I saw a few friends, and I did buy one piece, though the artist who created the belt stitched together from recycled inner tubes would, I feel, agree that it was craft. Not only was it sustainable, but also my waist size was a small. So either bitches are getting fatter or I have gone down from a size seven to a three in the last decade. The artist responsible for this belt was actually charming and educated. She reminded me of the artists I knew back in school, unlike so many impressionist zombies.
Twice in my life, I had a booth at an art fair. I’ll try anything once, and I have never felt like such a dirty whore. The visual arts have a proud tradition of dissent, rampant individuality and treatment of our wealthy and powerful patrons with the disdain that that rest of society is afraid to show them.
Great artists have worked many crappy jobs waiting for commercial recognition. But I don’t feel the artists I respect, and artists who have been validated by art history ever considered selling work as the primary motivation for creating art. JHW
photo by AARON WALLIS
Wholesome art misconstrued by a perv photographer.
PERMALINK:
Art’s fair in love and war | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat
Reader Comments |
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Here is the link to the entire article and response
http://www.planetjh.com/music_arts_culture/A_106380.aspx
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September 4 & 5
New Baltimore, MI
Downtown in Burke Park on Anchor Bay
100 Artists
Deadline: Right now!
The New Baltimore Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is bringing a brand new event to Downtown New Baltimore this summer: "Art on the Bay". This juried fine art and fine crafts festival will be held over the Labor Day weekend in the Walter and Mary Burke Park on the beautiful shore of Anchor Bay, a gateway to Lake Huron.
Saturday, September 4 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday, September 5 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
Event organizers anticipate 100 exhibiting artists to participate along with several area restaurants serving up specialties to satisfy ever kind of appetite. There will be entertainment for the whole family - all within walking distance to quaint Downtown New Baltimore.
As you well know, Labor Day weekend in Michigan is the last gasp of summer before everyone gets serious again! Be here to catch families enjoying the weekend in this vacationland. Since this is a holiday weekend (and artists always get to work on these days) how about spending two days at the art fair and then having a day off on Monday?
Join us for the inaugural 2010 Art on the Bay!
Walter & Mary Burke on the Bay in New Baltimore
The City of New Baltimore is located in the northeast corner of Macomb County bordering beautiful Anchor Bay located on the coastline of Lake St. Clair. The City is approximately 30 minutes northeast of downtown
Detroit, Michigan.
Visit www.CityofNewBaltimore.com, click on "Artist Application" to download the application.
Call 586.716.7620 for more information.
Of course Port Washington is a small city just north of Milwaukee.
This is a community festival. The arts and craft show was on July 17.
All the mechanics, loading, organization, etc were great. But....
A hot day. The crowd seemed to be dominated by locals who were just shopping ....as in not buying....just looking.....they liked my art.....but did not seem to have the money to buy it.....also there was a young flavor to the crowd.....whereas a good number of my sales are to 35 to 55 year old people. I am guessing, but it seems like this community festival does not attract enough tourist type people with money from outside the local area. Hence there is not a ton of money spent. All around me, sales were poor or average.....but I admit I just checked with people right next to me....not with some other vendors I could have talked to.
There was a lot of emphasis on the bands.....and the bands were good.....but it seemed like the bands may have distracted people from the vendor area....I do know of a couple of shows that have thier best bands in the evening....and during the fair hours have background music on stage and street musicians in the vendor area......and this helps the vendor sales......but this was not the case at this show.
I did this show about 5 years ago (2005) .....and made double what I made this year. (2010). So for me, this show was a bust. Sure I made some money.....but next year, Ill be in Eagle River......One DAVEY out of 5.
The show was held on July 10......the people at the show ranged largely from 55 to 80 years old....most came to watch the bands which included the Kids from Wisconsin....who were excellent...and everybody including me loved the 1930's retro number.
The program barely mentioned the art and was all about the bands.
Most of the crowd just brought their chairs watched the bands and did not walk around and look at the art. It was a hot day. I am guessing but I suspect that the crowd were contributers to the college.
One DAVEY......out of 5......I would not do this show again.
Well, my inlaws are on their way back to AZ, but that is NOT why I'm doing a happy dance . I am going to be the "Official" Photographer for the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival Oct. 7-11th in Alpena, Michigan! Last year I did a bit of a photography gig for the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival Museum and this year have been asked to be the official photographer for them and making an historical CD for them. I will have a booth at which I will be offering not only my photographs of lighthouses and the like for sale, but will be offering a CD of the Festival itself, for those who sign up and pay for the CD. A portion of the proceeds will be going to benefit the Lighthouse Festival Museum and to the lighthouse preservations funds. I'm hoping that there will be a lot of interest in the CD's and photos. If all goes according to plan, I will be doing this photography gig every year, so wish me luck!
My studio renovations are just about complete and I'll hope to be in there working by the fall. My dear hubby says it may even be earlier than that. We have a little bit of the ceiling to finish, trim between floor and walls and install cabinets, book cases and the like and I'll be ready to go. We did finish installing the wood laminate flooring and I have hung curtains so it has a semi finished look to it.
I may post some pictures of the semifinished studio - we will be adding more cabinets as our finances allow in the future. At some point, I will even have a long arm to help with my art.
Have a great day all!
Terri at the Drake's Nest in Ossineke, MI where Giant River Otter play on my pond.
webpage: http://www.drakesneststudios.com
After the Madison show we usually have to scramble to get to Ann Arbor in time for setup. This year the shows were a weekend apart and we had time to look into the ferry across Lake Michigan. We were too late for he early afternoon run so we had to take the midnight trip. Actually, the midnight trip sounded like more fun.
The trip takes about four hours. It's roughtly 64 miles at about 16 MPH (sorry, I don't do knots). It pulled out at about one AM and when we got to the other side it was just getting light.
The amazing thing about the Badger is that is one of the last coal burning steamships anywhere that's still carrying passengers. It's over 400 feet long and when it was built in the fifties it was made to carry locomotives across the lake along with cars. When it arrived, we were shocked at how huge it was.
When it pulled up to the dock the rear opened up and there was a load of semis, cars, trucks and motorcycles of all descriptions. It took fifteen minutes to offload all the passengers and vehicles. We boarded shortly after and went up to the upper rear deck to watch the vehicles get loaded. We had been required to park our van in the holding area and leave the window down with the keys in the ignition.
For someone who has never seen the loading process before. It's an amazing thing to watch. The ferry has its own drivers do the loading. Semis have to be backed on after the cars are loaded and it takes some precision driving to get this done. An exception was a fleet of four huge trucks rigged for hauling 85 boot girders. There were custom rigged so the wheels were attached directly to the girders and rigged to turn for steering. The specially trained drivers for these rigs did the loading themselves.
We had been up since about six that morning and were getting pretty tired by the time the ferry pulled out at midnight. After narrowly escaping injury during the stampede to the bar we explored the upper and lower decks, lounges, snack bars (most of which were closed for the midnight run) and the store, which sold stuff that must appealed to inhabitants of a plant I never heard of.
Sleeping was a challenge. The lounges have chairs that recline nicely, but also have blaring TV's that make it almost impossible to nod off. The one quiet lounge was located next to the exhaust stacks and was uncomfortably warm. A small handful of experienced passengers went up to the top deck. rolled out sleeping bags on the deck recliners right behind the bow wall and dropped right off.
Our final approach was enhanced by the combination of cool breeze and early morning light as dawn was breaking.
We headed for Ann Arbor where the nice man at the counter allowed us to check in just before noon., I don't remember much between then and the following morning. We plan to do this again some day and perhaps check out what it's like in the daytime. For more info on the Badger clock here.
You gotta love it... http://planetjh.com/news/A_106406.aspx
week’s Bele Chare festival in Asheville, NC.
It was my first year of going there, either as an exhibitor or visitor; so I didn’t know what to expect. I am a photographer and I am fairly local – about an hour’s drive from my studio in Greenville, SC. So I planned to
commute each day and not have the hotel expense and also be able to replenish
whatever I sold. I purchased a
double booth and had all walls filled with subjects from the Carolinas. I didn’t know what price points to
focus on; so I had $50 items in bins up to $1300 items on the wall.
You can apply to exhibit in “Arts Park” or on the street or you can apply to both for an additional fee. I was in Arts Park; which I found out afterwards was merely a parking lot instead of on the street. Everyone that had been there before is now "in the street" because Arts Park only gets about 1/4 of the traffic that is in the street.
The fair is promoted as a city party or street festival; as apposed to an art show. Conseqently it was not surprising to find 95% of the patrons with a beer
glass in their hand. There were so
many they must have been issuing them at the entrance (and every block
thereafter). Patrons were civil
during the day; but after dark the scene became much more festive. Arts Park had a scheduled closing of
8PM every night while the booths in the street had an official closing of 10PM
(because most people in attendance were in the street after 8PM – and
continuing until 2AM). Yet Arts
Park had access to electiricty (for lights) but the street artists did not. Go figure.
Arts Park had 1 porta-john and a block down the street there were about 8 more. However all were padlocked at closing and you could not get into one again after closing or until the opening the next day. So if you stayed open
late or you came in early, there was no toilet available. Further I heard many artists on the
street that stated their booths had been used for a toilet. Gee would that have
anything to do with the porta-johns being padlocked? You’d think after 33 years we could learn from past issues.
This was a three day show (Friday – Sunday). Setup was to begin at 8PM on Thursday. And you could not get past the barricades (2 blocks from the festival) until after that time. I arrived about 7PM and I managed to
talk my way through the barricade as I explained that my booth was just “right
there”. Yet about 7:30PM I was
asked to remove my vehicle as another artist complained that I had received
preferential treatment; even though I was not going to unload until “the
whistle sounded”. Most
exhibitors from past years stated that they had always been allowed to begin
setup earlier; at least by 6PM so this year everyone had to set up in the dark
– no exceptions.
The weather seemed to be the hottest days of the year (90’s). And for this higher altitude, that is very hot. In my
hometown just one hour away it was 100 every day. Wind was nonexistent; so fans were a life saver.
This festival is advertised as having 300,000 attendees Yet Friday was so slow and traffic was so thin and sales were almost nil (across the board within my view). I actually zeroed until the 8PM close, then made two small sales as I was shutting down my tent. Saturday started with a bang as I was made three sales
before the 10AM opening and it continued right until about 1PM. By that time I had about $1800 for the
first three hours. Then the heat
came and absolutely killed any buying energy there could have been. I did have sporatic interest and
frequently thought I had some more sales, but none came. Sunday was just dead. I didn’t see the early morning visitors
that I had seen on Saturday and then it got hot quickly and it was almost
painful by 1PM. By mid afternoon
we see serious storm clouds brewing and we receive a pending severe weather
alert and we hurriedly secure our goods.
By the time the rains ended it was near closing and the day was
gone. So without any travel expenses
to speak of I made the event semi worthwhile. I still have several people I’m working with on big
purchases, so it could actually end up being a great showing for me. But without any additional sales
forthcoming, I would rather spend more travel money and go to a proven show.
Of all the artists that I saw or spoke to the average seemed to be just enough sales to cover the booth fees and perhaps “some’ of their travel expenses. I did not speak
to another artist who stated that he/she would travel to do the show again.
I know some other AFI members attended. So hopefully they can expand on these comments.
There IS a lack of imagination going on here. In this case, it is by a callow artist who can't imagine that not every work of art must "comment on society" or "attempt originality." It's silly to claim that in order to be called art, something must slavishly adhere to a "tradition of dissent, rampant individuality and treatment of our wealthy and powerful patrons with the disdain that that (sic) the rest of society is afraid to show them." It is also naive to think that all art must aspire to "greatness." Those artists who Aaron Wallis respects may not have been primarily motivated by selling work, but I doubt they were primarily motivated by "greatness," either. Those who became great did so because they crafted art that touched people's hearts and minds. Often, this art was a rebellion, a "dissent," an expression of "rampant individuality," but not always. I do love artists and art. I don't know Aaron, but perhaps I would like him and his art, too. I am sorry to tell him, however that his rebellion here is trite and commonplace. The path he follows in this piece is familiar and well worn. And while it may be heartfelt, it is hardly original. His art may be the real deal, but this tantrum is craft at best.