Linda
www.twistedsistersart.com
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Linda
www.twistedsistersart.com
40 Questions Blog Series: Question 10 – How do I price my work?
Of all the questions that I am answering in this series, this question isprobably the most asked by artists. You can have the best productor best piece of art for sale at a show, yet if it isn't priced rightyou are shooting yourself in the foot. Even if you thinkyou know the answer to this, humor me and read on as you may find abetter way to price your work, giving you more money down the road.
Question 10: How do I price my work?
There are several ways to answer this question. Each type of art form(due to production time, materials, etc.) is different and should behandled differently when it comes to figuring a price formula thatwill work for you. Some do the “guessing game” method, pick aprice out to thin air and I have even known some artists do a “goingrate” price that changes from show to show. I personally feelchoosing one of these methods never gives the artist a “true”value of the work and your time. I cannot tell you how many times Ihear how people quote a number and do the “three or five times mycost” method. The one method nearly everyone should use is themethod where you add the cost of all your materials to the value oflabor and then add a fixed profit margin to arrive at a sellingprice. The formula looks like: cost of materials + labor + fairprofit percentage = price.
Now let's define cost of materials, labor, fair profit percentage and thedifference between wholesale and retail price.
Cost of Materials. One way to look at cost of materials is bydividing it into direct costs and indirect costs that is best summedup as expenses. Direct costs are your fees for raw materials such asnails, wood, earring backings, thread, clay, etc. Indirect costs areall the subtle fees you never really consider as a cost such asinsurance, canopy, computer and printer expenses, cost of yourworkplace (heat, lighting, machinery, and so on). It is the indirectcosts that folks never seem to factor into their costs.
Labor. This is something that can vary from one medium to another. Thetime to make a quilt verses making a simple pair wire wrapped ofearrings will be drastically different. Don't forget the time ittakes to create your product, time you take to design your work,networking... - all needs to be factored in too. Figuring out yourlabor costs starts with tracking your time. Factor in how much timeit takes to make a prototype as well as allowing time to answer phonecalls/emails, eat, etc. When you have figured the time it takes tomake one piece, figure out how much time it takes to make 10, 100 orhow many you can do in an hour – photography and two 2D art may bedifferent, but the idea can still be applied because we all stillhave to devote time to assemble, paint, frame, make labels, package,and so on. Divide your cost for labor by how many pieces you produceto find your labor cost per unit.
Fair Profit Percentage. Don't confuse labor with determining yourfair profit percentage. Covering your cost of materials and laboris great, but you need to make a profit to keep the bill collectorsaway, this helps in determining your wholesale price. More onwholesale price later... Determining a fair profit percentage canbe determined by doubling your labor and cost of materials (thishelps for those who do fine art) or tacking on a $1 to $5 (lets say)to each unit. This is more or less up to the artist – there is noreal formula for coming up with a profit percentage, especially foreach medium.
Wholesale vs. Retail price. When you use theformula of adding cost of materials with labor and profit percentagesyour ending price is actually your wholesale price, not retail price.To know your retail price, you double or triple it. Now look atwhat fair market prices are by visiting retail shops to see how youfair. If you are on par, congrats. If your cost is too high, startlooking at ways to cut costs such as making multiples at one time tocut labor costs or find better bulk prices for your raw materials.If it is too low, price your work a little higher – nothing wrongwith giving yourself a little more profit.
Lastly, far too often people sell their work at the wholesale price, don'tlet this be you. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you do thisbecause you are not factoring in the cost of selling your work (overwhat you consider labor costs) – paying for your time selling atshows or wherever else you sell your work. Remember, a retailer addsabout 2-3 times on top of the wholesale price to make their profit. If you are at an art fair or craft show you are acting as a retailer.If a retailer comes up to you at an art fair (retail) show and isconvinced they want to sell your work at their shop, they'll ask foryour wholesale price. If you are selling your work at your“wholesale price” at a retail show, game over because you cannotgo any lower. No retailer wants to sell your work at 2-3 times theprice you are selling at a show, there is no incentive for them tomake a profit. See where this becomes a problem? Not only are younot making a profit, but no one will want to sell your work too.Finding the right pricing for your work is more of a science than itis an art form. It is apart of the business side of running your owncraft business. Finding the right price – where you are coveringall of your expenses and making a profit too, will mean thedifference between loosing money or breaking even to becomingindependently wealthy.
Do you agree or disagree with this? Have a question? Post it using thecomment button. Question 11 will cover 18 ways to increase the valueof your work, another blog post you can't afford to miss!
I'll borrow my description format from the fine blogs just posted on Gasparilla. First, the Good:
* You can't find a nicer venue. Mercato "Lifestyle Center" (I guess "shopping center" is too bourgeois a term for the moneyed denizens of North Naples) is located smack on US 41, a couple of miles north of the city's celebrated downtown. The shops are trendy, the center impeccably clean, and the brick pavers pleasing to the eye.
* It's run by Naples Art Association (a.k.a. von Liebig Arts Center), who put on several other well-known shows downtown, including the Naples Renaissance, Naples National, and the Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts coming up at the end of the month.
* Accordingly, they have a strong reputation among the arts community. Tthis paid off in a full roster of 125 artists, all very high quality, and a good mix for the paying patrons ($4 at the gate) to choose from.
* The city Powers That Be like that they've had lots of experiencerunning shows, and they run a brisk, efficient, and very tight ship. Load-in started at 3 AM on show day (and you thought Howard Alan shows were sleep-depriving!). However, I have no idea how many artists took advantage (?) of this opportunity; I arrived from my Fort Myers home around 6:30.
* There was good signage to the check-in booth. The process was quick, and a detailed show map was drawn up on a whiteboard (a nice idea; it made it easy for assistant director Nancy Doyal to point the way to your booth.) Not that you could really go wrong: the booths were laid out in a long, straight line down the central avenue of the mall, er, Lifestyle Center.
* What's more, several headset-equipped staff members, including show director Marianne Megela, walked along with your vehicle to your spot, and made sure that you followed the rules by backing precisely into your space. You were expected to unload immediately and quickly onto the sidewalk--Marianne even helped me unload--and head immediately to the artist parking.
It was staged with uncommon military precision, and if you trusted the process, it went extremely well. More about that later.
* There were certainly buyers afoot on Saturday: The painter of nautical subjects next to me sold one of his 4x5-foot originals twenty minutes after the show opened, and kept selling throughout the day, and easily sold into five figures. Hallelujah! to him! Everyone else seemed to be doing fair-to-good, though I was busy enough that I didn't have much time to walk the entire show. Sales on Sunday seemed to slow for nearly everyone, though. Not sure why, as the day was bright and beautiful. But as show vets can attest, those things happen and seem to defy explanation sometimes.
* It was a comfortable show to work. Booth-sitters wore bright vests, took pains to compliment your artwork, and brought water around if you needed it. Nancy and Mark, the show assistants I dealt with, were cheerful and friendly. The wide avenues had plenty of room for folks to navigate, and there was lots of room behind the booths for storage. (Though the brick pavers were uncomfortable to stand on all day. If you do this show, bring padding for your rug! )
The Bad:
* Attendance at the show was only 4,000, based on paid attendance. Some of my customers commented that they didn't know about this new show until the day before the event .
* Compounding the problem: Because of the center's design and the show's location, the show tents were barely visible from US 41, which surely hurt curiosity traffic.
The Ugly:
* Did I mention that load-in/out were staged with military precision? Unfortunately, that included several episodes I witnessed where artists who broke the rules or didn't follow directions were sternly rebuked in an in-your-face, boot-camp style that I hadn't seen since my days in est training. By the end of the show, I was half-expecting transgressors to be ordered to "drop and give me twenty" (pushups).
That really seemed unnecessarily harsh. After all, it's a first-year show, and it's unreasonable to expect artists to have 100% familiarity and execution right out of the box. That really left a bad taste in my mouth...and I wasn't even one of the transgressors. Rules are rules, and they should be followed. But there's a way to enforce them without belittling the artists the show will need to survive...and thrive.
BY THE WAY: Boulderbrook Productions (Richard P Sullivan) put on the Naples Masters Art Festival this same weekend. How 'bout a review of that show? Anyone??
I am very new to exhibiting at outdoor art festivals but having lived in Tampa for fourteen years before moving to Fort Lauderdale, I felt like I knew what to expect when I was accepted into the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts this year. Nope. Here is a rather disorganized discourse about my experience.
First of all, worst load-in experience ever. They moved the venue this year to a pretty park by the river, just in front of the brand new museum of art. It sounded great but the city refused to let cars drive into the park. So if your space was in the park, you had to lug all your stuff from the street. Not unheard of at a festival but then they would only let a few cars at a time pull onto the street by the park to unload. Sooooo, you had to wait in a two hour car line up just to get to the street where you could unload in a hurry, move your car, then shuttle your goods to your booth. They couldn't do much more than that because the city wouldn't shut down the street in front of the park until six p.m. A lot of artists' booths were located on that street and they had to set up in the dark after the street was finally closed and all the artists in the park had unloaded. Crazy. I was at Coconut Grove a few weeks ago and they had it right. Through traffic was diverted from the entrance to the festival grounds early on. There was an artist welcoming party at Gasparilla from 5 to 8 but I wonder who was set up and able to enjoy it?
Excellent weather and seemingly large attendance numbers. Once you finally were set up, provided you weren't in one of the badly located booths behind the entertainment stage, there wasn't much to complain about in terms of environment. The artist amenities were very good and I found the staff of volunteers to be very accomodating and friendly. The weather was postcard perfect and a lot of people turned out, especially on Sunday. I had a very good booth location. From my vantage point, however, it didn't seem to be a buying crowd. I didn't see a lot of people carrying purchases.
So about those sales. I talked to a few people at the end of the show and as often happens, a couple of people said that they had an excellent show for sales but most just reminisced about years past. One five-year Gasparilla veteran told me that she made four or five thousand in sales every other year but only $800 this year. I heard stories like that over and over again. A few people confessed to big ole goose eggs this year at Gasparilla. Luckily, Gasparilla has kept the booth fees down.
About that goose egg. I learned a VERY IMPORTANT lesson at this, my sixth show yet. I had a weekend full of people telling me how much they loved my art and that I was in their top picks, etc. But when the show ended at five o'clock on Sunday, I had sold nothing. NOTHING. Goose egg for me. Then, at 5:05 pm, a woman who had been considering one of my pieces all weekend showed up and bought it for $1,600. The lesson? Don't close up early. Ever. So it wasn't the spectacular weekend I hoped for but I went home with a profit in the end. The very end.
It wasn't until very near the end of the show that they passed out instructions for load-out. I didn't even read them. I had paid to park close to the festival and I lugged out my stuff on my cart. A lot of artists I spoke to had done the same thing. It took me twice as long to take down my booth and load up but at least I got it loaded in daylight. Another lesson learned: have a proper cart. My cart was too lightweight for this weekend and got stuck in a rut on the street. Then a truck ran over it before I got it unstuck. So now I am forced to buy a proper cart. It was fate.
I give Gasparilla 2010 a passing grade and will apply again next year. I think that the big problems about loading in and out can be fixed. This was the first time in this venue location so a few kinks could be expected. Sales are all over the map at each show I attend these days and it appears that I am not alone. Hopefully next year the economy will have improved. I really found the festival to be very artist-friendly apart from the noted problems and the art all around me was top notch. I felt privileged to be a part of the festival and would have said so even if the goose egg had remained on my head.
The Good: As I said before, the weather was perfect. I think sales ranged from OK to really good. I didn't get to talk to everyone but no one was really complaining about their sales. A few people I talked to had good figures. No one had great sales, though. The crowd seemed to know what they were looking at. Since I have to keep people from touching my pieces with greasy fingers from the crap the vendors sell, I judge the quality of the attendees by how many times I have to ask people not to touch the work. I am happy to report that I didn't have to tell anyone not to leave fingerprints and the people who picked up the work knew how to handle pottery. No one lifted the lids off the lidded pieces and very few people had to ask me what the material was. I'd say, by and large, the crowd was somewhat sophisticated.
The Bad: How one did at this show was directly due to where your booth space was. I think people who were on the street did much better than the people in the park. And, the closer one was to the river, the worse they did. There were 18 spaces that were horrible because they were behind the food booths and the stage. I don't think they got a whole lot of customers. The spaces directly in front of the food and the stage weren't much better. I, unfortunately, was right in front of the fried grouper stand and the stage, so I had a double whammy. The grouper people didn't bother to change their oil the whole show, so the smell of fried fish oil got progressively worse. I had a headache from the smell, the entire two days. My clothes reeked. I could hardly hear my customers over the music and I had a sore throat from having to speak over the noise. I think that aspect of the show was poorly run. I was told that the show changes directors every year. If that is true, then the show was run by an inexperienced crew. That shouldn't matter though. A little logic would have helped. A little change in the layout, by separating the food and music from the artists would have gone a long way to solving that problem. And it doesn't take a genius to know that it was wrong to place booths behind the food and stage. I had a decent show, but, I know I could have had a lot better one if I had been in a much better location. Also, when there is serious prize money, there should be at least 3 jurors. Most artists were not too impressed by what was chosen for prizes. I won't get specific about individual prizes, but, if you looked at final exhibit of prize winners and then toured the show, you would wonder how so many great artwork and artists were ignored by this juror. That wasn't just my opinion but also the opinion of most artists I talked to. In fact, I never brought up the subject. This is what other artists said to me. I have a real problem with picking the artists who are considered for awards, from the slides, especially now because they aren't even slides. They are digital images, which are easily enhanced. If I was to run a show the awards would always be determined by the total body of work in booth. The judges would have to look at the "real" artwork in every booth and pick the prizes that way. That is the only legitimate way to judge.
The Ugly: This show had absolutely the worst setup of any show I have ever done. They have always been a little anal about lining us up and controlling us getting to our booths but this far exceeded any other year. I always thought their insistence on controlling the load in a little funny because artists have done this many, many times. We know how to get in, get unloaded, and get out because we have done this many, many times. We can police ourselves. We don't have to be treated like children. The committee was adamant as to when we should show up and what to do. They decided, in their infinite wisdom, to let only 6 vans in at a time. All the people on the street had to wait until all the people in the park had unloaded before they could start to unload. There were 95 people in the park. It only took a third grade education in math to figure out what was going to happen. They allowed only 2.5 hours for all the people in the park to unload. At 6 per half hour, it would take over 8 hours for everyone in the park to unload. I had to wait 2 and a half hours in line before I could unload and it would have been much longer but they eventually realized they had to let more people in at one time. They blamed this on the fire chief who claimed it had to be that way because they needed a fire lane. We were in a field!! There were infinite fire lanes!! I blame it on the fire chief who obviously couldn't do third grade math and the committee who weren't smart enough to figure out a solution on the fly, until 2 hours into the fiasco. By the time they acted, everything was backed up. When I left at 6:30, people were waiting to get to their spaces on the street.
I left out some things that I would like to address, which I will in another post. I want to offer some solutions that would help fix things. But I'm staying with friends in Tampa and I have to sign off.
Peoria, Illinois
Riverfront Festival Park
Presented by the Peoria Art Guild
150 Artists
Deadline: March 15
"I was so pleased to be part of such a class act. The artists were stellar, the audience appreciative, the Peoria Art Guild phenomenal. I will be applying again next year. The 1,000 mile round trip drive was certainly worth the time and effort. And I dearly hope you will accept my work once again so that I may take part in the Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair 2010."-- 2009 participating Fine Art Fair Artist
DO WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?
Come to Central Illinois and let us show you why many artists consider the Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair the most fun (and profitable) fair they do all year! This is the region's largest cultural event, drawing 40,000 art enthusiasts.
Our Riverfront has been revitalized and energized.
Peoria is home to world-class medical facilities
We are world headquarters of Caterpillar (Fortune 50 Company)
4 universities within 50 miles, boutique shopping, quaint restaurants, unique lounges, sporting and entertainment venues, warehouse living, and a bustling arts community.
Experience the amenities of a big city with Midwestern hospitality!!
Why do artists clamor to get in???? Read ON...
"You're doing the right things! Heavy traffic!! Keep up the good work!! It's been a pleasure to be here"-- 2009 participating Fine Art Fair Artist.
We treat artists like rock stars (some would say better). We will deliver your meals, give you free stuff, entertain you at an awards dinner that EVERYONE looks forward to, and even deliver coffee to your booth! We can recommend the best burgers (or vegan fare), the fastest way to get to the hardware store, the cheapest gas in town, and the loosest slots at the local riverboat.
We've even been known to negotiate with Mother Nature......
"Another quality event-good job, guys. Keeping the rain on the other side of the river was genius." -- 2009 participating Fine Art Fair artist.
What are you waiting for?
$10,000 TOTAL AWARDS
Best of Show: $2,500
10 Awards of Excellence: $750
10 Honorable Mentions: Automatic Invite for 2011
ARTIST BENEFITS (WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GONNA GIVE ME?)
We pride ourselves on preserving the established reputation of this wonderful fair-now in its 48th year!
An appreciative buying audience for ALL mediums
Known for after-fair sales
Easy set-up and teardown/level and accessible; convenient reserved free parking for artists
Affordable and close accommodations
Over 450 energetic community volunteers-willing to please and deliver refreshments
Overnight security Friday and Saturday
Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner all weekend, Saturday night complimentary artist awards dinner (with entertainment); booth sitters
Opportunity to mix & mingle and pre-sell at the Friday night preview party
The company of highly respected, nationally recognized, award-winning artists
ATM on site for IMMEDIATE CASH PURCHASES!
PROMOTION (AKA-HOW WILL PEOPLE FIND OUT WHERE TO DROP THEIR CASH???)
Comprehensive marketing and PR Campaign
$50,000+ national, regional and local advertising/marketing.
Fine Art Fair program distributed to over 200,000 Central Illinois homes the Sunday before the Fair.
Promotional pieces distributed through strategic partners. This includes Starbucks and other retail outlets targeting buyers with discretionary income.
Press releases sent to individual artists' communities listing artists by name.
· Billboards displayed throughout Central Illinois, covering both city AND Interstate populations.
· Digital/online presence through social media, event/tourism websites, sponsor weblinks
· Full color print ads in national and regional tourism magazines.
· Expansive radio and television coverage including live interviews, remote broadcasts, and advertising
Apply: www.juriedartservices.com
More info: www.peoriafineartfair.com
QUESTIONS-CONCERNS-RECOMMENDATIONS-ADVICE FOR THE LOVELORN??
Stacy Peterson
Special Events Coordinator
Phone: 309-671-1093
Email: artfair@peoriaartguild.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utK34RKhVkQ&feature=related
let me know wat you think,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7HzCK9png
I really love this quote from well-known Florida glass artist Duncan McClellan, McClellan, "Artists are like fisherman, always tomorrow you are going to catch the big one. We have hope.''
Read the article here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/06/1515308/traveling-takes-toll-on-artists.html
And, you might take a minute and send a thank you to the reporter who did the story. I am. Howard Cohen, hcohen@miamiherald.com
Do you agree with Cohen's conclusions? Tell us below.
Well, January 4th the lawyer for the landlord apparently escorted Water Lily's owner out, for non-payment of January 1st rent...
To boot, all goods were going to be sold & the monies were going to be divied up between sales tax, the landlord & other creditors...
My 4 oil paintings (24 x36) were still on the wall...On consignment...But how to get them out?
Well, the key to proving the art was really still mine was those security tags. I had ordered them from a
website FineArtRegistry.com & when they had arrived in the mail, I had dutifully stuck one on the back of each work, photographed the paintings front & back, & uploaded that to the Fine Art registry website...
I also had taken a minute before bringing them to Water Lily to make a note of my plans, in the description section of the webpage...
So...When the lawyer for the landlord said what proof do you have that those paintings are your etc. etc., I sent a link in an email to the web page which showed those 4 paintings, descriptions, size, medium, style, & details of the show & where & when...
Not only that, the inventor of those security tags was able to vouch for me that I had uploaded all of this information just before December 1st, so the timeline was correct.
Even more powerful, was when the lawyer got to be difficult, I listed those paintings as "Stolen" which is a special button you can activate- seeing as the way I saw it, they had my paintings, knew they were mine & didn't want to give them back...To me that meant "stolen"...
Teri Franks, of FAR (Fine Art Registry) told Mr. lawyer , in no uncertain terms, that if he attempted to sell my paintings they would come up as stolen to the international fine art community...
No title, no-one would buy them or could ever sell them...
Powerful stuff...
Anyways, I am writing this because I am so grateful to FAR for all of their hard work in getting my paintings back...
I did get them back on Wednesday February 24th- took me about a month of hard fighting...But we won...
I said to Teri, how can I ever thank you? She said, tell people... So, I am telling people...
Teri is going to court March 15, in Michigan, to fight a very big gallery who has been selling fakes & forgeries & other bad stuff, & they sued FAR for publishing that truth...
If anyone is in Michigan round that time you are welcome to support FAR by showing up to the trial or hearing or whatever they call it...More can be read on the FAR website...(fineartregistry.com)
Sari Grove
p.s. sorry this sounds kind of like an ad- it is really the truth, it's just coming out a bit corny I don't know why...?
p.p.s. Today I brought a painting to show a brand new gallery called Lane Gallery, so maybe they will take me...We'll see...(They really liked the story about the security tags though, smart & cool & tech, & a great way to follow where your work ends up-the ownership transfer thing is a neat way to track provenance, plus you can get COAs (certificates of authenticity) just for marketing support...
May 29 & 30 - Vernon Hills, IL
June 5 & 6 - Deerfield, IL
July 10 & 11 - Northbrook, IL
July 16-18 - Lombard, IL
Deadline: March 15
Top reasons to consider a D & W Events, Inc., show: (not in order of importance!)
1. Well run, organized and fun!
2. Attentive artist hospitality including booth sitters, hot and iced coffee both days, continental breakfast both days, indoor
restroom facilities, bottled water delivered to you frequently throughout the show, discounted
hotel rates, overnight security
3. Booth fees for all shows remains at $275.00, and jury fee, $25.00. Larger booths and corners available for an additional fee.
4. Wonderful attendance from a higher economic buying crowd
5. Advertising intrinsically placed to capture the high to middle economic crowd
6. Easy load in and out
7. Promoter who cares and will implement your suggestions
8. Booth fee checks not cashed until show acceptance (or returned promptly)
9. Smaller shows means less artist competition
10. Juried and judged by industry professionals
What the artists say about D & W Events, Inc.:
--We sold more the first day at Deerfield than 2 days last year at Port Clinton.
--My sales exceeded my expectations.
--Your shows are well run and organized. It's refreshing to work with a promoter who cares.
This festival kicks off the Chicago area season:
MAY 29 & 30
Cuneo Gardens Art Fest
Presented by: Cuneo Museum & Gardens
Deadline: March 15
Held in the sculpture garden of the historic Cuneo Mansion adjacent to the formal gardens and golf course
- Approximately 75 - 100 artists
- 5th year festival
June 5 & 6
Deerfield Festival of Fine Arts
Deerfield Road and Park Avenue, Deerfield
Presented by: Deerfield Fine Arts Commission & Village of Deerfield
Deadline: March 15
Held in town, busy city-like atmosphere
- Approximately 125 - 160 artists
- 8th year festival
July 10 & 11
Art in the Park - Northbrook
Village Green Park, 1320 Shermer Road, Northbrook
Presented by Northbrook Arts Commission in collaboration with Village of
Northbrook
And Northbrook Park District
Deadline: March 15
Held in beautiful downtown park, center of Northbrook
- Approximately 75 - 100 artists
- 10th year festival
July 16, 17 & 18 - New Event!
Art at the Shops - Yorktown
Lombard
Held in the beautifully landscaped outdoor mall
- Approximately 75-100 artists
- Artist Preview Gala on July 15, 5 pm to 8 pm
Every D & W Events, Inc., fine art and fine craft festival features:
- outstanding customer service
- Friday afternoon set up availability
- organization, coordination, proactivity
- cash prizes
- artist hospitality
- free day and overnight parking
- day and overnight security
an application: www.dwevents.org
More questions? Contact Debbie Netter at dwevents@comcast.net
Don't confuse this topic the one discussed in question 7, how to find your niche. As we are on the topic of product development, I thought it might be fitting to devote some time to look at 5 current/new art
forms that are gaining in popularity at art fairs and why.
Question 9: What are some current and new art forms are hot sellers in the market place?
Food. Many artists today are inspired by what they see going on with the Food Network, PBS cooking shows, and countless cooking magazines. Although artists don't make food, chefs do, the “art” used to
enhance the food experience is hot. Glass bottles for oil and vinegar, quilted table runners with matching place mats, bowls with coordinating serving ware for serving dips and gourmet crackers, charms for wine goblets, wood turned wine stoppers and pepper mills,even crocks for cooking utensils are just a few of many popular examples of how art and food are a perfect match.
Nature art forms. I have been finding some neat art forms such as leaf sculptures, paintings on feathers - such as duck feathers or on crab shells, and drift wood sculptures. At one show I couldn't help but
notice the constant flow of people who couldn't wait to purchase (as best as I can explain) imprinted, 2D leaf and fossil art. One artist I had the pleasure of talking to learned how to make small stone like planters using cement, peat, and a few other materials while at another the artist and husband sold out at another show made handmade spice wreaths. Having always wanted a fountain, I bought fromone artist who specializes in leaf print stones (photo of is my leaf print disappearing water fountain) that can be used to make water fountains out of them or just be decorative in the yard.
Recycled/Junk Art. I have seen some really cool “trash” sculptures such as a dog made out of old license plates and portraits of famous celebrities using plastic forks, broken jewelry, and toys. Although
I can't say for sure if the artist is successful or not, but I did come across a person who recycled old records and made them into bowls for fruit or to be used as a sculpture. Other recycled art includes leggo and bottle cap jewelry, recycled bottle/sea glass wind chimes, vintage handkerchiefs made into quilts, reclaimed barn wood turned into furniture/bird houses, and scrap fabric made into rag rugs. Whether you are an “eco” nut or not, this art form appeals to both the young and old due to the endless possibilities
it creates.
As more and more new forms of art are making their way into the marketplace,on thing is clear, people want to show off their individuality thus creating more demand for new art both in contemporary and traditional art forms. We must come to the realization that people are NOT wanting the same things artists have been making year after year. The influence of the Gen Y's and X's over society are dictating this and this is just the beginning. The change is present in galleries throughout the US as well as gift shops and boutiques, however not as much in art fairs. Don't believe me? Want to see more examples of this work the best places to look are websites
geared toward wholesale art shows such as ACRE, Philly Buyers Market or the Atlanta and New York Gift shows.
Please do not take this blog post as a “rant” on how everyone should stop what they are making and start creating art in one of these 5 styles. My point is to highlight what some artists are doing now and how it has worked to their advantage. It is my hope that this topic could give confidence, ideas, and hope to those artists who are at a crossroads seeking ways to make their work more desirable and with some luck, more profitable. To finish the topic of product development, question 10 will focus on advice for pricing one's work. The next set of questions will focus on customer service and the “art” of selling your work – DO NOT MISS IT!
June 26
Elk Rapids, Michigan
Veteran's Memorial Park
10 am to 5 pm
75 Artists
Deadline: April 1
Elk Rapids, Michigan
Veteran's Memorial Park
10 am to 5 pm
75 Artists
Deadline: April 1
Where is Elk Rapids? Visit this link.
Elk Rapids is at the center of some of the most affluent real estate in northern Michigan, on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay, near Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. This area has really blossomed with new homes, golf courses and galleries in the last ten years, making it a desired vacation, second home location, for people from Chicago and Detroit.
It is held in Veteran's Memorial Park, by Grand Traverse Bay in the heart of this charming harbor town. Patrons can walk two short blocks where they will find restaurants, antique shops and art galleries. Elk Rapids already attracts an art-loving clientele the year around.
Patterned after the very successful Charlevoix Waterfront Art Fair, the organizers have planned every detail including a reception (appetizers and wine) the night before for the artists and volunteers. The next morning volunteers are on hand with golf carts at 5 am to unload artists vans and help with setup. Then the sun comes out and the people show up. As they know this is a one day show so it is "now or never."
Prize money:
$1000 Best of Show
$600 Honorable Mention
$125 Best Display
$125 People's Choice.
Space Fees:
1 space, 1 artist $125
1 space, 2 artists $175
2 spaces, 1 artist $250
Testimonials from artists:
--This was a terrific show, well organized, advertised, and well attended. Glad to be in the show.
--My compliments to all involved. The art presented was upscale. Very well done.
--Thanks for selecting fine art (as opposed to crafts). It's very difficult to find art shows, and if you continue to keep a high standard and accept only fine art, you will get that reputation and buyers coming with the knowledge that it is an art show and they are prepared to spend accordingly.
For more information and to download an application visit: www.artrapids.org.
This was my first time doing this event and I expected it to be equal to the South Miami Art Festival held in the same location in November. It was not! I was placed next to a charming fellow and his "Furry Puppet Farm" complete with the puppet outhouse. The show was non-stop and the kids loved it too much so the walkway was blocked much of the time. This was more of a family-kids event than an Art Show.....
The proceeds were very disappointing compared to the November show.
Despite the "outlet" moniker, this mall features a fair number of high-end retailers and some fine restaurants, and it's nestled in the "sweet spot" of SW Florida, midway between Naples and Fort Myers.
The Friday setup started at noon, and it was easy to pull in to the parking lot area, or even to the connector road just behind your booth to unload. Heaven help you if the blue skies lured you into thinking that Saturday would bring calm weather, for a front rolled in overnight as predicted and ushered in dark clouds and chilly temperatures on Saturday morning.
Despite that, the crowd hit the gates aggressively at 10 AM, and my neighbors and I were plenty busy until just after noon, when the skies opened up with a downpour. Having kept a close eye on the radar via my trusty iPhone, I already had my spare inventory covered up with a tarp behind the tent. Alas, a half hour later the winds picked up to the 20-25 mph range and partially blew off the tarp while I was chatting with some folks in the next aisle. I dumped about a quarter-inch of water out of the plastic bin that housed my smaller prints, grabbed some paper towels, and began drying off the Clear Bags, hoping for the best. Ultimately, only a few prints had to be brought home for re-matting. But the rains deep-sixed the buying crowd,and some of the artists--about half, by my estimate--left around 4 PM.
Sunday dawned sunny and bright, and the show-goers began browsing well before 10 AM. Although some artists later told me that that they saw lookers, not buyers, the booths that I could see were doing a brisk business. Not that I had any time to visit--I had my busiest afternoon of the season to date, and had to get a booth sitter for 15 minutes so I could hike to my van and get another roll of tape for the credit card machine and extra inventory for the tent walls. And it wasn't just me--a painter near me sold several wall-sized originals for $2500 and up, and the fine jeweler next to me sold a beautiful necklace that was priced at, well, several mortgage payments.
That said, it wasn't ALL roses.
* The nearest port-o-john was somewhere south of Orlando, near as I could tell (I never did find it). So, like many artists and patrons, I found it a lot easier to visit the Dunkin Donuts than make that hike.
* There was some mixed messaging on Saturday afternoon about whether the show would close early: one of the assistants said she was "checking on it," but a few minutes later the promoter came by and said she wouldn't make a decision like that, because "I'm not running your business, you are." Yet still later, another helper came by to record the booth numbers of those who had left in order to remind them that "the show was open 10 to 5", I was told.
* Some of my customers mentioned that getting into the center and to the show parking was the "gridlock from hell", with cars bumper to bumper looping around the lot, looking for nonexistent spaces. So maybe some beefed up police/traffic presence would be a good idea for next year. (Whether there was any on the main roads into the mall, I can't say.)
But however long it took to get there, it seemed that the show-goers didn't mind lugging all those purchases back to their cars, however far away And for those of us who suffered through a lean 2009, that was good news indeed.
June 5 & 6
Columbia, Missouri
Stephens Lake Park
presented by the Columbia Art League
105 Artists
Deadline: March 9
Columbia, Missouri
Stephens Lake Park
presented by the Columbia Art League
105 Artists
Deadline: March 9
Highlights:
- free to the public
- hundreds of free parking spaces available at the adjacent Boone Hospital parking lot
- free shuttle buses running constantly between the parking lot and the edge of the festival
- musical and magical family entertainment under the tented pavilion, festival food, children's art projects, art demonstrations
- Art in the Park is the highlight of summer in Columbia.
- Juried by an artists working in a variety of mediums, the event features 105 artists and newcomers are always
encouraged to apply
- A welcome party for the artists and event patrons is held at the Columbia Art League gallery on the Friday night
- breakfast is provided on both Saturday and Sunday mornings and a lunch box on Saturday.
- Booth sitters and volunteers are plentiful throughout the weekend.
- Solid advertising in the run up to the event on TV, Radio, Newspaper, Posters plus Facebook, Yard Signs and billboards on I-70 help swell the traffic to this iconic summer event.
Learn more and apply: http://artinthepark.missouri.org
P.S. I lived in Columbia for a few years -- this is a very cool place. CM
Barbara Kirk, a former travel agent, and stellar volunteer for the Des Moines Arts Festival stepped up to head a committee to match artists with beds. Barbara put out a call to friends and art lovers to open their homes during the arts festival.
An outpouring of support from residents has allowed Kirk to go a step further than merely finding the artists places to sleep: The artists will be matched to host families based on beds, pets and personal interests."People are so eager to do this that it's just amazing," Kirk said.
Read the story at the Des Moines Register: Des Moines art lovers will open homes as busy June fills hotels.
Des Moines has always been one of my favorite art shows, now we add another case of going "above and beyond." Good job, Barbara!
Are any of you going to be involved in this program? Or, have you participated at any other art fair in a program matching artists with art fairs?
It's a garage sale alright. I loved it, it was hilarious to just throw stuff on tables. I heard the prettier you made your booth, the more you got laughed at. Met some more nice artists & made more contacts.d and got to finally meet the world famous Bonnie Blandford & of course see Connie again! This was only the third garage sale I've done in my time, but it was the most (profitable?)/money I've made at a show like this. I've changed my framing style for my photography for the upcoming year so I was glad to get rid of a lot of the older stuff. It was definitely worth doing and will be more than happy to go back next year assuming I don't sell out during the year.... down and dirty for sure. It's amazing the difference between 50% off and 75% off does for moving product. Happy Sales...
PK
