Many years ago there was a Virginia artist lugging her art to art fairs who became a superstar. Really!
Ever hear of Pat Buckley Moss? Her work has been coveted and collected for over 40 years. I was at Art Expo in New York City one year and her large booth (at least 30-40 feet wide) was inundated with fans. I put her story here for inspiration. She did it, you can too! Here is a recent story about one of her personal appearances from
The Kalona News.
Visit Pat's website to learn more and make your plans to become an art star too.
Read more…
Strictly speaking probably the coolest art project in the country this year was the $500,000 Art Prize project in Grand
Rapids. It was backed by the Amway fortune and many other corporate entities joined in. It will be wrapping up and awarding its prize next week. Read more about it here:
www.artfairinsiders.com/blogs/the-really-big-deal-grand I love watching our Rust Belt cities taking on the challenge of their environment to bring cultural activities and cultural life to their cities. In Detroit the
Russell Industrial Center is in a downtown building complex erected in 1915. It was originally home to the Murray Mfg. Company, an auto body supplier. It is now home to many businesses, artists, craftspeople and printers. They hold art open art events there throughout the year.
Take a look and visit next time you are in Detroit. On September 25 and 26 Cleveland hosted
The Bridge Project, an offshoot of the Cleveland Festival of Art and Technology, transforming one of the most fascinating under-used urban spaces in the City into a center of art and performance. Literally "Under the Bridge", a party and art show, held under the Detroit-Superior bridge in downtown Cleveland. Originally an underpass for the "Rapid" (I rode on this a couple of times with my great aunt when I was a kid and downtown Cleveland was enticing) the streetcar level spans approximately one mile and includes, at the west end, a series of archways and rooms that were animated by art installations, exhibits and performances.
More about this. Were you there? Do you know of any other projects like these? I'd love to hear about them--comment below!
Read more…
Posted by LARRY GOODE on October 7, 2009 at 10:53am
Hello Everyone,Please check out my curiousroom.com site where I am selling my work and excellent artists friends work. I am looking for a few artist to add to the site. If you're intested shoot me an email.thanksLarry
Read more…
This past weekend I sold at the Darlington Apple Festival located in a beautiful VERY small town of Darlington, MD. This was my 3rd time selling there although I want to say I sold there 4 times, but can't really recall if I did or not. That is besides the point. I do look forward to this weekend as it usually occurs on one of the best Fall weekends we see - not too cold and rarely too hot, maybe temps reaching 75 degrees, and some of the best crowds any show has seen in the area. Vendors (and this time I am going to use the term vendors) have the option of setting up the day before (Friday starting at 5:00 p.m.) or early morning Saturday. It is an hour drive from home and decided this time I would set up on Friday and SOOO glad I did. I got to my spot just in time - same spot as in the past, where 1 minute later my neighbors brought their big trucks and tractor trailers with barely enough room to maneuver around. There are other reasons why setting up early at this show is wise. 1) It takes place throughout the whole town - not just on the main street. Spaces can be found in parking lots where churches are, all around the elementary school and in the park as well as a few other little outlets. The main street is about 5-6 blocks long and driving through the area with many willing to cause accidents getting around other people who are simply trying to find their spaces, it is not a pretty site. This occurs throughout all of set up time and then all over again in the a.m. only there are more people set up with more canopies and cars blocking aisles. 2) The show takes place both on grass and pavement and the sooner you set up the less likely you will have to contend with mud. Mud everywhere as the who drive the "big wheels" are not considerate of where they drive creating huge ruts in the grass and carrying it all over. 3) Spaces are super tight not one inch can be spared on all three sides of one booth. In the past, there was a few inches, but even this year people who buy 2 spaces couldn't put up two canopies - each space, where I was, was expected to fit in a parking space width with another behind you. When I got there in the morning to finish setting up my work, I couldn't get my sides down as I couldn't get behind my canopy or on the sides - it angered many of us. I would hate to think how I could have gotten my trimline up with all the others set up first. So, the rest of the show. After setting up many of us were thankful the sun came out - it rained that night and the forecast claimed it would be a wash out day. It was a beautiful day. The crowds showed up too. I learned, from a police officer, that last year's "gate" count was 65,000 and I believed it. I want to think it was about 60,000 this year as it seemed the crowds thinned out early. Sales for everyone were all over the place and attribute it to two things - location of your booth at the show and what you sell. A majority of the booths were geared towards country craft like stuff with berry vines, country portraits, flower arrangements, wooden toys (and if I hear another pop gun I will "shoot" someone), all kinds of jewelry, handmade kids clothes (not the crocheted stuff, but NICE clothes), alpaca fabric wearable art, mixed with some watercolors and other 2D art. All in all, I liked the variety. There is always buy/sell at this place including the pan flute players, but the Amish mums and whoopie pies as well as other nice handmade items drowned out the other "stuff" nicely - there were 250 exhibitors. The area I was in many didn't make much although it seems those of us at least made our booth. I made 2 times my booth and that isn't wonderful, but hey it could have been worse, and did have quite a bit of lookers and new fans too add to my list. One friend - Gus who is on there - did well, selling out of her table runners, place mats and the like! In the past I did quite well, and attribute this year to people not spending as much yet still come out to want to support the event. I can't fault that. So, would I do the show again? This for me is tough. I have done it years in the past (not 10 or 15 times) but want to think yes as long as the economy bounces back. The area has suffered some set backs as it is near Aberdeen Proving Ground and they had major layoffs recently and other businesses in the area closing or closed. There isn't much in the area there - no gas station or McDonalds, a few shops, one main one closed and if the economy doesn't pick up, I could see it become a ghost town despite some historic/farming attributes the town contributes to the area. At least it is close to Rt. 95 and another popular area, Havre de Grace (a sailing town with historical nautical museums and art places too). I want to add the photos are ones I took at the beginning of the day (first five mins. of it being open). The one is an aisle shot from my booth (my booth is the one with the chair on the left side) and the other is from the aisle looking down the Main Street. I do not have any special food or drink type things to report - when to the Cracker Barrel both Friday and Saturday and have to say their trout is like butter and love their service.
Read more…
We are functional potters, been at this about 30 years now, and have done South Third St. on and off for 18 years or so.Mostly we concur with Nels about this year's show. We were lucky enough to be on Third St., parked behind our booth...and yes, that IS worth about a thousand dollars in sales, especially as our older bodies get tired faster.Crowds weren't quite as thick as in previous years, but we still sold well, being down only about 10% from last year (when we had lots of politically-themed things).We didn't see any of the committee from Third Street, but they are always nice to deal with, promptly answering emails, and taking care of any problems that do arise on site. Breakfast on all three mornings is a nice benefit of South 3rd St.Third Street has a committee prejury system, and artists are notified before apps come out if they are preaccepted. I love those years.Next to us were some of those large canvas photographers that Nels mentioned. They said that they were happy on Third St. this year, that by mid-Sat. they had eclipsed last year's total on St. James!They also spoke about some kind of 'by' system that St. James uses, whereby one medium each year is given a pass on having to pass the jury, and all in that medium are invited back. Anyone know anything about that?Anytime we can get in to South Third Street we'll show up in Louisville.
Read more…
Here is some of the best news around the art fairs this year. In Louisville they actually passed an ordinance keeping unauthorized vendors away from the art fair! If you've never been to St. James let me tell you, you park and then you walk and walk and there is just about anything for sale there. Now they are proud of this event (750 exhibitors - I am not saying "artists") but things have definitely gotten out of hand over the years.
Here is the first report I came across: Ordinance to curtail unlicensed vendors at St. James art show
There were some changes this year, mostly caused by the impact of the economy. Here is the info: Changes Afoot for St. James Court Art Show. I especially liked this one: Visitors might notice fewer vendors who had independently set up outside the show area in past years. That’s due to an ordinance the Metro Council passed in May. It prohibits them from seeing up booths within 100 feet of a Metro Louisville special permitted event. Well, hooray for them!
Crowds smaller? So said Margie Esrock, organizer of the fun-for-all St. James Court Art Show. Here's a good rundown from the Louisville Courier: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091004/NEWS01/910040349/St.+James+turnout+declined+this+year
Supposedly 300,000 people turn out for the three day event. I've been there many times. One thing you never have to fault St. James with is not having enough people turn out. It is elbow to elbow usually all three days. The event is so popular in Louisville that they close school on Friday. I kid you not! The schoolteachers are there in full force wearing their Halloween sweaters. It's pretty folksy but fun too in a beautiful neighborhood full of extravagant Victorian homes.
Here is another article from WLKY, including an interview with jeweler Helmut Goral: Economy Didn't Impact St. James Court Art Show
I'm expecting full reports from many of you as I know you were there!
Read more…
Posted by Rick Bryant on October 1, 2009 at 2:56pm
This comes from my friend Aileen Lampman, who I know because she exhibits at my show, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Aileen was contacted by the organizers of the G-20 Summit--just held in Pittsburgh, about including her work as a presentation gift for those attending the summit. Aileen says it better than I could, so here by the magic of cut and paste is the story from Aileen: In early September my good friend and liaison to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Susan Callahan, informed me that a few sample designs of my necklaces were being requested. These samples would be a gift for someone connected to the G-20 Summit that was coming to Pittsburgh at the end of September . I submitted a few different designs and my leaf and tendril design was selected and I initially was asked to make only 2 of these necklaces. A few days later I was asked to make a total of 18 leaf and tendril necklaces and they needed to be completed by Sept. 18th. On the Monday of the G-20 I was again asked to make an additional 5 necklaces. Whew...this all required a lot of rushing on my part! I had suggested adding matching earrings to the "gift" but was informed that earrings may not be accepted a suitable accessory for the variety of cultures and countries involved in the G-20. Every detail, down to the color of the boxes, was considered. They all had to be the same color as not to offend anyone who belongs to a "caste" society- different colors could carry different meanings and if one person got a pink box and the other a green box it could cause trouble! Okay, great point and something I never would have considered. Still I did not know who these were going to and I was asked to keep this all very, very quite - only told my mother, husband and a few close, trusted friends about it. On Wednesday, September 23rd I was asked to go to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts for an interview and a few photos. No big deal, I figured, just something for their archives. I arrive to find something that looked a lot like a press conference! Still scratching my head, but beginning to think this must be pretty big, I see the mayor of Pittsburgh and other city officials walking into the room, along with all of the Pittsburgh media. Okay, this is pretty big! During the press conference I am made aware that there are 3 levels of gift baskets being given, all filled with Pittsburgh artist's work as well as other "Pittsburgh" gifts. Level one baskets are for the heads of state, the next for their V.Ps, and the third level is for the sherpas (these are the personal assistants to the heads of state). My necklaces will be part of the gift boxes being given to the heads of state and their spouses- my necklace intended for the female spouses. Germany and Argentina have female heads of state so therefore these women will get the necklace as their gift. After the press conference I met Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and was interviewed by the Pittsburgh press. I'm still kind of in a state of shock. It is all tremendously flattering and I am speechless. Check out Aileen's work at: http://aijewelry.bigcartel.com
Read more…
Posted by Kevin Kaye on September 29, 2009 at 9:58pm
This was my second year here and it is turning into one of my favorite festivals. It is held in a beautiful park outside of Lowell, Michigan. Small show with 85 artists. It is run by the art council and they really care about all aspects of their show. Great food and entertainment. Weather hampered things this year with rain/drizzle all day Sat.. People still came out in good numbers. Sun. was beautiful but I think the Lions winning a game put them into shock :) Sold many items in the under $30 range and a few lamps. Had past collector of mine buy two $650 lamps, offered them a discount and they refused!!! There are still true gems of people out there. Load in/out easy. Parking close. My sales were down around 25% from last year but was still an acceptable show for me. Other artists I spoke with were happy with sales. I plan on retuning for as long as they will have me.Kevin
Read more…
Posted by Linda Anderson on September 29, 2009 at 3:46pm
60 artists gathered in beautiful Usher Park for the inaugural Fine Arts & Wine Festival in Itasca Illinois. The event is sponsored by the Village of Itasca who is fortunate to have the funding to do what it takes to enhance and promote the event. I typically do not do a "first" show, but my weekend was open.......Setup was Friday morning and was extraordinally easy. Drive up to the curb and a team of village worker volunteers were lined up to assist artists - enjoyed greatly our help from the personable chief of police! A gazebo stands in the center of the park with sidewalks that meander to that core so all booth locations were fantastic. There was generous spacing that allowed about 5' between booths and unlimited amount of space behind each booth. Vehicle parking was streetside, around the park and along neighborhood streets. Each day I arrived to park my van a close 100 ft from my tent. Overnight trailer parking was found at the neighborhood school a block away. Along one side of the park, artists assigned to those booths could park both on the grass behind their tents.Since the show ran from 4pm to 9pm Friday evening, electricity was included. Unfortunately, heavy rains were also included Friday evening which dampened the spirits of all. Still, residents turned out and the lighting in this park area looked spectacular! (4) Vineyards had booths throughout the event and while nicely dressed patrons came Friday evening, I think the artists enjoyed the yummy wines more as we were quite saturated while hunkering under our tents. I don't think many artists had sales Friday.Saturday and Sunday went well - predicted rain stayed away. Residents from Itasca and neighboring Chicagoland suburbs attended and those interested in purchasing had no reservations. This was not an elbow to elbow turnout, but rather a consistent flow of patrons. Over the weekend I would estimate attendance was approximately 2,000 to 4,000 (lower than it should have been due to weather). But..... sales were better than I would have expected. My neighbor, a fantastic mosaic artist with high price points ($2,000 & up) did very well Saturday selling five or six large pieces but nothing on Sunday. They also took home the $1,000 second prize ribbon. I had a good day Saturday selling more framed than matted only pieces and was greatly surprised that Sunday was even better. A jeweler on my other side had beautiful work and received the $500 third prize ribbon. Good thing she won that as her sales were the lowest she's had all year with nothing sold Friday or Saturday. A nearby painter from TN had lousy sales until Sunday - he was glad he did not pack up early and went home Sunday with great sales. While this was not a huge money maker for me, it was the best Chicagoland area show for us in terms of profit and environment. Cheerful organizers and volunteers helping constantly.When the rains came Friday night and the lighting presented problems, the public works guys were on it immediately - working efficiently and with great attitudes. Talented musicians playing non stop through the weekend from the gazebo offered great ambiance to the festival. A nearby nature center brought animals to a grassy area on Sunday and had supplies for children to draw the animals. Another childrens activity included sidewalk artistry. Prior to the festival artists could pickup a park bench from the village and paint it. Benches were then sold via an auction with half the sales going to the artist. These benches were great pieces of art with the highest sale at over $1200 and the lowest at $400 or so. The city will use the funds from these sales to improve the park area. One of the park features that attracted me was the swan pond. Swans even had a little house they stayed in at night!Onsight food included a rib guy and an Italian Beef & Vienna hot dog guy..... This is the Chicago area afterall and the food was FANTASTIC and reasonably priced. Both had restaurants in the downtown area. A nice artists breakfast was held Saturday from 8 to 10 at a nearby restaurant.Hats off to the organizers and village employees. Well done. Other than the obvious drawbacks of low atttendance for a "first time" show, the only complaint I had was to find one artist snuck in resell crap on Saturday and Sunday. Pay attention promoters - I'm giving you his name and his booth is shown in my video! Bear with me as I describe the drama:Saturday Neil (my husband and indispensible assistant) & I noticed a great amount of white garbage bags with matted work going by our booth. We were quite busy too and did not give it much thought that day or investigate who was doing so well..... but our mosaic art neighbors noticed it as well. General initial thought was "good for that artist". Shortly after opening Sunday morning we noticed the trend continuing but when my first "looker" of the day said to me - "Why should I pay $50 for a 16x20 here when I can get something for my wall for $10 over there" well.... that got me going. Neil was the first to check it out. An artist by the name of Hailin Gong got into the show when the organizer saw his paintings at another event. When Neil arrived at booth #45 what he saw was about 5 small paintings on a wall and a rack full of knockoff prints matted in cheap black mats - photos of Wriggly Field in the 20's, Marilyn Monroe, Chalk drawing reproductions of baseball/football players.... you know the stuff. Neil asked the guy for a business card..... no card. Neil asked the guy where his booth sign is..... don't know - I'm here helping my boss. Neil asked where his boss was.... don't know - getting a sandwich? In the mean time the crap was selling right & left and Neil noticed the helper was placing them in the bags facing each other so the actual work could not be seen by others as the purchasers carried them throughout the park. Neil came back & relayed the info to me and my mosaic neighbor friend Laura Harris. Laura said she had seen this guy roll in a couple of large racks early both Saturday and Sunday mornings but didn't give it much thought.I was still tending to my customers so Laura went to visit the booth and ask more questions. By this time the helper was acting a little nervous. Laura asked to meet the artist. The helper responded - he's at another show. After Laura returned, I finally had some time and went to the volunteer booth looking for the organizer. She was out & about, but I discussed the matter with the charming chief of police and mentioned that since it was their first show I didn't think they'd want the reputation of allowing resellers participate. He was stunned and said he would pass it along to be taken care of.ok....ok..... I could not help myself.... I finally went to booth 45 myself. I too asked to meet the artist and the nervous little helper explained to me that he is handicapped and could not drive the 40 minutes to run his tent so he was just helping him out. I pointed out the matted stuff and questioned the validity of ownership. Oh yes.... his boss took those pictures and drew those Marilyn Monroe and Walter Payton faces...... To which I replied - well, he must be pretty old to get a photo of Wriggly Field in the '20's. This poor guy (perhaps his green card should be checked) was very well trained and replied - oh yes, he has the rights to those photos....... I think I was more amused than upset at the overall situation. I explained to the helper that his boss put him in a bad position and he should call his boss. I mentioned the rules clearly outlined in the artist packet was the artist must attend all 3 days and that work was to be done by the artist. Again I heard the sad story about the artist's disability and distance and he did not want to call his boss. It was easily recognizable this routine had been done many times in the past and I did not want to get carried away so I told the guy I mentioned the problem to the chief of police and he will likely be at his booth soon to tell him to put away the reseller stuff. The guy responded - why.... this our first show.... give us warning....The lies were ones a teenager would not even expect to get away with. They need to learn a little consistency :-) I left the area before my giggling began. The show was to end at 3:00 and it was now about noon. I needed to get back to my booth and take care of my customers. The organizer visited my booth shortly thereafter and expressed her regret that this "artist"? got away with sneaking in the crap and did make him shut it down. We all regret we did not come across it early on Saturday.Overall I was highly impressed with this art event. The patrons were unlike those at Deerfield or Cantigny in that they purchased AND were personable - enjoyed talking with artists about their pieces. My thoughts are that given the well thoughtout planning, fantastic involvement by volunteers and obvious availability of funding by the city, this event will grow stronger each year. I've discovered my niche is any event on one of the Great Lakes or anywhere in Michigan and while I have pretty much decided to stay away from the Chicagoland area shows next year, I may do this one again if I have that weekend open.Below is the link to Neil's you tube videos. Views of booth 45 belonging to Hailin Gong showing his assistant are on Itasca Show #3 - the one without the tent top.Itasca You Tube VideosHave a great fall season everyone. Perhaps will see some of you in Novi!Linda AndersonAnderson Photo Workshttp://www.andersonphotoworks.comRead more…
Posted by Karla Ries on September 29, 2009 at 2:00pm
Well, I have officially gotten my art business off the ground and running. We are ArtIsRelative representing the works of myself (painter/photographer), my husband (photographer/woodworker) and my father (painter). We did two weekend's of shows back to back - our first outdoor shows and only our third shows ever.
Fountain Square was two weekends ago and Rocky Ripple was this past weekend.
Fountain Square was the smaller of the two with maybe 40 artists represented and only the third year for it. Rocky Ripple had 53 artists in attendance and it was about the 10th year for it.
Both had fairly good crowds but seemed to be more buyers at the Fountain Square show than Rocky Ripple. FS was in a black topped parking lot, RR was in a park. Weather was good for both. Both were one day events only.
We sold 7 pieces at FS (a nice mix of low end $20 to mid level $100 pieces) and 2 pieces at RR (both mid low end).
I did not see a lot of purchasing going on around me - lots of interest at the boothes but not lots of purchases.
We were happy to be in the thick of it for our first outings. Fellow vendors were friendly and I'm already running into some duplicate displayers so I'm looking forward to making friends on our local circuit.
Read more…
Posted by Connie Mettler on September 29, 2009 at 1:00pm
September 24 and 25 I was in Peoria, IL, participating in the 12th Artist/Directors Conference sponsored by the
National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA). The conference had artists in attendance (
Don Ament,
Larry Berman, Ronna Katz, Patrick Dragon, Carla Fox, Cynthia Davis, Martha Giberson and many more). The highlight of the artist conference is always the
Mock Jury. Artists bring their images and they are projected for all to see, comment on and critique. This is always an amazing process that sheds light on many quirks and details that impede acceptance at the art fairs. The Directors section was two days long (artists only one day) and was attended by directors from the big shows and the small ones: Katrina Gallegos from
Coconut Grove and Stephen King from
Des Moines (two of the biggies) and Peggy Finnegan from
Colorscape Chenango and Michael Brown from the
Deer Path Art Festival (two of the smaller ones). I love these conferences because: 1. you get to spend time with people who share your passion for art fairs 2. you learn lots of good things to improve your art fair
3. you meet legendary art fair directors and get to talk to them 4. you get to share your best ideas and help other fairs 5. the presentations are affirming, e.g., "I did this for my art fair and you can do it for yours too" 6. there is always a great party
Joe Halbrucker from Sunshine Artist, Lisa Konikow from Arts, Beats & Eats, Teresa Saborsky, artist and Jennifer Lee, Executive Director of the Peoria Art Guild - please notice that everyone is dressed to match and they match the booth also! This year was no exception. --Most interesting presentations:
Eve Lerman from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, "Battling Imports at Art Shows"
Holly Olinger(artist) - cool presentation on "Handmade in America", showing new ways to encourage younger artists and reinvigorating art fairs
Vic Gutman (Omaha Summer Art Festival)- amazing presentation on overcoming emergencies at art fairs
Kim Armstrong & Patty Gregory - nuts and bolts of a patron programs at the Peoria Arts Fair and the Belleville Fair on the Square
Carla Fox & Chris Porter - artists organizing art fairs
Holly Olinger & Connie Mettler - tech culture, social networking for art fairs
Sara Shambarger (Krasl Art Fair) & Sally Bright (artist)- Hosting artists in patron's homes
Kim Armstrong - using your budget wisely to put on a good event Two great parties:
Thursday night: Peoria Contemporary Art Center - site for a "Cash for Clunkers" party. Attendees dressed in favorite thrift shop attire. Chris Porter was stunning in a draped orange jersey gown from the '40's; Jeanne Seehaver (ArtFest Fort Myers) and I in tux jackets from the consignment store; Ardath Prendergast gowned in pastel separates from the Salvation Army, etc.
Friday night: Peoria Art Guild - we were guests at the Caribbean themed Peoria Art Festival Patron Preview Party ($75 tickets) where we met the sponsors and supporters of the Peoria Fine Art Fair. Seventy-five artists were in attendance and two pieces of their work was on display. Some sales were made, the food was great and the liquor flowed freely. Sorry, no tequila, but many friendly people. The place was packed. This Peoria art group knows how to do it well. I enjoyed meeting new people: Patty Gregory,
Art on the Square, Belleville, IL Carla Fox,
Art in the High Desert, Bend, OR Sandi Cottrell,
ArtWalk San Diego, CA Katie Beckett,
Bethesda Row Arts Festival, Bethesda, MD Patrick Flaherty,
Broad Ripple Art Fair, Indianapolis, IN Jay Snyder,
By Hand, Columbus, OH Mary-Sue Bartlett & Vaughn Griffith,
College Hill Arts Festival, Cedar Falls, IA Peggy Finnegan,
Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival, New Berlin, NY Tracy Pugh,
Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival, Crozet, VA Michael Brown,
Deer Path Art League Art Fair, Antioch, IL Corinn VanWyck,
East Lansing Art Festival, MI Chris Ritke,
Entry Thingy, San Geronimo, CA Patty Narozny & Elise Riches,
Hotworks, Milford, MI Lois Songer,
Key West Art Center, FL Kari Brantley,
Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival, TX Vic Gutman,
Omaha Summer Arts Festival, NE Robert McFarland,
Renaissance Fine Arts Fair, Ridgeland, MS Kate Poss,
St. Louis Art Fair, MO Sharon Strubbe,
Summerfair, Cincinnati, OH Joe Halbrucker,
Sunshine Artist, Orlando, FL Holly Henson & Alice Moulton,
Winter Park Sidewalk Art Show, FL Barbara Heimsch,
Morning Glory Art Fair, Milwaukee, WI and reconnecting with old friends: Cynthia Davis, Ann Arbor, MI Lisa Konikow,
Arts, Beats & Eats, Pontiac, MI Donna Potts,
Brookside Art Annual, Kansas City, MO Rick Bryant,
Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, State College, PA Stephen King,
Des Moines Arts Festival, IA Sara Shambarger,
Krasl Art Fair, St. Joseph, MI Kim Armstrong,
Peoria Fine Art Fair, IL Karla Prickett,
Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art Show, Salina, KS Jeanne Seehaver,
ArtFest Fort Myers, Fort Myers, FL As you can see, a very nice cross-section of the nation's art fairs. I urge you join this fine organization if only for the purpose of encouraging this annual meeting of the nation's art directors for cross pollination of the best art fair ideas and for their encouragement of one another to continue to present the best art fairs possible. Kudos to artists
Sally Bright,
Holly Olinger,
Teresa Saborsky and volunteer
Ardath Prendergast. How four people can do such a fine job as this while earning their living as artists is beyond me. Congratulations to each of you and thank you for all you do to keep art fairs strong by allowing this networking of artists and art fair organizers. Thank you for bringing us together. Here's a message I received from Corinn Van Wyck, director of the East Lansing Art Fair: Hi Connie, We really enjoyed the conference and came back with so many useful ideas. From the time I started as the coordinator it has been very important to me that the artists have a good experience at our show. I think the NAIA really helps bridge the gap between show directors and artists, so I love it. It was nice to learn that so many show directors are artists too! I really thought the quality of art was fantastic at the Peoria show so we were recruiting!!! I liked their layout too, makes us want to spread the artists out in our layout and give them more space. I'm also going to work on that artist-only restroom idea! I want the artists who come to our show to feel like they were taken care of and treated well.
Read more…
Posted by don crozier on September 29, 2009 at 11:00am
So that is what my wife and I said to each other when we walked through The Meadows, a one year old development in Lake St Louis, Missouri. The Meadows at Lake St Louis is a high end "lifestyle center" as they call it. True, it is a shopping mall, but "mall" really doesn't do the place justice. Located about 25 miles from the St Louis suburbs and about 50 miles from the city, Lake St Louis has been an upscale place to live since the 60's and it has held up well over the years. This year, it won an award from Money Magazine as number 9 in their Top 10 Best Places to Live. Easily the most affluent area in St Charles County, it is located at the center of the recent housing boom and the highest growth area in the St Louis region. In April 2007, construction began on The Meadows at Lake St Louis. The Meadows is owned and managed by Davis Street Land Company in Chicago who specialize in high end retail outlets. http://www.themeadowsatlsl.com/ The Meadows opened to much fanfare at just about the worst possible time, August 2008. While I'm sure they've been hurt by the recession, new stores continue to open at about one every other month or so and construction is proceeding on another anchor, Von Maur, set to open in 2010. Foot traffic is decent, but I suspect that most merchants besides the restaurants aren't making a whole lot of money just yet. As far as I can tell, the housing market in the county, while not great, has not tanked either. The architecture and design of the Meadows makes the venue so attractive. The stores are all laid out in four quadrants around a lushly landscaped central courtyard which was just begging for little white tents.
The space is very classy and elegant, but it is not huge, with room for only about 28 tents or so. With no other art fair within 20 miles, I knew that someone would have an art fair there someday and I wanted to be a part of it. I approached Bridget Geiss, the Marketing Director, in the Spring of this year with my idea for an art fair and she was very receptive. I emphasized that this would be a quality show, in keeping with the Meadows' target demographic. We both agreed that if the show was a success, there would be room to grow by utilizing some of the rest of the property. We settled on the last weekend in September as the date. This fell towards the end of the Autumn St Louis shows, with Queeny Park on Labor Day weekend, the St Louis Art Fair in Clayton on the 2nd weekend, and Mosaics in St Charles on the 3rd weekend. The Shaw Art Fair is the first weekend in October, and even it can be risky on the weather, so we sure didn't want to go any later. How did we do? Stay tuned! Don
Read more…
Posted by Bill Sargent on September 28, 2009 at 10:30pm
This was our first time at the Plaza show and we came with great expectations (a self inflicted condition). It went well enough for us and was by far our best show of the year to date.We had been apprehensive about parking and had been told not to move our vehicle for the weekend once we found a good spot. We found a fabulous spot completely by accident and followed the advice since our hotel was a fairly short walk away. No one we know of complained about parking, though. One other friend left his vehicle in place all weekend once he’d found a good parking spot.The setup went well and artists were assigned a time to roll in and dump their stuff within 45 minutes. This turns out to be plenty of time. Friday is a heavy day since you set up in the morning and the shows runs from 5 to 10 PM the fist day. Crowds are heavy Friday night and we actually sold more that evening than we have at many other shows for the entire weekend.Results were mixed for artists. The mixed media guy behind us did about 300 for the whole show. A photographer friend reported 9300, which was an all time high for him. Another photographer friend and veteran of the show sold 3K. Two years ago he had taken in 12K. Yet another photographer who habitually sells in the five figures at this show was down about a third this year. A painter who had sold 12K lat year was up to $750 by early Sunday morning.The level of work was about as good as it gets. The judges did a fine job in selecting the winnersCrowds were thinner this year, according to some of its members. We were near the food and beer in the row next to the river, so there were plenty of people and our booth was crowded for most of the show.As in Fort Worth, you don’t want to leave your chair unattended if it’s outside your tent. I found a drunk comfortably settled into mine just when I wanted it the most. I finally talked to him and he was nice, if a bit clumsy, when it came to moving. Too bad he spilled most of his beer on the cushion in the process. Fortunately it dried out before noon the next day after exposure to a bright sun and low humidity.Later the next evening I was ready to sit down again after hours on my feet and I looked up to see the very same drunk comfortably settled in my chair. Again. Not wanting to risk another Pabstism for my cushion, I left him alone until he finally wandered off.Teardown went smoothly in our area and we were out of there in a reasonable time.The next day we were looking for something to visit and stumbled on the museum that features the steamboat “Arabia” which was sunk in 1859. The artifacts that were recovered were in such good shape that they were able to put together an exhibit that is much like a large general store you would have walked into that year. Much of the cargo consisted of orders for various merchants and the artifacts are fascinating. Some of them were items the existence of which was unknown before the excavation. The museum is located in the City Market. Just punch City Market into your GPS and it will take you right there. There are also many interesting shops and a genuine Kansas City BBQ eatery.We will keep this show on our application list permanently. It would have been a profitable stand alone show but it was the first in a four-show out-of-state tour for us.OK, Nels, I have purposely dispersed seven grammar, punctuation and spelling errors in this post. I expect you to find them.
Read more…
Posted by Connie Mettler on September 28, 2009 at 4:26pm
Rick DeVos scion of the Amway family in Grand Rapids, MI, announced in April the
world's largest Art Prize - $250,000 and invited all artists to come to GR in September to compete. The winner will be selected by the public! This, of course, means
YOU have to get to Grand Rapids soon to cast your vote. ~~
25,000 Peace Flags (and counting) by Kiaralinda and Todd The hope is that the exhibition will involve the public and get them looking at art, so it's all good. It
will be interesting to see the winning work. The choices of art experts often has me scratching my head, so the public can't do much worse in choosing a winner. In all over 1600 artists heeded the call. All around Grand Rapids from
September 23 to October 10 you can view, hear and participate in their art throughout the city. ~~
Jerry Berta's Art Cart I was there for the excitement Saturday and Sunday. Who knew Grand Rapids was so diverse and beautiful? Sun glinting off the river (bridges turned into art, monsters in the water, sculpture on islands) and excited people everywhere trying to take in as much as possible.
~~
Madeline Kaczmarczyk's mixed media pottery The art is on the street, in empty storefronts, in every restaurant and in the galleries. Then when you get bleary-eyed there is exciting performance art. ~~Connie plays Michael Combs' guitar
I came across some art fair artists too: (former) photographer
Michael Combs 6 foot wide mosaic encrusted ceramic guitar,
Jerry Berta's diner art cart complete with hot dogs,
Madeline Kaczmarczyk's ceramics "Womanology" and
Todd and Kiaralinda Ramquist's interactive peace flags. The peace flags encircle the B.O.B., an outdoor plaza filled with provocative work. My friend Jan Richardson's daughter, Heather, was dancing with the Ramquist's in her "Peace Angel" costume, complete with flashing lights. Did I tell you this is fun? Really--be there or be square! I'm casting my vote now. Here's an excellent article I found:
Grand Rapids Masters the Art of Urban Engagement -- good photos too.
Read more…
Greetings all! I am back from another festival and pretty tired still. I did the Westminster Fall Festival this past weekend - don't have any photos of it as I left my camera at home this time. It was a pretty bad show and attribute most of it due to the rain. There was advertising and all that good stuff, but with the extra distractions (rides and commercial vendors having better visibility) it just wasn't anything to write home about. I knew all of this going into the event, and in the past the crowds have been big (anticipating a good buying crowd despite the distractions). Everyone seemed to suffer except some food vendors (and people who sold dips). But I chalk that all up to passing this event for another next year. The good news is it was close to home and with the rain pouring hard at the end of the day Saturday the management choose to close the event early - saved 1 1/2 hours of being miserable in the rain. What baffled me was a HUGE number of people who haven't done shows before exhibiting there and having no clue the responsibilities that go into owning a canopy. I don't need to get into it as I am sure many of you have mental pictures from your own experiences of what heavy rains and high winds can do to canopies, but it did occur at this festival and thankful none of those parties damaged my work. I am still so happy making the choice of going with my Trimline and even got a few other serious exhibitors interested in the design of it.My Food/Beverage Report... I didn't have anything of the alcoholic nature although was very much in the mood for it after being drenched from the rain while zipping up my sides . However, found a neat small authentic Mexican restaurant 1 block from where the event took place. There were about enough room for 10-12 tables and neat decor. I settled with a very good chimichanga - the service was really good. I was all set for a glass of Sangria but not on their menu. For the life of me, I can't recall the name of the restaurant. There aren't any sushi places in the area and only one pub, but since I didn't make any money at the event settling for Mexican one night and Sunday Panera Bread - which am now in love with their new chicken salad sandwich.I am really looking forward to my next show, The Darlington Apple Festival. Bring on the big crowds and good weather as I have consistently have growing sales each time I attend it. Will report on all my findings soon.
Read more…
Did a show two weeks ago in Columbus, OH and should have followed my "name"...Cassandra, which is supposed to be a 'seer of the future' in mythology. I kept having this nagging little voice in the back of my mind but I had made the committment to be there so I went. The "crowd" was very light on opening night and not much better on Saturday, despite the good advertising and planned events surrounding the show. Sunday we were rained out. But to make matters worse, on Saturday morning I had a $350. bracelet cuff stolen from me when I was sitting not more than 2' away from it! Sigh...... I love interacting with people at shows and it reallly irks me when I'm forced to be suspicious of anyone who comes close to the booth. Putting things in glass cases would probably eliminate theft but with beadwork, it's such a 'tactile' thing that people really need to be able to touch it and see it closely. As a visitor to show, I know that I am not inclined to ask someone to take a piece out for me.
Read more…
Posted by Connie Mettler on September 22, 2009 at 7:00pm
Many, many thanks to all of you. Today member #1500 joined our ranks. I hope you'll all welcome her,
Kim Hutt of Clarkston, MI. She is a show organizer and should have lots to share with all of us. I am so pleased at the site, your participation, your questions, your helpfulness to one another, your comments, all the interesting personalities emerging. Most interesting to me (who has been in the art fair business since l978) is most of you I don't even know and now I have a new community. Could that be why they call it social networking? Our members come from all 50 states also Canada, Spain, Denmark, Israel, Sudan, Ireland, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Uganda, Argentina, Wales, Tunisia and a gang from India and lots from the United Kingdom.
We could not have made it without you and your telling your friends about our site. Thank you. Big thanks go to all the "lurkers" (you know who you are) and the contributors. I'm going to try to name a few and you will let me know if I missed you...in which case add your comment below. Honor Roll:
Nels Johnson, Michelle Sholund, Linda Anderson, Paula Johnson, Geri Wegner, Don Crozier, Ron Mellott, Zaki Knapen, Mary Strope, Marcie Christiansen, William Eickhorst, Greg Heihn, Dawn Waters Baker, Genece Hamby, Barbara Sistak Baur, Carol Komassa, James Parker, Bert Herrera, R.C. Fulwiler, Mike D., Shoshana Matthews, Bill Sargent, Albert Ellenich, Christy La Roy, Dave Hoffman, Peter Katke, Lee Hill, Al Nash, Charles Bingham, Ramon Magee, Adela Romero, Mark Zurek, Sheryl Cannon, Howard Rose and Bob Stuart and so many more! My son made me build this site. He was interested in seeing how the Ning sites work for a book he was writing. Art Fair Insiders was his guinea pig. Don't you think we've got something here? What to look forward to: I have to organize the discussion groups, get some links together and plan some better interactive things. I'm going to add video soon, so be sure to have your videos ready to upload. It has been suggested that I have a forum so people can stay at each other's homes when they are traveling and at the shows, also for sharing hotel rooms at shows. Also, I've been asked to set up a singles meet up. Tell me what you'd like and what you think of the ideas above. Lots of love to all of you in Art Fair Land! (I'll be gone for a few days. I'm off to Peoria, IL, for the NAIA Artist/Show Director Conference where I'm going to do a presentation about social networking. Think I can handle it? Yes, I can--thanks to you!)
Read more…
What can I say it was a perfect weekend - perfect weather, perfect setting, perfect food, perfect selection of art and craft, and yes, perfect sales. Ok, maybe I didn't sell out, but there are some who did and I did sell a lot with a few items selling out - I find that close enough. So about the Wine Festival.... 1. It has been a Maryland tradition since 1983 where legend has it in the first year they outgrew their location - it was a hit. Now it is held at the Carroll County Farm Museum, think of it as a mini Williamsburg (smaller grounds with some people traditionally dressed up - for the tours). There are about 30 Maryland wineries that come out to be judged as the Best Wine in Maryland along with other titles and even awards for novice wine makers too. There is about 80 artists and crafts people ranging from stained glass - my neighbor, various degrees of jewelry makers, floral crafts, framed artwork of all kinds, to commercial stuff as well - even the Maryland lotto people have a booth. There are no games or things like that mind you. The admission price is hefty (in my opion) $20 for designated drivers and $25 for the rest and it includes all the wine you can taste. My only beef is that vendors were not allowed to taste, requiring them to pay the same admission fee - a big turn off since they are getting a deposit and commission on from all of us. So, I didn't drink, but do have my favorite! More of that in my "Wine" Report - sorry Nels, had to do a spin on the 'ol Tequila Report. 2. What made it good. It was well organized all around. Finding ones space wasn't hard although there were no definite rows. The time of the event is great - plenty of people up until the end - 6:00 p.m. Advertising was spot on - everyone came from everywhere in Maryland and they brought money (rumor has it they surpassed 25,000 in attendance). Oh yes, the weather was so perfect - 72-74 as a high with no clouds in the sky. The fee is beyond amazing - $25 + 15%. They do allow you to apply the $25 (subtracting it) to your overall sales. Many had a great show. I did very well with about 1/2 of my stock depleted - I was really prepared for it and selling 1/2 is unheard of in my part of the woods the way the economy is going. 3. What wasn't the best. I already mentioned there was a fee for those who who were exhibiting to wine taste - yeah, still heart broken over that. IT was really muddy, but they had a ton of straw and didn't waste time putting it down. Parking was a pain - it was organized, but my booth was in the far end direction of where the vendor gate was that I couldn't drive up - due to the mud there was only a path to get to your space wide enough for one car. Which means everyone parked on the path preventing others to get to their booth - people like me. On day 2, I ended up schlepping some of my stuff to my booth - about 1/8 mile! Yes, my back is still sore. I was put in a far off area that not everyone in attendance knew about - despite this my sales were really good so I can't imagine what it would be like if I had a more visible space. I also found most exhibitors weren't terribly friendly. I did the show by myself (husband helped for 4 hours on Saturday but that was it) and usually someone will be sympathetic and ask if I want a break to go to the bathroom - no one did, only wanted to know how my sales are - weird I thought. Oh, and they were quick to tell me how to do things, like I have never done shows before when by myself I can set up my display in 1 hour and 15 mins while it takes the others 2 people and 2 hours to set up, silly people. I can't really complain though it was a great weekend and a great venue. The Wine Report... I haven't been able to find info on who won the awards for 2009. However I do have a favorite winery - Linganore Winecellars. I actually love all of their wines as many are on the sweet side as I learned about them from working at the Maryland Renaissance Festival since 2001 - and I was only 14 then :-). But have to say the Fox Hunt Blush, Sangria, Peach, and Skipjack wines are my absolute favorites. Their winery is about 30 mins from where I live so I have the pleasure of checking them out at my leisure. I didn't get to go out to dinner - I do live close by so hubby made dinner for me and just had fast food the second night. I aim to do check out a pub this coming weekend when I am also in the same city doing a Fall Festival. Heard good reviews about it. All in all, I say come to this gem of an event it is wonderful. To learn more about the other wines or the festival, their website is www.marylandwinefestival.org .
Read more…
Posted by Connie Mettler on September 21, 2009 at 6:19pm
Let's see now. If you put on a performance partially funded with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in San Francisco that was named Perverts Put Out would you be surprised if some people were also put out?
Here's a good story from the Houston Chronicle that refutes the outrage: Arts fair becomes target of stimulus critics:
San Antonio festival’s funding called ‘grounds for impeachment’. It seems that stimulus funds were also used for an accordion festival. Do you like that better?
"Perhaps conservatives have something against accordions.
That's one possible interpretation of how the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio became one of this summer's national poster children for big government spending as the right wing came down on $29 million in economic stimulus funding handed out by the National Endowment for the Arts — including $775,000 that went directly to Texas arts groups," says the Chronicle.
I think I've heard this one before. I live near a beautiful state park in northern Indiana, Pokagon. Ever since I was a kid I have loved the stone buildings and pavilions in that park that are as graceful as they day they were built by -- you guessed it -- federal stimulus money called the WPA.
Read the article and tell me what you think. Do the arts deserve this money? Should festivals be receiving money that goes into artists hands?
Read more…
