October 10 & 11 Houston, Texas 300 Artists Deadline: May 2 Fall in Houston, the weather cools and Houstonians come out to celebrate at the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown. The Festival, set against the dramatic skyline of the nation's fourth largest city, was ranked: *the #3 art festival in the country in AmericanStyle Magazine's "TOP 10 Festivals" *in February 2009 named "Best Gallery in Houston" *in March of 2009 by readers of Click2Houston.com, named "Best Festival in Houston" *in the 2008 Houston Press as best festival in "Best of Houston" magazine *consistently ranked in Sunshine Artists Top 50
"It's rated one of the top shows in the country and the Texas economy is far stronger than the rest of the country. I'm giddy about the sales, I'm giddy about the attention and I'm giddy about the weather because I'm from Minnesota!" -Kimber Fiebiger, First Place, Bayou City Art Festival Downtown 2008, Minneapolis, MN
"I love coming to Houston - there's no doubt. I love the city. I love to come to Houston because Houstonians interact so well with the artist. They really appreciate the artists. They love art here in Houston and I love the Bayou City Art Festival!" -Stephen Potts, Best in Show, Bayou City Art Festival Downtown 2008, Palmetto, GA
*Bayou City Art Festival Downtown has a demonstrated history in strong sales for artists *National studies show Houstonians consistently have twice the discretionary income that workers in similar industries have around the country *With a median household income of over $50,000 and an income growth since 2000 of 13.1% as reported in Kiplingers.com *Houston has been ranked the Number 1 city in the U.S. in which to live, work and play in July 2008 Bayou City Art Festival Downtown showcases works representing 19 media formats. For more info:
www.bayoucityartfestival.com or contact Kelly Kindred, Festival Coordinator, at
kelly@bayoucityartfestival.com Applications:
www.zapplication.org ************** Looking for more art fairs for your 2009 schedule? Visit:
www.ArtFairCalendar/callforentriesRead more…
ArtFairInsider member Jann Alexander was interviewed by the Austin NPR affiliate at last weekend's Art City Austin and and they talked about Jann's Vanishing Austin photography series, selling local art of local landmarks to the local citizenry, and making it as an artist in a recession.
Listen to the interview and get more background on the Austin art scene at Vanishing Austin, Jann's blog.
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Ready for a good lesson in presentation and selling to customers, or could you use a refresher? Recently One of a Kind Show and Sale hosted a special teleconference for artists with Bruce Baker, the renowned artist marketing and selling expert:
THRIVE NOT MERELY SURVIVE: WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS
Over the past 16 years, Bruce has taught more than 500 workshops throughout the United States and Canada on the subjects of Booth Construction, Marketing, Sales, Slide Presentations, Customer Service, Visual Merchandising and Trends that affect the Craft/Gift Business and how to maximize your selling potential.
Several years ago I heard Bruce's presentation and picked up some useful tips we incorporated into our booth construction and sales presentations. Although his talk is heavily slanted toward the 3-D artist it was helpful to us also. This is worth your time.
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There was dismay among artists when the American Craft Council removed flowers and carpeting from its flagship Baltimore venue this winter, then again at its' St. Paul show, but near nearly as much as when they announced they were cancelling their Sarasota and Charlotte, NC, events for the fall of 2009.
Richard and Joanna Rothbard of American Art Marketing sent out the following email:
The Sarasota Craft Show is on! The Charlotte Show is on the table waiting for a consensus from Charlotte exhibitors. To ALL ACC exhibitors This is your special INVITATION to both Sarasota and Charlotte, so SAVE THE DATES. The shows will be managed by Richard & Joanna Rothbard of American Art Marketing who have 28 years of experience in show management, are NYC gallery owners since 1985 and exhibiting artists for almost 3 decades. Booth fees will be substantially lower, same high standards, and we will be working with the marketing team that has made the event so successful.
Further details, Invitation & Application forms will be available on our website by May 7/8. Show dates: December 4, 5, 6. and November 6, 7, 8.
Those of you who would like to see Charlotte continue this year need to respond accordingly. The Sarasota Show is under contract...I am looking forward to hearing from you. Richard Rothbard, www.americanartmarketing.com
The interesting news here is that sometimes it is good for artists for an event to change hands. As you may know Sugarloaf Craft Festivals recently vacated their Novi, MI, twice a year event and the show was picked up by the Rock Financial Showplace, as an in house operation as the Great Lakes Art Fair. By taking over the show they were able to lower the prices for exhibitors for booth space and electricity, a welcome relief for these times. Rothbard, who does not have all the ACC overhead has likewise been able to lower booth fees for his Sarasota show, from $700 to $555 and the corner fees from $300 to $95. How's that for good news?
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Wanted: Michigan-based artist to create approximately 16 hand-crafted awards for the 2009 Michigan Downtown Conference awards ceremony.
When: Deadline for Letter of Interest - May 15, 2009
Where: Awards to be presented at 2009 Michigan Downtown Conference in Lansing, Michigan on September 15 – 16th.
What: The ideal artist/design firm/partnership will be based in Michigan and have experience in hand-crafting products to represent the positive image of Michigan downtowns.
Michigan Based Work: The artist (design firm or partnership) must assure that the design, creation and production of awards will be done in Michigan. The selected artist will be asked to provide supporting documentation.
Publicity: The artist should be willing to consider in-house production photos taken for MDC conference related press releases and website usage.
Budget and Scope: • Must commit to designing/creating/producing approximately 16 awards of similar scale, material, design and scope. • Ideal final product will be representative of the creativity, collaboration and healthy competition that supports the social and economic health within Michigan’s downtowns. • Total project, from design to production, is non-negotiable and may not exceed $1,000 (one-thousand dollars). Cost overruns or change orders will not be considered.
Timetable: Selected artist will be notified by June 1, 2009. Finished product must be delivered to the MDC @ Michigan State Housing Development Authority, 735 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48912 by September 1st, 2009. The rest of the details:
rfp-awards-plus-criteria-2009.pdfRead more…
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OFFERS WORLD’S LARGEST ARTPRIZE And now from Grand Rapids, MI, the DeVos family invites you to apply for the largest art prize ever: “Our family sees ArtPrize as a new and innovative way to engage and support the arts for the future,” said Betsy DeVos. The Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation is underwriting ArtPrize. “Dick and I share our son’s vision for encouraging everyone to explore the arts in a truly democratic way.” A radically open art competition, giving away the world's largest art prize. Part arts festival, part social experiment - this international art contest is decided solely on a public vote. Call for entries ends July 31, 2009. Art festival begins Sept. 23, 2009. Open to any artist in the world who can find space. Open to anybody in the city who wants to create a venue. Open to a vote from anyone who attends. We admit... it's an experiment. A fun experiment. Come and see. The DeVos' (founders of Amway) have been fine benefactors of the arts in Grand Rapids for a long time. This challenge should be a great boost to the west Michigan economy. Could you be the winner? My personal vision is of gathering lots of great artists filling all the gallery spaces throughout the downtown and a weekend full of strolling people having a great time, energized by the urbanity and the fine work in front of them. Can you see yourself there? Here's where you can get the rest of the information: www.artprize.org
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Excuse me while I do a little bragging on myself and my exploits. I'm doing it here because you are responsible for its happening.
I've been in the art fair business --- let's just say for a long time. Active with my husband, photographer Norm Darwish, exhibiting at the nation's art fairs for almost thirty years, behind the scenes promoting and developing art fairs in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, and pouring myself out online since 2005 with my main web site:
www.ArtFairCalendar.com, started with the purpose of bringing patrons to art fairs so my friends could continue to make money at the shows. So here's the bragging part: 1. You can read my new article, "
Ten Top Reasons to Have a Website and How to Do It" in
The Independent Artist's Spring issue, published by the
NAIA. If you don't have a web site--read it! I promise it is full of good stuff that will only make your life better :) The newspaper is being distributed at this season's art fairs, or visit their
web site, or join NAIA and it will arrive in your mailbox. There is no other organization in the country that works to make your art fair life better.
2. My partner at
Arts, Beats & Eats, Lisa Konikow, and I are featured in the
Show Director Profile in the latest issue of
Sunshine Artist magazine.
Arts, Beats & Eats has owned a part of my life since l998 and I've met many of you there. I thoroughly enjoy stepping out of the 10 x 10 booth and trying to put together the best experience I can for you at this event. 3. As a big fan of public radio I was thrilled to be interviewed last week by
Elizabeth Kramer from Louisville, KY's,
NPR station WFPL. As the Cherokee Triangle Art Fair was kicking off last weekend she wanted to talk to someone with a national perspective about the relationship between art fairs and the economy. You know, if you Google "art fairs",
www.ArtFairCalendar.com comes up #1, so, of course she found me online.
Happy shoppers at Arts, Beats & Eats in Pontiac, MI4. Since late last year I have been working with the new
Great Lakes Art Fair in Novi, MI, as their "art fair consultant." As you can imagine I was experiencing a fair amount of trepidation attempting to make this a successful venture. Held April 17-19 at the Rock Financial Showplace, with great support from the Rock Financial folks and
Mark Loeb, the art fair looked fabulous and the crowd encouraging. I am going to say it here:
this event shows promise! Tom Hale with customers at the Great Lakes Art Fair 5. My art fair newsletter reached the
11,000 subscriber mark last week! Thank you to all of you who are finding me and finding the tops in the nation's art fairs at this site, "The Place to Go to Find the Show." Who would have thought this would have happened? Now the next challenge: my
goal for the first of May is to have
1000 members on this site. Please send one of the above invitations to your friends. As of this writing there are
967. Can you help me? The reward is that I will then be able to sell some advertising and begin to have this site support itself. Help, help, please while this is fresh in your mind! The further reward is that if I can earn some money I'll be able to expand the site to helping you make money. Does that goal work for you?
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From Susan Farb Morris, PR firm for Bayou City Art Festival:
Thanks to the tremendous support of you and the greater Houston community, Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park experienced record-breaking attendance and phenomenal sales for the artists. The Sunday paid attendance was the biggest in Festival history for one day ticket sales -- 14,303. (This doesn't figure does not reflect children in attendance or the number of volunteers, artists, and media.) There were 6,500 children over the three days who made art in the Capital One Bank Creative Zone. Overall, there were 34,857 art lovers in attendance.
Congrats to Kim Stollis, Kelly Kindred and the rest of the staff at Bayou City. It is great to hear this news and all of us in the art fair community wish you continued success. See you in October!
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Posted by Ginny Herzog on April 27, 2009 at 1:16pm
This past weekend the Austin show was the last of my four TX shows that I scheduled for this month. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I skipped the FL market for the first time in over 20 years to attempt to establish a new market in TX. I had done the Austin show three times previous. The first time, in 1984, it was known as Laguna Gloria Fiesta and was held on the grounds of the Laguna Gloria Art Museum. The next two times I participated was in 2000 and 2001, when it was held in a downtown location and the show was the Austin Arts Festival, I believe. Last year they moved the show to Cesar Chavez Blvd, which runs parallel and just north of Lady Bird Lake and the show is now known as Art City Austin.Early check-in was available on Friday afternoon. It was located at an off show site, across the lake in one of the many parking lots in a large park, and was not easily accessible to artists, especially those unfamiliar with the Austin area. My suggestion would be to relocate check-in to the "staging area" in the hour previous to their setup time. There were two load-in shifts, an hour apart, giving the first shift only 45 minutes to unload, before needing to move their vehicles to available parking up to six blocks away.The first shift was given access at 7:40 and by the time the second shift drove in, it was nearly 8:45 and dark. We had until midnight for setup and access on Saturday morning was at 6:30 am.Load out was smooth except for the very gusty winds that made for nervous dismantling of the booths.This being my first time at this new 7 block stretch of Cesar Chavez, I found the show layout was too long. There were too many large gaps between groups of booths. Also, the Food Court took up a long block and, perhaps could have been placed on an adjacent side street like Guadalupe, instead, to tighten the show.This show definitely did not have the same energy as MSFW, nor the buyers.Sales were slow for nearly everyone I spoke with and several had not made expenses, including me. I'm not sure that the show was promoted very well. I was in Austin for nearly three weeks and saw very little advertising. I thought the attendance was mediocre, compared to Houston and Ft. Worth. There was an $8 gate fee and two day admission was $15, which may have discouraged interested patrons from returning on Sunday to purchase. This show seems to try to reinvent itself and I wonder if, perhaps, these are all volunteers.The awards were best of category for $100 each and $!000 Best of Show. I never saw a list of award winners, however, I know thatThe urban landscape of downtown Austin has changed dramatically since I was last here. I was very excited to see the wonderful new contemporary architecture, including loft and condo buildings. Also, some outstanding contemporary skyscrapers.My next show is the Northern VA Fine Arts Festival in Reston and I'm hoping for a stronger art buying market there.I hope that others fared better at other shows last weekend and wonder how the stormy weather affected those at the OK Festival of Arts.
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Art festivals in Alabama are like everywhere else, each one has a different flavor, be it in Birmingham, Fairhope or Huntsville. This weekend's Panoply in Huntsville is a good example. We have participated in this event. We were amazed when we drove east from I-65 to Huntsville, it seemed there was a freeway especially built to reach Huntsville. The high tech industry has really made this town. There are lots of people with good educations.
The festival is held in Big Spring Park near the Boeing Museum and is a big deal each Spring.
Here are this year's prize winners:
Best of Show: Frederick Warren of North Muskegon, Mich. (Glass)
Award of Distinction: Joseph Wujcik, Calera, Ala. (Wood)
Merit Awards: Jason Bove, Oregonia, Ohio (Clay)
Dennis Leatherman, Huntsville, (Drawing)
Linda Overton Heath, Cowan, Tenn, (Drawing)
Joseph Maschinot, Cave Spring, Ga. (Photography)
Janet Brim, Cincinnati, Ohio (Fiber)
Emerging Artist : Ashley Dinges, Huntsville (Photography)
Art Educator: Kathryn Jill Johnson, Huntsville, (Mixed Media) ($100)
Congratulations to Fred, an award winner wherever he goes.
Here are more stories about Panoply:
Huntsville's Panoply Arts Festival welcomes big crowds and clear skies, again, w/videoRead more…
Atlanta Arts Festival September 12 & 13 3rd Annual Atlanta Arts Festival Piedmont Park 200 Artists Deadline: April 27 You are invited to apply to become one of 200 jury selected participants for this beloved autumn festival. Produced by a highly qualified staff and a strong pool of committed volunteers, both sharing multiple years of event production and promotion in the City of Atlanta, the festival is dedicated to showcasing talented artists from throughout the country for its enthusiastic art buying crowd. Expect total professional management which includes: * a team with vast experience in event production and artist market management * sponsorship development * professional public relations and marketing Here are two interesting details that should be of interest to you: 1. Despite the drought conditions in Atlanta that have caused the cancellation of four events in Piedmont Park the Arts Festival has been granted the use of the park. This enables them to insure the continuity of a relatively new event in this popular location. This is good for the festival and good for you! 2008 Festival Commemorative Poster Artwork by
Aletha Jones 2. Julie Tepp and her staff understand the dynamics of bringing the "right" people to the event. Last year they turned down sponsors that would have brought large crowds to the park because it was not the audience they were seeking. It is not their goal to bring record numbers to the festival, but to bring buyers. This in turn is not exactly good for the Festival's bottom line, but it is smart strategy for a longer term view of building a quality event. Intriguing, isn't it? Read a letter from the director at the ArtFairCalendar blog, the
Art Fair Insider at this link. Visit the application (
www.zapplication.org) for all of the essential details and information on how to participate! To learn more about the festival visit:
AtlantaArtsFestival.comRead more…
Posted by Ginny Herzog on April 24, 2009 at 10:30am
We have a late night setup for Art City Austin tonight. Artists load in from 7:30 until midnight, with only 45 minutes to unload. This will be a challenge. But hoping the rest of the show will be less stressful and successful!http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=238664http://www.austin.com/content/view/1504/278/
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Here is another bellwether art festival - the six day long art festival in Oklahoma City taking place this week. My hope is that the good art fair news from Texas spills over to Oklahoma City.
"What more could you ask for? Beautiful weather, gorgeous art and delicious food. But still some festival goers have a complaint- the high prices.
I saw a lamp down there that was 3, 500 bucks...." read the rest of this story and see the video from the streets of downtown Oklahoma CityRead more…
September 25-27 Kansas City, Missouri On the beautiful and historic Country Club Plaza 230 artists Deadline: 5/2/09 Please note: earlier deadline this year! Ranked #6 Fine Arts event in the 2008 Art Fair SourceBook The Plaza Art Fair marks the beginning of autumn for all Kansas Citians, and attracts art enthusiasts from all over the nation. This annual celebration is located on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo., recognized as the oldest shopping center in the country and a beloved destination in Kansas City. The Plaza Art Fair exhibits have grown in quality and creativity over seven decades to become a nationally recognized fine art and fine craft event. The three-day celebration of the arts allows visitors to experience the personalities and diverse talents of world-class artists firsthand. Beyond the colorful collections of art, this extraordinary event offers even more. With delicious food, magnificent music and interactive art experiences for all ages, there is something new around every corner.
carved wooden bags by Kimberly Chalos POINTS OF INTEREST: * 300,000 art enthusiasts attend * $10,000 in cash awards * Individual Artist Electricity * Artist Breakfast, booth sitters, hospitality area * Free Parking Join us as the Plaza Art Fair tradition continues... Applications available at:
www.zapplication.org CONTACT INFORMATION: Director: Kara Breitenstein Phone - 816.753.0100; Fax - 816.960.6215
www.countryclubplaza.com E-mail:
info@countryclubplaza.comRead more…
This past weekend the last of the big Florida art fairs of the spring season took place in St. Petersburg. Mainsail Festival of the Arts is very popular with artists with the ability to win prize money. The Best of Show award and $10,000 went to mixed media artist Rocky Bridges. Then there are 9 Awards of Excellence for $1500, let alone the 10 Awards of Distinction for $1000, and even more. Read the story at: TambaBay.com and make plans to apply yourself next year.
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Posted by Ginny Herzog on April 21, 2009 at 2:00pm
I did MSFW eight and nine years ago - the years are fresh in my mind as my first year was when the tornado swept Main St. only days before the event and they moved the event to the Cultural Center, but returned to Main St. the following year. I had a miserable experience back then. It wasn't my crowd of art lovers and buyers, but rather, young, drunks with stacking empty beer cups, chomping on turkey legs. With a booth spot near the Karaoke stage of awful singers and only one big sale, it felt like the longest show of my life. I did not reapply until this year after setting my sights on TX, instead of FL. For me, doing the TX shows is an attempt to establish a new market for my work. Only a handful of people here are familiar with my architectural collage on panels. Although I feel my work has been well received here, sales for me were slow. I had one large sale and a couple of smaller ones with the possibility of a couple of big commissions. Talking with other artists in all medias, most returnees said sales were down from previous years but better than they thought they would be in this recession. Smaller works sold better but some were able to move a few larger ones, as well. As Mark Zurek reported, they delivered a huge crowd on Sat. and Sun. and we were told that Thursday was record breaking, as well. We were grateful that the torrential rains came only in the morning on Friday and they quit by noon. Jay Downey did an admirable job of directing this event, which was very well organized and promoted. His staff and the block captains were great and we felt there were always ears to hear of any issue we may have had during the show. In addition he had artist advisors circulating the show to get feedback from the artists about any suggestions or issues. At the artist reception on the eve of setup day, Jay made sure that he greeted each and everyone of the exhibitors at our tables, welcoming us to the show. I feel that this is very important as it is becoming increasingly rare to have any interaction with show directors during the show, anymore. If the show directors are unable to meet the artists, at least the artist relations chair, should. I feel that MSFW is a show headed in the right direction in TX. This year I did not notice a single stack of empty beer cups. I've been told that Jay did away with these a couple of years ago. Instead they are selling cans, which are much more difficult to balance in the heavy crowds. :- ) The karaoke stage is gone, and NOT missed. Music, for the most part was at a more comfortable decible level than the past with a more appropriate music genres for art browsing. Load in went very well, except for artists needing to cram their booths into the skimpy tents, which saved us in the heavy rain and ever present gusts. Artists need to be advised to bring their tent tops, in addition to the sides. My biggest issue with the show was about tear down. The plan was to close the artists booths and stages at the N. end of Main at 6 to funnel the crowds to the Main stage at the S. end of the show, so the artists could tear down. Music at the S. stage did not end until 8. Therefore, the crowds seemed unaware that the art festival was over and continued to walk in the streets and sidewalks until after 8. This did NOT WORK at all - at least from my vantage point in the 700 block. I heard that the closing of the art fair was reported in the paper to be at 8, instead of 6. Many of us were parked 4-7 blocks from our booths and with gusty winds, it is near impossible to hand carry large paintings and panels for any great distance. We also risked having our dolly loads attacked by winds, as well. The crowds of families with strollers and toddlers scurrying around were oblivious to the danger they were putting themselves in as we were dismantling our booths. My normal two hour takedown, instead, took four and I was exhausted. If MSFW makes just one improvement of this event, I hope it will be the load out plan. End all of the concessions and entertainment at the 6 pm closing time. Thank the crowd for coming and ask them to leave Main St. so that the artists may load up. At LEAST get them off the street where we are trying to dismantle and load.Particularly, when Main St. has the prevalent gusty winds that can cause unexpected and dangerous situations when your booth is least stable. Kudos to Downey and staff and the friendly people of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Monday morning: I was planning on blogging daily about the setup and the activities at this newly reorganized art fair, but it has been much too interesting participating to sit here and write about it. So here is the Great Lakes Art Fair report:
"Group shopping at the Great Lakes Art Fair" The fair was held in a new expo hall in an affluent area of metro Detroit, replacing an older event promoted by Sugarloaf Festivals. The owner of the
Rock Financial Showplace, Blair Bowman, wanted to continue the tradition of having art fairs in the lineup of the events held there so he utilized his staff, PR connections, local sponsors and community good will to bring it into fruition as the Great Lakes Art Fair, with the mission of developing it into a destination regional event to take place spring and fall that would showcase the quality work for which Michigan shows are known. In that spirit there was a partnership with
Detroit Public TV and
NPR radio stations and the nonprofit
Michigan ArtServe. Landscape partners created a beautiful garden entry way and created garden areas in other areas of the show floor. Good affordable catered food was available. There were demonstrations and representatives from the art departments from area schools from elementary through the fine
Cranbrook Institution.
Advertising and PR covered a wide geographic area, at least as far away as Lansing. It was heavily promoted on radio and television.
Anita Spencer with long time customersCons: 1. Michigan economy 2. Fabulous weather - sunny and 70 degree temperatures Friday and Saturday. For those of you who don't live in the upper Midwest these were our first beautiful Spring days after a cold and very snowy winter. 3. Closing of the adjacent freeway from Telegraph Road to Novi Road from Friday through Monday morning for highway construction. No easy access from the affluent eastern side of the city. A call to the Governor's office did not get the desired result. 4. Not quite as important - but the World Champion Red Wings played Saturday evening - drawing shoppers away early from the show. Pros: 1. By April people really are looking for ways to get out of the house and have an activity to
look forward to. 2. Held in just the right affluent neighborhood with excellent demographics for an art fair, beautiful homes surround the Rock Financial Showplace for miles around. As I drove to the show I saw no for sale signs and even some new homes being built. 3. A good partnership with Detroit Public TV and the NPR stations and Michigan ArtServe, enabling us to get our message about the fair out to a specifically targeted audience. 3. This new event had piggybacked on the Sugarloaf Art Fair held on these dates in prior years, bringing an already built in audience of patrons. Some of the exhibitors were part of the Sugarloaf show and they used their extensive mailing lists to bring these people back. 4. The new positioning of the event as a Marketplace of fine art, fine food, and live entertainment, partnering with local schools to present student art from elementary to university levels.
The report: Thursday was a busy day. Two large landscaping companies built a beautiful gardens, worthy of any flower show, throughout the show floor. A large central plaza featured a spa for many relaxing activities and excellent catered food (not concession food) with umbrella tables set around in the gardens. A children's activity area, artist demonstrations and a bar all helped to keep the patrons in the building longer. The staff at the Rock Financial Showplace really know how to load exhibitors into the arena. Load in was smooth and convenient. Most artists were able to drive up to their spaces. No long lines or waiting for an assigned time that may be inconvenient to you. There was steady traffic on Friday and Saturday, but the best attendance seemed to be on Sunday. The numbers were higher than they had been in previous years. Sales, as usual at an art fair, ranged from dismal to wonderful with lots in between. Artists who had mailing lists profited
Friday night there was a reception for the artists with food and drinks and a gallery set up of artist's best pieces. Mary Strope, Vice President of
www.WholesaleCrafts.com and manager of the
American Craft Retailer Expo in Las Vegas, juried the work for awards. It was great to hang out with friends in this welcoming atmosphere. What is this, you say? A cocktail party for the artists?? Pretty cool.
Patrons were very pleased to see the facility and the improved quality of the show. I talked to several who had planned to come to just see a favorite artist but wound up spending hours there, shopping and enjoying the upscale ambiance. Blair told me Sunday afternoon that he will often get emails from people after attending an event complaining about some aspect (we all know the complainers are the noisiest), but instead he had six to eight of praise. Here are a few we received:
I just got home from the Rock Financial Showplace and the Great Lakes Art Fair. What a wonderful look and feel that new show has! I hope you are able to keep it going and growing, as it has all the earmarks of a stupendously successful show. The quality of the work is phenomenal, the atmosphere is classy and the artists are saying great things about the coordination, management and detail handling of the people putting it on. What a great way to start a new show! I want to exhibit in the show in the fall. Hope I'm good enough to get in!!! -- Mardi Chapman
Dear Connie, I really enjoyed the art fair and came away with some wonderful treasures, as well as meeting some great artists. The margaritas and jazz band were the icing on the cake. Again, thank you for the tickets! -- June Lang
Just wanted to comment that this show was soooooooo much better than the Sugarloaf Art Fair it replaced. THIS was an ART Show while Sugarloaf had decayed in recent years to a craft fair. We look forward to a repeat performance next year! Thanks--Paul and Jade Jozefiak No matter how much advertising you do, or PR placement, nothing works to build an event like word-of-mouth. Patrons were very pleased with the show and plan to tell their friends and return in the fall. Attendance will be even better. Also, artists will have postcards for their summer shows to pass out, generating traffic for the fall event. My thanks to everyone who helped pull this together, especially, the fabulous
Erin Woody, RFSP's event manager, who did all the work with a graciousness and maturity that belies her years, and all my artist friends new and old, especially
Tom Hale and
Bonnie Blandford, who were supportive at every step. P.S. Read more about the fair at:
www.bblandford.com, Bonnie's blog, and join us on October 17-19 at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, MI. Applications will be available online soon. To add your name to the email list visit:
www.greatlakesartfair.comRead more…
Once the weather issues were dealt with, the crowds came in force. Thursday and Friday (tho a shortened Friday) were our "expense" days (Booth fee Friday X2).Saturday was shoulder to shoulder, heel to toe until after 9pm. Make for a long day, but sales for us were brisk. The big animal sculpter dude even did well.
Others seemed OK, but using my unofficial counts of people and packages, more beers and turkey legs than bags or framed work. Have to take a second to talk about the staff. Top shelf from top to bottom. We has a block captain (Les) who broke his skinny butt to deal with everything from cramming 10 X10 tents into a 9.5 X9.5 space, to the usual grumps and groans. Asked about the judges (4 out of 5 actually stopped to talk and ask questions).
The organization at both Bayou and Ft. Worth reflect the ability to relate to the artists needs, and the Texas friendliness reflected in the faces of the crowds. Can't tell you how many people just stop and say "thanks for coming". Kudos to Jay Downey and this fabulous staff.
Gratifying for us, is the beginning of a following. Folks from last year adding to their collection, telling friends and family. The booth seems like the family room on a holiday (or the corner bar on a weekend). Good stuff down here.
Thanks for all this info, Mark. Great to hear you had a good show!
Find more stories about Main Street at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
How about the rest of you? How do you feel about this festival?
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Over 30,000 people were present on the Inauguration Day of The Riverside Arts Market in Jacksonville on April 4th.. 30,000+ Art Lovers in Jacksonville. Who would have thought? I definitely missed the boat with that one being that I am an "emerging artist", and I was not present on inauguration day. It was not a good feeling to think that I had missed out on a great opportunity, but the possibility was inspiring.It took just about two weeks to get a booth and with much anticipation I was able to display this past Saturday..and all I want to know is what happened ?The minimized crowd was very welcoming, and thank you Jacksonville for all the love.. . but there weren't nearly as many buyers as there were spectators. Had a gotten 10% of my spectators to buy something I may have profited monetarily from this early rise work day. With items priced as low as $5.oo..Come on Jacksonville!!..Appreciate your local artists by showing support to your local artists by investing in the arts. Enjoy the opportunity that The Riverside Arts Market is sharing with our community and while remember the purpose, invest in your local artists. You never know how great of a return you may get.www.adrianpickett.com
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June 20 & 21 St. Louis, MO Sat. & Sun. 10 AM - 5 PM 150 exhibitors St. Louis now has Two Great Art Fairs!! Howard Alan Events is excited to bring a first class art fair to the City of St. Louis. The show will be hosted at the Saint Louis Galleria, located between the cities of Clayton and Ladue. This high end retail area is located in the affluent area of St. Louis and boasts perfect demographics. The show is also only a three hour drive from our Kansas City event the following weekend.
There is going to be joint marketing from Howard Alan Events, the Galleria publicity department and the local art leagues who will be part of the fair. We feel we have a great event in the making and hope to see you in St. Louis. Venue: St. Louis Galleria on Clayton & Brentwood Rd. Howard Alan Events produces multiple shows therefore they have an ongoing jury process that meets twice monthly and juries by category. SHOW DIRECTOR'S SUGGESTION: We recommend that you apply EARLY as the show and/or most categories will fill quickly.
Applications available at ArtFestival.com and/or
zapplication.org, search for "St. Louis Galleria Art Festival on Clayton Rd."
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October 10 & 11 Houston, Texas 300 Artists Deadline: May 2 Fall in Houston, the weather cools and Houstonians come out to celebrate at the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown. The Festival, set against the dramatic skyline of the nation's fourth largest city, was ranked: *the #3 art festival in the country in AmericanStyle Magazine's "TOP 10 Festivals" *in February 2009 named "Best Gallery in Houston" *in March of 2009 by readers of Click2Houston.com, named "Best Festival in Houston" *in the 2008 Houston Press as best festival in "Best of Houston" magazine *consistently ranked in Sunshine Artists Top 50
"It's rated one of the top shows in the country and the Texas economy is far stronger than the rest of the country. I'm giddy about the sales, I'm giddy about the attention and I'm giddy about the weather because I'm from Minnesota!" -Kimber Fiebiger, First Place, Bayou City Art Festival Downtown 2008, Minneapolis, MN
"I love coming to Houston - there's no doubt. I love the city. I love to come to Houston because Houstonians interact so well with the artist. They really appreciate the artists. They love art here in Houston and I love the Bayou City Art Festival!" -Stephen Potts, Best in Show, Bayou City Art Festival Downtown 2008, Palmetto, GA
