An interior designer by training and vocation, Ginny Herzog has taken her eye for detail and interest in architectural elements and abstracted it into one-of-a kind mixed media paintings using watercolor, crayons, graphite, pencils and photography. Originally exhibiting landscape paintings at her first art fairs starting in 1976 and sticking close to home the work soon blossomed into a career of distinctive art that says to the viewer "one-of-a-kind", exhibited at the country's finest art fairs from Texas to Connecticut. Balancing the traveling life with family meant that for several summers running one of her children would be her partner for the season. When one of her kids smashed her van into the garage wall before a big art fair she and friend artist Jody dePew McLeane squeezed all their work, displays and tents into Jody's minivan and enjoyed this style of travel so much they continued it for several years. As she travels she takes photos of the architecture of cities along her art fair route, later mining the images for her collages. At present she is working on a Denver series that she will be exhibiting at the Cherry Creek Art Festival there this summer, bringing a site specific body of work with roots in that region to her collectors. This month find Ginny will be returning to Reston, VA, for the Northern Virginia Festival of the Arts, May 16 and 17. Read more about Ginny and her work:
www.artfaircalendar.com/featured artistRead more…
It's always great to see it when an art fair's PR is working well. The little but lovely Belleville, IL, Art Fair on the Square, is coming up on May 15. Here is an excellent story about twelve artists exhibiting there next weekend. AND, I'm happy to report ten of the twelve do have websites and so will be able to capitalize on this good promotion.
(Did you know that you can use your "My Page" on this site as a web address? When you are on your page copy the url in the box at the top and you can use that---for all those people at art fairs who want to know if you have a website, that is in case you don't have one. While we are talking about that, can you please add a link on your website to this site? The more traffic we receive the better chances I have of selling some advertising here and then I can "keep the doors open." Thank you.)
Read about Michael McKee, C.C. Barton, Mira Raman, Jason Fricke, Sarah Giannobile, Qigu Jiang, Jennifer Gardner, Bonnie Shopper, Suzanne Linquist, Michael Baxley, Danielle Desplan and Mike and Maria Bragetta. It seems I haven't been to enough art fairs lately because I don't know any of them--two are from Oregon and one is from Tel Aviv! Now that's a long way to travel to do an art fair.
Read the interesting interviews: http://www.bnd.com/yourlife/story/762150.htmlRead more…
From the Palm Beach Daily News:
Winners were selected May 1 at the 2009 National City Art Show at SunFest, the West Palm Beach waterfront music and arts festival.
Best of Overall Show went to Ken Orton, of Roxbury, N.Y., who took home $2,000; Best of Show 2-D winner was Carol Napoli, of New Smyrna Beach, $1,500; and Best of Show 3-D winner was Jean Yao, of Fort Lauderdale, $1,500.
Awards of distinction winners received $750. They were:
* Tim Peters, of Winter Haven
* Patrick Pierson, of Palm Springs
* Marek Majewski, of Cape Coral
* E. Emerson, of Savannah, Ga.
* Brennan King, of West Palm Beach
* Emmanuel Moldonado, of Clearwater
Awards of merit winners received $500. They were:
* William Kwamena-Poh, of Savannah, Ga.
* Gustavo Castillo, of Jupiter
* April Davis, of Boca Raton
* Mesa Somer, of Durham, N.C.
* B.J. Royster, of Palm Coast
* Jamie Cordero, of Pinecrest
The judges were: Dennis Aufiery, painter and former department chairman of painting and drawings at the Armory Art Center, and Charles Stainback, curator of photography at the Norton Museum of Art.
Read more…
Detroit has the Dirty Show (always on Valentine's Day weekend) and Seattle has its own sort of "dirty show."
"While the first weekend in May was still too dreary-skied to mark a true end to April showers, Seattleites who flocked to the Seattle Center exhibition hall found plenty of joy indoors. Erotic joy, that is," writes Katie Farden in the Seattle Spectator. Bet you'll enjoy the rest of the story: Seattle Celebrates Sex
Meanwhile in Raleigh, NC, in conjunction with their Spring event, Artsplosure, a City of Raleigh public art project featuring original art by local artists on the sides of Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses, will officially roll out on Saturday, May 11. The 12 selected artists whose work will be emblazoned on the sides of CAT buses are Nancy Baker, Samuel Cox, Bart Cusick, Patrick FitzGerald, Paul Friedrich, Suzanne Kratzer, Anna Podris, Ian Sands, Amy Sawyer, Pat Scull, Kaci Torres, and a partnership of Tonic Design and Gail Peter Borden. Read all about it here: Eye Catching Buses to Cruise Raleigh.
And here's an interesting statistic from Madison, WI's, Fair on the Square:
The beer tent has cleared about $10,000 annually in recent years, says post treasurer Bob Topel. That's about half of what it was in decades past, something Topel attributes to changing attitudes about drinking and a transformed entertainment landscape.
"People don't drink as much in public as they did in the past, and that's probably a good thing," says Topel, who notes such festivals may no longer draw the entire community like they did when he was a kid in the 1960s. "Now there's other entertainment options -- bars have music every weekend -- and every town has one of these events."
Now that I've reread the article I see it isn't Fair on the Square, but another festival. I'd bet Madison does better than $10,000 on beer. Anyway, you may find the entire article interesting. It discusses the impact of beer sales on the non profits who run the beer tents. I never knew beer could do so much good!
Here it is: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/449951Read more…
You haven't heard much from me for awhile because I've been in Pontiac, MI, for the jurying for Arts, Beats & Eats. I have been present for many juries, usually as an administrator, here are some recent observations.
This Spring I've run the jury for both the Great Lakes Art Fair and Arts, Beats & Eats, both in the metro Detroit area.
The Great Lakes Art Fair signed up with zapplication.org. Since this was a new event it was hard to tell if being part of Zapp contributed to the number of applications received. We really had to work hard to put this event together and find artists to take part. There has been this perception among artists that all an art fair has to do is to sign up with Zapp and the applications pour in. This was not our experience. We did receive good applications but believe that the reason for this was our own outreach to the artist community, not because of Zapp's mailings.
Lisa Konikow and I have handled the Arts of Arts, Beats & Eats since l998. This year we signed on with Juried Art Services. It was our first year using a digital system. Contrary to common wisdom in the artist community we did not receive many more applications than the previous year. What we did receive was some applications from some very excellent artists who have not applied to our show before. We are very pleased. Arts, Beats & Eats will look fabulous in 2009 and we will capitalize on these new artists in our publicity and promotion (not forgetting our stalwart stars who have been with us for some time).
We would have thought that an event that has always been in the top 25 art fairs would be known to just about everyone in the business, but somehow this year we have new applicants. I am puzzled by this. Is this because of the Juried Art Services mailing list? What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.
Read more…
August 14 - 15 Frankfort, Michigan Friday 4 pm-8:00 pm, Saturday 10am-5pm Market Square Park Coordinated by the Frankfort-Elberta Chamber of Commerce 180+ Artists Deadline: MAY 15, 2009 Where is Frankfort? High on a bluff in the heart of Michigan's summer vacationland, the hidden gem of Northern Michigan on Lake Michigan and Betsie Bay. From the Chamber of Commerce: This very popular northern Michigan Art Fair has been voted one of the top 10 Art Fairs in Michigan! This two-day event provides a variety of artists and food. Visitors specifically look for their favorite artists year after year - We do our best to keep them in their same spot, so they know right where to find them! The fair is in a beautiful park setting with up to 10,000 people in attendance. It is one of the most popular art fairs in Northern Michigan. Artists return year after year due to its popular appeal. What's not to like?
* two days * beautiful time of year for weather * spacious booth spaces: 12 x 12 * great booth fee: $105 - both days! There is also fun for the whole family with all of the downtown businesses as well as a collector car show 3 blocks away, among many other activities that day and great local food. Here is the application:
www.frankfort-elberta.com/event_applications.html For more questions contact: Joanne Bartley, Executive Director, C of C at 231-352-7251, or
fcofc@frankfort-elberta.com For more info about the area:
www.frankfort-elberta.comRead more…
INVITATION TO ARTISTS:EXPLORE SELLING INTO CANADAFREE ADMISSION, TOUR & COMPLIMENTARY LUNCH“ART IN THE PARK” WINDSORJUNE 7, 2009 (SUNDAY)11:30 AM – TOUR12:30 PM – COMPLIMENTARY LUNCHThe US Department of Commerce and Rotary Club of Windsor are working together to create new opportunities for US artists. We are pleased to invite you to visit “Art In The Park” 2009, and explore exhibiting at the show in 2010.Join us Sunday, June 7 from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM to assess the venue, learn about taking art across the border, and decide whether exhibiting could help grow your sales in 2010. The tour will be led by Phil Cohen, Exhibitor Chair. US Department of Commerce personnel will explain how to bring art across the border. Complimentary lunch & free admission provided to US artists interested in exhibiting next year.• Free Admission ($5 fee waived)• Tour by Phil Cohen, Exhibitor Chair• Visit Willistead Manor House – Art Galley of Windsor Exhibition• See beautiful exhibition grounds – 15-acre Willistead Manor gardens• Visit artist booths – 2009 show• Learn about entertainment schedule – live music, art & drama• Enjoy complimentary lunch - for potential exhibitors in 2010• See show website to learn more – www.artintheparkwindsor.comTO REGISTER: Contact Eve Lerman, International Trade Specialist, US Export Assistance Center, Pontiac, MI, 248-975-9605 or eve.lerman@mail.doc.gov
Read more…
Fernandina Beach is a great old Florida town. The Annual shrimp festival brings out the locals and fills the town with visitors from all over North-eastern Florida and Southern Georgia. It is a street party with an art fair thrown in for good measure.Set up is on Friday between 6 and 9 PM. I arrived at 8:30 and set up at my leisure under street lighting. There is always a steady stream of hundreds of people flowing toward the food and music. The fireworks begin at 10 PM.The fair is put on by the local art group and if you're popular with them you'll get a decent spot on the main street. The first two years I did the show I was in the 600 block (the show is 7 blocks long between 1st. street and 8th. street). The higher your number, the further you are from "the party".In those years, I grossed around $5K. The third year, I found myself the second-last booth as people were leaving the show in the 700 block on main street. My sales were cut in half. But I got to watch people sprint for the buses. When I asked a member of the committee why I had ended up there, she told me the spaces were handed out according to jury scores. That means I just missed being relegated to a side street.Fortunately, that year I won an award and was told I could pick my space for the next year as long as I didn't try to bump an exhibiting committee member. I picked a great spot with shade and a corner and, of course, I had my best Shrimp Festival ever. Location, location, location.Unfortunately, during pack-up I had a few words with an obvious armature who hindered everyone around her. It turned out she was a local committee member and our block captain. The next year I was on a side street. Its a small town!You do not want to be on any of the side streets. The first few cross streets are filled with junk dealers, food booths and so-called antique dealers for a half block in each direction. I mean this literally. No other show I've ever done mixes this flea market atmosphere with art, but it all works out just fine somehow. Further down the cross streets are filled with over-flow artists.I was assigned a side street booth 3 times and by the third year, I decided I would drop the show if it happened again. It did and I did.Last year I got back to the main street and had a decent show. This year I got the same spot and did even better. On Saturday, I had sales of nearly $2K with my highest sale being $139. Sunday came in at less than half of that. My neighbor, an oil painter sold many of her reproductions on Saturday and at least 3 originals on Sunday, She had to bargain some but a triptych went for around $2500. She was very happy.A well-known photographer who was across the street shared his grief with me. He sold 2 large panoramas on Saturday but his network was down and he couldn't run his charges until he got back to his hotel. One was a completely bogus account and the other one came back Sunday morning asking for his money back. A jeweler who was doing his first Shrimp Festival did very well and will apply again. A first-time photographer who specializes in European imagery was very near the party (200 block) and was so disappointed he said he would not try it again.Setting up and tearing down in the 700 and 600 blocks is generally easy because it is a wide street with room enough for booths on both curbs and 3 lanes in between. Further down there is angled parking and some irregularities that make only two lanes available between booths at the curb. Most, if not all, artists have storage behind and some even have enough room for an outside wall to display on.Parking is easy to find within a couple of blocks unless you want to pay $10. Then you can be within a block. There is a lot for big rigs and the weekend charge is $50.A judge comes around and either tells you to take a piece in for judging or he doesn't. The ribbons are handed out around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Checks follow.My esteemed colleague (Mr. Johnson) has written of the food and social amenities so I'll end it here.
Read more…
The place to be this weekend, May 1-3, is definitely the Brookside Art Annual in Kansas City.
Kansas City is a place that takes its two major art fairs seriously and artists take Kansas City seriously also, I'd hazard a guess that between the Plaza Art Fair in September and the Brookside event in May that they definitely get the cream of the crop of applicants for at least one of them.
Here's an excellent critique by Steve Shapiro in the Kansas City Tribune: Van Gogh: Wouldn’t He Have Enjoyed Brookside Art Fair?
"The annual rites of spring inevitably begin with three things: the arrival of tornado season; Opening Day at the ballpark; and the Brookside Art Fair. If the first two can disappoint, the Art Fair represents its own pleasures, which rarely prove to be a let-down. It is art, booths and booths of it, from traditional oil paintings to pastels, jewel-work and latterly digital and mixed media; as well as people, young and old, with strollers and walkers, relaxed couples wherein one half of the relationship wanders off, connoisseurs and browsers, artists and critics." Read the rest.
And, you'll like the upbeat report by Mark Clegg, at the local NBC affiliate, including video: http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/
Reading over the list of exhibitors it sounded like an art fair reunion of "lifers" in the business, including at least 25 members of this network. Donna Potts does a great job organizing and running this art fair. We pray the weather gods are with her this weekend.
Read more…
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.
Read more…
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.
Read more…
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?
Read more…
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
Read more…
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?
Read more…
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!
Read more…
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.
Read more…
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…
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
