You know the show.
You roll in with art – in my case I’m probably art AND craft which is what this show was supposed to be about. Still it’s all one of a kind and hand made by ME. You’ve done your research: top ten in SunShine Artist magazine , rave reviews, reports of “some buy/sell”. (Buy/sell = bought from China or Mexico, “enhanced” and sold as “handmade.”)
It’s a four-day show, the first 3 days 12 hours long. They don’t offer booth sitters but expect you to be present all open hours. Doing the math, either you have help or don’t drink anything beginning to end to forego mad dashes to the lovely portapotties.
Day one, very early on, it becomes obvious that this crowd is definitely not my demographic, and the energy is more carnival than art show. Across from me is a booth where attendees gather, pat and (I can’t hear but it’s a good guess) “oooooh” and “aahhhh” over a picture with vanilla cream background and pale blue shells with a short saying on it. Neither the picture nor the saying belong to the booth owner (as reported to my saviour of help on Saturday who asked, “did you write this”? Of course she had on a vendor badge. The booth owner replied, startled, “no!” Followed directly by a potential customer walking up asking, “Did you make this?” answered, “yes!”) The object in question is a publisher’s picture pasted onto paperboard, unframed, and covered in sand and glitter. I personally counted at least 25 of them being sold over the course of the show. Which is to say, I felt like banging my head against the wall because I had to watch it over and over and over again.
Yes, I did research and I trusted Sunshine Artist magazine, but I have learned that I did not delve deep enough. ArtGalPal and fellow boothe sitter, Mary Ida, suggested going to past years’ photos and researching what the artists/vendors are actually showing, noting that if they don’t have a website that, too, is telling. I learned NOT to trust Sunshine Artist’s take as it is influenced by all those buy/sell vendors who are delirious with their sales. I have nothing against buy/sell, really, unless I am competing with it – I can’t. There’s no way I can beat oversea’s prices, nor do I want to compete in that arena.
Anyways, I began to fret over the show I had applied to (and paid the booth fee in advance) in Georgia. Sunshine Artist’s top show in the country. $650 out of pocket. If I were accepted and decided not to go (which I decided quickly that first day at Springfest), I would lose the fee. Joyfully, a letter came in while I was away and I asked husband to open: I was not juried in because (wait for it) my work is average. When I came home I looked them up. Their top artist last year was doing journal page art and guess what else? According to pictures there was a lot of buy/sell there. Whew! Check’s in the mail! I was so relieved I did some retail theraphy at the outlets on the way home.
The weather didn’t help. It was cold and misty rainy when it had been forecast to be in the 80s – a front stalled off the coast and we got north-easterly winds off the ocean.
Saturday we were in a fog bank all day – so thick you could barely see to drive (all day long!). None of that helped and all of that is the gamble of doing outdoors shows (though this was in big tents which helped bring people in out of the weather – those that bothered to come). A while back I read something that equated artists doing shows with gamblesr and Las Vegas. Did I mention I learned of several venues that are supposed to be good for artists from other artists at Springfest?
I credit Mary Ida for my sanity and for laughing a lot and for developing a collaborative line of work which we will create that captures the replication aspect while using our own art so that it is in fact art (each one individually hand made, along with lots of glitter).We will title it, Homage to Springfest. That’s called pushing the negative through to the positive.
And there was positive: I learned that Sunshine Artist is more show oriented than artist oriented (and, thus, definitely not worth their $80+ yearly fee for their premier show ranking magazine). This is good information. I learned to dig deeper when I’m checking out a show. We (Mary Ida and I) decided that if the buying public has to pay to get into a show, they have made a commitment and you are not getting casual passers-by, you are getting people interested in buying art. And probably not too many kids (Let’s face it. Any show billed for families and kids does not pull in serious art aficiandos. It is family entertainment and they are not necessarily there to spend money in your booth so much as to find a way to entertain the kids for an afternoon).
Also, I again experienced traveling with my art and being able to rely on my very thorough and very complete show list to help me not forget one thing that I will need.
Anyone out there got any leads on good art shows? Please share!
4 Comments
you are most welcome – let them fill up with buy/sell. Save your money! It would be awesome if there were more open boards to read this type of information!
I am so happy to have read this information. A friend called me tonight and asked that I participate & share fees for Springfest. I am a fuser and she is a stained glass artist. Your information saves me alot of heartache, time and money. It is still difficult to find shops that will take work on consignment. Most gift shops have done their ordering wholesale and might fill in a bit. But, the market has been squeezed with less buyers and slower turnover of items in the stores.
Maybe you could also get into some art galleries, too? And some local high end gift shops? I don’t know much about art fairs so I have nothing to add about them. But I do know that various art galleries and gift shops take things in on consignment sometimes.
Also on etsy.com people sell all kinds of handmade art and crafts in all price ranges. There may be other places online that deal with just art, too. You can reach more people without leaving home online if you find the right spots.
I wish you the very, very best! You are so talented and create with such passion. There has to be a big door opening for you soon! :):)
Oh, Tammy, I’m so sorry that Springfest was a bust for you. For years I’ve had people ask me if I’d ever considered doing this show and I have said no because I’ve heard from my mom (former gallery owner) that it would not be a good fit for my work. I actually considered trying to go down this year to walk it and seriously consider it. Your post has saved me the trip, I thank you for that. I do a juried show in OC, MD called Art’s Alive. I’ve done it for 8 years now. I can’t say it’s my best show but I do well enough to go again every year. The location is lovely, Northside Park at 127th and the Bay, I always joke that I’d pay the booth fee just for the view. The show organizers are good to the vendors. They come around and touch base with us several times throughout the weekend. Last year a terrible storm came thru over night. Some vendors lost tents, inventory, the works. Some were mad that the show organizers didn’t call them as soon as it happened but apparently it was a war zone and the organizers chose to clean up as much as they could before the vendors came in to keep people from driving into and onto the mess. If a storm is brewing during show hours they come thru and let us know. One year we had a tornado warning as we were packing up for the night and they came out and urged everyone into the building for safety. The customers come to this show year after year, expecting fine craft and art, I’ve watched pieces of furniture sell, large sculptures, paintings, etc. Some higher end jewelry artists have not fared as well as I have, I go expecting the beach crowd and do well. My repeat customers also make it worthwhile. I’ll be there again this year. Father’s Day weekend. Stop down and say hello.