Did You Buy Art This Year? Part Two

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Check that out to see more of the art that I bought for myself this year.

This fun horse was in the booth next to me at the Boulder Art Fair and made me smile all weekend. I just had to take her home with me! I know it is supposed to be "yard art", but I want to see it every day in my house in the winter. Turns out that it makes good wall art too. I misplaced the business card and so don't know the artist.

Definitely "folk art" but I loved the entire concept. Pam Dyers uses ordinary lumber (some new, some old) and fashions heart shapes of various sizes and styles, paints them all the same color, and then distresses the paint. The brilliance comes in her use of old hardware to embellish and present the hearts. Every one is absolutely unique. I had a hard time choosing amongst them, but ended up with this large piece featuring an antique ice-block carrier. Contact me if you want her email.

Another piece of folk-art, and a long heart-shape too! I don't collect red/pink hearts, but for some reason both of these pieces spoke to me this spring. I think they both appealed to the carpenter side of me. This one recycles corrugated barn siding and uses rough steel wire to hold all the pieces together. Of course, I have a weakness for wire! I cannot find the business card for this artist either; it has been one of those years.

Finally, some 2-D art! John Blowers is a contemporary acrylic painter, and I found his work at the Cantigny Art Fair in Illinois. His paintings are fairly large and normally he only sells originals, no reproductions. This year, however, he decided to have a few giclee prints available, which is what this is. I completely understand the desire for artists to only offer originals, but am very glad that good reproductions exist, because that is the only way that I can afford the work! I love the interplay of shape and color in this piece.

Tomorrow: ceramics!

Did You Buy Art This Year?

One of the wonderful things about selling my work at art fairs is that I get to see a lot of great art, and one of the wonderful things about having other people buy MY work is that I get to then pass on my good fortune by buying the work of other artists and craftspeople. I am going to devote the next few days to presenting the art that I bought for myself this year.

And for those of you waiting for it, the Booth Evolution thread will continue after Christmas!

I got this woven basket just a few weeks ago at "Art at Ramsey," in St. Paul, MN. The artist, Claudia Nacktsheim, does not have a website.

I wanted this bag for a month before I bought it. I love it! It is wet-felted by a fellow Minnesotan. You can find her work at Vantasticdesigns.etsy.com.

Grassy Creek Brooms has been my neighbor both years that I have been at the War Eagle Fair in Arkansas. Jerry and Judy make the brooms by hand and another artist (I'm sorry, I forgot your name!) makes the copper dust pans. The long broom is for cobwebs on the ceiling and it is the BEST. I use it regularly and no longer have to use either a ladder or a dirty floor broom to reach the ceiling.

The copper is patinaed with real leaves. I appreciate that the dust pan actually sits flat on the floor without needing to be held. Good design!

This is Harmony. Sure, there are other hand-made bears out there, but how many come with the story behind this one? The artist, Nancy Dane, made a large bear for herself (Bentley) many years ago, and so many of her friends wanted one too that she found herself making it into a business. Her bears are adorable and articulated! If you ever get a chance to meet Bentley himself, I highly recommend it as he is quite a character (as is his mom). You think I'm kidding, but that bear has some stories! Read more at the Bentley and Buddies website. If you want a bear from Nancy, you'd better get one fast since she is retiring in a year.

Integrity

As you know from reading about my booth design, I do not like the idea of hiding my work behind glass. The benefit to having it out is that people can touch the work and try it on. Many marketing studies show that being able to touch an item is far more likely to lead to a sale. Plus I want people to be able to interact with my work. The downside, however, should be clear: shoplifting. "Shoplifting" sounds too innocent though, so lets just call it what it is: theft!

Surprisingly, I have not had much of a problem with theft. A few bracelets a year, and very rarely, a pair of earrings. 2008 was the worst year (several bracelets gone - usually the expensive woven ones) and I expected an uptick in theft this year due to the bad economy but it was down by quite a bit. By October I had only lost one braided bracelet and one pair of earrings. At the Historic Shaw Art Fair, however, all that ended as I had one bracelet and three pendants taken, all in quick succession. When you see the empty spots it is very disheartening, and there is not much you can do about it. I try not to let the disappointment and anger affect how I interact with patrons, but I must admit that sometimes the shock of the adrenalin rush is hard to overcome.

Now imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when one of the organizers of the Shaw Art Fair left me a voice mail about receiving (anonymously) two envelopes, one with what felt like jewelry and one with money. They were forwarded to me and I just received them this week. It appears from the notes written on the envelopes that a young child took the pendants and this was discovered later by a parent. The parent apologized and returned one pendant in an envelope. The other envelope had a scrawled apology from the child (clearly not very old and still learning to write!) with money for another pendant. I really am very heartened by this and am sure that this is being used as a teaching moment for the child. I never expected to have items returned or paid for and applaud the parent.

If the parent in St. Louis reads this, know that I appreciate having my stolen items returned and hope the child learns a lesson from this. You have integrity I am grateful that people like you are out there. Thank you!! I will certainly come back to Shaw, if I can.

Booth Evolution-Part Two

I posted about the first booth design in November. Check out that post first to catch up on the evolution.



So lets explore this second version. First of all, it is an outdoor set-up and still has the three original tables. These were OK for a small indoor space but under a 10x10 canopy seem a bit lost in the great open space. Also, I came to despise the appearance of the table tops overhanging the base. It just looks weird.

I made new A-frames (2x2 lumber and 1/4" plywood) and was able to reuse the tops from the old A-frames. The slate is gone and I've painted the frames a neutral dark-grey. I used a jig-saw to cut half-round discs which were glued to the frames. These curved discs allowed the Viking knit necklaces to be displayed with a nice curve, as they would naturally hang when worn. MUCH better than the first display of these pieces!

I made basic earring cards that I hung on the bottom of the A-frames on cup-hooks. I thought this looked neat and nicely displayed, but the wind, again, proved to be a problem for this display. A good gust could sweep all the cards up and off of their hooks! Also, making earrings was not a priority for me then, so not many are displayed and there is no room for growth on these tables. A problem!

The biggest positive change is with the display of the bracelets. I used 1x1 wood to make small racks and then covered them with a coordinating fabric (green silk, actually). This allows the woven wire bracelets to be neatly displayed and makes it possible for me to easily keep track of them!

I added some curtains from JC Penny to create a warmer space and they greatly improved the overall "feel" of the booth, making it warm and welcoming. When the sun shines through the walls the interior glows gold! Patterned curtains are tied to the (ugly) front frame legs to hide them.

All-in-all, a better display, but it still has issues, primarily with the use of the two trapezoidal tables. I still liked the concept of creating a "room" and resisted (am still resisting!) the pull to just put it all behind glass cases. My work wants to be touched and tried on! In addition, because I actively demonstrate the Viking weave in my booth at the work table, I still need to devote some open space to allow me to work and to access the tables. The first booth was used in 2006 and this booth in 2007. The next post in this series will show the booth without those tables!

Promoting my etsy Shop

I have had an etsy shop for a few years, but haven't paid much attention to it. Recently I decided that I should pay more attention to it, and after my most recent indoor craft shows (during which I had way too much time to think, unfortunately) realized that I could think of my etsy shop as a type of art show. Considering that the jury/application fee for a typical art show is $30, I could afford to list a lot of items at 20¢ apiece over the next month. By working hard at promoting my shop, I can hopefully generate enough sales to help me through the winter months.

SO! That is what I have spent the majority of this week doing: taking photos, adjusting them, uploading photos to etsy, and creating listings for items. I have also been reading a lot of material online about marketing and promotion. It is quite nice to finally have time to sit back and assess the business!! I have been participating more in my local etsy Street Team: Handmade MN. I've gotten some great information and leads from the great membership of my Minnesota team, and hopefully have been able to give them some useful leads as well.

Another website that has taken up a lot of my time this week is ArtFairInsiders.com. I don't remember, now, how I stumbled upon this site but I am VERY glad that I found it! It is a networking site by and for artists who display their work at art fairs. It is full of great information and I have been spending many hours reading posts and discussions from the past year. And I have been actively participating, too. This is such a great resource; if you are an artist who participates in art shows (or wants to!), then do yourself a favor and check this site out!

Booth Evolution-Part One

I've been thinking of writing this series of blog posts for quite a while now, and have finally gotten around to collecting most of the photos of my booth as it changed over the last four years. The first art show I did was in March of 2006, and fortunately I didn't have to submit a photo of my booth set-up because I didn't have one when I applied! Once I was accepted, I quickly had to design and build my display. I say "build" because I certainly did not have money to buy tables or other display items, but my years as a carpenter left me with lots of leftover lumber and plywood, and I certainly had the skills to build the tables. Plus I rather enjoyed the puzzle presented by designing and building the display!



For my first display I built two tables with trapezoidal tabletops and one square table to be used as a work table and storage. I had meant to have three trapezoidal tables, to create a U-shaped "room," but ran out of time. All three tables break down into simple parts: the leg sections are 2x3 lumber braced with 1/4 inch plywood and the removeable tops are plywood bases on a 2x3 frame and faced with 1/4" aspen to cover the pine lumber. The tables and the A-frames are covered with slate tile and tumbled beach rocks are scattered around.



As it turns out, it looks nice, but is a disaster from a marketing (and theft prevention) standpoint. You can't really see the braid and weave patterns of the bracelets, plus it is impossible to tell when one has gone "missing." I didn't have time to figure out how to display the viking knit necklaces, so they are just hung on cup hooks -- very ugly presentation! The earring cards are OK for indoor shows, but the first outdoor show I attended demonstrated why this doesn't work; they blow over and off the table! All-in-all, a pretty good first attempt, but clearly in need of a redesign! My next post will explore version Two of the booth display.

A Happy Customer!

When at the Wells Street Art Fair in Chicago last June, I had a special order to make this necklace. I was staying in Chicago for the week so was able to finish it and hand-deliver it to my customer within a few days. I just received this email from her:

"If you recall, you customized that gorgeous gold wire and bronze pearl choker, and delivered it (thanks!) to me at work. I would just like you to know that everyone LOVES it! I even had a vendor at the Gem Show ask about it. It has become one of my very favorite pieces in my quite large collection of jewelry, and there is almost nothing I cannot wear it with: jeans, dresses, t-shirts.

Thanks so very much for a wonderful piece...it gets worn more often than most things I own. Both the workmanship and your generosity in delivering it are very much appreciated."

I feel so gratified that I have a happy customer! Thank you!!

A long absence....

....for no good reason. In my head, I have written many blog posts documenting my recent show experiences, booth redesign, jewelry experiments, and personal upheavals. Unfortunately, there is no way (yet) to directly transfer my thoughts to the web. If there were, you all would have gotten an earful this summer! So here is the condensed version: The Uptown Art Fair (Minneapolis, MN) went well and I had decent sales, but the crowds were definitely down from previous years. Uptown also saw my first thefts (two bracelets) of the year, which is pretty amazing since at this point last year I had had several items walk off. I spent almost all of my August working hard to increase my inventory for a four-day show that has a reputation for high sales numbers: the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park (Atlanta), Georgia. I could (and may still) devote a long blog post to this festival and my trip, but for now suffice to say that it was relatively disappointing, especially considering that I drove 1200 miles to get there. Before I went to YDF, I put a lot of time into revamping my booth display. Nothing major, but the changes I made I think have dramatically improved the appearance. Again, a separate post may be forthcoming. And as if August wasn't busy enough, the week before I left for Atlanta, my dog sustained a partial tear of her Achilles tendon and had to have surgery to repair it. So now I am back (have been for a week), don't have a lot to do, unfortunately, to get ready for my next show, and am spending a lot of time and energy on my dog. I have also allowed myself to play, a bit, with new techniques. Stay tuned for some photos!

Show Report: Downtown Boulder Art Fair

The Downtown Boulder Art Fair, held on July 18 and 19, was my first time at an art show in Colorado. I didn't know a lot about this show when I applied, but it fit nicely into a tour of western states art shows that I tried to put together. Most of the other shows fell through (I got wait-listed for three of them), but having gotten into the Boulder show, I decided to keep it. I went to the Brookings Summer Art Fair (South Dakota) the weekend prior, then spent the intervening week in the Badlands and Black Hills (that will be another post coming soon!).

The set-up for the Boulder show wasn't until Saturday morning, but I picked up my artist information packet on Friday and scoped out the show site. About half of the booth sites are located on the picturesque Pearl Street pedestrian mall, where they are scattered in amongst the public sculptures, kiosks, and benches. A quarter of the booths are lined up in a more traditional fashion (back-to-back) on the east end of the mall, and the final quarter are located on the edge of a (closed) street on the west end. This end is purported to be hot and sunny (the few trees are rather small) and get much less foot traffic than the actual mall. I'm guessing that as a first-time exhibitor at this fair, that is why I might have been placed in this location. That's fine, because, guess what? The west end gets plenty of foot traffic! I had a good show, and my work was very well received. I even began to run out of a few designs.

After walking around the show on Sunday morning, I think I might actually prefer the west end. The pretty part of the Pearl Street mall might be TOO shady, making my work difficult to see. I'm also not sure I like the jumbled arrangement of booths on the mall. Plus, I had a nice breeze coming through my booth and several patrons commented on the lack of a breeze in the close quarters on the mall.

The show organizers (Downtown Boulder, Inc.) did a good job, bringing juice and scones by on Saturday morning, and stopping by with water during the day. The booth-sitting was handled by calling the director's cell phone, upon which she would dispatch a booth sitter. Very effective!

Show Report: Wells Street Art Festival

This past weekend, June 13-14, was the Wells Street Art Festival, just north of downtown Chicago, and put on by Special Events Management.  This was my first time at Wells Street, and my second show with these promoters.  Like the nearby Old Town Art Fair, held on the same weekend, Wells Street has an admission fee ($7-$10), which is supposed to be a "donation", but I don't think you can get in without paying.

Saturday was a very long day for the artists, as booth set-up could only occur in the morning.  I got up at 5 AM to drive into town for my 6:45 time slot.  In theory you can drive right up to your booth to unload, but once inside the street barriers, all traffic came to a complete stop.  I sat for 25 minutes before deciding to dolly my stuff the 40 feet (didn't realize I was that close!!) to my booth.  Twice I had to move my truck up as the line moved (I drove about 30 feet each time, seriously!), but overall the unloading was rather painless.  When I was accepted to this show I had the option of spending $60 for a spot in a reserved parking lot, which I did, and that turned out to be an excellent decision.  First of all, I did not have to spend any time or mental anguish trying to find a parking spot where you can leave your vehicle for 12 hours.  Secondly, the parking lot was only one long block from my booth, which meant that at the end of the weekend, I could dolly my stuff to the truck rather than waiting for the street to open up to traffic.  

Saturday also became a long day because of the weather.  The morning was rainy and cold, and I know several people, including me, got wet shoes in the morning, which meant that by the end of the day (8PM) we were quite chilled.  Thank goodness I thought to bring a fleece hat and gloves!  I have made a note to myself that in similar situations in the future that I need to pack at least a spare pair of dry socks, if not a complete change of shoes.

So, other than the cold rain for the first half of Saturday, how was the show?  From my perspective, it was a good show.  Other than a few booths which should NOT have been juried in, the caliber of artist was quite high.  I had pretty good sales, considering the weather and the economy.  I had mentally prepared myself for an arduous set-up and tear-down, but both went more smoothly than I anticipated.  I will definitely apply to this show again.

Art Show Applications

The show season for the summer and fall actually began last month, since applications for almost every show are due in February and March. In the past month I have sent out applications and fees to 15 shows, and I will be glad to be done with that bit of business administration! In March and April there will be two or three more. Now it is time to wait. Waiting is awful! I have spent a good two months looking at shows, putting together a schedule, dreaming about what my year will be like, and looking forward to a road trip out west. Now I must wait to hear if I got into the shows. My jury photos turned out so nicely that I decided to gamble a bit and apply to some shows that I am not at all sure I will get into. If I am rejected from all of them, then I will certainly be in trouble! On some weekends, I also applied to a "back-up" show, in an attempt to make sure I get into SOMETHING! I hope to post a more complete show schedule on my website by mid-April.

On a related note, I wonder if some shows are in trouble because artists are in trouble. Five of the shows to which I applied extended their due dates at the last minute, which could be interpreted to mean that the number of applications was way down and the show promoters wanted to give more people time to decide to apply. Also, one show I have applied to in the past (but not this year) sent five reminders about the upcoming application deadline and encouraging application to the show. It began to feel like desperation to me. I might have applied, but had already applied to a show (Yellow Daisy Festival in Stone Mountain Georgia) that DOES NOT refund your booth fee if you are accepted and I won't know whether I am in until early April.

Art Show Promoters and Payments

Amdur Productions puts on several shows in and around the Chicago area. This year I applied to a few shows with them and I just received an email about their "Economic Understanding Program." Basically, given the uncertain nature of today's economy and the knowledge that cash flow is a problem for artists at this time of year (regardless of the economy), they are allowing accepted artists to split the payment of their booth fees and are waiving the surcharges they might usually add to this convenience. And although they have not accepted credit cards in the past, they have added that payment option. These are wonderful changes and reflect the fact that Amy Amdur understands the position that many artists find themselves in.

Almost all shows for the summer and fall have application deadlines ranging from late-February to early-April. These shows all have application fees, and either require payment for booth fees with the application, or upon acceptance, usually in April. This means that artists have almost all their show fees due within a two month period (last year mine came to $6000), and many of us have had little to no income during the winter months. On top of that, estimated taxes are due April 15! Cash flow is definitely a problem for artists at this time of year, so any way that show promoters can allow an artist to put off booth fee payments until later in the spring or early summer is greatly appreciated.

I'd like to commend Amdur Productions for making these changes!