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!

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.