Art Fairs?

[Catherine Muhly]

Hi Karin!

My stuff was priced alot higher. The originals went from $500 for colored pencil on canson mi-tintes (glicee repro on arches at $95) to $2000-$2500 still-lifes (oil) ($250 for giclee on canvas). I had an oil portrait (14x18) going for $3500 ($450 repro.). Pastels and sauce pieces priced at $1500-$1800 for originals, and about $250 for giclees on arches. The big pastel of the woman in yellow dress on dark blue background was priced at $2500 ($550 for repro on arches). All the reproductions were stretched, if canvas or double-matted, if on paper. Then they were bagged or shrink-wrapped.

Friends said that the prices might be appropriate in a gallery. I'm thinking of keeping these prices for the venues I'm hoping to get into during October & November; the areas are affluent, and the populations aren't diluted with tourists.

Soooooo, we'll see. I've got lots to learn about pricing, marketing, (driving and parking a trailer), and learning to live with income arriving at it's leisure, rather than biweekly. But I'm excited about at least injecting my advertising into these populations. Hey! if I'm not generating enough interest in my art, then it's back to the drawing board, right?

Here's my exhibit at the WSOAE. The nice weather on this day didn't require putting up all the tarps, which is a pain.

[Heidi Maiers]

I've enjoyed reading through this topic and everyone has contributed good information. I don't want to discourage you (it didn't discourage me) but I thought I'd add the experience I had doing my first Art fair show a few years ago. Because my brother is a potter and was doing this show (I hadn't seen him in years), I thought it would be a good chance to see him. It was the Tubac show in Arizona and lasted a whole 9 days (boy was I ambitious). I scheduled my vacation time from work, packed up my stuff - including my wonderful $199.99 Costco tent and stayed with some friends in Tuscon.

To make a long story short, the show actually went quite well, lots of interest and went through hundreds of brochures - but you know you are at the wrong show for making sales when every third person that passes by exclaims "Look, a REAL aritst!"

The ninth day of the show, I was sunburnt, dirty, hoarse, and ready to go home. That morning, there was an intense storm blowing through and when I arrived at my tent (or what was left of it), I knew it was time to leave. The 50mph winds had ripped through everyones tents (even though I had weights on all four corners and dangling from the center post was a 5 gallon bucket filled with rocks), knocking over all of my display tables. A year's worth of now worthless ceramic sculpture lay in pieces in a worthless pile of dirt.

Hard lesson learned - but it was a blast doing my first show marathon. Now I only do high end 2-day shows in areas that are much more sheltered and have had much greater success. Here's to hoping you do very well and enjoy the experience.

[Elizabeth Schott]

This weekend was my first major

[Karin Wells]

This past weekend I participated in an open studio tour. In two days I probably had 150+ people tromp through my studio, managed to sell 5 gicl

[Lynn T. McCallum]

Great going Beth!

Your booth looked great.

Don't worry about having had the 'littles' in there, now you know better.

Hope you handed a lot of cards and info out. It looks like this was a good show to get yourself out there.

Live demos are the real attention getter. You'll have more fun and time will pass a whole lot quicker if you make room for the demos next time.

I did the same thing this weekend but with models and two live demos. The models and I had a blast. Sure you spend a little extra to have the models but it grabs the people and pulls them to you. Trapped in the 'Art Tractor Beam'.

Don't sweat it Beth, the commissions will come!

[Michele Rushworth]

This must have been "art fair weekend" across the whole country. I also participated in my one and only annual art show this past Saturday and Sunday.

I show only portrait samples and do a demo from a photo (an existing commission, so at least I get some work done!) I did this same show last year, and got two commissions for two figures each (one three quarter length and one full length) from it.

This year, like last, I gave out perhaps a hundred cards and had many serious enquiries about commissions. I won't know for a while if it paid off in direct terms, but the exposure keeps the idea of portraiture "top of mind" for the thousands of people who did see my booth. In this part of the country, portraiture is not something that people think of as a "must have". I believe that most prospective clients need to see the work repeatedly and think about the idea for a long time in order to make a decision.

Like all advertising, it's hard to quantify the immediate benefits and only a long term campaign brings results. This show brings in huge crowds and is in a fairly affluent area and since the booth fee is small and I had the canopy and signage from last year I feel it's worth my effort.

I put in four days of work to do it (two days of the show itself, and about two more days of prep/loading/unpacking). I'm pretty tired out today from all the physical set up and take down, and from demoing for two days for eight hours straight. Now it's time to send out "nice to have met you" cards with a sample of my work on it to the ones who signed my guest book and see what happens.

[Michele Rushworth]

Here is a photo of my booth. I'm not very happy with the cluttered look, most of which is because of the see-through walls and the booth behind me. Next year I think I will get some solid panels or nice draperies. I borrowed these walls from a friend. I also plan on raising the banners much higher since they block so much light. (I had them made at Kinko's for about $200 last year.)

The small portrait in the foreground on the left is the demo I was working on. I put the blue ribbon around my booth to keep kids from coming in and getting messed up in the paint as I demo. I know it keeps people too far from the paintings but interested people can come in if they want to.

Two of the paintings I show here are giclees I made as examples, since the originals are with the clients who commissioned them.

[Michele Rushworth]

This next photo is of the nearby booth of a portrait photographer who has become a friend through this show. We share marketing ideas. (Mostly I pick her brain since I'm a lot newer at this than she is. I help her set up her stuff and she gives me suggestions on marketing.)

I love the way her booth looks. Everything about it says "quality" to me. She has nice backdrops, expensive wooden display easels and wooden chairs, and has decorative props here and there. She shows up wearing a long skirt and wears a lovely bright jacket once the show is open for the day. (Don't know how I'd paint in a get-up like that but I might consider it!)

[Michele Rushworth]

I just got a phone call to do two portraits (two kids in the same family) from a woman I met at the art fair yesterday. Hooray!

[Cynthia Daniel]

Wow! Congratulations Michele!