carefree fine art & wine festival, november 1-3, 2013

This was my third juried art festival ever, as well as my third one in 2013.  I had heard good things about this one and was super excited to get in.

Set up was either the evening before or early the morning of the first day of the event.  I liked the idea of going a day before to familiarize myself with the layout of the art fair without the pressure of having to be ready by opening time.  When I arrived, I was so glad for that decision.  It seemed that the organizers are used to so many returning artists that they assumed everyone knew where to go and where to park.  What I longed for was a map of the festival layout with the booth numbers on it.  It took asking several people to figure out where my booth location was and how to get my vehicle there, since the streets were closed for set up.  I felt like such a newbie!

There were three rows of booths and most of us were trying to set up at once.

Once we got to the time when we were allowed to bring our vehicles in and start setting up, it was a little insane.  Some artists were a bit tense, but I enjoyed watching some of the seasoned artists and their relaxed attitude about the whole thing.  Just be patient, help direct the other artists as they positioned their vehicles, and have a smile on your face.

My booth location was right by one of the main roads, so I was able to load my paintings in each day pretty easily and then go park my van in the artists' parking area and walk back to my booth.

The back wall in my booth, with the new sign I made just in time for this art fair.

I admit I had really high expectations for this art fair.  I forgot the admonitions of experienced art fair artists who told me earlier that year that you have to really give it several art fairs before you can really decide how you're going to do.  Besides that, at this particular art fair, the artists around me were quite disappointed by the lower numbers of patrons and the lower amount of sales they were making compared with previous years at the same event.  I think it took into the second or third day before most of them made their expenses.

The beautiful view I had when I peeked out of my booth. :)

I, on the other hand, didn't make my booth fee.  I did sell two of my small original paintings and that is pretty exciting.  The one lady asked if she could take the painting off the wall to look at it more closely, and once I put it into her hands, I knew she was in love with it and was going to buy it.  So that was pretty cool, it really was. :)

An in-the-booth selfie.  It was a little slow...

Overall, I was disappointed with how I did at this art fair.  In retrospect, though, I had much too high expectations for what this art fair was going to do with my art career.  I just need to keep at it.  Paint, paint, paint.  Always painting.  And I continue to explore other ways to get my art in front of people who would like to own it.  I am taking a break from the spring shows in the Valley and will take a look at trying for some again here this fall.

A booth shot from day three.

flagstaff art in the park.

This was my second juried art fair.  Two years ago, when I was in the beginning phases of learning everything I could about art fairs, my family and I were in Flagstaff and checked out the Flagstaff Art in the Park 4th of July event.  At the time, I was taking lots of mental notes and thought to myself, maybe next year?  Maybe by then I'll have a display put together and enough art and get into this art fair.

So, two years and a couple of months later, it was pretty cool to be juried into their Labor Day event.  

We borrowed a big white van from friends and took out the middle two benches so we could put my art display in the center.  It was pretty funny-looking, having the kids so far back from us, but it worked really well.  If things go well for me in the art fair world, we may be in the market for a 15-passenger van. :)

Pringles duck faces when we were out running errands before loading the van. :)  I forgot to take a photo once we had everything loaded in, but this is where in the van the kids were seated.

My artist neighbors' booths to the left.

Neighbors to the right.

First day booth shot.  Before the downpour.

After the downpour.  Thankfully, the two ladies who had sought refuge in my booth during the storm were very helpful.  As we watched the drips in my display (which my husband & I had taped off & sealed beforehand) multiplying rapidly, I remembered a roll of 3.5 mil plastic painters dropcloth I had bought "just in case".  We installed it as an inner roof, and my paintings were saved from the dripping water! :)

My family stopped by again, later on in the day.  They had been out when the downpour happened and got to me as quickly as possible.  There was so much rain, my husband said he was almost afraid to drive in it... the puddles were the size they always say you should not drive in.

After the downpour on Saturday, it rained most of the rest of the day.  This is quite a gloomy-looking shot of the row I was in.  Thankfully, the remaining two days turned out so lovely! :)

I wasn't sure going in how I'd do at this fine art & craft fair, being more on the "fine art" end of things.  It seemed that the lower-priced items were more popular with the patrons of this event.  We had a major downpour on Saturday, which definitely hampered things.  It was amazing to see how many people came out after the heaviest rains were over, carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats.  These people didn't seem fazed by rain.

On Sunday & Monday, we had beautiful weather and lots of crowds.  On Sunday, there was a farmers market nearby, so a lot of the folks going there came through the art fair on their way to and from the farmers market.  I had so much fun people-watching and dog-watching, and talking to a lot of people who came into my booth. On Sunday, a lot of kids practically dragged their parents into my booth to look at my avocado painting.  Funny thing was, I was slightly surprised that they seemed to like avocados as much as our kids do, but didn't really think any more about it.  On the next day I didn't have *any* comments on that piece.  I started wondering perhaps if it was because of all the farmers market patrons that came through on Sunday that I had so many avocado-loving kids come by that day. :)

Partial booth shot on day two.  It seems my booth is a constant work in progress during an art fair.  I sit there and notice things I'd like to rearrange, so I move things around.

After I was done for the day on Sunday, we walked around downtown Flagstaff and got pizza for dinner.  There are some amazing murals, and one of my sons positioned himself so the NAU lumberjack was splitting his head.  (Yikes!)

We took the kids into this historic hotel downtown, and happened upon a group who get together every Sunday night for drinks & to play Celtic music.  It was such a nice surprise! :)

The three most commented-on paintings for the whole weekend: 
1. Wild Blueberries (which is for sure one of my best works)
2. Adirondack Chairs (I wish I could count how many people walked by and said, "I want to be there!" as they pointed at my painting.)
3. Horse Eye (either people loved it or it made them feel creeped out, but I had some truly heart-felt compliments on how I had "gotten" the horse eye just right.)

On day 3, we opened my booth up to the street behind me again.  It's how we originally started out before the downpour on Saturday, but I'd been afraid to try it again in case of rain.  I had paintings on the back outside wall, too.

Another shot of my booth on day 3.

As for how I did?  Well... I sold some smaller prints, but didn't come anywhere near to making my booth fee, let alone meeting my total expenses.  But it was still a lovely weekend, fun to visit with the other artists and talk with a lot of really interesting people who came by, a nice getaway for our family from the heat.  And, it was pretty cool being a part of the event that I had hoped to get into, back at the beginning before I had a display or even enough paintings to really contemplate getting into a juried event.

A shot my older daughter took right before the end of the art fair, on Monday afternoon.  I enjoyed meeting my artist neighbors.

 A shot my daughter took, looking down towards my booth (on the left behind the lady walking by) just before the end of the art fair.

I'm still trying to find my niche for my art, whether the art fair market is even the right place to try to sell my work.  But I'm not giving up on this art fair thing yet.  I've got a juried art festival coming up in a couple of months, and we'll see how I do there.  I just have to pace myself on applying for more art fairs, because paying booth fees without selling enough to cover the fees adds up pretty quickly.

my first art fair, in retrospect.

Three weeks ago today was the start of my first juried art fair, the Surprise Fine Art & Wine Festival, put on by Thunderbird Artists.

The back of the Suburban, all loaded up, right before we went & set up at the art fair.

My son Jesse, in the space behind my booth, helping attach the tent weight.

First day shot of my booth, with my son Joshua sitting in the chair reading a book just outside my booth.

First off, I sold one painting.  A smallish one, making back 1/4 of my booth fee, so overall we ended up losing money.  But.  Artists I'd talked to at a different art fair before mine said not to let the first art fair discourage me, that I'd have to keep at it for a while before I'd really have a good feel for it.  So, I am taking that to heart as I look back on it all. :) 

And this art fair was a new one, not known to art collectors yet.  And this part of the Valley isn't known for art yet as much as other parts are, and a lot of the other artists who've been doing art fairs for a long time didn't sell much, either.  So, it wasn't just me.

A second day shot, after some rearranging of art & my set-up.

The third day was rather cloudy, with off & on rain.  Pretty slow.

A look down our row on the third day of the art fair.

It was still a good learning experience.   I talked a lot with my artist neighbors, many of whom have been at this for a long time.  It was helpful to sort of pick their brains a bit and get ideas on what other art fairs to try for next.  I also learned things like when you set up on grass, condensation happens during the night, but that if you put a tarp on the ground overnight, it keeps the condensation from happening.  Another artist told me this after he saw me taking my art down each evening and setting back up in the morning. 
After the first night, one of my paintings had drips of water on it that had come down from the roof of my canopy. (yikes!)

Two of the booths across from me.

The third day was pretty chilly, so I was thankful I had brought along my jeans. :)

In trying to sum the weekend up, I think perhaps copying my Facebook status update from that first night works best...

Just got home from my first day at my first juried art fair. Learned a lot of things. A south-facing booth is not the nicest for the artist, since you have to look into the sun all day long (but then again, people don't have to squint to look into your booth). Oh, and sunblock is a good idea... I have a really nice red farmers "tan" on my arms. Heard a lot of "I have a granddaughter named Amelia", "nice, beautiful, good, etc. work", "oh, do you have horses?", "oh, the loaves & fishes". And the funniest thing was when a lady turned sideways and my giant horse eye caught her off guard. She actually jumped! Talked to all my artist neighbors, one who gave me good ideas of art fairs in the Valley, one who told me I needed to talk more to people to try & sell my art, and one who I discovered is also an NMU grad. :) A very good first day indeed, and I am wiped out. Head hurts, body aches, super hungry and ready to crash. But I'm good. :)

One of the things artists at the Carefree show had told me two weeks before my art fair was to look past this first art fair and keep applying for other ones.  So I have my eye on one in Tucson in April, perhaps one in Prescott in May, and one in Flagstaff over Labor Day weekend.  Then there are the ones back here in the Valley starting up this fall.  So we shall see what happens. :)

surprise fine art & wine festival 2013.

12.4.12

Today I was invited to be a part of the Surprise Fine Art & Wine Festival, February 1-3, 2013.  My very first juried art festival... I am excited!

Click here for details on the festival.

working on a new booth shot.

11.23.12

My booth shot as of this week.

Earlier this week, I decided it was time to haul out the canopy and Propanels and work on getting together a new booth shot for applying to art fairs.  I've been reading a lot on the Art Fair Insiders forum about how to make your booth shot better.  I've learned a lot from the artists on that forum and enjoyed trying this week to implement what I've learned.

Here are a few observations...

• Juries like to see a unified body of work in the booth shot.  I need to continue working on this, but I have noticed some similarities in my work as I went through this process this week.  So that was kind of fun for me. :)
• I need to keep painting.  More work will help a lot with getting a great booth shot together.
• I have come a long way since that first attempt at a booth shot (see below).
• Setting up in the backyard really helped me to see my work as a whole and to evaluate where I am.  I think doing this every few months to re-evaluate would be a good idea... kind of a way to see if I'm really ready for venturing out into juried art fairs.

So, just for kicks, I thought I'd post my first booth shot. 

My booth shot as of July 2011.

I can't help but think it's no wonder the jurors didn't accept me.  Although I didn't see it at the time, this booth shot makes it obvious that I needed more time to work on building up a body of work.  (I still think that now, after adding more pieces and weeding out some that aren't so great.)  I'm glad, though, that I tried, because it got me started on the journey.

I still have so far to go...

a good learning experience.

12.5.11

In my last post, I called my ArtBridge experience "Art Fair 101".  That has really proven true, as each time I've gone, I've learned & added something new.  Last week, I added some prints to my display, three on stretched canvas hanging on my Propanels, and fourteen in my print bin.  

We were rained out at last Thursday's ArtBridge event after about an hour & a half, but that was a crucial lesson in Art Fair 101, as well.  The side walls of my EZ-Up canopy were much wished for when setting up in Scottsdale, but I had left them at home.  The next day, our garage was filled with nine Propanels and my EZ-Up canopy as they dried out.

My booth on Saturday.  Rain was in the forecast, and having learned my lesson on Thursday, I put up the side walls on my display.  Thankfully, our prayers were answered (!) and the rain held off all day, despite the cloudy skies.

We had a closer-to-home event on Saturday, which was nice after traveling all the way to Scottsdale five times.  I made a couple of sales of prints and am excited to offer them in my etsy shops, as well. :)

art fair 101.

11.11.11

So I've been to three ArtBridge Thursdays events so far, and each time I learn something new that I can take away for the next time.

After the first week, I learned to always make sure to take the correct exit, and even if MapQuest says to take a different exit number, sometimes it's okay to go with your gut.  Mine was right, and I didn't trust it the first week. :(

That first week, I tried and was unsuccessful with attaching my banner to my EZ-Up canopy.  And I realized that I needed a container of some type for the various odds & ends of things I need at the art fair.

This is my solution, which I very much like so far:

My handy-dandy shelf thing.  I love having this as a tidy place to keep all my odds & ends at the art fair in one place.

Week two, I took the correct exit and made it to the venue at 4:00, which is the earliest we can begin setting up.  Yea! :)  I brought sticky-backed Velcro to use for attaching my banner, but realized I forgot the banner. :(  I also had a couple new paintings and several small prints that I framed to add to the display.

And I added a business card holder just below my artist bio...

My artist biography, along with my new business card holder. :)

For week three, I happened upon two Pier 1 matching tall director's chairs for an awesome deal.  See?

These two chairs appear to be barely used, with Pier 1 price tags for $50 still on them.  We scored this deal for $13 for the pair at a thrift store last weekend!  :)

I also added a "Shipping Available" and "Giclee Prints $20" sign to one of my walls in the display, as well as a sign showing the credit cards I am able to accept.

Shipping Available, and credit cards signs.  It's a little hard to see here because my track lights caused a bit of glare.

I was able to get my banner up on the canopy.  What do you think?

My ArtBridge Thursday booth, Nov. 10, 2011

We noticed that many vendors brought Christmas lights and garland to get the holiday shopping spirit going.  My daughter had suggested that idea and I had liked it, but didn't get the lights out for last night.  It's on my list for improvements for next week's display.  And I have plans for some Christmas/wintry sorts of paintings.

Last night, looking at my display, I reflected that I have added new paintings and made little adjustments here & there to my display.  This experience is really like "Art Fair 101" for me.  We're getting a lot of practice lately with loading, unloading, set-up & tear down.  :)  Overall, it's been a good learning experience so far. 

artbridge thursdays

11.1.11

Thought I'd check in after my first art fair last Thursday.  After leaving late and getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Phoenix, I met my husband at the venue and we got set up.  It was a beautiful spot, and although I didn't make any sales, we enjoyed the location very much.  In fact, I just signed up to be a sponsoring artist for the event and have committed to be there for the next four Thursdays (other than Thanksgiving Day, when they won't have an event).

I had read online that people like it when you paint during art fairs.  It certainly seemed to be true, and I plan to bring my painting supplies along each time.  :)

It was a good learning experience, setting up my canopy and Propanels for the first time and just seeing how other people's booths were set up.  I learned a few things that I hope to incorporate over the next several weeks.  Stay tuned for more on that...

JAPANESE MAPLE LEAVES--acrylic paint on 10" x 10" stretched canvas--$50

Lately, I am working on building up my inventory so I have more artwork to offer potential customers.  I've been enjoying fall leaves and have finished a couple more with ideas for one or two more.  I also have a couple other ideas in my head, which you'll just have to check back to see later.  :)

my new art display

7.22.11

Since my last post, I heard from a nearby artist who had a set of Propanels and an EZ-Up canopy available for a good price.  So we pulled the back seats out of the minivan and went to take a look.  The panels were in pristine condition, and the man threw in a bunch of extras... a tall directors chair, a pushcart, a couple of bins, weights for the tent, etc.  He also gave me a lot of tips, what really amounted to "Art Fair 101".  Matt & I were quite thankful.

Yesterday I set up the whole display with my current paintings in our yard.

 

The banner for my art display is in the process and hopefully will be here soon.  Can't wait to get it!  :)

things I'm learning about art fairs.

7.6.11

Checking out the Flagstaff Art in the Park event on the fourth.  :)

Lately, I've been gleaning any information I can find online about art fairs and thought it would be fun to post some of what I've learned so far.  

• You need a canopy.  There are better ones, like Trimline, but they are pricey for starting out, so lots of newbies use the less-expensive EZ-up tents.
• For display panels, there are a lot of choices out there and a *lot* of homemade versions, some of which look *really* bad.  But, the standard for creating an art gallery in the outdoors are ProPanels.  They are not cheap, either, but most of what I've read says that sooner or later artists who do very many art fairs cave in and buy them.
• Bungee cords, plastic zip ties and metal clips are your friend at art fairs.  Apparently, you use them for everything.
• You need a sales tax license for your state (and usually for the city the art fair is in).
• You need to accept credit cards.  There are devices that you can get that will allow you to do this, and as you might guess, "there's an app for that" if you have a smart phone.
• Wearing a shirt with the name of your business on it helps identify you as the artist.  And, you also don't want to wear a shirt the same color/s as most of your art... you might blend in too much and "get lost" in your own display.
• It's tricky to figure out which art fairs are really fine art, and not craft fairs.  They say that if there's anything sold on a stick, you're probably at a craft fair.  Not to be an art snob, but you do want to make sure the crowds coming are actually looking to buy fine art, which is lots more pricey than "stuff on a stick".
• You have to be prepared for the weather.  Most people use PVC pipes with concrete inside to weight down the four corners of their canopies.  You can get apps for weather forecasting, to keep an eye out for bad weather that might make you need to tear down your display (think tornadoes... although that's not an issue here in the Southwest).
• You need a banner with your business name on it. 
• And people at art fairs apparently like it if you are doing a demonstration while they come by.  If you do, you need another person to man the booth because it will be too much to do everything at once.

Okay, so how am I coming along with all of this?

• I have an EZ-up tent that I can borrow for my first venture into all of this.
• I'm going to make my own display panels that look very like Pro Panels but for much less (I've found a couple different ideas online that look pretty nice and are lightweight, too).  (Ask me in a year or so if I've decided it's worth it to put out the cash for the big guns.)
• I'll make sure to get the bungees, zip ties and metal clips before I get to an art fair and wish I had them. 
• I sent out my trade name application for my art business, which I have to have in place before I get my sales tax license.  Oh, I feel so official now! :)
• We got a special offer from a local bank for a free iPod Touch, which is on its way now.  I found a free app for accepting credit cards on that.  The service costs money, but I read somewhere that I might miss as many as 40% of my sales by not accepting credit cards.
• I've designed a shirt on spreadshirt.com that says "ART by Amelia Kay" on it.  Once I get accepted into a show, I will have them print them for us.  I did notice that at the art fair we visited, it was hard to see which person was the artist in the display.  So I really think the shirts are a good idea.
• I'm still working on the figuring out which shows are worth applying for.  I have heard that if they are juried, that's a good start.  The one I'm eyeing up for August is juried, although the deadline is late in July so I'm not sure how selective they are.  We shall see...
• I am still formulating the plan for our tent weights, but probably some version of the PVC pipe/concrete combination. 
• Since the art fair I'm hoping to get into doesn't allow homemade banners, I'm working on designing one online to have printed.  
• And I'm considering bringing something to work on while I'm at art fairs.  I have a feeling I may not do this at the first one, just to get a feel for how it all goes first.

Anyway, that's what I've been learning so far.  I've found a few online forums where artists discuss all of this stuff, and lately it's been my late-night pastime to educate myself on art fairs.  This week, I finally got to check out a nearby art fair to see some of the things I've been learning in action.  It was great to see how much I've already learned.  

I have a feeling, though, that there's still so much to discover...