It has been pointed out to me that I have been rather lax in letting you all know what’s going on with shows lately. So here goes…
Leesburg has always been a good solid show for me and did not disappoint this year. The weather was picture perfect, the crowd was good, and the promoters were well organized. Like a lot of shows lately though, I wish they would give awards based on category not overall. Photography always seems to fare poorly when they do that although Sheila Crawford won a first place (and highly deserved it). I was able to park very close to my booth which is always nice. It’s a nice laid back show to do which after the two visits to Naples and St. Stephens I sorely needed.
That was followed by Ponce Inlet, another nice laid back show. It’s usually one of my best shows. It was down a little this year but my new panorama pair sold almost immediately. No complaints here.
Port Orange is put on by the same people who put on Ponce Inlet so I had somewhat high hopes. It’s up against the Maitland spring show and by the artists who showed I would say that more people than me are frustrated with Maitland spring. It was a very well done show. I especially liked that at the awards ceremony they actually displayed photos of the work that won the award. That’s a really nice touch that I’ve never seen before. Breakfast was also the best artist meal since Ocala. Unfortunately sales really weren’t there. I made one sales to a very nice couple from out of town. At the very end of the day on Sunday, representatives from Port Orange came through and bought again the panorama pair for one of the public buildings in Port Orange. Only complaint here is that the show has a section for buy-sell type merchants. It’s nice that it is in a separate section but they really should put the artists near the parking lot where people come in and the buy-sell on the other side. People who made it around to the artists booths had already been through the buy-sell, and generally much cheaper, booths and I think there was a little sticker shock when they got to the real artists.
Apopka was bad. I’m not sure why. It was a beautiful weekend. Artists who had done the show before kept saying it had always been a decent show. Maybe it was the economy or maybe the early Easter this year but patrons just weren’t there. Another show with entertainment that pulls all the customers away from the artists and into the seats watching the show. I managed to break even with a late sale on Sunday but I think I’ll sit this one out next year. There were a lot of good artists. I’m not sure what happened with Melbourne jurying this year but a lot of really exceptional artists did not get into Melbourne and did Apopka as a backup show. Judging was awful. The first judge introduced herself, did a quick look around, missing an entire side of the booth and left. She seemed bored and flippant. The second judge was nice and thorough but had the completely wrong definition of a giclee, thus inspiring my last blog. I can almost forgive show promoters for not having a clue about what is and is not a giclee but a judge should know.
I’m here now in Lakeland for Mayfaire. Last show of the season for me. I’m looking forward to the break and hoping to sell enough this weekend for a little cushion for the summer. I just bought a new printer and next week my studio gets entirely redesigned to make room for it.
Leesburg has always been a good solid show for me and did not disappoint this year. The weather was picture perfect, the crowd was good, and the promoters were well organized. Like a lot of shows lately though, I wish they would give awards based on category not overall. Photography always seems to fare poorly when they do that although Sheila Crawford won a first place (and highly deserved it). I was able to park very close to my booth which is always nice. It’s a nice laid back show to do which after the two visits to Naples and St. Stephens I sorely needed.
That was followed by Ponce Inlet, another nice laid back show. It’s usually one of my best shows. It was down a little this year but my new panorama pair sold almost immediately. No complaints here.
Port Orange is put on by the same people who put on Ponce Inlet so I had somewhat high hopes. It’s up against the Maitland spring show and by the artists who showed I would say that more people than me are frustrated with Maitland spring. It was a very well done show. I especially liked that at the awards ceremony they actually displayed photos of the work that won the award. That’s a really nice touch that I’ve never seen before. Breakfast was also the best artist meal since Ocala. Unfortunately sales really weren’t there. I made one sales to a very nice couple from out of town. At the very end of the day on Sunday, representatives from Port Orange came through and bought again the panorama pair for one of the public buildings in Port Orange. Only complaint here is that the show has a section for buy-sell type merchants. It’s nice that it is in a separate section but they really should put the artists near the parking lot where people come in and the buy-sell on the other side. People who made it around to the artists booths had already been through the buy-sell, and generally much cheaper, booths and I think there was a little sticker shock when they got to the real artists.
Apopka was bad. I’m not sure why. It was a beautiful weekend. Artists who had done the show before kept saying it had always been a decent show. Maybe it was the economy or maybe the early Easter this year but patrons just weren’t there. Another show with entertainment that pulls all the customers away from the artists and into the seats watching the show. I managed to break even with a late sale on Sunday but I think I’ll sit this one out next year. There were a lot of good artists. I’m not sure what happened with Melbourne jurying this year but a lot of really exceptional artists did not get into Melbourne and did Apopka as a backup show. Judging was awful. The first judge introduced herself, did a quick look around, missing an entire side of the booth and left. She seemed bored and flippant. The second judge was nice and thorough but had the completely wrong definition of a giclee, thus inspiring my last blog. I can almost forgive show promoters for not having a clue about what is and is not a giclee but a judge should know.
I’m here now in Lakeland for Mayfaire. Last show of the season for me. I’m looking forward to the break and hoping to sell enough this weekend for a little cushion for the summer. I just bought a new printer and next week my studio gets entirely redesigned to make room for it.
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