Our own crisis?

Another one came in my email today, a notice from an art show that they were extending their deadline for entries. I’m also seeing a serious increase in the number of ads in the forums that I read saying “getting out of the business, selling everything.” I have no proof, neither the emails nor the ads go much into details about why, but it appears we are having our own little financial crisis in the art fair world. It mimics every financial crisis I’ve read about in the past few days. Money was getting made, people wanted to make more money , things got bigger, people got greedy, forgot who put them where they were, pushed and sometimes stomped on the people who put them where they were, stomped people started to bail, less money got made, stomping increased, more people bailed.

I’ve heard stories of what it was like to do an art show many years ago. Artists showed up and were charged a minimal fee that generally went to some sort of fundraising endeavor. I remember that the two shows I did twenty years ago were in answer to an ad in the newspaper looking for artists to do the show. I called the number and was told when and where to show up. There was no application process, very few rules.

Somewhere along the way, someone said, “We need to organize this better.” It was a good thing. Security was added, liability insurance, stable display requirements. Artists were pre-screened, rather than being first come, first served. Quality was increased, but expenses of putting on an art show increased. Competition increased, not only between artists, but between shows. Again, this was a good thing. Shows that did things well attracted the better artists. Artists who did things well got into the better shows. All was good.

But then came more shows and more competition. Shows added big name performers and corporate sponsors to attract more patrons. Booth fees went up because expenses went up for the big name performers and artists still applied in droves because the show had prestige and they could count on sales. Booth fees went still higher and still artists applied in droves. More artists were doing art shows because there was money to be made from doing what we love. More artists meant more artists were willing to pay the higher booth fees in order to get into the good shows. Now apparently application levels are dropping.

Fewer artists are willing to pay higher booth fees to be in shows attracting fewer patrons because there are more shows. Why are booth fees going up? Because there are more shows trying to attract patrons with extras like big name performers and freebies from corporate sponsors. Some of the big shows have become more like carnivals than art shows in order to get higher attendance which they can report to the artists in order to get higher booth fees and more applications. More applications increase the prestige about the show. There’s something almost irresistible about applying to a show with a 15% acceptance rate. It must be great, everyone is applying. But the big name performers and corporate sponsors tend to attract people who aren’t serious art buyers. Sales for the artist go down. It used to be that for every artist who said “no way’ to an astronomical booth fee to be next to a corporate sponsor with a microphone hawking cell phone plans, there were two or three or said “I will, I will”. Maybe that is changing and booth fees will become reasonable again.

(As a full disclosure however, my application is still in for the show where the corporate sponsors are hawking cell phone plans with microphones and I’ll gladly do it, at least once.)

School Begins

Setup for the first art show of the fall begins tomorrow. Doing art shows in Florida is somewhat like being in school. I’ve had my long summer off and now it is time to start the new year. I’ve done some changes this year; bigger frames, and different mats on the framed pieces, a new classy looking print bin, some new panoramas, and a changed booth layout. I’ve gotten my hair and nails done and rethought my show wardrobe. The first day of school is Saturday and everything is ready – I hope….

I’m not too sure about the show I’m doing this weekend, Oviedo Butterfly and Nature Festival put on by Lukas Nursery. I’ve never done it before, never even attended it, which is a big no-no in the art show world. You’ll see that in almost every “beginners tips” for art shows – never do a show unless you’ve attended it first – yeah right. If I’ve got a weekend free and there is an art show going on, I’m applying. It is nature themed, which is usually good for me but it is also a small local show which means it is below the radar of the art show rating publications, Art Fair Source Book, and Sunshine Artists. At any rate, it looks like it’s going to be a fun show to do. I’m looking forward to seeing the butterflies and I’ll probably bring home a few plants. At the very least I’ll test out all the changes I’ve done.

Speaking of nature themed shows, I’ve decided to return to the Audubon Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in January. I like doing this show but haven’t been able to do it for a couple years because it runs from Wednesday through Saturday, which means three vacation days. You can see the rest of my fall schedule on my Upcoming Events page.

If you get a chance go by and see the exhibit at the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery in Melbourne. There is some really great art there, including a couple of my photographs.

Lake Mary-Heathrow

Ahh, Lake Mary. I wish I could do that show every weekend. It’s close to home. I get to sleep in my own bed at night. And better yet, appreciative people who buy. And I had the wonderful experience of seeing previous buyers. It’s so nice to hear, “I bought a picture from you last year and it looks wonderful”. I can’t say enough nice things about the people who put on the show. They know me, come by and check on me, and really care how things are going. And I was awarded third place in photography. All in all, a pleasant weekend and a good end to the fall season.

No photographs this weekend. I chose to leave the camera at home and I regretted it. I’ll have to paint a word photograph – A beautiful calico cat sunning itself in the window across from my booth in a home with beige walls and black shutters which just match the colors of the cat, a tree just beside the window.

Since I didn’t get into Disney, I’m going to take next weekend to go take some new photographs. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I think maybe I’ll go back to Ocala or maybe to Kissimmee and try to get some eagles in flight. Or do the boat ride on the Dora Canal. So many photographs to take, so little time.

Ocala

Well here I am sitting in Ocala on Saturday night. This is the lonely part of doing art shows. The show is going well, sold a few pieces, one piece selected for judging which is an honor considering the number of excellent artists present. The show is very nicely done, with nice, organized people and possibly the best artist dinner I have ever had. I used to dry chicken and potato salad not chicken marsala and red potatoes. But the show is over for the day, my husband just called to tell me he is feeling very sick, sounds like the flu, and I miss him more than usual this trip.

I came up a day early hoping to get some photo time in on Friday morning. Friday morning was drizzly and grey, not necessarily a bad thing for photos but not good traveling weather particularly in a fully loaded van. I found myself on a two lane dark road with no shoulders in the rain looking at the speed limit sign thinking “I do not feel safe at that speed”. Of course there is a long line of people behind me by the time I finally find somewhere to pull over. There was no sunrise to speak of, just a slowly growing lighter, grey sky. I did find a lovely place to take pictures but then the rain started again.

It’s hard sometimes to juggle this life with family time. I realized this morning that I have forgotten to send the Halloween cards I bought for my grandchildren two weeks ago. So much to do, so much I want to do, so little time. I did buy that lottery ticket though J

Anyway, tomorrow will be a better day. The weather report has changed from 60% chance of rain to 30% and it’s Sunday and Sundays are always the best days at a show. Then break down, go home, and give Clif an extra hug for putting up with the everyday hassles of my dream.

Application Time (cont.)

Well the first of the results are in and not good so far. Festival of the Masters came in with a rejection and well in advance of their advertised notification date. Which means I didn’t even get a “maybe”? Darn! I really thought my work would do well there. And to get the rejection the very day I spent all day at Disney's Animal Kingdom taking photographs (Komodo Dragon above). Oh well. Now I’m doubly not happy with Disney. Several years ago I applied to be one of their artists at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. They responded with, “Pick a weekend in April that you would like to do and we will get back to you.” Then closer to the festival I got an email from them looking for plein air artists for the festival. I responded back with the “pick a weekend” email, inquiring about which weekend they wanted me to come, and got a rather rude reply. Basically it said “don’t you know what a plein air artist is?” Of course I do! (Had to look it up ;), it’s an artist who paints on site). Apparently the person who chose the artists for the festival during the year had changed and the previous person’s invitations were ignored. On a sour grapes note, a friend of mine went to the Epcot festival this year and, in her opinion, with the exception of Clyde Butcher, the photographs were not nearly as good as mine. So Disney – phhhtt. Of course I’ll apply next year. This is the Festival of the Masters (something about that name) we’re talking about. But I’ll also apply to Gainesville, and should I get into both, who knows?

So this leaves me with two extra days of vacation to spend on another art festival. A quick look at my spreadsheet of available shows gives me the choice of Bonita Springs or Cape Coral in January. Their bold listings in the spreadsheet tell me that both of them are in the top 200 art shows in the country. Of to Sunshine Artists magazine which tells me that Bonita Springs is #5 and Cape Coral is #48. That puts Bonita Springs ahead. But does that mean Cape Coral might be easier to get into? Now they’re even. A quick check of location tells me that they are both on the west coast of Florida near Ft. Myers. No deciding factor there. Off to the Art Fair Source Book. AFSB confirms my theory that Bonita Springs is going to be harder to get into, 1 in 4 chance, vs. a 1 in 2 chance for Cape Coral. But drilling down into the details, Bonita Springs, even with fewer exhibitors, has more photographers. Interesting. And AFSB is not kind, to say the least, in their comments on Cape Coral. The final deciding factor – Cape Coral wants all their money up front, and then they’ll refund my booth fee if I don’t get in. Three hundred dollars of my money would be out of circulation for several months. This is not the time of year I can afford that. Bonita Springs, here I come, hopefully.