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APRIL: Art Festivals

The Ups & Downs, the Ins and Outs of the Art Festival Life

FROM SARAH'S DESK: It's April! Spring is springing, winter is waning. It is art festival season! It's been art festival season all year in Florida... but everywhere else, it's just gearing up. This month at The Art Grind we will be chatting it up with a couple art festival directors (to get their unique view on the industry), an art festival juror (who so graciously offered us a peek behind the curtain), and a couple of amazing artists who have successfully made an artful living on the road (believe me, it's harder than you think).

I am excited about this month. Art fairs are something I have intimate experience with. I "fell" into exhibiting in them almost 11 years ago. Before I stated doing art festivals, I was an attendee of them. Instead of enjoying them or finding myself inspired, I would get upset at myself, angry... "Why wasn't this something I was doing?" I felt like I could do it, but I hadn't found my niche... and my niche had eluded me for years. I think that is a big stumbling block for many artists would would like to enter art festivals. How do we artists find that one thing that people will identify with, love us for, and buy.

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When I say I "fell" into art festivals, I mean I unintentionally found my way into them. Many of my clients/collectors/followers/fans have heard this story- After my forth son was born (almost 11 years ago, eek!) I made my kids homemade gifts for Christmas. I took some of their drawings (scribbles, really) and turned them into three-dimensional, stuffed scribbles. My littlest couldn't hold a pencil in order to scribble then and my second to littlest didn't want to draw, so I made up some creatures of my own to make for them. I used materials I already had around the house; a pair of old corduroys, some ugly curtains, flannel shirts, buttons and felt. They turned out great! I was so pleased with myself for having had this idea (all on my own!) and then successfully pulling it off! Now, while my mother was a seamstress while I was growing up, you'd think I would know a little more about sewing than I did. No. These stuffed creatures are so fragile that they are living out the rest of their lives in storage. I want them to survive my boys' younger, rougher years so that they'll still have them when they are grown. :) I thought about opening a business to make these for other people (which someone eventually did...) but I didn't have the sewing skillz or manufacturing prowess that I thought I should have in order to make a go of it. My husband was the one who actually suggested putting my upcycled fabric creatures into paintings. (lightbub!) Soon, my mind, my sketchbook, then my dining room and living room were full of my monster paintings.

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I entered a tiny show in Mobridge, SD for a $10 booth fee. It was in a gymnasium. High school student work was the focus of the show in the center of the gym. On the perimeter, professional artists were invited to set up displays of their work. I worked my tail off getting ready for this. I wanted to make sure I had enough art to display on a couple 4x8 pegboard walls. I priced everything (very low... not even expecting to sell anything), made up a few business cards, loaded the minivan, and took off. The reception from the people who came to the show was beyond positive! My work struck a chord with people... they laughed! They identified with it. They loved it! They bought it! I made somewhere around $350 dollars that day. I was floored and thrilled! I went and bought myself a new dryer :) and used the rest of that money to enter another show. That one, still local, but a little bigger... and outdoors. A whole new ballgame. Matt and I had to build walls secure some sort of tent. I wish I had a picture of the set up we came up with (shaking my head). It. was... creative. :) Eight-foot wood pegboard walls that were framed out in the back with 2x4's, I think? We borrowed a green easy-up from my mom (not 8 foot tall, mind you) that we balanced on top of the walls to provide some shade to at least half of my booth. It was awesome. My awkward display did not deter buyers. I sold a ton of work and made close to $1500 that day. I was on to something.

My show set-up went through many many transformations through the years. Different tents, different walls, different hanging systems, different signage, different storage- always attempting to make things a little lighter, a little more travel friendly, more attractive, a little easier to carry, a bit nicer.

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It also took me a while to find appropriate price points for my work. For a while, I was selling loads of my work at shows, making a nice chunk of change, but also killing myself before each show to make enough work to display and sell again. Some of the best advice I received was from a fellow artist in South Dakota. He was a potter and had run the festival circuit before. He told me to raise my prices... and not just a little. Raise them to a point where people will need to stop and think about purchasing my art. He said my work would still sell (because it's good work) but that I wouldn't sell as many paintings, and that I would still make the same amount of money. He sounded like a fortune teller. I did doubt what he said, and hindsight, I think that was my self-doubt rearing it's ugly head. What if people only liked my work because it was funny and cheap. Would it still be as loved if it was only funny? It took me several shows and several price adjustments to find that sweet spot. Turns out, my work was appreciated even more. I believe that because I valued it, so did everyone else.

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I took my art on the road. I've shown in cities and states mostly in the midwest and east... Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, New York, Iowa, Illinois, Texas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Tennessee, Michigan, and Oregon. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed traveling and seeing the places I've gotten to see and meeting the people I've had the privilege of meeting while working in this industry... yes, it's an industry. And it's an amazing one. I hope you enjoy this month's discussion on art festivals. The people who run them, the people who attend them, and the people who are in them- all have a unique perspective on this business. The business of art.