Last Show 2011~ Harrison Rally Day

...A cool, cloudy mid September morning in a small NW Ohio community. This was fun, because it is a downtown street festival and it has a mix of the activities a lot of people think of when they hear "street festival" in the Midwest. 

One being: historical celebrations :

This event is named for a rally held in Perrysburg in the 1800s for William Henry Harrison. If you've heard of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too", it was the Whig party's campaign song based on General Harrison's exploits at the Battle of Tippecanoe fought in 1811 against Chief Tecumseh, and his vice presidential running mate, John Tyler. Mr. Tyler, the 10th president, succeeded Mr. Harrison on April 4, 1841, a month after Mr. Harrison's inauguration. (This last bit of info was totally copied from another website: I generally run as far away from History as I can as a rule...)

Quite a large "small" Festival, 240 booth/tents were set up along the streets of Perrysburg,Ohio.

...Here's mine!

And it wouldn't be a Midwest street fair without a parade!

 

 Of course, the local high school's marching band, too...

 

Always displayed proudly at my booth!

 

And we all love our classic cars! My Dad actually had a black '57 Chevy that I still remember riding in! He sold it when I was 10 :-(...

 

Then the sun came out and totally transformed the day (Although, as you can see, our booth was WAY too close to the railroad tracks!) 

 

The local fire department showing off for the kids...

 

I HAD to get a picture of THIS guy! I didn't even ask to take his picture - I figure that if one walks around with two dogs in doggie harnesses hanging on him , he should expect it! Don't think anyone would have believed me anyway if I hadn't provided proof!

 

 My Hibiscus Blossom display

 

And the Faerie Doors! TWO more are now out in the world attracting our tiny friends =-)

 

I'm so thrilled with digital cameras, because I always take such important and well thought out photos, like the sun glinting off my FunGi....

 

I always like to take an "artist's eye" shot from inside the booth! Good parting shot, too. Later!

I was going thru a lot of angst this past Winter ~ did I even WANT to continue this leaf casting business? I have made seven or eight HUNDRED pieces in the past six years, and the shows are a lot of physical work for both hubby and I! This is the longest I have ever continued along one path without faltering or giving up, and I do love it, but of course there's always a lot of re~thinking to do during the cold, dark months.

BUT, after my first event this season, I started to remember why I wanted to do this in the first place!

 Besides being surrounded by beautiful plants at the local Farmer's Market, I get to see old friends that stop by, and always make a couple of NEW acquaintances. And the most important part ~ I love to see repeat customers and collectors of my work, and also it's really awesome to cultivate a bunch of NEW fans!

 Oooo! Look at all those Heucheras! I have most of them, but there's a couple...

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...And for those of you who have the idea that I'm a baby hater, I had to grab a pic of my newest acquaintance, and his Mom, who is another artisan I'm buddies with on the art/craft show circuit.

I mean, how freakin' cute is this?! But then, I fall for all four month olds in dark shades!

 It wasn't crazy busy, so I had time to check out the various nurseries that were set up there.

 AND, on Saturday, an extremely nice couple purchased my largest Bird of Paradise leaf for a table centerpiece, THEN came back on Sunday and bought the Butterbur, which was my second largest leaf! Bazzinga!
They were really happy with their castings, which I'm always happy about ~ my "babies"found a good home!

Bye, Bye, Birdie! :-D

Levis Commons 2010 - Revisiting the 2010 Art / Craft show season

Another installment in the saga of my trials and successes in the Toledo art/craft show circuit...

Friday- setup. Took 3 hours - sunny and HOT! Staff passed out water to us. ( And WE just passed out! LOL)

Sat. - Cloudy start - hot & humid. Rain started 10 - 10:30, rained until 3 - got too cool for my sleeveless attire! Great artist amenities - coffee, donuts, bagels (think there was even a toaster in the artist "hospitality" tent!) juice, water, pop, fruit, and Andrew Z's supplied pizza! The hard part was getting to the food tent without getting soaked! Still had good sales, but really dropped after 5:00, and the show was open until 7:00! Drizzled until close. Dusk when we left. (Wind picked up about then, and I of course was worried the canopy would blow away, but everything was fine).

Sunday. Cloudy start - much better. Sun and breeze. TOO much breeze. Warm chocolate chip cookies donated by Max and Erma's. Was chilly most of the day, but sales were again good. I did purchase one thing, but I hated to leave our tent to go shopping, since it was spread out quite a distance would take me too long. Teardown went smoothly. (This is the Michigan Artist's Guild, which is the same Guild that hosts the Ann Arbor Street Fair, and I could really tell ~ everything was well organized and everyone knew what they were doing)! It WAS the most expensive festival I have ever done ~ guess you get what you pay for!

Revisiting The 2010 Art/Craft Show Season...(2)

Another installment in the saga of  my trials and successes in the Toledo art/craft show circuit...

"In Another Garden" Garden Tour

Perrysburg, Ohio

6/19/10

(My third year participating)

"Awakened to a thunderstorm @ 4:30 AM. Stopped before we left from home - was nice rest of day. Pretty warm, but we were in a nice spot in front of the homeowner's garage in the shade. I did visit 3 of the gardens that were on the same street - even found one of my pieces in the garden next door to the one we were set up in, and sold my first Faerie Door! Homeowners were great AND made a large purchase, too!"

notes: This tour is interesting because it is situated in a different part of town every year. I actually used to go on this tour as just another garden aficionado, and have many fond memories of all the gardens I was able to see. That is my only complaint about becoming a vendor - I can't participate in the tour itself! :-(

Revisiting The 2010 Art/Craft Show Season...

This past year I began a little continuing journal in my sales book, partially for helping me remember how each show went, how sales were and what our impressions were of each event, especially if we had never participated in that particular show before. And also for something to do! Even at a busy show, there's always some down time.

  As I was working on my year end books, I started to re-read the entries and thought they might be of interest to or could even help new craftspeople who may be thinking about diving into the art show world....

Toledo Farmers Market Flower Day Weekend 5/29/10 

 (My fourth year participating)

"Got up @ 4:30 A. Arrived @ 5:20 - first ones there! Set up canopy for 1st time in space #40, same place as last year. 62˚ when we arrived - NO RAIN! - light breeze. Went up to 85˚ but low humidity.

Slow start as always but really picked up - got to stay in the same spot Sunday so pitched in the $5 for security.Didn't use the sides - just covered up most of it. Left 4-4:30."

Toledo Farmers Market Flower Day Weekend 5/30/10 

"Got up @ 6:15. Arrived 7:35 or so. MORE nice weather. A lot slower, but several big sales ($80, $74, $65) made it pretty good. 88˚, but not horrible - low humidity again. Things died by 2:30 - 3:00 - left by 5:00 (4:30?)"

notes: I mentioned rain because in our area, rain is always more likely than not in the spring. Since there are vendors who set up there weekly, they have preference over spaces and sometimes you have to set up in a different space on the second day. The 5 dollars is the charge for overnight security. Well, if I have to pack up everything and move the next day, I have no reason to need overnight security, so I wait until I know where I'll be the next day. The crowds thinning by 3:00 seems to be the norm.

..So that's the first show - next post, "In Another Garden" -The Toledo Day Nursery Garden Tour
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Black Swamp Arts Festival 2010

Although every art show is the same in many ways, they are also very different from any of the others. Of course, we set up basically the same, have to bring the same materials and supplies, and have the same hopes and goals for the day(s) of the show.

But then, the weather always is an unknown (Check with the weathermen? Yeah, right... ), our "neighbors" are usually artisans we have not seen/met before, and the space or area is never the same. Of course, since I never have two pieces exactly alike,my inventory is constantly changing, too!

Sunday was beautiful...

And something new and exciting (to me!...) always happens at each event I participate in. This past weekend it was...

 1) Several people telling me that out of all the artists there, it was my art they liked the best (a few were men, too),

2) Someone affiliated with the Arts Commission asked me if I would be interested in having a one person show (no details were discussed; but hey, even being ASKED meant a lot!),
3) Hans Ruebel, one of the other artists in the Kuhlman Corp. exhibit, stopped by my booth to say hi, which was very nice of him

4) I made a great trade with Larry (of Lars Glass ~ one of my "Art Show mentors") for one of his Sun Chains, something I had been yearning for thru the past 3 shows we had both been to, and
 5) One woman who acquired a Faerie Door from me 3 weeks ago shared with me that she had been having an awfully bad day at the time, and finding her Faerie Door really brightened her mood ~ wow ~ what more could an artist want?!

...And I'm ashamed to say that I judged someone by their appearance, something I always try not to do ('Cause I have no room to talk!Have you seen how I dress at these things?!)

Anyway, coming back to our booth around the close of the second day, I discovered my husband conversing with a man who looked...well, I'll use his words- "I've been a "bum" all my life!" ( Hey, I work in downtown Toledo ~ believe me, I see a LOT of "bum" like creatures!)...So that was my initial thought, until we spoke with him for awhile, and realized he was no bum, just an artistic, free spirit who lives happily with his wife of 29 years (like us), childfree (also like us!) but not very many similarities beyond that. His wife then joined us, and we had an interesting and fun conversation with them about their lifestyle, (minimalist and mostly "off the grid"), our life, and art ~ and my preconceived idea of them quickly disappeared. These are folks I will remember for a long time... and Sam and Brenda, I look forward to seeing you again!

Levis Commons 2010 - In Retrospect

Art shows are such an experience! I often wonder if I could live my life on the art show circuit - could NOT having a 9 to 5 job make up for the physical labor and worry it takes to do shows? Probably not, especially with my medium - if I had fiber or jewelry, something easily transported, and could fit everything I would ever need into a truck or van, I think I could handle it. OR if I was 20 years younger! ;-)

Anyway, I did participate in the Levis Commons Art Fair this past weekend, and did quite well! Despite a near washout on Saturday and being windblown on Sunday, it didn't seem to faze a lot of the shoppers, and of course, it doesn't harm anything I sell! All of the birdbaths are displayed outside of the canopy, so the display factor was increased Saturday by showing off how just well the birdbaths looked filled with water!

Saw some old friends (Rhonda/Ken and Janine/Jeff!)...and made new friends!....

And I really like to talk to the other artists - every one of them have interesting stories OR great tips on what they do in various situations (like how to keep your canopy's top from filling with water! LOL). I learn something new every show. With this show, I was somewhat concerned that our display was too "homemade" looking compared to everyone else's, but no one seemed to notice or worry about it - they were more interested in my work - as it should be!

I do have to mention The (Michigan) Guild of Artists and Artisans, the same association that organizes Levis Commons as well as the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair . When I saw all the rules and regulations regarding the show, I actually lost sleep over all of it! Yikes! What if "they" don't like this? What if "they" don't want me to have these things over here? Well, I should not have worried. Evidently those are just set out so if someone IS being inconsiderate or unreasonable, there is something in writing.

Actually, everything was well organized (and VERY well advertised, so I stopped whining so much about the cost to be there). We always pack sandwiches and sundry food items for a show, but they had a very well stocked "hospitality" tent for the artists, with donuts, bagels, water, coffee, bananas (and my sincere appreciation goes out to a couple of local businesses, namely Andrew Z's- for providing PIZZA on Saturday and Max & Erma's for the WARM chocolate chip cookies on Sunday!), so we didn't want for much.

My work, as usual, didn't receive any awards, which is not surprising at an art show like this - there is just too much around I myself would consider extremely Fine Art, but it would be nice to at least SEE a judge glance my way once in a while! Hmmph...

 

Did have fun, nonetheless, despite the rain,the long hours, the wind, the dumb questions ("Oh, does this one hang?" - While pointing to a leaf HANGING up on the lattice... ), and getting thru the inevitable period of time during each setup and takedown where Hubby and I fight the urge to punch each other in the eye! (He's very organized; I'm not - need I say more)?

A New Venue! Levis Commons Fine Art Fair 2010

On August 21 & 22,  I will be set up at the Levis Commons 6th Annual Fine Art Fair. This is the closest to a "real" art fair I have participated in so far, since it is promoted by The Guild of Artists & Artisans in Ann Arbor, MI., which also handles the Ann Arbor Street Fair, the largest art fair in this area of the country. I have not, and probably never will, be involved with that one, since A) I would need 3-4 times the amount of inventory I currently have and B) I would not want to go beyond the capacity of our truck just to haul more cement!

Plus I'm cheap~Levis Commons is costing me plenty, and Ann Arbor would be way beyond that! Of course, it is true that you have to spend money to make money sometimes, but I have my limit. There is a rule of thumb I have heard from other artists, and that is you should make ten times what you spend on the booth fees for it to be considered a very good / great show. Since the fees are conservatively around $700.00 (USD) for one space, and I have maybe, on a GOOD day, $3000.00 in my TOTAL stock, you see how I could never reach that goal (believe me, three grand would make me happy enough, but that would be every last thing I had!)

But, back to Levis Commons ~ expensive though it may be, I'm happy as a rat in a restaurant dumpster to be participating this year. It is a very nice event, plus this is the first year I am finally confident enough to want to be included in the big leagues, and am looking forward to the experience!

Art In The Park 2010

~In the middle of my angst-ridden summer, reveling in and appreciating the acclaim I am receiving from my events and the Kuhlman Corporation exhibit, while at the same time fretting about the shows every two weeks and if I'm going to be able to keep up this pace with no vacation time left from my "real" job!

I would almost kill to have all the vacation time I had at my old job (in the days before "Creative Castings", when I didn't really need it!), while conversely, I would not want the irritation and stress of that same job! I have never been a realist. A realist would say, "This is the way it is, and no use whining about it", instead of buying Lotto tickets, wishing for an unknown wealthy relative to expire and leave me an inheritance, or for Robert Redford to come along and offer me a million bucks to have sex with him so I could quit!

But on to the useful information. :-) My next event is this Saturday and Sunday, in Port Clinton Ohio, at Lakeview Park.

Lakeview Park...

...and the lake! (Erie)

This is our first time here ~ all I want is good weather, and the rest will have to be up to us! Hope you can stop by, see my new pieces and the birdbaths that have shells (I actually found on this same beach) incorporated into them. I risked life and limb to get them (see below).

Ran across this beautiful creature while picking shells. But all involved went their separate ways without incident!

The Male Factor

I love to watch men.

- Oops, that wasn't quite what I wanted to say! - While that IS a true statement, that will have to wait for another post at another time...;-}

 What I mean is, I love to watch men at the art and craft shows I'm set up at. Most of them attend because their wives or ladyfriends want them to, and spend the day following them around and trying not to yawn too often. They walk past the jewelry, the fabric purses, the pottery, the geese clothes, etc. with a glazed look in their eyes and shuffling along like "Dawn Of The Dead" extras. They see my booth, glance inside, start to walk away, but then catch sight of the word "cement". They move back, touch one of the leaves, pick it up, look at the back of it - all very quietly and with slightly furrowed brows. I can just see the gears turning in their heads! They cannot reconcile what I'm doing with their experiences they may have had involving cement/concrete. Yes, he may have poured a sidewalk last year, but how can THIS actually be created from the same material? Many do ask questions about the process, and it really piques their interest.

Anyway, they usually go away very impressed, and (whether they purchase anything or not), I'm happy that what I do is appreciated by BOTH sexes! I even have male fans who are quite young (20 something), and that is even more unusual!

That's another advantage to selling leafcastings as opposed to jewelry - men wouldn't stop at a jewelry booth - what fun would THAT be?~

MY Favorite Artists -Part 1

I have enough "stuff" of my own around the house and garden to keep me from collecting very much in the way of other artists' work, but there is one show in my area where I find Amy Citko Designs. She creates art out of Borosilicate dichroic glass, crushing/breaking it up somehow and making "sparkly things" out of it. Let me point out right now, I LIKE sparkly things! Hubby tells everyone I'm like a crow - I dive after anything that glitters! But, anyway, I found Amy 3 years ago at the Levis Commons Art Fair in Perrysburg, Oh. These are the same promoters who handle the Ann Arbor Street Fair in Michigan (and that is a big one! Too big for me, as yet!), so I am assuming Amy would also be found there.

My first purchase

Amy claims that these are weatherproof, they can be left outside all year, which I have not done (because I hate winter and figure it destroys everything it touches!), but after having this outside all summer for three years, the copper is starting to patina, but there is no change to the sparkle on the piece! So I would bet it could be left out - I just can't do it, though.

...This is what I acquired last year - I think it's my favorite so far

This is a little different piece I acquired this summer - Hubby sort of talked me into it, and even though I really like it, I would rather have the more sparkly stuff.

Although- when the sun hits it and I get this.....like little flying saucers cruising around the yard...I do become very fond of it!

Some Impressive, Talented Artists!

I am not real impressed by a lot of artwork that I see - not because I'm such an expert, or even that I know what constitutes beautiful artwork, but IMHO only, since I have a little talent, and my father is such a talented painter, a lot of what I see is nice, but not amazing. Certain arts, such as glassblowing, constitute something resembling MAGIC to me, as far as I can tell! I have never tried it, and so can't look at it and understand how it's done. Other artwork, such as pottery or jewelry, is something I understand, but if someone takes it in a new direction, something I would not have thought of, it is impressive to me. Here are some artists I was fascinated with at the Black Swamp festival....

I seem to be attracted by pottery, and, although working in concrete is WAY different, I can relate to what potters do in some ways. I did not purchase any of them, though - every place I could think of to put a piece seems to be taken up by a leaf! Hmmm. I tried not to say to them what always bothers ME, though -" Oh, your work is beautiful! Such good prices! How Unique! Too bad I'm (choose all that apply) A) downsizing, B) broke, C) A parent of young children, or D) moving." Oh well, C'est la Vie!
Some more colorful pottery by Parsley Pottery (I like that name!) in Cincinnati, Oh. (NOTE: While I do not mind photos taken of my work, many artists DO, so please ASK before taking photos of artwork! And if you do ask and they say no, don't get upset - they need to protect their livelihood.)

...And some amazing sculptures!

This is Larry Mack of Lars Glass Originals http://www.larsglassoriginals.com/, he has been a friend of ours for a long time, and has been in this business for a long time, too (of course, he probably started when he was 5 or 6, right, Larry?)

But now that I am starting in the art field, he has become more like my "Mentor"! We have been at some of the same events, and he gives me good advice and information on what shows may be successful for me and shares different techniques he has found that work for him at these shows. Our artwork is at totally different ends of the scale (he works in glass; that's more of the stuff filed under "Magic"!), so we're not competitors at all. We own some of each other's work. In fact, here's one of Larry's glass and copper pieces in my garden, fashioned to place in a birdbath ( NOTE: did you know that copper inhibits algae groth in fountains and birdbaths? Just throw a couple copper pennies in it - or get one of these sculptures!)

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