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! :-(

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!

To Frou Frou Or Not To Frou Frou

My spousal unit and I have "discussions" all the time about decorations in our booth. Granted, considering all we have to transport (and really don't want to expand beyond our truck), there isn't a lot of room for extra frills. Of course, being a man, he sees no reason for it, but I know that I'm more attracted to a booth that has sparkles, a pretty cloth backdrop or flowers, as most women are. (I'm just making generalizations ~ some men are attracted to stuff like that too ~ heck, my dad collects dolls!). The only concession he has made encompasses some small leaves covered in glitter (craft store-after Xmas sale) that I hang around the signs and frame.

In the past year though, at indoor shows, we have decided to use our canopy frame in our space, since I'm getting to the point where I need the extra display space. Last Fall I purchased some garlands of red and yellow leaves to make the canopy look more like a gazebo, and surprisingly, I'm getting no complaints from my other half! I have since acquired some "Summer" garlands to use when we have the full canopy up at the outdoor shows. I guess because they're so lightweight (and can pretty much fit anywhere), it's not bothering him. I really think it makes a difference, though.

I have only one problem: I really get irritated when someone is looking at my work, compliments it, then points at one of the decorations (that cost me a few cents each) and asks, "How much is that?" (Seriously ~ that has happened several times!)

Note the glittery leaves on each side of the sign (Hmmm...note to self - I was going to look into something to stiffen that sign...)

 I really need to train myself to quote them a (high) price like they really ARE for sale without saying anything else. That would have one of two results: 1) if they're dumb enough to pay it, I make a profit or 2) they would realize how ridiculous that question really was! Hey, a win-win situation!