Advice for New Artists

"Art Festival Pitfalls to Avoid: For New Exhibiting Artists" gave you information about avoiding debt and having your eyes open about all of your costs when doing fine art shows so that you could have a clear and honest picture of your bottom line. It also contained information about how to evaluate different juried art shows based on cost of applying and exhibiting and management practices of the promoter. The following discusses other challenges that the art shows may pose.

What Are the Hours of the Art Show?

I've exhibited at fine art shows that required that the artists be in their booths for very long hours. I have had to keep the booth open as late as 11 p.m. on preview party night. After the show closed for the night, it took me about an hour to pick up the jewelry and secure the booth. The art shows I've participated in have required that the artist be in his booth and ready for the public one hour before the advertised day's opening time. A late night and an early next morning back to back can be very physically taxing, especially if the day you are facing is 8 to 10 hours long.

Take the required hours into consideration when picking your art shows. Also estimate how long it will take you to close your booth at the end of the day and how far you will have to drive to your motel or campground.

Know Your Physical Limitations and How to Compensate

I'm a woman and I consider myself strong in many ways, but muscle power is not one of them. My displays are heavy.. My husband always goes to the art shows to help me. I would not be able to do them alone. This has meant that he has to miss his work. We always take his lost wages into consideration when figuring the cost of doing the art shows.

Can you carry and raise a tent completely by yourself? Can you lift all of the totes and weights and packages by yourself? If you can't, can someone you know come with you? If so, what will that cost? Can you take the heat, the cold, the wind, and the sun? Do you have special health problems that will make it hard for you to care for yourself properly while doing a show? Can you eat junk food or will you need to take food with you to the show?

What Will You Lose If The Weather Turns Bad?

I did an art show in Houston, Texas, where the artists' booths were located in a low place in an open field. It rained all weekend and all of the water ran into that low place. After becoming completely saturated, our tent began to leak and everything was soaked, including a new carpet we had just bought for the floor of the booth. It had to be tossed out. The promoter's rules prohibited exhibitors from driving into the field where the artists' booths were located, requiring them to tote their supplies a long distance during setup and breakdown. However, art show personnel were not reluctant to drive into that same area, constantly zipping around in their golf carts, making muddy ruts deeper and deeper. By the second day of the show, the water and the mud were such a problem that, even if the rain had ever stopped, the public would have had to wade to get to the booths. Three people braved their way out to my booth during the entire weekend and I sold one ring! Houston is a nine-hour drive from my home. My husband and I both had to miss other income-producing work. My total loss for the show was $1700.00.

Another not-so-fun weather experience was in Colorado. I did the same art show a couple of years in a row in a suburb of Denver. The first year, it rained some during each day, but we managed some sales anyway and broke even for the show. The second year, it rained most of every day. The clincher for me was when the wind began to blow. My monogrammed velvet gift bags with their cardboard packers and other lightweight items were blowing out of my tent and into the pouring rain. I was literally trying to keep my tent from blowing away by holding on to the frame of it with all of my might! Yes, the tent was properly weighted but the force of the wind was greater. During that same show, other tents blew completely over and precious artwork was severely damaged. We lost money on that one too.

Tents can create a greenhouse-type warming of their contents. At one of the Colorado art shows I have done, we endured being uncomfortably warm for a few hours and then a cold front came in. The temperature dropped precipitously in a very short time and we sat there in the cold. Several times we have had to set up or break down our booths in the rain.

I have also had to deal with fire ants, mosquitoes, noxious fumes, and loud music for entire weekends.

What is the solution? Be prepared for all kinds of weather and outdoor critters. Know your tolerance for sun, heat, and cold. Artists must be prepared to bear the risk of a total rain out for outdoor shows or apply only to indoor shows.

What If You Have Car Trouble?

On the way to one outdoor art show in Addison, Texas, 6 hours away from my home, we had trouble with our van and had to be towed (our RV in tandem) to the nearest town.

A part had to be ordered overnight. By the time we got the van out of the shop the next day, we had missed the first day of the show and were late getting to the festival site on the second day. The promoters would not let us set up late for that day so we forfeited it also. We managed to get set up for the third day. A thunderstorm developed that day, with downpour of rain, lightening and high winds. The show promoters made an announcement over the loudspeaker that every artist should evacuate his tent. Most of us did not, realizing that we might not have any of our goods left when we later returned. We literally risked our lives by staying with our booths. I lost about $1200.00 when all the expenses were considered.

On the way home from the show in Addison, the van repeated the performance it had given on the way to the show. Luckily, we made it home by driving slow and nursing the van all the way.

What can an artist do to protect himself from vehicle breakdown and resulting forfeiting of paid-for booth time? Make sure you check hoses, fluid levels, and tire pressures before you leave and at every stop for gasoline. Other than that, there is not much you can do other than be prepared financially for this kind of loss.

What If You Are Robbed?

A jewelry artist couple I met at one of the art shows, who also did cloisonné enameling, had their entire stock stolen while they looked away for just a moment when dismantling their booth. This loss represented months and months of work. The cost of all the gemstones and precious metals that were included in the pieces amounted to a large sum.

There is no secure place for your art while at a show, especially while you are loading in or loading out. I never take my eye off of it and I place it in the very center of the boxes and bundles that we are carrying in or out. I take the jewelry, and all of my income from the show, with me every night and put it back into the cases every morning, adding about 1-1/2 hours to my day. I take the most well lit path back to my vehicle if I am leaving my booth after dark. Another good idea, if you have a partner helping you, is for one of you to go get the vehicle and bring it to the gate or the door of the festival in order to pick up the art and the money you earned at the show.

What If There Is Another Major Event Being Held At The Same Time?

I exhibited at an art show in Austin, Texas, where an International Gem and Jewelry Show was held at the same time, on the same days, and in the same coliseum. Since I make jewelry, I was a bit disgruntled. To make matters worse, due to an oversight on the part of management, there were no signs guiding the show patrons to our part of the coliseum. There were, however, signs that clearly marked the path to the doors of the other show. The attendance for the show I was doing was dismal. Again, I lost money.

I have exhibited at other art shows where attendance was down due to scheduling of simultaneous events. The promoters can't always know ahead of time when this will happen.

Bigger cities may host arts and crafts events, one right after the other, through the spring and summer. The public in these areas may get tired of going to art shows, causing attendance to fall to almost nothing. Even if they attend a show, they may have bought all the art they want at the shows that have already been held.

Try to find out if events are held regularly in the area for the planned art show dates. Searching the Internet can help with this.

Do You Plan To Have A Helper In Your Booth?

I've already mentioned above some of the reasons for having a partner with you.

You will need to go to the bathroom during the show and may need to leave your booth for other reasons. The only toilet may be a long walk from your booth and you may have to stand in line once you get there. If the show doesn't offer a booth sitter during those times, what will you do? If you have to bring someone with you, consider any costs that will generate.

Customers may come in clumps. It has been that way at all of the art shows I have done. Sometimes my husband and I are moving as fast as we can to take care of people who are asking questions or waiting to try on jewelry. If this happens to you, and you are in the booth alone, you may lose customers if you can't get to them quickly.

Are You a Light Sleeper ?

We stayed in motels with walls so thin that we could hear the residents of the next room snoring loudly! After months of spending long hours at art shows without enough sleep, we bought a camping trailer. We loved that, but it increased our gasoline expense. Sometimes there were noise or bright light problems at the campgrounds that interfered with our sleep, but not as often as in the motels.

If you are a very light sleeper or have trouble sleeping in motel beds, you may have some very long weekends ahead of you. This is something to consider before applying to a lot of festivals.

Did The Promoters of the Event Break The Same Rules That They Held You To?

Since art shows are often held as moneymaking enterprises, promoters may not follow the same standards that they require of the artists. They want to fill every available space. If they don't have enough quality applicants, they may take vendors who don't measure up to the standards they claim to require.

I have only applied to juried art shows. The application guidelines require that the art be completely handmade. Purchased items are not to be bought and assembled and offered for sale, as in the case of craft kits.

It was so frustrating to me to arrive at an art show and find a number of booths selling purchased beads put on a string. These do not fall into the category of "handmade" unless the beads are handmade by the artist. The person who strings the beads may have a good eye and may turn out a very handsome product, but these are not considered handmade. By the art shows' own rules, they are not allowed.

I have seen booths of imported jewelry, and straw hats, as well as other things that were not handmade, offered at these art shows. Such items bring down the overall quality of the show, give it a bad reputation, and tend to discourage serious fine art buyers. This blurs the distinction, in the minds of show patrons, between craft shows and fine art shows.

Final Comment

There was a story going around a few years ago about two artists who had won $10,000,000.00 in the Lotto. When interviewed about their plans for spending the money, one artist talked of fulfilling dreams of travel and making luxurious purchases. The other one said, "Well, I guess I'll just keep doing art shows until the money runs out."

Don't let your passion for your art take precedence over a realistic evaluation of profitability.

Avoiding or minimizing the possible pitfalls of doing art shows will allow you to remain enthusiastic and energized. If you are not excited about your art, you can't get your customers excited.

Sources:
I have intentionally omitted the specific names of artists and art shows to protect privacy. The information in this article is given based on my firsthand experience as a jewelry artist doing fine are shows.

Other helpful links: Easy Set Up and Tear Down Tips for Show Booth Displays
The best website to know about if you are a jewelry artist