Artisphere Shines Light into the Lives of Traveling Artists

Greenville, SC - The dreams of artists nationwide will soon come true as artists diligently work behind the scenes to prepare for the mega award-winning Artisphere in Greenville, SC. This annual juried arts festival will be held in the West End/Falls Park area of Downtown Greenville from Friday May 7 (4pm-8:30pm) to Sunday May 9 (11am-6pm) 2010. As Artisphere has increased its number of artists from 100 to 120, many states will be represented including North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Illinois, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Utah, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Iowa, Wyoming, and California by artists featuring a variety of genres including drawings, paintings, printmaking, photography, fiber arts, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture, glass, and woodwork. Along with these showcases from visual artists will be performances from musical artists. While most of the audience attention will be focused on the artists' masterpieces, one need not overlook the details involved in the lives of individuals who have dedicated their lives to working as professional traveling artists.

The month before Artisphere, participating artists nationwide are finalizing their traveling plans as travel is often a huge part of a professional artist's career. Travel not only means making hotel reservations and packing suitcases of clothes, toiletries, and food, but also transporting an array of artwork, booth structures, display units, tables, and chairs, all of which the artists are in charge of providing. This requires gaining access to vans, jeeps, trucks, or U-hauls. In addition, out-of-state artists who are new to Artisphere must become knowledgeable of directions to this festival.

At least three months prior to traveling, artists nationwide are busily marketing their art to all potential customers. This includes sending out art festival invitations to previous customers from art fair guest books, distributing flyers to members of organizations that they belong to, as well as promoting their upcoming exhibitions on social networking sites. All of this is necessary to meet the artist's income goals as artists will have loyal customers who are willing to travel to their art festivals.

As many professional artists are self-employed, at the beginning of each year they are responsible for devising a financial plan and production schedule. The financial plan includes an estimation of the hours of labor, supply investment, overhead expenses, art festival exhibitor and jury fees, travel expenses, and profit from art, all of which are figured into the prices charged for the artwork at art festivals. A production schedule determines the work schedule in the number of hours per pay, days per week, and weeks per year based on the volume of art needed to reach an artist's financial goals.

All-in-all the extensive efforts of traveling artists are worth it as they are doing what they love to make a living. In addition to the profit that they will make from selling their art work at Artisphere, the best of the artists, determined by art judges, will be awarded monetary prizes for the categories of "Best in Show", "2^nd Place," "3^rd Place", or one of four "Merit Awards". Artisphere directions and other details are available on its website for all individuals interested in celebrating art and the lives of professional artists.

Sources

"Visual Arts and Artists Row." Artisphere.