Indio is in the heart of the Palm Springs, La Quinta area, which is quite
sophisticated in terms of audience. The Southwest Festival site is the Polo
Club, you know, rich people who can afford a few extra "play" horses and the
stables to keep them in.
Okay, having said that, let's get down to reality. If I recall, the SW
Festival is a paid-gate show, indeed on the high side in terms of both
offerings and audience. You do NOT want to look cheap for sure because you
will stand way out in a bad way. On the other hand, even wealthy people like
bargains…on expensive stuff.
If I were you, I wouldn't change everything I do for one show but would
definitely take this opportunity to invest in building your high-end
inventory and take that high-end inventory to this particular show. Overly
expensive frames and expensive matting, in my opinion, are a waste of money
in "rich" shows because these are the types of people that will have
everything custom reframed to match their décor. But you do have to make the
matting/framing "look" as good as you can in order to even attract people
into your booth.
And again on the other hand, there are plenty of "regular" people that
attend this show so don't completely discard your more affordable inventory.
IMHO, you should already be selling photographs on archival paper with
pigment inks so that your audience will have a reasonable expectation of
longevity, as with any other work of art. This goes whether your artwork is
purchased at a holiday boutique or a premier art festival.
That's just my opinion. I have a lovely photograph of the Grand Canyon that
I purchased when I first started on the circuit 12 years ago and it is all
but faded away. As a collector, it frankly pisses me off because my $120
could have been better spent elsewhere. As a festival artist, it really
pisses me off because it gives art festivals a "cheap" connotation and
that's bad for all of us.
Maria
[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]
www.1000woodcuts.com
www.artfestivalguide.info
[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]
From: artshow_photo@yahoogroups.com [mailto:artshow_photo@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of ChrisV
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 8:21 PM
To: artshow_photo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [artshow_photo] From Farmer's Market to Art Show
For the last year I have been getting my photography feet wet selling in
local farmer's markets, fundraisers, holiday boutiques etc. I was recently
accepted into my first juried art show, The Southwest Arts Festival in
Indio, CA which takes place the last weekend of Janaury 2011.
I am wondering if I should expect to sell a different product at the Art
Festival than what I currently sell. I currently do all my own printing on a
Canon Pro9000 printer using only Canon paper and only Canon ink. Will people
expect more from me as part of an arts festival?
Do I now have to have everything professionally printed and professionally
matted? Do I need to use archival paper? Do I have to now spend $10 on a mat
instead of $5? Will I be expected to make a product that is built to last
for the next 250 years? My work will not be sold for 100's of dollars but
will be reasonably priced for the average consumer.
I don't put out an inferior product at my farmer's markets and I don't wish
to disappoint those buyers who will be attending this art festival. BUT I
don't want to throw away money doing an "overkill" job when it isn't
necessary.
It is exactly my concern for the public getting what they pay for that I ask
these questions. I want both me and my customers to be satisfied.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://artshowphoto.com/support.htm
PLEASE READ....PLEASE TRIM POSTS!!! Keep quoted material short.
Repeat or create accurate subject lines.
If you want to advertise services related to art shows or photography, either in a forum post or on the resource web site, please contact the forum owner for permission.
Resource web site at
http://ArtShowPhoto.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment