Norway Sidewalk Art Show Recap

Another week another art show. This is my last one for the near future so I can go back to focusing on making new jewelry and sculpture for a while. This show was a lot of fun here's how it went:
Scroll to the bottom or go here if you just want photos.

Friday night: I was maybe less than smart about this but the James Randi Educational Foundation was streaming the Amazing Meeting live and I had to watch it. I was up until about 2am watching George Hrab perform his Occasional Songs for the Periodic Elements live which was incredibly good. The streaming video had a chat along with it which made it all the more fun to talk with all these other skeptics. The down side of course was that I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning. That's right I did the show on 3 1/2 hours of sleep.

Saturday 5:30 AM: I am up and getting ready for the show. I already had all the boxes packed so it was just a matter of dressing, eating breakfast, and getting everything loaded in the truck.

7:30 AM: Arrive at the show, sign in and drop off my Natural History Cuttlefish Necklace for judging. Setting up the tent went fast but getting the display ready took me until 9 AM.

9:00 AM: The show starts. From here to 4 PM I didn't keep much track of time but this is more or less in chronological order. These are the highlights that stuck out to me. I wish I'd gotten some pictures of a few things but I was so busy the thought just never crossed my mind.

First sale of the day came early, maybe 20-30 minutes in by an adorable little girl of maybe 5 years old. She really wanted a necklace but Daddy said no because $30 is a little too much for something she's likely to break. I do have the tentacle charms that are a dollar and she went for that idea because she got to pay me with her own money. She was so proud of herself, and she paid me with a dollar coin which was cool first of the new presidential ones I've received (William Henry Harrison on it), Daddy pitched in the extra nickel to cover tax.

Around 10 AM or so Danyelle and James came to help me out for the rest of the day. They live in Norway so a nice short drive for them. They were a huge help, the show would be so much harder and longer without them.

Noon was when the winners of judging were announced, I didn't win anything. Too bad but my jewelry is pretty unusual so I can't say I'm surprised. The winner was a beautiful gemstone and wire-wrapped necklace and totally deserved a prize. All the other jewelry was great too and it had to be a really tough job for the judges.

Shortly after lunch (yummy sandwiches made by Danyelle) a family with their kids came by. Little girl really wanted a squid necklace. Mom said "You don't need a squid necklace", little girl relied "Yes I do!" in a totally serious voice. No sale but a good laugh.

Some entertainment was provided by a procession of pro-marijuana protesters. Now I fully support their position and think marijuana should be legal and treated the same as alcohol (but this is about the art show not drug policy). I still had to find the phrase "I smoke pot but I'm not a criminal" incredibly funny and ironic.

I learned it was a very good idea that I brought findings and tools with me just in case. A girl wanted some of my earrings but the price was more than Grandma wanted to pay so I put a couple matching tentacle charms on earrings and charged her $5 for it.

The only sale of one of my big necklaces (sold a lot of tentacle charms and $5 pieces) was to a girl in her late teens who loves squid. The whole day would have been worth it for just this sale because she was so excited about it and took quite a while to pick out the one she wanted to buy. Finally she settled on the gilded steampunk cuttlefish but took some cards so she could get another one later.

Later in the afternoon I see a couple come by with the guy equipped with a baby sling. Only there was no baby human in it but two adorable kittens. They are fostering the kitten for Responsible Pet Care in Norway a no-kill cat shelter until they are of adoptable age (old enough to be spayed or neutered). I really wish I had thought to get a pictures because it was really cute.

4:00 PM: Show finishes. With Danyelle, James, and my dad it didn't take too long to get everything down and packed in the truck. We listened to the Dr Horrible soundtrack on my laptop while working on it. Done and left by 5 PM.

Big Milestone and Saturday's Art Show

Yes, I do think I'm crazy in doing 2 art shows in 2 weeks. The second show is this Saturday, July 11. It's the Sidewalk Art Show in Norway, Maine, check out this page I put together for info and directions on how to get there.

I just reached a major milestone for my Etsy shop, I've topped 100 sales. This is pretty big for me, I only opened the shop about 9 months ago, it's amazing to see how much it's grown.

Now how to celebrate? I'm thinking with chocolate.

Bethel Art Fair Recap

So Saturday was my first art show of the year. Here's how it went.
(scroll down to the bottom if you just want to see the photos)

Friday
7:00 PM-9:30 PM: Janet threw a party for the Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show. I was the graduate this year so they sponsored my booth for the show on the Common.

The party was a lot of fun. There was wonderful food provided by some of the artists in the show and Janet's house looked gorgeous with all the art displayed. The party didn't go totally smooth, shortly after it started a big thunderstorm hit, so we lit candles around the house just in case the power went out.

10:00 PM: I get home and with my dad get the truck packed up to go. I don't get to bed until 12:00 AM.

Saturday
5:30 AM: I get up to get ready for the show. I got maybe 4-4.5 hours of sleep. This was not a good idea. We also had to repack the truck to make sure none of the boxes got wet because it was raining a bit.

7:00 AM: Arrive at the show, check in, start setting up the booth. It was still raining but lightly.

9:00 AM: Show starts. There was a good crowd starting off pretty early and the first half of the day went great. This is when I made the most sales and got a lot of compliments on my work. I sold one of my octopus necklaces to a lady who wanted to give it to her daughter who's a veterinarian and octopus lover which was just great.

Why do so many people break the rules? The show stated very plainly that dogs were not welcome but there were so many there. I have no problem with well trained dogs (and most were wonderful and friendly) but why bring a puppy that isn't even leash trained yet? Luckily I had no mishaps with dogs knocking things over but it was close.

12:00 PM: Friends Danyelle and James come to help me out the rest of the day.

12:30 PM: 10 minute downpour. Unfortunately this is when the show started dwindling in visitors, the rain drove off a lot of them and they didn't return. Still had a good crowd but not as good as in the morning.

There were a ton of kids at the show, a lot more than I've seen at other shows I've done. Most of the kids were great and a lot of fun. There was one boy in particular who was probably about 9 or 10 who loved my squid necklaces. He came and looked at them then ran off and brought his mom back, she said no. About 5 minutes later he was back with his dad who also said no. I'm surprised I didn't see him back with a grandparent. I felt kind of bad for him but I don't blame his parents, the necklace is $30 and while my necklaces are fairly tough I don't think they could survive an active 9 year old boy for too long.

4:00 PM: Show wrapped up and with Danyelle and James' help I got everything packed up pretty quickly except the canopy. It had started to rain again just after 4 so we waited under the canopy until my dad arrived with the truck.

Good:

• There was a great crowd with a lot of enthusiastic people.
• The organizers and other artists there were all incredibly friendly and helpful.
• Sales met my goal, obviously selling more would always be great but the show is about getting my name out more than making a lot of cash.

Bad:

• The weather.
• Visitors did skew to older folks and couples with young kids which are not my best audience.
• I didn't set up my booth in the best way I think. Too much high priced sculpture, next show I'm not bringing so much. Also I should have arrange the tables in an outward face U that people could walk around rather that face in because not enough people could fit inside the area.

Two Art Shows in Two Weeks

So I'm down to the wire preparing for these two shows. Getting a little stressed but also really excited.

If you're in the Bethel, Maine, area for the 4th of July please come to the Art Fair on the Common. The Norway Sidewalk Art Show on Main Street in Norway, Maine, is on the 11th. Both go from 9am to 4 pm. Expect to see lots of photos after the shows.

Having fun

I'm getting more prepared for the art shows coming up. I got a 3rd large table and a little side table for my checkout area, a new cashbox (this one actually has a working lock!), and a few other things. If it ever stops raining this week I need to do a test run setting up the canopy and tables.

I also got yet more supplies. This time a collection of little bottles to fill.

I'm a busy bee

Things have been a bit crazy the past few days but in a good way. Here's what's going on:

• Tuesday was my birthday! I'm 27 now. Thursday some friends threw me a little party complete with a cake that had an octopus.
  
• I've had the combination birthday/Yart deal going with half off shipping for jewelry and free gifts going from the 9th and going until tomorrow the 14th.
• Squidoo made some major layout changes including the introduction of themes so I've been updating my lenses to take advantage of them.
• Still preparing for the art shows coming up.
• Between replacing what's sold during my special and preparing for art show I've been busy making new jewelry including these weird specimen jar pendants.
• The show I'm doing July 11th has a $200 jewelry prize so making something special for that.

Ramping Things Up for Summer

I have my first show of the summer in just over a month so I'm busy getting ready. Part of it is a total overhaul of my display. One thing I absolutely had to have was a new canopy because my old one is in bad shape which will teach me not to buy a cheap canopy that wind can tear apart. This time I went for sturdy..

I also feel so much more professional with the display busts and earring card racks I bought too. I like to make my displays as much as possible but these were things I thought it was better to buy. They're all black so they will go well with the trays I made last year and contrast with the light color of the sea shells and glass I have too. I don't have them assembled yet but I'm going to put half spheres of styrofoam in fishbowls and use that to display my hair sticks which I think will be really cute.


I also just got these great stamps made. They're for a lot of things but one thing I'm planning is to use the big logo stamp on paper bags for the shows to put purchases in.

Summer Art Shows

I'm working on planning the shows I'll be doing this summer. So far I'm completely registered and paid up do the Bethel Art Fair on July 4th in Bethel, Maine. I'm also planning on doing the Norway Sidewalk Art Show again (in Norway, Maine) which is the next weekend July 11th but I haven't gotten the application in yet.

I also found out that the Western Maine Art Group has spaces for artists at the Oxford County Fair. I'd like to do that for one day (it would be between the 13th-19th of September) but I'm waiting to hear back on some questions I had before I apply.

I'm sure you've noticed a nice big gap between July and September? Well I'm hoping to fill it with one or two more shows but I haven't found the right ones yet. My transportation options are limited because I can't drive (have to recruit family to help me) so it has to be local. Depending on how things go I might do a show or two during the holidays but that's too far in the future right now to know.

Now I have to plan the supplies I need to get. My canopy has worn out so I need a new one (and not so cheap and flimsy this time), another table because 2 wasn't enough space last year, stuff for displays, etc. Shows are fun but they are a whole lot of work.

Norway Sidewalk Art Show Recap

Now that I've had a couple days to recover from the art show it's time for a recap.

I got to the show about 8am, signed in and dropped off Odin's Runesong for judging then headed over to my spot to set up. I have to say that I hate my canopy, it takes forever to set up and it's not as sturdy as I'd like. I got two folding tables for my booth and it became very clear that I need another one next time, I just didn't have quite enough room for everything. Since I do jewelry as well as sculpture my spot was with several other jewelry artists. I had a great time talking to them and swapping ideas.

The show started at 9am and that's about when people started coming by. I have no idea how many people came through during the day but it was quite a crowd. Early in the morning I heard someone at the next jewelry booth talking about eCrater so I popped over to check it out and found out it was another eCrater seller that I know from the forums.

I brought along some little bookmarks I'd made with a rubber stamp I'd made from carving an eraser and gave those away to little kids (if you're curious the stamp is of an octopus). That was a big hit. I know a lot of kids like my sculpture (especially the animals) but how many parents are going to get their 5-year-old a $65 Perma-Pet, so the bookmarks I thought were a way to make them a little less disappointed and it worked. Another big hit was the little brochures I printed out aboout my work. I lot of people snagged those so hopefully some will then visit the website and buy something.

I didn't really sell much, just a couple of my small ornaments. Several people were very interested in my sculpture, including one person who said if he wished he had $750 in cash to buy An tEach Uisce (I made sure he left with a business card and brochure, who knows maybe he'll call to buy it).

About 1pm show volunteers went around handing out the announcements for the awards. I just about had a heart attack when I saw that I had won the Honorable Mention award for Odin! Obviously that was the highlight of my day.

About 2pm I had to go up to the gallery for picture taking. I had my picture taken with Odin for myself. For the local paper I had my picture taken with the other winners, US Senator Susan Collins, and some of the show organizers. Afterwards I brought Odin back to my booth and got a round of applause from the booths around me.

The rest of the day went pretty well, and I wrapped things up around 4pm. I'm still recovering a bit, it was a long exhausting day and I got a terrible sunburn even using plenty of sunscreen.

Here's a slide show of the photos I got.

Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show Recap

So I've recovered from the show, so now for the recap.

Everything started around 9am Saturday, I arrived with a bunch of flowers to help decorate Janet's house. People started arriving almost as soon as we started. Along with the art we had some very yummy goodies, coffee cake, cookies, and limeade (that was a big hit).

There was so much great art at the show this year, and a nice variety of mediums. We had oil, watercolor, and acrylic paintings, photography, metal sculpture, jewelry, polymer clay, paper mache, mixed media. It's amazing the amount of talent in the area!

I got a lot of compliments and great feedback on my artwork even though I didn't sell anything. The consensus was that I should graduate to the big art show on the commons because I'm no longer shy, novice, or closeted. It's a huge compliment and I hope it happens.

Speaking of the Bethel Art Fair on the commons, I took a walk up an looked around. Some great art but definitely lacking in sculpture. Tom White had his bronzes there and they are amazing (and I had a nice chat with his wife who is goign to send me some info on foundries) but that was about it. There were a few jewelry artists but no one doing anything in polymer clay. So I'll definitely stand out if I do the show, whether that would translate to sales is difficult to know.

Overall it was a fun and very exhausting day. Huge, huge, thanks to Janet Willie and everyone else involved with the show!

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the show.



Shy, Novice, and Closeted Artshow on Squidoo

Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show Today!

It's currently just before 8am a time when I'm usually quite asleep. I'll be leaving for the art show shortly. It's running from 9am to 4pm though I probably won't be home until well after that. Remember if you're in the Bethel, Maine, area stop by to see my art.

In related news Noadi's Art Shop has been put on hold for the day since some of the items for sale are also at the show. The store is still there and all the items, but the buy now buttons are gone, it'll be back tonight when I return from the show. It will also be on hold next Saturday as I do the Norway Sidewalk Art Show.

Update: I'm home, the store is no longer on hold. I'll write a post about the show tomorrow, right now I'm in desperate need of sleep.

Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show 2008

For the 3rd year in a row I'll be participating in the Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show at 18 High Street in Bethel, Maine. It will be on July 5th from 9am to 4pm. It's been a lot of fun every time I've done it, so if you are in the Bethel area that day for the big art show on the Commons make sure to drop by this smaller show too.

To help promote the show because I enjoy it so much I put together a Squidoo lens for it, even has a map on how to get there.
Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show

Here are some pictures from last year's show:

Moore Art not as Successful as I Would have Liked

Well the Moore Art in the Park Festival was a complete bust, I didn't even make back the cost of my booth. It was really frustrating, not just for me but for all the artists, people just didn't seem to want to spend any money. My necklaces range from $20-$30 and even those didn't sell. There was a jewelry artist there too who had beautiful and very affordable work (as low as $10) and she told me she only made enough to cover her booth cost (which was $40). The lady with the booth next to me who had just gorgeous watercolors (and was very nice she kept me cheered up after the show when I was a little upset) only sold a few watercolor postcards, nothing larger sold.

I thought about it for a bit last night, and I think I've figured out the problem. The show was advertised quite a bit as a family event. Now in my experience when you call something a family event it means that most of the people who show up are families with children 5 years old or younger, families with older kids, single people, couples without kids (or with grown kids), don't attend nearly as much. I think it's great to expose young kids to art and I wouldn't have wanted the show to discourage people from bringing kids since I think art education is very important. The simple truth is that parents with young children aren't likely to buy much art either because they don't have the money or something I heard a few times is that little kids break things.

I really hope that the people running the show send out a questionaire or call the artists who participated because I have a few thoughts about how it could be improved for next year. Top of that list is definitely not to call it a family event. I think if I had been planning the advertising for it I would have gone with something like "Art for Everyone", make it clear that it's an accessable art show. You don't have to be a connoisoire of art to appreciate all the great talent that was on display at the show but that it had something for everyone, from serious art collectors to casual art lovers to families and kids. I'm not ready to give up on this show but I think I want to see some changes made for next year before I commit to doing it again.

Okay to get away from complaining about the negative parts of the show some things did go well. I talked to various representatives of art organizations and owners of galleries. I'm going to spend part of this coming week making calls and maybe meeting with some of them to expand the number of places where my art is seen. An idea which someone gave me was to call some of the quirkier restaurants in the area and see if they are either interested in either buying or displaying for sale my sealife sculptures like the Squid or Perma-pets. I was also told that I really should do the Norway Sidewalk Art Show which is very well established and popular (and importantly for me not too expensive to get into).

I do have to say that despite the lack of sales, the actual running of the show was done very well. Things went about as smoothly as they could have gone, the organizers were very helpful, they got everyone to their assigned lots quickly, I didn't have need of the parking because my dad drove me over with his van then went home but for those that did they had valet parking of a sort, the music groups that played were pretty good. I got a lot of compliments and positive feedback about my work, no one suggested I had priced things too high so I'm pretty sure people thought my prices were fair even though they didn't buy anything. I got to talk with some cool people, in particular one teenage girl who works in polymer clay, I gave her a list of sculpting links to help her out and I wish her lots of luck.

I know I've been putting off the Ebay and Etsy thing for a while now because it's a bit intimidating but I'm starting to realize that I don't have much choice. Sales through my website are slim and local sales are getting frustrating. I think my necklaces will probably do well if I sell them through a popular site like Ebay or Etsy (I'm leaning towards Etsy because I don't like auctions).

Another option is that since tourists are often a good market for art is that my dad is going to talk to a friend of his who has a fairly popular shop selling things like handmade furniture (he just gave us a beautiful garden bench as thanks for all the work my dad's done for him). I hope that pans out because it would be even more exposure for my work.

Lastly here are some photos of my booth and a pretty monarch butterfly who just loved the flowers I brought along with me. It was just totally unconcerned with everything going on around it.

Shy, Novice, & Closeted Art Show

I spent yesterday helping with some of the setup for the Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show. I'm getting really excited about things. However my hand is still cramped from filling out so many postcard invitations to artists that I lost count.

If anyone in downtown Bethel doesn't know by now about the show it's not my fault. I hit just about every business that was open in town hanging posters in the rain. Big big thanks to all those businesses for letting me hang posters, not a single one turned me down so it's great to see that sort of support for an art show. It's Saturday July 7th so if you're in Bethel that day hit the big Art Show on the Commons and the Shy Novice and Closeted Art Show, it's going to be a fun day and I'll be at the show pretty much all day if you want to say hi.

Trying to Figure Out the Whole Marketing Thing

I'm an artist, business just isn't something that comes naturally to me. So trying to figure out what I should produce to actually make a profit is difficult. Another problem is how much should I have in inventory? Hopefully I'll be able to figure this out before the show and festival that I'm doing.

What I've got so far.

Original one of a kind sculptures. These sculpts like my Wood Nymph, Satyr, and An tEach Uisce.

One of a kind sculpture series These are one of a kind sculptures that fit into a set theme. So far this only consists of my Perma-Pets.

One of a kind jewelry series. These are my Gargoyles and Cthulhu's Gems necklaces.

What I'd like to add.

First of all of course I'd like to increase the numbers of everything I have so far.

One of a kind sculpture series I'd like to come up with at least one more one of a kind series. So far I've got no ideas for this, I'm trying really hard to come up with something.

Cast sculptures. I have some resin and ordered some hydrocal and mold latex. I'd like to start with some small cast plaster pieces. One of the ideas I had was to expand on the idea of my Mermaid Bust and do a full figure. A baby Cthulhu has also been floating around in my head.

Larger scale sculpture. Odin's Runesong right now is my largest sculpture to date. I'd love to do some even larger work, in the 3-4 foot high range. Due to the limitations of the size of my oven any really big work would have to be either sculpted in sections in polymer clay, mixed media, or cast. I have a few ideas for this right now one is the Wild Hunt and also the Man in the Moon as a large moon globe that opens to show clockwork and a little guy operating it.

Future online sales.

Right now I'm focused on local sales, the festivals and gallery. I really hope to get into selling on ebay in the near future, I've set up my account and I'm looking at other sculpture auctions to see how I want to present mine. I think that ebay will probably be something that will remain in the works for a few months, the Moore Art Festival is August 11 so it will probably be after that. I just think trying to learn both things at the same time is just too much on my plate.

Going to give this blogging thing another try.

I haven't been a very good blogger in the past, I have a tendency to forget to update. I have a busy summer coming up though so I decided it's time to give this another try because I have stuff I want to share that's coming up that I really don't have a good place for on my main website.

So far this is my summer schedule:

July 7 - The Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show at 18 High Street in Bethel, ME. I participated in this last year as well and it was a lot of fun.
July 21 - Mollyockett Day in Bethel, ME. Annual festival, I'll be there all day and it's tentative at the moment but the Elements Gallery may have a booth on the common.
August 11 - Moore Art, Show and Festival in the Park. Historic Moore Park in South Paris, ME. This is the first year for the festival which I think is appropriate for my first full fledged art festival.
All summer - Helping out with the Elements Gallery which also happens to sell my work.
All summer - Further promoting my sculpture with the goal of more gallery representation.
All summer - I'm going to attempt the leap into selling my sculpture on Ebay.
All summer - More sculptures and I'm going to attempt to create molds and cast again hopefully with better results than previously.