Art Show Artist – Equipment And Choosing A Show
February 16, 2010 Artist, How-To Articles
Art Show Artist – Equipment And Choosing A ShowBy Elizabeth Sullivan
Wild Spirit Art Works
(Read Article #1 of this series at: Making a Living as an Artist – Art Shows and Festivals)
If, after reading the last article, you have now decided to step out and start earning a living from your art at shows, it’s now time for you to figure out what equipment you will need and actually apply to a show or two.
Before you apply to a show you need a way to display your art, because nearly all show applications require you to show them a photo of your booth set up. You don’t need to buy top price equipment to begin, but you either need to do a show that doesn’t require a booth shot (very rare) or you need to buy a tent and set up your booth in your yard or garage and take a photo.
Buy a white (some shows allow only white) EZ Up 10′x10′ tent or a brand that is similar at Sams Wholesale or online. Use some kind of screen to hang 2D artwork or use folding tables draped with cloth covers to display jewelry, sculpture or any kind of 3D artwork. You can upgrade to a more substantial art show tent and Pro Panels (carpet covered art display panels) or pedestals after you try a few art shows and decide this is really what you want to do. But an immediate investment in a “Show Off” tent and Pro Panels, for example, would cost minimum of $2,000. Unless you can buy them used from someone who is getting out of the business, it’s usually too big an expense for someone just starting an art show career.
I hope by now you have done enough paintings or pottery or whatever your medium is to have an inventory to fill the display. But be sure your display photo looks uncluttered and neat.
In order to apply to a show you will have to pay a booth fee (refundable if you don’t get accepted) and a jury fee (never refundable). Applying online is the easiest way to apply to shows, but the central website for applying to shows, www.zapplication.com, although it has some good shows, does not include nearly all of them and is usually more expensive. And you have less chance to be accepted to a show on zapplication because since it is so easy to apply more artists apply and compete for the small number of booths available. Booth fees for shows run from $80 to $800 – the more expensive ones are on zapplication. Although I do some of the big expensive shows, I often make more profit doing smaller shows just because the expenses are less.
When you send in your photographs of artwork and your display booth, “jury” views your art and decides what will and will not be accepted for a booth in the show. Most times, there is a “jury fee” which can be $20-$50, and that fee is never refunded even if you aren’t accepted.
Sometimes I travel-00 miles or more for a show – like to Florida in winter or Colorado in summer, but you shouldn’t have to go that far to find a first or second show in order to try it out. Something nearby should be fine.
Find shows online at zapplication or www.festival.net or by looking in art show magazines, Sunshine Artist or Where It’s At. Brochures from different cities and towns often list festivals and shows, as do websites for cities and shows. Ask other artists to find some shows that would be good to start.
You cannot tell by the name of a show what it will be like, so you have to ask other artists or ask the promoter – who sometimes will not tell you the truth, but sometimes will. For example, I would not think that Gruene Market Days out in the country north of San Antonio would be any kind of art show at all. It’s monthly – the third weekend of every month. From the name, I would think they sell tomatoes and strawberries. However, it turns out to be a great little art show – the promoter only lets good quality work in, and the public knows this and they come to shop for arts and crafts. There are no tomatoes.
There are big festivals which are expensive to do and indeed, difficult to do (long hours and set up at 6 am). Some are profitable and some are not. Old Pecan Street Festival has 6 stages of music, petting zoo and a carnival, it’s difficult to do and it has a high booth fee ($425), but for me it’s more profitable to do that show than go elsewhere, just because it’s only 25 miles from home. I’ve done shows out of town on the same dates, but travel expenses eat up the profit. These are just things to think about when choosing shows.
As I mentioned you have to read every application and all the rules to figure out how to apply to a show, even on zapplication. Some shows require originals only, no prints, for example. Some shows let you apply online at the show’s website, even though they are not on zapplication. Some only have paper applications, but will mail you one if you email them. Just follow directions. They are all different.
Since you will have to send in applications months in advance of the show, then wait more months to find out if you have been accepted or not, you need a plan. And a calendar. Don’t quit your current way of earning income until you’ve already done some shows and decided this is what you want to do. Do not decide you have to be in one particular show – sometimes you get accepted and sometimes not – it’s unpredictable whim. There isn’t anything you can change about this process and you will get rejects, so put on your big girl panties and deal with it. You can succeed in spite of this process by applying to more shows. The best solution I ever heard was to take rejection letters, put them in a blender with some water, and make some interesting homemade paper to use for price tags.
Realize that whether you are accepted to the show or not is just someone else’s opinion and really nothing to do with how good your art is. Keep applying. Take those reject letters and put them in the blender with some water and make some interesting homemade paper to use as price tags. Nobody will tell you why you were rejected from a show, which is unfair and suppressive. But you just have to ignore it. The reason they don’t tell you is because some of the reasons are pretty flimsy and have nothing to do with art. Do some other show instead and be successful in spite of rejects.
Perfect photographs are the only way I know to improve your chances of being accepted in shows that actually have juries and base their acceptance on artwork. But even then if they have 100 applications for jewelry and 20 for sculpture, the sculpture will get in and only 20 of the jewelers may get in.
As a demonstration of this concept, I have a story. You will see in applications that many shows offer cash prizes to artists – they have on site judges determine who has the best artwork in different categories. I don’t do shows to win prizes – I do them to sell my artwork, and there is no better validation than someone wants to pay you money for a piece of your art that they want to hang in their home. But the first time I won a first place was at a show where I had already figured that there were two other painters there who were better than I was. They didn’t get the prize because the judges’ opinions were that my work was better. Thank you, judges! However, I would never dwell on the fact that I didn’t win a prize or that I got a reject for a show. Neither of those determines whether your artwork is good or not. You just have to make up your mind to succeed and carry on, and you will flourish and prosper.
