Advice needed about art festivals

[stevewillard]

My partner and I have decided to exhibit at a few art shows this year to sell some of my

work. We have decided to apply to high-end festivals thought out the west in hopes of

being more profitable. We are aware it will be very difficult to get accepted to the more

popular shows. To increase our chances we intend to apply to 10 to 15 shows hoping

that we will be accepted to 2 or 3 of them for our first year.

 

To provide you with a little background, I do representational color landscape

photography. I can make prints up to 30x40 and 20x50 in my own darkroom.

 

We have zero experience with art shows, and so I am hoping to draw on your experiences

to better our chances of success. Any considerations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Here are some of the questions I can think of, but I am sure there are other issues that I

have not considered.

 

1. What sizes and formats seem to sell best? I have a 4x10 camera, and I can print

16x40s and 20x50s with this format. I also have a 4x5 and a 5x7.

 

2. What price ranges should I use to generated sales and be profitable?

 

3. How many prints should I bring? Some for display and some in reserve?

 

4. Should I accept credit cards? If so what do I need to facilitate this? Do you accept

personal checks?

 

5. Do the organizers generally provide power?

 

7. Do I need to bring a canopy, or do the organizers provide them?

 

8. How do I transport my photographs?

 

9. Most art shows last for several days? How do I secure my prints each night? Do the

organizers provide security for you?

 

10. What do you do for meals and lodging? This can get expensive.

 

11. What tools and techniques do you use to enhance sales?

 

12. How do you display your work? Do you use easels?

 

13. For those of you who do landscape photography, are there certain type of images that

seem to sell better than others?

 

Again thanks for any considerations?

[brien_szabo]

I've never done "high-end" art shows but I know some shows want to see a picture of your set-up (tent and pic display) when you apply.

 

A friend of mine does art shows for a living and she found more success after developing a niche for her work as oppossed to general landscape work.

[larry_mendenhall1]

Hey, Stephen

 

Here's a good place to start: http://bermangraphics.com/galleryartshows.htm

 

Unfortunately there's no simple answers for any of your questions. Here's some from our

relatively short experience (2 years) of doing art shows.

 

If you want to enter large, well-known shows this year, you may have already missed the

application deadline. The application deadline for a well-regarded show in Des Moines was

early December last year.

 

You will likely need a booth slide.

 

Shows will not provide canopies. Power is often an extra charge. Speaking of canopies, we

started with an EZ-Up but recently upgraded to a Lite-Dome. Lots of people like Craft Hut

and others. Pay serious attention to weighting the things down.

 

I use Grid Walls to display my photos. The plus side, you can configure them any way

you like. The downside, they're heavy. Pro Panels seem highly regarded but I haven't

worked with them.

 

Sizes are hard to determine. About once a show, someone will want something bigger

than the 16x20 framed to 20x24 pieces that are my largest. My sales of matted prints

(11x14, 16x20, 20x24) are pretty even through those sizes. Consider having something

people can get for $20 to $30. We sell quite a few 5x7 pictures in a small desktop frame

for $15 but the shows I enter are quite regional in nature.

 

Pricing is even harder. Good luck. You should -- if you haven't already -- go to some of

the shows you want to enter and see what price ranges are.

 

We used to bring a framed duplicate for almost everything. That was silly. We now just

limited framed duplicates to several of our more popular pieces. We've found that very

hard to predict; it may take you a couple of shows to figure that out. I bet you'll be

surprised. Bring more matted prints, they take up less space and it's likely you'll sell more

of them.

 

We transport our framed photos in large Rubbermaid containers. Add a little padding and

they work OK. We're looking for something a little different.

 

We accept credit cards and I think it's worth the trouble. Most of our large piece sales are

purchased through credit cards. We set up a small business and got our credit card

machine through our local bank. We don't have any high-end credit card machines; just a

"knuckle-buster".

 

Security. You have to do what you feel comfortable with. With the regional shows that we

attend, there is some security at night. Usually this means a guard. We take our framed

pieces down and put them in our containers, mostly to protect them from weather during

the night. In some cases, it might be smart to load everything back up.

 

We stay in motels but usually bring at least a sack lunch. Often shows will provide some

sort of pastry-bagel "breakfast" type thing. Not always.

 

Allow PLENTY of time for set-up. People will start coming at least a half-hour before the

show's official start date. It takes us about 2.5 hours to set up.

 

You may also want to think about liability insurance. If you ignore my sage advice (wink,

wink) and don't anchor your canopy down properly you may find your self buying a lot of

damaged art when it goes skirting through the other displays.

 

Judging by your questions, it's apparent you've given some thought to doing this but

you've only started your research. Unless you or your partner can devote full time to

getting this set up this year, I might suggest you attend more shows -- not to look at the

art so much -- but to study what other photographers are doing and shoot for later this

year or next year for entering. You'll want to study what other photographers are doing for

booths (brand and anchoring -- I can't emphasize anchoring enough), display options,

framing options, various sizes. Some of them will be glad to talk with you and give you the

benefit of their experience. A minority will view you as competition and not want to share.

If someone is willing to spend the time talking about shows, please be aware that when

customers come in you should step out of the way and let him/her devote time to

potential income.

 

Well, that's a mouthful. Hope it helps and good luck. My wife and I enjoy the experience

and hope that you will too.

 

Larry

www.quiet-places.com

[daver1]

Hi Stephen,<p/>

<p/>

1. Depends on the show--your smaller sizes are the bread & butter of your sales. Larger prints will sell, but at a lower frequency.<p/>

2. See what your competition is selling. Determine your material and labor costs. Look at the profit margins. Decide what you can live with.<p/>

3. You should have enough to fill your booth, and maybe a few in reserve if it's a good show. If you start selling off everything, hey, that's a GOOD thing!<p/>

4. Credit cards--in a word, YES! People buy larger prints with CC's, rarely do they pay with cash. Consider merchant fees carefully, though.<p/>

5. It varies wildly, plan to have it both ways.<p/>

7. Get your own canopy--and skip the wimpy EZ-UPs. The first show you do with really nasty weather out west (and there are a LOT of those), you'll thank yourself. Call it 'insurance' if you like. :)<p/>

8. You'll need some containers for the smaller prints, and I use cardboard boxes for the larger framed stuff. Talk with local framers, they tend to have the right sized boxes and plenty of them around.<p/>

9. Security varies on each show...Check with the show organizer.

10. Meals & lodging vary...I live close to many shows, so my house is both. Otherwise, plan on packing food and camping to reduce costs.<p/>

11. Selling is not just a single technique. You need to be outgoing and engaging without being overpowering...Can't answer this in a single line or post...Plenty of books on selling exist. Get one and read it.<p/>

12. Easels=BAD. You want to do high-end art shows? You need a professional display, which is ProPanels (www.propanels.com). They're not cheap, but all the pros already have them...and they're getting into the shows. It's no accident that these panels helped get them in there.<p/>

13. This is hard to answer, as it depends on the location of the show. My experience is pretty varied, so I can't give you general answers to say, "If you had an Eiffel Tower shot with the Matterhorn in the Background, it will sell! By the truckload!". Since you're showing in the West, western-related landscapes will probably do better than say, eastern ones. But maybe not. Shows like variety, and if you're competing against 15 other western landscape photographers, your chances will probably be lower than if you had something unique...Landscape photography is the hardest category to get into for most western shows, period.<p/>

 

I would take the suggestion that you should travel to some of these shows and see what they have to offer--look at who got in, what their display looks like, what kind of crowd did the show attract, etc? Getting into high-end shows is very challenging...It's like trying to enter the Dayton 500 just after getting your driver's license. Yes, you could do it, but your chances are slimmer than someone who came up through the racing ciruit over the years...Putting a good display together takes time, effort and a lot of $.<p/>

 

Not trying to discourage you, but hopefully this is a bit of a reality check for you in the hopes that you consider all angles.<p/>

 

Email me privately if you'd like to chat some more. I know a guy who has done this for years...he taught me a lot about shows before I ever started doing them myself.<p/>

 

-Dave<p/>

 

<a href="http://www.coyoteimages.com">Coyote Images</a>

[stevewillard]

Boy, all this great information. This will save us lots of time and money. I cannot tell you

how appreciative I am for all your comments. I know there was some time and thought

put into this. Thank you!!!

[larry_berman]

<p>Larry Mendenhall posted a link to my resource web site. But you may want to

join an active forum I host on selling photography at art shows:<br>

<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artshow_photo/">

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artshow_photo/</a></p>

<p><br>

Larry Berman<br>

<a href="http://BermanGraphics.com">http://BermanGraphics.com</a></p>