Hey Everyone -
2009 will only be my second year at it. Although I have been a photographer and artist my entire life, I actually started doing shows in May of 2008, so I am almost at the one year mark. I certainly don’t plan on quitting anytime soon. I concede that doing art shows sure is harder than I had ever thought it would be when I was first starting…and I consider myself as still ’starting’ at this. If I had known exactly what was involved in both capital and effort before I started, I may not have ventured into this business, there are far easier ways to make money. However, I didn’t do this and still don’t do this for the money. I started doing shows because I truly love the art. I find immense satisfaction in selling my work, hearing the feedback and interest in it from the public at shows, and I feel honored when buyers shell out hard earned money to buy my work. I hope to grow this into a profitable venture this year, but I also am managing my expectations with the poor economic climate in which we find ourselves.
There are a lot of things I was not prepared for that I have discovered in the few shows I have done so far. Some of these are (in no particular order):
* The investment to start this business.
o I scanned in and tracked all my receipts for starting and running the art show business last year – and my startup costs were quite significant, well over 5 figures.
* The sheer number of photography and other applicants
o at some of the shows, there were hundreds of photographers, and thousands of artists competing for acceptance and booth placement.
* The analog vs digital battle
o There is a very real rivalry in the art show scene that previously I had not been aware of.
* How hard the work really is
o being an art show artist is hard work – there is so much time put into each piece, and so much sweat and tears invested in every booth that you see at each show…I think most people, like I used to be, are very unaware of the effort it takes to not only set up your canopy, panels, etc, but also set up your presentation – the placement and composition of your works.
* The Jury process
o even after all the hard work to get ready for a show, you then are judged by a group of people who have the best intentions, but in my opinion, do not have the time and resources to really do the justice that we each deserve.
o In witnessing a few jury processes, they look at each of the artists work for 10-15 seconds, on several 4 foot screens several feet away, while reading a 100 character description of the artists materials and vision
o You would think that for the $25 – $40 fee, they would spend more than 10 seconds on your work, and give you some constructive feedback, instead of a canned rejection or acceptance email.
* printer and paper prejudices
o this is the whole issue where some shows want to know what kind of printer you use, the papers you print on, etc. and if they don’t approve will deny you acceptance.
o Some shows specifically prohibit whether photographers can print on canvas, for example.
o My question (don’t know the answer, but I think it is probably no) – do they scrutinize other mediums as intensely? Do they dictate to other artists what they can sculpt, paint, or create with?
Anyhow – these are just a bunch of random thoughts that came to me while reading this thread and thinking about what I have learned and some observations I have made in this business over the past several months. I am still a noob compared to many, but I have worked hard at this and feel like I have learned a lot over the past several months. One thing that the art show world has taught me, is to work hard and to appreciate the money I earn a bit more. I look forward to the shows I have this year, and hope to learn much more…we’re all in this bumpy economy together – let’s hope we come out on top when the economy resurges!
Hope to see you out on the circuit.
-Josh
http://JoshTrefethen.com