My Life as an “Emerging Artist” Pt. 5

Since earlier this  year, I ’ve been thinking about participating in local artists markets or fairs. Art fairs can be costly and time-consuming. Most art fairs cost an average of $150-$250 to participate. There also the costs of display equipment, marketing materials and tents. Furthermore most art fairs are 2-3 days long and require an artist to stay at a booth for 8-10 hours each day.  While I have been doing research and looking into participating in some local art fairs in 2012, I heard about a local artist market that was a very affordable price and only required  four hours of my time on a Friday evening. So I thought  that this smaller venue would be a great opportunity for me get my feet wet.

I reserved a booth space near the front entrance in hopes of making a great first impression on the people attending the event. Unfortunately (for me), my booth sat next to a talented jewelry maker and across from a well-known local artist who attracted most of the incoming traffic. While I was able to meet some potential customers and pass out postcards, I did not sale any work. But, I did learn some valuable lessons.  Lesson #1-Having a booth in the right space is critical to how much you sale. While it is important to be in a great space, you do not want to be overshadowed by the artists booths that are adjacent to yours. Lesson #2- Bring lots and lots of work to display. Quantity is as equally important as quality. Lesson #3- Make sure you have professional display equipment to exhibit your work on. I still have not made a final decision as to whether or not I will participate in any more art fairs in the future; yet I am glad that I had this experience.