This last month has been a journey, I feel like I have been to the mountain and came back a bit enlightened...... Or maybe I am just getting old and sounding more like my Dad?
Ohio Designer Craftsman used to run a top notch show called Winterfair. It was hard to get past the jury process. Top notch fine craftsman and artists sent in their jury fees and waited for the snail mail to arrive; thumbs up or thumbs down? It's still like that only we use Zapplication and are notified by email. Jury images and fee go in June 10th or earlier ($27.00) and the booth fee was paid on August 12th; 10x10, nothing fancy. ($485). Great, see ya the first week in December at the state fairgrounds with 400 other craftspeople. This is an expensive show; $1,000 for expenses and 4 days out of the studio.
This year I was ready! Mugs Mugs Mugs and a few pate' dishes thrown in. Think gifty holiday giving stuff. On Thursday morning I made the three hour drive down, 6 hour set up, find the hotel ($289.00) find dinner and coffee.
I AM READY COLUMBUS!
Friday morning I found they had changed the entry into the venue this year? A heads up on this caveat would have been nice in my welcome packet. Could they make it any harder? Here is my view to get in the show at 8:30 am. Stuck in a line for over 20 minutes because someone did not open the gate. We were snaked around past horse trailers, barns, porta-pottys and when I asked; Why? I was told: "For your safety ma'am. OMG, SIR! IF YOU VALUE YOUR SAFETY YOU WILL GET SOMEONE TO OPEN THAT GATE! Angry Crafters...... yikes! We are pack'n wooden spoons and googly eyes! And then he said that will be $15 ma'am. What? Seriously, I should be charging you for the time I have been sitting here.
I got to my booth just as the first customers rounded the bend. No coffee, no time to eat my oat bar I brought from home. Who runs a show and doesn't have coffee for crafters?
First customer of the day was a familiar face and one I am always happy to see! Mrs Liikala, my kids grade school art teacher! Woo Hoo! If you ever need to see somebody after a wicked start to your morning I would pick Amy! She dragged her friend to the booth and she said nice things! And then just like a Christmas miracle she said; I brought you a breakfast treat.
LOOK AT THIS!!
A chocolate filled croissant and fruit tart! I'M GONNA LIVE! and yes I shared :)
Friday is usually my best day as collectors show up. No collectors today. Sold 15 mugs, two small dishes and at 6:03 pm a teapot. Phew! Way down from last year. I looked down the row and what to my wondering eyes should appear? One of the best potters and all around nice guy, John Bauman! Call me a fan girl! Hey John did you get all the sales today..... he laughed and said he brought the wrong inventory. Excuse me, you have beautiful mugs, pitchers, casseroles, platters, bowls, ornaments, small covered jars, huge covered jars, all beautifully glazed and priced extremely well in this crazy world of high end ceramic "art". What did you forget, something with a bird on it in floating blue? He was beating me in the sales department by a few dollars but it was 7 pm, turn the light off and head to the barn, see ya tomorrow. Neither one of us would be dining at Chez Columbus Laundry tonight. I clicked on the Starbucks app, ordered coffee and a protein bowl. Picked it up at the window, spoke to no one and drove to my room. At the end of a 9 hour show and standing on concrete, I don't want to talk anybody. AND why does this show go to 7 PM? People are still at dinner, the crowd really thins out after 4:30 pm, why? BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO DINNER or eating dinner. Here is a tip ODC administration; as there are very few customers walking the aisles, all the artists or crafters have time to compare notes, make suggestions about how to run a show, ask about where did all the artists go and what are we doing here? And now we ask about who died or other maladies facing old potters? Is there an old crafters home where we all go to crochet, basketweave and tie dye our Depends? Come out of your ticket cage organizers, come huddle with masses during the waning hours of the show, you will get an earful.
Saturday, hope springs eternal, let's try this again. More crowds and one good sale; topping yesterdays sales. And my 3:30 pm booth sitter never showed up. Back to Starbucks and Kyle at the drive thru window. Kyle you get a tip if you do not talk to me.
Sunday I was up at 4:30 am, eager with the anticipation of packing up and heading for home. Hours 11 am to 4 pm. A bunch of us got there early, before the doors opened so we had our coffee in the parking lot. A crafter from Kentucky announced she was 67 and getting to old for this crap. The woman next to her chimed in; ya, me too I'm 65. I was the baby at 64 and decided not to whine. Then from behind, a voice that was beyond chirpy for a frigid morning, standing in vacant parking lot with all the other Q-Tip ladies (white hair) announced she was 84 and worked alone. We all quit bitching and followed her to the door. She banged once and the security guy let us in. Seriously, I have to wait another 20 years to get security to open the door? Sunday foot traffic? is there another word for slow that is slower than slow. Sunday is stroller day and take Mom to the craft fair after church. I looked at seed catalogs and finally at 2:45 pm I had a return customer who had to have 3 more pate' dishes! Bless you dear lady! A few more sales but I didn't make seed money on Sunday.
We did manage to get a good bit of trading, as other artists were having a bit of a struggle too. Across the board sales were down, traffic was down. There were two artists happy with their sales, BRAVO and congrats!! Could you buy a mug? Even they wanted to trade. But wow did I come home with great and beautiful things!
School House bird house
John Bauman mug for deep thoughts......
and a couple shiny objects from truly lovely craftsmen!
So what did I learn this last weekend? #1 Spring for a corner booth on a main aisle, it does help with traffic flow in your booth. #2 I love seeing and catching up old friends, this includes artists and customers. #3 Solving the craft fair predicaments of the world. #4 talking about all things pottery; clay, chemicals, companies, kilns, the up and comers, the old dogs. #5 we are aging and dying out, some of us are waiting for the asteroid to hit #6 Ohio Designer Craftsmen really isn't an organization I need to support anymore.
Ohio Designer Craftsman used to run a bang up, top notch show called Winterfair. They also ran Hathaway Brown and ran 4 stores called; A Show of Hands in around Ohio at various malls. They bought, sold and promoted good Ohio artists of all craft venues. The mangers of those shops taught me so much about merchandising, selling, not selling, pricing, paying attention to what customers say and buy, count how many walk through your door. You must have mugs but also have high end pieces and most important; talk to everyone, get off your butt and say Hello. Invite them in, tell them about your work and in some subtle way educate your customer to what fine craftsmanship really is. The stores closed very quickly. I was working full time to stock those 4 galleries. The new director decided the museum was where the effort should be made. All of us were out of work, and there were a lot of us. When I asked if any thought was given to the working artists I was told; "Well, maybe you should not put all your eggs in one basket." I had two small kids and it was all I could do to keep up with stock for 4 galleries and doing a show here and there. It was a financial blow and lesson I will never forget. Incidentally, those same people are still running ODC, over 30 years later. I learned to support term limits and get new people in with another vision. True for any well run organization IMHO. The only business or any other classes for craftsman were now in Columbus but if you wanted to participate in anything you had to be a member. The top ODC show at Hathaway Brown closed and was moved to an asphalt parking lot, it was horrible and it failed. There is very little in the way of helping crafts people make a living here in Ohio if you do not live in Columbus. A lot of museums are filled with a lot of dead artists, I prefer to support artists still breathing.
Also in past years at Winterfair, we have always submitted one piece of our work to be displayed in the main grand entrance as visitors walked in the gate; after paying their $7 admission and $5 parking fee. People would see your work on a pedestals with your booth number and seek you out. They did away that this year and instead had The Wounded Warrior Dog exhibition. OK folks I am absolutely not unpatriotic in anyway shape or form! But this exhibition belonged in a museum. Somebody help me understand how bringing in The Columbus Airport Police K-9 Unit for two days and the Delaware County Sheriff Dept. K-9 unit or representatives of the Mott Military Museum and therapy dogs help artists sell work? (and the dogs did not get along so there were outbursts throughout the day but now thinking many artists I know partake of certain 5 leafed herbal remedies in one form or another to help with aging or dealing with the reality of "art shows". Maybe some of the artists stumbled a little to close to the exhibit and triggered a dog or two) What a grand idea to put old hippie artists and K-9 units under the same roof. Thanks ODC! Artists we know who you are! Ok back on my soapbox! The dogs are hand carved and well done but then they were selling t shirts and collecting money. I applaud and stand for the veterans and these incredible dogs but just not here at an art show. and we all know I LOVE DOGS but even Kirby was home holding down the fort. I dunno I just thought it was weird but good to know my sales were so bad a therapy dog was short walk away. I have also done many blogs on dogs who are blatantly ambivalent about art. And if the dogs weren't enough, there was a grand holiday cookie celebration at 12, 1 and 2 pm with you favorite Columbus celebrities. Can I sell you a cookie jar?
Ok here is an idea ODC. Instead of dogs, how about a display called living with craft? Take a piece of work from several artists in the show and put together a living room/dining area? A kids room, a bar room, looking out the window at bird feeding stations and other outdoor work. How about a collectors camp? Are you interested in collecting jewelry? Buy a ticket to come in an hour early and with a tour guide, introduce you to jewelers who can talk about their work, have their resume' available and do a meet and greet. Give a buyer confidence and establish a relationship with buyer and collector. Do it with decorative arts, furniture, fiber, 2 dimensional. I also think this would eliminate most of the buy/sell at this show. My neighbor said she counted 14 buy/sell booths at Winterfair this year. The organizers were contacted last year and yet the same makers were back this year.
The arts have been taken out of the schools; we as artists and craftspeople cannot sit back and let this happen. Do you want your craft to survive? We better get busy.
I did have a young couple next to me that made beautiful jewelry, both graduates from Art School, both had incurred huge college debt. They were told there would be teaching jobs available when they graduated. They are out doing shows to pay down college debt. They don't own a house, they have two kids and one has a Mom who watches the kids while they are on the road. They covered their expenses and wee bit more......
How much don't people know? Here is one of my teapots, notice the handle.
I had two people walk in my booth and want to just buy handles for their teapots. I explained, I make the handles and I was told; no you don't, you just won't tell me where you buy them. I picked up a teapot and showed all the reasons why I could never buy these handles on the open market. Still said it was impossible to make the handle. I gave the place to buy the materials to make their own handles, they weren't interested. OMG welcome to the age of Trump and don't believe what is right in front of you or even want to learn anything about the process.
So folks, stick a fork in me and call me done. Can't and won't be doing Winterfair again..... now to find a new place to sell pots in December.
For now I am on the road again this week distributing work to galleries and on going shows in and around the Ohio area. The life a traveling potter........
Hope everyone made it home from Winterfair safe and sound.
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