Beth Hamilton on tue 24 oct 00
I just attended my first show as an exhibitor. Mt. Dora, Florida, usually
has a good reputation for juried arts/crafts. However, my booth was
opposite a sand art booth (nice people but juried? or Art?) and around the
corner from a mass produced weathervane seller. (it was hysterically funny
watching all of these people carrying weathervanes over their shoulders like
pikes of old). Down the road, someone was selling pvc bows and dowl rod
arrows - again juried? This makes me wonder why I paid a fee for jurying
when anyone could exhibit. You cannot say selling bottles and colored sand
is art, nor are mass produced stamped out weathervanes, pvc bows and arrows,
etc. Ironically, I had just submitted my application for their spring show
(Oct. 15 deadline) and now I'm wondering why? With three major shows on the
same weekend in Central Florida, sales were very poor. I enjoyed the show
as a learning process, and people watching can be fun, but I needed and
still need to earn money at my craft. Considering the amount of money you
can pay out for shows that are months away, selling your products this way
is frustrating enough. Having a juried show, with extra fees for the
jurying, that considers sand art to be acceptable as a craft/art form makes
you wonder why you have put the work, sweat and tears into your pots. Hell,
I should have taken the wheel and done spin art, probably would have done
really well!
Beth, disappointed but still persevering in sunny FLA.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
OWLPOTTER@AOL.COM on wed 25 oct 00
Ah Beth, so sorry you had this kind of experience.
Another example that: Jury fees are a rip off, plain and simple. A big jury
fee doesn't mean a good show. It just means the organizers have found another
"snake oil" scam to get money out of poor exhibitors.
A better guage of what kind of show it is, usually, is to ask previous year's
exhibitors. Sometimes the organizers will give you names, sometimes you have
to do a little detective work on your own.
Better luck at future shows.
Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan
| |
|
