Debbie White on sat 17 dec 05
Hello,
I am involved in a fairly new studio tour which has had some degree of
success. This is new venture for myself and many of the artisans on the
tour. A jury determines if the artist's work is good enough to quality,
however, there are no guidelines or expectation of business professionalism
regarding their studios or displays. I have had some negative feedback from
clients who have gone to some of the studios on the tour and am concerned
about it effecting the tour's reputation.
Some complaints of other studios where: "not a welcoming studio, aggressive
dog, not enough inventory, not worth going to that studio, did not like
their work"
Does other studio tours require a minimum $ value of inventory and range of
prices the public expects to find? What if the artist does mainly
commission work...how much should they have to display. Does other tours
inspect the artisans studio setup to see if it is appropriate for a sale?
Since I live down a long country road, I want it to be worth the clients
drive and I want them to linger and shop, so I offer them homemade bake
goods, hot cider, pleasant music, welcome flag at road, decorate for the
season etc. and do demonstrations and talk it up with them....you know the
warm fuzzies. I have had a very nice response to this.....but this is my
personal taste.
How do other tours handle this sort of thing. I think we have many good
artists, but they are not use to selling to the public from their studios
and may have other jobs besides their art.
Any suggestions would be welcome on any aspect of running a successful
studio tour.
Happy Potting!
Debbie White
Pontypool, Ontario, Canada
www.wolvertonhills.com
Jennifer Boyer on sat 17 dec 05
The Vermont Crafts Council runs a big open studio tour on Memorial Day
weekend every year. There are well over 200 open studios, so monitoring
the quality of each studio's preparation and setup is almost
impossible. We don't jury at this pooint, but do call to ask questions
when the applicant seems inexperienced. We do have a training meeting
for new and old exhibitors every year. Experienced exhibitors will give
advice and ideas to the newer ones. Also we have a fairly long list of
things that are expected of the exhibitors: they must adhere to the set
hours, must demonstrate their craft, must post the standard signs that
the VCC provides, must pass out evaluation forms to customers. We do
get complaints occasionally from customers and we follow up by talking
to the exhibitor about what went wrong. Sometimes it's just the
customer's taste, but when it's not, the exhibitor must fix the problem
or not be invited back.
Jennifer
On Dec 17, 2005, at 2:52 PM, Debbie White wrote:
> Hello,
> I am involved in a fairly new studio tour which has had some degree of
> success. This is new venture for myself and many of the artisans on
> the
> tour. A jury determines if the artist's work is good enough to
> quality,
> however, there are no guidelines or expectation of business
> professionalism
> regarding their studios or displays. I have had some negative
> feedback from
> clients who have gone to some of the studios on the tour and am
> concerned
> about it effecting the tour's reputation.
>
> Some complaints of other studios where: "not a welcoming studio,
> aggressive
> dog, not enough inventory, not worth going to that studio, did not like
> their work"
>
> Does other studio tours require a minimum $ value of inventory and
> range of
> prices the public expects to find? What if the artist does mainly
> commission work...how much should they have to display. Does other
> tours
> inspect the artisans studio setup to see if it is appropriate for a
> sale?
>
> Since I live down a long country road, I want it to be worth the
> clients
> drive and I want them to linger and shop, so I offer them homemade bake
> goods, hot cider, pleasant music, welcome flag at road, decorate for
> the
> season etc. and do demonstrations and talk it up with them....you know
> the
> warm fuzzies. I have had a very nice response to this.....but this is
> my
> personal taste.
>
> How do other tours handle this sort of thing. I think we have many
> good
> artists, but they are not use to selling to the public from their
> studios
> and may have other jobs besides their art.
>
> Any suggestions would be welcome on any aspect of running a successful
> studio tour.
>
> Happy Potting!
>
> Debbie White
> Pontypool, Ontario, Canada
> www.wolvertonhills.com
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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>
>
************************
Jennifer Boyer
Thistle Hill Pottery
Montpelier, VT
http://thistlehillpottery.com
Snail Scott on sun 18 dec 05
At 02:52 PM 12/17/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>Does other studio tours require a minimum $ value of inventory and range of
>prices the public expects to find? What if the artist does mainly
>commission work...how much should they have to display....
>How do other tours handle this sort of thing. I think we have many good
>artists, but they are not use to selling to the public from their studios
>and may have other jobs besides their art...
The local studio tour where I live now (smallish town in
a rural area) is about half NOT at studios, but instead
at venues in town (bank lobby, church hall, bus station,
coffee house). These seem to be used by artists who either
don't have appealing studio settings (or no actual 'studio'
as such), who have a small inventory, or might be hard to
find, etc. This way, these folks can benefit from having
other artists in the same venue (like a mini craft fair),
with shared snacks and music and enough wares for sale (and
variey) to attract customers who might not seek out any
of them individually. The customer doesn't get to have the
romantic 'real studio' experience, but they might not have
gotten that at the artist's actual workspace, either. I
suspect that when people want to visit a studio, they
aren't thinking of a kitchen table, or a remodeled garage,
or a lean-to off the back porch, regardless of how
wonderful the work is.
I've never done a studio tour myself, for that reason
among others). When people wanted to come over to my old
studio, I suggested instead of my place (rental house
in 'bad' neighborhood, with ramshackle shed as studio),
we should meet at my friend's house (nicer area, chic
cottage) which had just enough room to display my unsold
work). Her enclosed front porch became my usual 'studio
gallery' for visitors. I gave her a cut of any sales,
because I knew they wouldn't have happened at my place.
-Snail
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