First Art/Craft Fair

Covering your booth cost on day one and getting to have all those conversations about your work? That is a win. The fact that someone walked away with that $175 print means your art connected with a real person in a real moment, and you cannot put a price tag on that confidence boost.

Art shows are fickle. It is not uncommon to have no sales on one day out of two. With the size of your work, I would suggest trying a straight out art show. If you do arts/crafts shows, stick with smaller items as they sell better at those usually. A word of advice though; never display your art on the ground as it gives the impression you don't care about it. Talk with other artists as much as you can. You can pick up a lot of tips from them.

Nice looking setup. Great ROI for day 1. Plus meeting scores of people and getting feedback. That makes it worth it to me. For your first time?? - great win! Keep doing it. And I agree about prints on the grond. Keep everything up. I have a very small art display rack that people would have to bend over to look through so I didn't like that and used the excess table covering to cover my bin and put the rack on that. It brought it up to easy looking for people. We are a creative bunch! We can think around the negatives, right?? Congrats on your first show!

I agree that outdoor craft shows are fun. However, in my experience, I would rate these events as poor for sales. People like to look. The event is an excuse to get out of the house on a nice day. I get a lot of positive comments, but I'm lucky if I make my space fee. Then of course, there is the weather to deal with. Too hot, cold, wet, or windy, and people will not come. Other large events might conflict with the show date, reducing traffic. If you want to try it again, choose a show with at least 50-100 vendors. People are more likely to follow a larger crowd. Choose a piece or two you can tell a story about and talk to every browser that stops. I find I never have a chance to sit for very long. I have more success at indoor shows in the fall when people are shopping for decorations and gifts.

Congratulations on the initiative! Sometimes we need to break routines and step out of our comfort zone. You always gain something, and nothing beats human contact. Wishing you much success and resilience.😊

Hi Iam just getting into doing shows again after 40 years of running a small custom art company. I paid my way through collage doing them and made a lot of great contacts in the process. My one takeaway from back then is to try to focus on juried shows and shows that are sponcered by artist guilds and clubs. They seem to attract more serious buyers. Some arts and craft fairs are great, but most are very hit or miss. Congrats ! and keep it up! You never know what it can lead to.

NIce setup! I haven't done a show yet, but am thinking about it.

I've had the same experiences as well. I've been attending such exhibitions for about ten years with my original oil paintings and have sold either one—usually none. That's the sad reality.

Nevertheless, I wish you better sales in the future!😄

Well done! I will be following suit in this coming year. Good Luck on your journey

What a great start this is. I have found the feedback has been wonderful for me to fine tune my work to the buying guests. I no longer participate in shows, but I used to spend the month of January at a national livestock event with my western art. It was a blast meeting people and selling lots of art. It built my confidence and it always surprised me at what attracted different buyers. My best times was always when folks come to the rodeos and had to walk by my booth to get there. Keep up the good work and 16 events is very ambitious, but worth while! Good luck!

Saturday sounds like a genuinely great day, and the fact that the Sunday crowd was mostly young families and people there to drink explains everything. Different audience, different energy. You showed up, you sold, and now you know what to expect next time.

You’re out there, showing off your work proudly and it’s a lovely setup! Takes a lot of confidence to just get out there so major kudus, friend. To have folks stop and look/talk about your work - It’s a win! 🤗

I have only participated in one art show, albeit a pretty prestigious one. Suffice it to say that it was an election year, people's wallets were duct-taped shut, and despite many, many kudos, I sold only $1200 over the course of three days. However, the silver lining was the connections I made. Thanks to that art show, I was invited to do an exhibition at a local medical complex in two locations, and the sales from that helped a lot. Plus, this is turning into a repeat event for me.

Also, I made another contact at the Winter Wildlands Alliance, which has allowed me to contribute to a worthy cause and earn PR in return.

I guess what I'm saying is that, as Patrick hammers us with, marketing can be done in many ways. Consider your art shows to be a marketing cost.

Looks like you had good weather for it too.

I think your experience is similar to mine. The best you can do is gain their contact info for future marketing. I've found displaying pieces in brew pubs and restaurants. Leaving them up for a few weeks usually produces sales. I've had these shows producing leads with other. The cost is low and the protected from weather. I usually give the business a small print as a thank you.

Thanks for sharing. I've been thinking about doing a show but haven't gotten serious about it.

Selling anything is a WIN. Selling many things is great! And for first time out -- AWESOME. Especially in these downward economic times. And if you didn't sell anything the next day but made emotional connections - MORE WINS! Keep GOING!

There are always great encounters at this kind of event.

My first show is at the end of March. i read the article in the vault about a show. I will do a give away and quick portraits. I spend 65$ for the both and its only one day. I need help setting it up and have a few family. and friends to help. The vault article said that if you got some emails and didn't even sell anything, its a success. I think that your work has got to be very salable and you were sucessful. I have been to local small venues and helped out family and friends, showing a little too but not really much in 14 years due to medical reasons. I have sold very little in the past 8 years. so I feel like I am starting over.

The arts and craft fair, will be fun, but I have other opportunities that have opened up. Ive been asked to do an after school program. Its something I have experience with. Photographers can do things like this too. Local community colleges and BOCES might have a place for you to teach beginning photography. Any way to get your name out. Local shows too.

Sounds like you have a lot of energy. If you haven't read the article on art shows, I recommend it. Good luck, or should I say, Break a leg?

goodluck hopes all goes well

I wish i had more energy to do these again.

That Saturday crowd really showed up for you. $365 at your very first fair, and you covered the booth cost on day one, that's a solid start. Sunday crowds at those events can be so unpredictable.

If you can afford to take a loss then art fairs are great. It is fun meeting people, chatting. They are also good at focussing (pun not intended) on producing pieces to a deadline, good for feedback and self reflection. If one ever breaks even or makes a profit that is a bonus. Both are unlikely if one priced the actual hourly work at commercial rates, say in the range £50 to £200 per hour (UK). You have done well to sell one photograph but the main take away is how much 'fun' was it overall and can you afford to take the financial loss risk.

I would be happy with $365. Too bad about Sunday. My wife and I did one on Saturday and it had 170 vendors and a good crowd. However, we did not have a good location. A lot of lookers and i did sell one painting, which always feels good. We having another one coming up June 6th. We knwo this venue and the people is draws. It is more art centric and people seem to buy more.

Nice setup. Are you using a mesh to hang your pictures on? The ribbon is a nice touch. Looks nice a warm. We were in the mid 50s with a breeze.

Wow, congratulations on your first art fair! That takes a lot of courage, and it sounds like a wonderful experience. Selling a piece for $175 right on your very first try is fantastic – a huge success! Don’t worry that you don’t have a point of comparison yet; the main thing is that you dared to go for it. By the way, your booth looks great! Out of curiosity: Which piece did you sell? Your art is beautiful.