For the past few years, Heather and I have been setting up and displaying our art at various shows, conventions, and vendor fairs. Some shows have been more successful than others (based on sales, price per table, etc.), but all of them have been pretty fun. In fact, we have met some pretty amazing people along the way (and not just the celebrity guests).
While the two or three day shows can be pretty fun, the prep work for them never ends. From the frantic pace of trying to get new work done to balancing time to get prints made, matted, and bagged, there never seems to be enough time regardless of how early we start. One benefit of having two separate artists displaying together is that each of us only have to worry about filling half of the booth.
Heather and I met back in college and since then we have used each other as a sounding board for our art. Neither one of us is afraid to share our thoughts or ideas about our own art or each other’s. We soon realized that our Art styles complimented each other and displayed well together. That along with knowing the right people to get in to a few vendor shows for free gave us an outlet to display and sell some artwork.
The first few shows were pretty slow. When you are trying to sell Geek Artwork next to furniture makers and other crafters, the target audience is few and far between (but hey, we made our booth fee back). We did learn, however, some good tips and tricks for displaying our artwork and learned some things we didn’t want to do again.
Fast forward a few years and we have now invested in more display materials, a new logo with business cards, a variety of different types of artwork, and a lot more confidence in what we are doing. Our displays have changed over the years and from show to show. The props we use also get shared with my wife (who sets up at some craft shows from time to time with her Crochet items –www.AuburnElephant.com) so when we have different shows going at the same time, we just have to be a bit more creative.
With a show coming up towards the end of October, the past few weeks have been crazy trying to get ready. I think I have had at least four or five paintings going at any one time as well as a few charcoal drawings and a stack of prints waiting to be matted. I certainly need to do a better job of budgeting my time in order to get everything done. I even have some plans for a few more types of projects to get done before the show. On top of that, I have to make sure that whatever I make can fit in my car along with the display material I will be using. (My wife has a show the same day and will be taking a good chunk of our display materials as well as the larger vehicle, so I am limited to what I can fit in my small car.)
I plan to take a lot of photos of the different events we will be at in the coming months (and maybe a few celeb photos as well from the events) and write a post about the experience. I have told my wife several times, that if she wanted to get a ridiculously good paying job that I would quit my job and just to the Art Show circuit, though I am not confident enough with my work to do anything like that any time soon. But for now, I will just continue to do my Geek related artwork as well as some abstract work and set up at some small to mid-range sized shows. Down the road we will look in to some of the big Comic-Cons around the US.
Heather and I are always very appreciative for the opportunities we have been given through our Art. The other Artists we have met along the way continue to be an inspiration for us (both from their work and their encouragement). For this, we will continue to do the shows, meet the people, gain some fans, and hopefully sell some Art.
So to everyone who has helped us along the way, thank you. If you have purchased a piece of Art from us, shared our work online, offered encouragement or critique, or just stopped by one of our booths to say hello, thank you. It is the interactions that keep us going.
~Cpt
