Last week I participated in the San Diego Art Fair. Normally I wouldn’t give this event the time of day mainly for the fact that it was drilled into me at Pratt not to “pay to play”; however, a booth was thrown our way for free and I was lucky to be in the company of five other fab women who had also been SD Art Prize recipients. At a pre-event happy hour the PR people made big promises while they worked hard to get artists to sign up for $3,000 to $7,000 booths, “You will be surrounded by quality people who want to purchase art. We only curate the best of the best to enter this show.” The snake oil sales pitch was not wildly impressive and they blatantly ignored my question about what specific galleries were participating but they did serve wine.
The weekend came and off we went to the Del Mar Fair Grounds for 4 days of art fun - 5 artists, one booth with hopes of selling some art.
We took turns manning the booth and tried to overlap with each other so that we had company. I brought my B+ game, along with a needed bottle of wine for me and Anna because the free wine tasting booth cut us off after two shots of rose, and I managed to hang there for my slotted times. I was much better at pushing my friends art, my sales pitch was spot on for them. I was also excellent at leading people into the awesome Oslo Sardine Bar, although I did have a bit of PTS with flashbacks of childhood sardine sandwiches but I worked through that. The real problem was watching people walk on by, not a nod, not a comment. I certainly walked by other peoples booths, a quick glance and a snap judgment and I was past it. Yet I couldn’t fathom people walking past ours - all the art we had in there - paintings, prints, sculptures, mobile art, cutouts and an offering of peppermint patties and yet not a reaction from many – being ignore threw me.
Sure there were a handful of sales and many compliments, but it got me thinking about what I walk by.
Then I realized that I walk past people. I walk past people who live on the streets. I may nod, or not, but I walk past their worlds. I felt invisible in a booth; I have no concept of how these people feel on the street.
I will do better.
Art Fair – great lessons learned – a great success!!
The weekend came and off we went to the Del Mar Fair Grounds for 4 days of art fun - 5 artists, one booth with hopes of selling some art.
We took turns manning the booth and tried to overlap with each other so that we had company. I brought my B+ game, along with a needed bottle of wine for me and Anna because the free wine tasting booth cut us off after two shots of rose, and I managed to hang there for my slotted times. I was much better at pushing my friends art, my sales pitch was spot on for them. I was also excellent at leading people into the awesome Oslo Sardine Bar, although I did have a bit of PTS with flashbacks of childhood sardine sandwiches but I worked through that. The real problem was watching people walk on by, not a nod, not a comment. I certainly walked by other peoples booths, a quick glance and a snap judgment and I was past it. Yet I couldn’t fathom people walking past ours - all the art we had in there - paintings, prints, sculptures, mobile art, cutouts and an offering of peppermint patties and yet not a reaction from many – being ignore threw me.
Sure there were a handful of sales and many compliments, but it got me thinking about what I walk by.
Then I realized that I walk past people. I walk past people who live on the streets. I may nod, or not, but I walk past their worlds. I felt invisible in a booth; I have no concept of how these people feel on the street.
I will do better.
Art Fair – great lessons learned – a great success!!