Spokane ArtFest

A little late in posting because of my insane festival schedule that should not be attempted by any artist, which is faint at heart.

For this show I had fabulous weather, relatively easy load in, great booth neighbors and way above average sales. What more could I ask for. Once again, as years past, the after hours music and adult refreshments were top notch. It’s always great to catch up with other artists in a relaxed atmosphere with no customers around to interfere. This after show time is perfect for that.

Most other artists I talked with had similar reports as mind with the exception of one painter who was asked by the show director to remove his reproductions from his booth and only show his originals. It seems that another artist with a similar style (who was most likely having a bad show) complained to the promoter who was then forced into doing something about it.

Some shows adhere to a fairly strict policy of making the artist limit their reproductions to a rather small portion of all the art in their booth. The thinking here is so not to confuse the public into thinking a repo is an original. Signage and pricing on each print takes care of this abjection but some shows use this clause as a way of maintaining a high percentage of hard to sell originals vs. affordable prints. This policy is something I completely disagree with. No one wins here. The buyer, although they admire and might want to buy an artists work may not be able to afford the original but would be more than happy owning a print. The artist misses out on the sale and the show director loses that artist from re-applying to their future shows because of lack of sales.

Because I’ve done this show for the past 4 yeas I’ve built up a rather nice collector base in the area. It’s always a pleasure to have someone walk into your booth and announce “they’re back for more.”

All and all, I give the 2008 Spokane ArtFest a B+.

Spokane ArtFest