Aurelia and all,
I can give a few comments on doing the Art Fairs. I have done several in our
NW areas.
-First, you must know that it is HARD WORK. The set up and take down is not
easy PHYSICAL LABOR.
-The hours are long, you would need 2-3 in a booth to just 'man it'.
-To be at all 'impressive to the public' you need a very professional
appearing booth. This can be expensive!
-You need a sizeable inventory of works.
-There is usually a rather high entry fee. At least for the better show.
I don't mean to say it can't be done it can, but I want people to be aware of
the time, $, and effort involved. And this is time and effort that takes away
from your lace making time.
If anyone still wants to try it, my hat is off to you, go ahead and try.
First visit the Fairs you are interested in 'doing' and check out the rules
for entry, fees, availability of lighting, size of booth, etc. Many of the
better Fairs are 'Juried' which means that you must present your 'wares and
booth design' to a committee for acceptance. This usually keeps the quality
of the Art higher, depending upon the criteria of the committee.
Did you take that workshop on "Designing for Bucks Pt'? I have been wanting
to try some and wondered if there are any 'rules or points' to look out for.
Does anyone know of books that give pointers on designing in the point ground
laces?
Lorri
Apparently these fairs are run much like the state fairs that we all
know and don't love -- "one-stop shopping" takes you past lots and
lots of art dealers; much easier than going to art auctions. Seems
that there will be a bunch of them in New York this fall:
International Art + Design Fair, Oct. 7-11; AAF Contemporary Art
Fair ("all work priced between $100 and $10,000") at Pier 92, Oct.
27-30; and Modernism ("focuses on 20th-century decorative arts and
design"), Nov. 10-13.
Seems to me that a group of lacemakers could put in an appearance,
maybe even make something of a splash -- a gentle splash, don't want
to scare anybody -- but just to get the public accustomed, at first,
to seeing lace occupying the same universe as photography, vases,
tapestry, installation-art...
Is anybody going to be in New York on any of those dates?
By the way, some spiders have been referring to "art vs. craft."
Somebody even remarked with pride about "lowly" craftsmanship. I
don't think there's any "versus" about it. Arts and crafts belong to
each other; the more skillful our eye and hand (the craftsman in us),
the more reach to our designs (the artist in us). Why else do
accomplished and experienced lacemakers take workshops and buy books
and devote themselves to minutiae of study? I remember with awe and
affection that the very last workshop that Pam Nottingham (a stickler
for technical perfection if ever there was one!) gave us in this
country was called (approximately) "Designing for Bucks Point Lace."
See you at the Fair! -- Aurelia
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