I had a lot of friends show up to show support and to hang out (since people were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday). Some also found the irresistible urge to purchase some of my work. Thanks! I've managed to make up the cost for the whole show in the first few days of the show/fair being officially open. I believe just about all of the other artists have also made quite a few sales so far. At first I was a little apprehensive about one of the artisan's work next to mine... Mostly because it was Pet-Products, mainly dog beds, collars, bags, and soap shaped like bones. The more I see it however, the less it offends me. It bothered me, I think, because my work and her work were so vastly different in all aspects that the transition between the two was a bit jarring.
I am very please with the setup and location of my work. I had some talented help with the setup and hanging of my work and I have to admit it looks fantastic. The track lighting is perfect and reveals colors in my some of my work that you really couldn't see all that well out at the Farmer's Market this summer. I have just about ALL of my reproductions available down at the gallery, some framed, most loose. I have a good selection of my originals up and for sale for serious collectors and for those with a tighter budget don't forget that I can do special orders for larger and to-size reproductions of any piece you want.
As far as the Farmer's Market goes, at least for comparison, this setup at the gallery blow that one away no-contest. Which should be pretty obvious. The market downtown was a fun setting but it seemed that most of the thousands of people that came weren't what you'd consider serious about purchasing anything. The atmosphere down there has changed to more of an event feel (to go and hang out at) rather than a true market (where you go to buy things and expect to pay for high quality artisan goods). It may have been the economy speaking or maybe people have lost touch with what the market has to offer because people baulk at the higher prices for handmade, local, high quality goods. Or perhaps people think that our prices should be comparable to the cheap, machine made, import goods that cost very little (and reflect that in quality) that they can find at the conventional chain stores. A friend of mine that has worked the market since it began the 14-ish years ago said that people would expect to pay more (and did) for the artisan products found down at the market but that slowly changed along with the whole atmosphere and attitude of the people who came to shop and browse.
Overall, it was a good experience and I gained quite a few good contacts. The organization of the Market could use some work and I take issue with a few of the ways certain Market employees do things. I 'had words' with one of them at one point because of how she was treating another vendor and I felt that it was unacceptable. I haven't decided if I am going to do the Farmer's Market next year or not, I certainly didn't participate in their Winter Market. The fees were exorbinate and I had no intention of sitting outside for 4 hours freezing for the outside venue, nor did I feel like participating in their inside venue as I would have to pay them a fee, commission for sales, and on top of that I would have to work the counter there at least once a week, if I remember correctly. It just didn't seem worth it.
Specially since I've got a longer show at a gallery that's less expensive, no commissions, and it's inside and warm.
- Kathryn Koozer
See my work:
www.kathrynscollages.org
www.zazzle.com/kkoozer*
www.etsy.com/shop/kathrynscollages
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twitter.com/KKoozer
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