July 19, 2009 - The Local Art Fair

Jay Long Studio

If you were reading my blog last year around this time I told the tale of participating in the Art Fair on the Square. How the storm came up early Saturday morning and almost wiped my booth out. Luckily I had not put my lamps in the tent. When I arrived the next morning I was heart broken. All my stuff was soaked, the tent was bent out of shape—I almost gave up but persisted and got up and running on time. But then the wind tormented me over the entire weekend. Gusts blew my tent around and I was continually holding it down and stressing that sooner or later some of my lamps would be blown off the shelves. About 2:00 Sunday afternoon that's what happened, twice. Two big gusts in a row blew over my shelves and because people in the booth grabbed lamps as they fell only one actually hit the ground. But that was it, it was time to pack up.

What amazed me was that no one walking by even noticed I was taking down. People could only see that there was now an open space in the line of tents so they could cut through, like seeing a space in a long line they can cut through—and often as not the people in the line are not thrilled by this. These people, in their haste to cut through often tripped on my equipment as I was trying to pack up. I have to say I was angry at these people who had no clue as to what I was going through. I wanted them to know the trials an artist goes through to come to an art fair. That I had paid $500 to be in this space and now had to pack up and give up any more sales opportunities. But I also realized that if I were one of them—and had been in years past— I probably wouldn't have thought twice about why a person was taking down and seeing a path through the tents may have taken it myself.

This year I didn't enter the art fair fearing a repeat of last year. And because my sales are never that great at my local fair. One reason being that when people see that you're local they assume they can contact you at any time and buy a lamp. But they rarely call and truthfully there aren't that many opportunities to view my lamps. I don't do many shows and work out of my home, which isn't open to the public. These days people are so used to getting what they want quickly and easily—the next day/convenience mentality. You can order most anything off the internet and have it the next day. If you don't buy it now it will certainly be there tomorrow. Maybe Target has something similar and cheaper.

But that's just one of the challenges to artists. I don't think anyone knows how much work goes into attending art fairs. Art fairs have gotten pretty sophisticated. The fees for outdoor fairs range anywhere from $30 to $800. Indoor shows can reach $2000 quite easily, and that's just the space. There's still the transportation, housing, and food costs. And if you're inside there's carpet, drape, and lighting rental which some shows require. Now many artists have figured out ways around these fees but I'm still a newby and often am surprised by the unexpected expenses. And if you do lose your work in a storm or accident insurance will only pay for the materials you used to make the piece, not the time you put into it. Think about the materials needed for a painting, on the whole fairly minimal. But it could be worth thousands. Insurance will only cover a fraction of the value. I'm sure there is coverage that will cover everything but the cost of it is usually out of reach for the average artist and it's just something you have to deal with if you're wiped out at a show. Which by the way seems to be happening more often by unexpected wind gusts and freak storms. Global warming comes to mind.

By the way there was another storm this year early Saturday morning at the Art Fair on the Square. Pretty much a repeat of last year. A friend showed me pictures of crumpled tents and told of many artists who were wiped out. Another small disaster that the public never hears about. Luckily the rest of the weekend was perfect weather. A friend in the show was showing me pictures of the small disaster on his iPhone. We started talking about how the public has no idea what artists go through to bring their work to the public. He told me a story about a woman who came in his booth one year. She said "isn't it wonderful the local art museum supplies all the tents, shelving and structures for all the artists." My friends was very happy to disillusion her of these beliefs. "The only thing the artist gets from the main sponsor are the four chalk marks that mark the location of their 10'x10' booth." I was shocked but I guess in retrospect I shouldn't be surprised. We live in a society where everything is at your fingertips. Rarely do people look behind the curtain to understand what it takes to make it that way. Someday when those services aren't there it's going to be a devastating shock.

I enjoyed wandering through the art fair for once instead of worrying about my own booth. I love art and the chance to view it and see the artist who did the work—or even talk to them— is a pleasure. So this time I was the tourist and enjoyed every minute. I've included a few artists that caught my eye this year. Enjoy. And next time you go to an art fair think about what it took to bring all of this to you. But somehow I don't expect you will. m.

Mary Sundstrom, cut paper.

July 10, 2009 - Studio Stuff

I've been at lampmaking for 5 years now and I rarely throw anything away. About once a year I clean things up but like any artist's studio there's not a lot of reason to keep things too pretty, except to clear space for working. This week was slow so I've been cleaning. I decided to take a few pics before the cleanup for the fun of it.

I have tons of shades. Some were damaged but most are from trying different combinations of colors on the Step lamps. I save all the paper scraps too. Because I use a lot of small pieces for my compositions I try to use the leftovers as much as I can. But they pile up fast and I can never find that one color I'm looking for. I need a better system.

I was thinking the other day about stuff. When you're young you can't get enough. You want everything. I'm a designer so I've always craved beautiful objects, rarely able to afford them. I can't say I have that much that I covet but there are a few pieces that are special. As you get older you move to the opposite end of the spectrum. You have way too much stuff and crave to get rid of it. But if you have space to fill you fill it. It used to be people used garages for their cars but I've noticed that most garages are full of stuff these days. When my neighbors bought the house next door they totally remodeled it. It was pretty small and they had a larger than average lot. So they added on a new section to the house including a double car garage, rare in my neighborhood where a lot of houses actually share driveways. I don't even have a garage. But ever since they've finished the house the garage has been completely full with their "stuff." This seems pretty common. Got space, fill it up. But of course all they talk about is how they want to get rid of it some day. And we do start parsing it out. Garage sales, donations, college kids. But it never seems to make much of a dent.

There is a psychology to cleaning that I've figured out over time. When you get rid of clutter it actually clears your mind. I've been cleaning out the basement, clearing the pathways through the "stuff." It's been a mess for so long that I'd gotten used to it. But now that it's cleaned up I come down and take a second look, breath a sigh of relief. It feels good. I've noticed the same is true of noise. I tend to like hearing noise when I'm working or at home. It's either the TV or the radio. I also keep the radio on in the car all the time. But I've found that if I turn off the radio I can't help but immediately give a sigh of relief. It's palpable. I can feel my body immediately relax. I'm amazed how simple it is. Then I look at all the people walking by or in their cars with cell phones or iPods attached to their ears. If they only knew. m

July 4, 2009 - Pops for the 4th

Well, a different kind of popping. Here are some amazing photos showing the instant a soap bubble pops. The photos are by Richard Heeks. Enjoy and be safe today. m

July 2, 2009 - It's been too long

Sorry. Got so caught up my happenings to get a new post out. That implies that something big was happening and it wasn't. After the Lakefront Festival I was just tuckered out and needed to get a lot of little stuff done. If you did visit the festival thank you, and thanks to all my customers and their kind comments, even if they didn't purchase a lamp it's always good to get feedback. The sales were good considering the tight grip folks had on their wallets.

I came home to summer. Then a week later it feels like fall. We were in the 90's the week after I got home. Not the kind of weather anyone really likes. But Sunday was wonderful. I got up early and took a bike ride through the city. Stopping at some of my favorite spots to finish a book for my fast approaching book club— "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." First the Terrace on the UW Campus. The weather had cooled off a lot and it was very blustery. Not fun for biking but great for sailing. I sat under a huge oak tree, read my book and watched dozens of sailboats out on the lake. Contentment.

After reading the afore mentioned book, my club discovered that you can win a trip to Guernsey Island which is off the coast of England. We've decided we're going to win. The winner can invite 5 guests to join them. As it happens our book club has 6 people. So it's clear we are meant to win. We've all marked it off on our calendars and I've renewed my passport. It's only a 4 day trip, two of which will be traveling so it's nothing extravagant. So I'll be traveling in October.

And I recommend the book. Basically it's about a group of people who survived the German occupation of the island during WWII. I was not familiar with the Channel Islands or the fact that they were occupied. The story is told in letters from one character to another just after the war. The Literary Society was formed as a means of escape from the harsh conditions. The members, some of whom had never read for pleasure, came to love books and supported each other in a number of ways. The characters are quite a mix, from eccentric to heroic, I have no doubt this will become a beloved BBC series some day, and I look forward to it. Yep, you get your happy ending with this one.

On a completely different note, I'm a graphic designer (always looking for work by the way), and I found this YouTube film which uses type as characters. It's called TXT Island. Check it out.

And if anyone likes to play games, here's one that stumped me. It's called Circle the Cat. Don't waste the day on it. m