Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Art Festival Virgin No More




Last weekend was my first ever experience participating in an outdoor art festival. Once I decided to show my art at the Open Studios Spring Art Festival I realized I had to come up with a way of displaying my art and after pricing professional display panels I decided that I needed to come up with a home brewed version. My most wonderful brother in law came up with the idea of using hollow core doors, painted black and covered with industrial dark gray carpet and hinged together for the display panels. Not only were they functional and easy to set up and break down they looked REALLY good!

And here is what I learned about participating in outdoor art festivals (at least on the basis of this one!). Despite the fact that there is a lot of work involved and I worried about what the weather would do it was an immensely gratifying experience. It is so satisfying to me to be able to indulge my passion to make art in my studio...but it IS an isolated activity. There is a large part of me that thrives on the focus that isolation allows me, but to complete the whole cycle of the creative process it's so important and validating for me to experience people connecting with my art. So I was able to be part of that direct interaction and aside from show openings that doesn't happen by showing and selling my art at galleries.






12 comments:

CathyH said...

Looks so good!! I just bought a festival tent and going to show my art this way too. Looking forward to your experiences

Patricia Chapman said...

Thanks Cathy. I rented my tent for this gig. Bad news was that the tent was dark inside. Good news was that it was set up with weights, and taken down for me. And I do love easy!

Artsnark said...

what a good looking & clever display

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Carla Trujillo said...

Your setup looks good!! Glad to hear that you had a positive experience for your first festival.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a creative idea! I have done some shows and stopped doing them because I just couldn't handle the set-up and break-down efforts. I will have to try this out! Thank you for sharing...
Elizabeth
Elizabethstudio54.blogspot.com

Christina Blair Lihani said...

Oh, I wish I could have been there to see your work in person! The converted doors look very professional BTW - good job to your brother in law. Congratulations on your first art fair. What you wrote about the need for isolation and the need to actually show your work really resonated with me.

Shannon Kaye said...

Your displays are gettig much for professional Pat. I'm watching your work evolve and I'm inspired. See you this weekend. Shannon Kaye