New Artist Fair - that was great fun!

A monster sized blog this week - sorry! Oh, and a quick site redesign on the side.

Well. Art fair done and that was quite the few days! My feet finally stopped complaining about the hours of standing, I’m still a bit short on sleep, my room looks like it’s been semi ransacked…but I had a great time.

Summary

Approximately 110 artists in total and many showing for the first time, which I s’pose you’d expect from the fair title. But some were repeat attendees. Excellent organisation, good communication and well attended, with help from all the craft and food markets in the vicinity.

Very few of us newbies had sales - they were certainly to be had, but mostly in the front portion of the show. As one artist observed, by the time visitors reached the back half, they had this glazed look in their eyes from the amount of art on the walls!

Wish we’d had more time to roam and talk to more people.

Observations

Very interesting to see who/what was selling and many (most?) of those who did, seemed to have multiple sales not just one or two, so they’re obviously hitting a sweet spot with people.

Of course, art is subjective, so the pieces I thought were wonderful were still there at the end of the show. But hey, you just can’t tell what will take someone's fancy.

On prices - an enormous range. Superb prints and originals for way too low prices (you know who you are and everyone told you that!), and others for prices which seemed, ahm, optimistic (but what do I know).

And this is why artists have such a hard time deciding where to price work. You see this range and throw up your hands in despair. Of course the question is; do they sell at those prices?

Lots of abstracts. Enormous range of ideas within the genre and very little ‘traditional’ landscape/still life type of art – and those who did that, had their own unique take. None of the, what I call ‘smart arse’ stuff I see at Affordable Art. You know the thing – taking an iconic photo and dripping paint over it or putting animal heads on old fashioned portraits. OK, again, totally subjective, but I walk right past that kind of thing.

Something to be said for putting a bit of info about who you are or what you do on the wall, especially if it’s a bit out of the ordinary. I put my sculpture media on the labels but still had many people ask what they were made of so I’ll do an A4 description for any other show I do. (Fun when people picked them up, expecting them to be heavy and finding they’re light as air!)

My experience

I had a few peeps taking pics, many asking questions about the sculpture and being genuinely complimentary and enthusiastic. Good reviews too of the 2D work, so in all, I'm super happy with how it was received.

Chatting with fellow newbies, was struck by how chilled an approach we all had. Do your thing, bring it to a show - see what happens. No fretting if it doesn’t sell; that comes later if it’s your only source of income I imagine, though it would’ve been nice to make back some of the cost of it all. It aint cheap to do this.

For most, getting feedback was the main aim plus practising talking about the work. Many, like me, were untrained, and coming to art almost by accident or as respite from life’s stresses, and all just deciding to paint whatever they want and learning as they go. I loved that.

I also love that almost everyone I spoke to had a philosophy that the things you spend most time thinking about tend to be what you end up experiencing - you get what you think about whether you want it or not! It’s very good for keeping you focused on where you want to be. And let’s face it, that’s way nicer than brooding on the world’s crap. (Says the woman who reads Brexit chaos everyday but has learned to laugh at the insanity.)

Can’t go home without…

This gorgeous piece which didn’t even make it to the opening of the private view…cos I bought it right away! An explosion of texture and pretty much every colour I love. I made Simon Slater, who came all the way down from Glasgow, a happy guy and I have this beautiful colour and energy filled piece on my wall to look at every day. Wheee!

Making friends - Instagram/website

Partners in crime in our corner were:

Nena Majka - IG @pocca.surreal

Mihaela Lovasz - IG @mihaela_lovasz

Neil Wilson - IG @neilwilsonartworlds

Lucie Madajova - IG @luciemadajova_artist (?can't find you!)

Great conversations with people and great work:

Simon Slater - IG @simonslaterartist - see painting on right

Kelly Vincent - www.kellyvincent-art.com

Swati Sinha - IG @studiokavachi

and many more that I just couldn't get round. Thank you to everyone who shared tips, ideas and contacts and the organisers Oliver and Leah Norris and Netu of theculthouse.co.uk. I'm full of new ideas and planning my next action!