Thanks! And some more ramblings about booths
The response to the reworked show booth series has been overwhelming. Thank you to everyone who has sent me email and forum messages about it. It’s really exciting to see people responding to a project like this with such enthusiasm!
Something I hadn’t said (or don’t think I said) was about keeping the arrangement of my booth fluid. What I mean is, not getting too stuck in only doing the booth one certain way. A couple of leading artists have mentioned cautions about doing that, because the dynamics of the craft and art show system are subject to rapid change and we need to be able to change with it. It’s more than just sticking with it through this ‘dry spell’ in the economy; it’s being willing to take a good, long look at processes to see which things are working and which aren’t. Trying new things! Exploring! Pushing the limits of what’s possible.
Judy Dunn has been doing that recently with her art business, and she has some wonderful comments in her recent blog post. It’s important to be farsighted enough in this industry that you can see the flow and be able to adjust to it. That’s hard for me, when all I really want to do is just ignore the business side and spend all my time creating pretty stuff.
Back to the booth - I’m convinced now that the pictures I took of the booth at the different shows last year were an absolutely invaluable resource, not just for me now but for the length of my business. I’m saving those pictures to a CD for future reference. Years from now, I may go back and explore further some of the ideas which I’m passing up now.
This Saturday (tomorrow), if the weather holds (it’s supposed to rain, but I’m going to chance it), I’m having a sale at my booth. All floral/tropical pieces are 20% off. In support of the sale, I’m decorating the booth with a tropical theme. Of course I’ll take pictures. I don’t know if I’ll wear the grass skirt and coconut bra, but I’ll certainly play up the theme in the booth decoration to attract customers and get them to laugh. There’ll be tiki torches, a vinyl bamboo-ish wall covering, giant parrots, grass skirting on the table, floral garlands - and the Beach Boys playing softly in the background. The idea is 1960’s Polynesian kitsch.
My goal is to attract attention and hopefully get people to smile or even laugh at the thematic elements. That’s one way to break the ice, to reduce the tension between customer and artist. If the customer can relax, they’re more likely to buy. They want to talk to you, to find out what makes someone do a crazy stunt like this. If they like it, they want to take a little piece of the artist home with them. But even if I don’t go all out with the accessories, I still will do this one thing: be enthusiastic about what I’m selling. Talking to the customers, coming out from behind the table, showing them pieces and handling things with them - that’s a way to help transfer ownership to the customer and give them incentive to buy!
And if the artist is a bit of a character, well…. that certainly helps! Take one of my heroes as an example: Christi Friesen. She’s got a ton of talent and a shrewd business head on her shoulders. She’s also delightfully funny! I admire what she’s doing and how she continues to push her limits when it comes to both her artwork and her entrepreneurial attitude. Yay, Christi!
