Plastic Masters of the World Unite!: March 4th - A Visit to The Artist Project

Sunday, March 04, 2012

March 4th - A Visit to The Artist Project

Sunday. I planned to go to The Artist Project months ago. My email told me today was the last day. I looked out and it was frosty. I wasn't sure I wanted to go and maybe I should just skip it.

a cold start to the day but it's sunny

I leafed through the 20 or so flyers we get every week to distract myself and instead found this ad that made me laugh

ukulele ad: Eddie Vedder has made the uke cool!

I wonder if connecting the ukulele to Eddie Vedder created a rush for this product?
After deciding I'd probably spend my day pondering these kinds of unknowables, I got my winter things on and headed out to the show.

I've done * a lot* of art and craft shows since I started making things in 1991. I haven't done many shows in the last couple of years due to moving and getting generally burnt out with them. The Artist Project is put on by the One of a Kind people and I was curious and also felt like I already knew what I would see. I thought I should go anyway.

I found the building

if I had more time I'd go to the bike show too

$14 entry ticket

neon columns in entryway

greetings as you enter

Big diagram of booth numbers and aisles

centre clearings had special focal point artist displays

lots of visitors

movers and shakers

Overall my impression was pretty positive. But after my recent experiences in Key West I have to say it's all pretty bland... however, we can't all be Key West now can we?
No.
So, to be fair, the show was clean and clear, wide aisles, easy to navigate, well marked. It looked like everyone had the hard wall displays provided by the exhibition people with white walls and the work on the walls. Only 1 or 2 exhibitors wavered from this format.

The vast majority of exhibitors were painters, then mixed media, then sculptors and print makers. I was consistently drawn to anything ceramic and to anything that was surreal or "fantastical" for lack of a better word.

As I surveyed the work, I noticed several red dots on things ranging from $200 to $14000. Most items were over $500 with $700 seeming to be a popular price point as well as $1350. Things did sell here, which is good news for artists.

Right now I am not at that place in my art. I am at the beginning of a new body of work so the selling part is not at the top of my brain. And it really has no place there right now either.

If I am going to have to sell things it'll be my commercial stuff at the local farmers' market if I am fortunate enough to be accepted as a vendor.

And so I left the Artist Project and walked back to where I would catch my ride.

Along the way, hot coffee in one hand, the other holding my coat closed and my hood up,
I saw this stuff