More Reports From the Front Lines of the Storms

My thanks to Don Crozier of Best of Missouri Hands for the following information, more fallout from the last week’s storms, in particular the Omaha Summer Arts Festival:

From Bari Precious:
Dearest Friends and those who have become friends through your love, I am overwhelmed by your response to my wind water hail storm disaster on Friday. I can only say the sight of soggy pizza having floated in and glued to the broken pots under my devastated tent did not stir my hunger but the vase of wild black eyed susans sitting intact in the middle of the heap of shelves, pots drapes and debris gave me a breath of peace.

Photo by Don Ament

It was an unbelievable mess and I have spent the whole day
washing away the crud happily to find many pieces still intact. My
icestorm teapots from last year were under the bottom shelf and
although the shelves were thrown around and heaped in a mess the
teapots (3) MADE IT.

Thanks for your many offers of tents and equipment but I have one from
Sam and Patty for next week’s show and insurance to cover a new one
following that. If anyone is into mosaics I would be happy to furnish
enough pieces to pave a trail to heaven or somewhere close to it. I
will recover and hopefully create better stuff- though I have said a
few bad words as I discovered some cracks in pots I thought were
pretty fine - “in their earlier lives”- So often I have said, as one
broke. “it’s only mud” well now I am having to eat my words.
Your love, thoughts, prayers and well wishes have gone straight to my
heart- I am humbled
Thank you - I hope to hug you all in the future- love Bari

Theresa Gallup writes that she has been doing shows for 10 years and
has never lost a tent or product. Her garage looks like a wet laundry
room with garments hanging everywhere.

Blenda Marquardt writes:
Hi, Don. Noticed the Omaha information and thought you might be
interested in other members who were also affected.

In the canopy next to Bari Precious, Ken Nelson also lost his canopy
and entire setup. Luckily he was able to salvage enough of his
beautiful wood art to keep going. With the tenacity so typical of our
members, Ken bought an EasyUp and a couple of tables, and, with pieces
of his shelving as his display, he was open for business on Saturday
morning. Yea Ken!!!

Suzette Nesbitt also returned from the storm shelter in the Landmark
building to find her canopy twisted but still standing. Not so good
for her display, propanels and all her jewelry, which was scattered
throughout her booth. After several hours of putting things back
together, Suzette was up and running again on Saturday.

The net loss on Friday night was twelve displays that were completely
destroyed, but many others were damaged. Most artists managed to put
things back together and were up and running on Saturday.

Just to show how unforgiving the weather can be, there was another
storm on Saturday night. They called it a microburst…about three
blocks wide with about 60 mph winds, that lasted about 5 minutes but
took about 6 more canopies. Unfortunately for Suzette, she caught it
again. True to BOMH strength of will, she put it all back together
and was up and running again for customers on Sunday…yea Suzette!!!

There were several other BOMH members at this show including the
Marquardts, the Clements, and Robert Lyall, who had little damage and
were able to keep going.

Kudos to the art show staff and the folks of Omaha. The staff saw to
our safety, helped clean up, and took good care of us in oh, so many
ways. On Saturday and Sunday, there were many folks from Omaha who
had damage at home, or lost their electricity who made a point of
coming to the art fair in support of the artists. Thank you, Omaha.

There is a good discussion about the effects of the storm also at the NAIA artists site.

Were We in Kansas, Toto? Video from Chicago

This should be the last report on last weekend’s storms. I’m attaching a video from Chicago Tribune.com from the Evanston Fountain Square Art Fair to get an even better idea about the damage.

This spring we sold our display panels to Barbara Baur who was going out to start her art fair career this year. She has been through two terrible storms so far, including being trapped in her booth through the Evanston storm and having her booth collapse around her and the neighbor’s booth falling on top of her!! See comments in the previous story.

Nonetheless, she tells me the panels are ready to go to Madison (WI) soon and she is ready to “get back on the horse.”

Here’s the video from the Chicago Tribune: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/st…val/4211411604

A great title for a blog entry: Kansas at the Art Fair
By Nancy Heiser
“We played and involuntary game of the Wizard of Oz at the show in Cedarburg on Saturday. The wind took the booth and destroyed a lot of stuff. The tent tried to do a somersault and only made it 3/4ths of the way over before breaking …”

And here is something I always like to see, a good example of how to attend an art fair when it is raining.

At least nothing was blowing and breaking at the St. Clair Art Fair in St. Clair, MI. Find out what you missed: http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps

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Hail, Heavy Wind and Rain at Art Fairs: Part II

While on the subject of this weather-scarred art fair season let’s not forget the damage at the Evanston, IL, Fountain Square Art Festival on Saturday, June 28:

And here’s the story from the Chicago Tribune.

I heard a few other reports from Jerry Berta and Madeline Kaczmarczyk. Madelyn was nearby in Highland Park at the Highland Park Festival of Fine Craft, where there was some wind, but not the terror that was taking place in Evanston.

Another subscriber was at the Randolph Street Market (in Chicago) and reported “it was it was the windiest I’ve ever experienced - tents were moving around and umbrellas were flying up.”

Here is the report from Chicago’s #1 art fair fan, Ed Seidman, “Highland Park was a great show with a wide variety of media. There was a bit of wind, but not bad.

We are saddened by the micro-burst that wiped out Fountain Square on Saturday. It was sad to see the news with the broken ceramic bowls being swept up.”

In an earlier post I showed you a photo that photographer Don Ament took in Omaha, when he got home he reported when he got home to Kentucky he was so glad to be there he started shaking and felt such sadness for those artists who had lost it all in Omaha and the whole terrifying experience.

He also reported that the main music stage big tent appeared to be ripped in half, with one half of it flipping over, with legs sailing into the second story windows of the nearby building.

This has been a terrible art fair season for the artists. No matter how well you are prepared for the weather the wind will always have the upper hand. Usually this coming weekend is the biggest weather-challenged event of all, the Boston Mills Art Fair in Peninsula, OH, famous for its flash floods.

Everyone please take care.

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High Winds, Hail and Tornadoes Blow Art Fairs to Pieces

What a hard start to the outdoor art fair season it has been for artists this year. Here I am reporting on even more damage.

The first story comes from painter Linda Massey from the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts in Minneapolis on June 14 and 15. This was one of Linda’s first outdoor art fairs and it was definitely a baptism for her. Here is what she had to say:

I am also hoping the upcoming fairs are more successful than the Stone Arch Art Festival in Minneapolis… The weather was okay during the day but Saturday nite storm flattened many, many booths. Myself and a few other artists who went down to check our set ups put “all hands on deck” for the poor string of artists that were caught in a wind tunnel. It was one 20 second gust of wind that came in and stepped on a dozen or so booths in one section and another dozen down the way.We spent the wee hours in the morn picking up during another wave of storm clouds and torrential rain…

Talk about initiation by fire… I was shocked… but also very impressed with the way all the artist banded together to help out in a crisis… I just got a thank you note from a pewter artist who had loaded up all her inventory beforehand but lost all her pro panels and tent. She was still able to set up the next day using and extra EZ up from a nearby artist and walls from another…Nice group of folks there…

No surprise to me that the artists all worked together to help one another. There is hardly a group of nicer people out there than the traveling artists, always willing to give one another a hand.

Here is the news from Friday night (June 27) at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival from Don Crozier:

Photo courtesy of Don Ament

The Summer Arts Festival is the latest victim of the severe and unpredictable weather which seems to come up out of nowhere. Most of the artists were okay, but according to the Omaha World-Herald, 10 to 20% of the artists suffered enough damage to have to leave the festival after the Friday storm. The festival continues on after the cleanup.

A close friend, Bari Precious of Marshfield Missouri, lost her entire booth and wares, save two teapots, when a triple food tent across from her came crashing into her booth. She is heading back home at this writing and hoping have enough stock and to be able to borrow a tent for her next show on July 5th in Sedalia, Missouri.

I’m sure she’d appreciate a visit to her website and a few words of encouragement….
http://www.preciouspots.com/

Story here:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10369354

And here is a video:

http://www.ketv.com/video/16731966/index.html

Another storm hit the art fair in Evanston, IL, Saturday afternoon, bringing high winds and hail and injuring ten people. The weather man says it is now headed to Michigan. I’m thinking I won’t go to an art fair tomorrow!!

Thanks for Attending Teleseminar #2-Getting Started in the Art Fair Business

Yesterday evening we held our second in a series of free teleseminars about the business of doing art fairs, How to Get Started in the Art Fair Business.

Our many thanks to all of you who sent excellent questions and attended the event. All of our phone lines were full and I thoroughly enjoyed telling my art fair stories and sharing our years of experience at the nation’s art fairs with all of you.

Some of the questions that we answered were:

• I just feel so overwhelmed I don’t know where to start, I can’t get enough money together to get materials I need nor to register for any art shows, don’t know where to start. Lost and confused. Help me please!
• How can I judge the quality of a show when the 2 sources I know about (Sunshine Artist and Art Fair Source Book) do not agree or don’t even mention the show?
• How can I tell when looking at applications the difference between the GREAT shows (the ones with buyers) and the OKAY shows (the ones with lookers)?
• My question is how do you get accepted to the juried art shows? What are they looking for?
• How can I improve my application to get fewer rejections?
• Do purchasing preferences vary by region? What are they?
• and many more

We are transcribing it now for download as an e-book. Stay tuned for publication!

Here are a few of the comments we received afterwards:

1. Hi Connie, I missed the first teleseminar, but listened to the second one that was yesterday. Thanks to your website I am very busy this summer beginning tomorrow (Warren Co. Festival of the Arts) till August 23rd (Mason Heritage Festival). I had some concerns about booth display and yesterday’s teleseminar gave me confidence. –Konul Zwolinski
2. Connie and Scott, I found your seminar helpful and informative. I look forward to future opportunities. i have just gotten started in this business, so I welcome all sources of experience and support. Please keep me on your e-mail list. I can anticipate using more of your services, in the future. –Enlightened Images
3. Wanted to thank you for providing me the opportunity to join the call. Great information, and you organized the presentation of the topics very well, each flowed into the other.
   Can’t wait for the next seminar.
   You mentioned the possibility of focused calls - booth design would be most helpful. Would save a lot of trial and error. Thank you. –JR Lamartine

Artless in St. Louis: They Gave an Art Fair and Nobody Came

An artist’s worst nightmare, read this story from the Riverfront Times in St. Louis by Kristen Hinman:
At least on paper the Olive and Taylor Art & Craft Fair (OTLA) sounded promising: fourteen hours of acoustic music, twelve hours of performance art, beer by Schlafly and handmade pasta from Mangia Italiano. Then there was the funky array of arts…
Read the rest of the story here…

What Are You Doing This Weekend? Head to Des Moines

The folks at the Des Moines Art Festival do everything right. In its 11th year it has become such a centerpiece for the community’s image that when companies are recruiting talent to work in the city’s financial services and publishing industries that they schedule the interviews around the festival weekend.

Afraid you can’t afford the art? Here is an article from the Des Moines Register “Juice” on buying art on a budget. Goes to show you, the staff at the DMAF leaves no stone unturned in attracting folks to the festival, talking points for the media are ever at the ready.

You might also enjoy this article from the Register that profiles Iowa artists, with a few tidbits thrown in about how the artists fared in the recent floods. Homegrown artists return to festival.

Bash on the Bayou? It’s the Summer Arts Festival in Omaha

How about a little New Orleans flavor in Nebraska? What an interesting concept. The Omaha Summer Arts Festival headed by veteran organizer Vic Gutman is ready to entertain you this weekend.

The Omaha Summer Arts Festival, featuring artwork, food, music and more, runs Friday through Sunday in downtown Omaha. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is free, although some activities have a charge. The event is between 10th and 15th Streets along Farnam Street, on the south side of the Gene Leahy Mall.

Read more about it in the Omaha World Herald.

Heading to Utah? Don’t Miss the Utah Arts Festival this Weekend

Are you serious about art? How serious? The Utah Arts Festival is so serious that they’re taking an entire four-day weekend to celebrate painting, sculpture, music, dance, food, film, theater, literature — you name it, and somebody at the UAF is ready to exhibit it, entertain with it, or educate about it.

This year’s festival features huge harps. Using 3,000 feet of brass musical wire and a glass and concrete wall, a California artist has created two giant stringed instruments at Salt Lake City’s Library Square.

These 16-string “Earth Harps,” along with other giant sculptured instruments, are a featured element of the 2008 Utah Arts Festival, which begins today and continues through Sunday.

This festival is much more than its fine group of visual artists, expect also interactive musical experiences with the huge harps, food, crafts and more music.

The Utah Arts Festival is today through Sunday from noon to 11 p.m. at Library Square, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City.

Read about the Earth Harps in the Salt Lake Tribune.