Art Shows Are Hard Work But I Always Meet Some Very Nice Folks!

Nothing like living in a city with small town mentality. I say that because I rarely leave 78704, Central South Austin. In my mind 78704 is all that exists the majority of the time. I rarely watch local news and I rarely go north of the river. Therefore I was clueless of what happened at Highland Mall during The Texas Relays in 2008. My memory of Highland Mall was 30 years ago when I lived off of 51st St and walk the mall with my then 2 year old and newborn in a stroller. It was air-conditioned and Highland Mall was a new and beautiful building with lots to look at. It still is a beautiful building but it is now a ghost town. So I was taken aback when after setting up my booth yesterday, I took a stroll down the empty corridor to find the ladies room. More than half the stores are closed, the store directly across from me is closing on Friday.  "Riots. Really? All the stores closed for a whole weekend during Texas Relays, really?" I am having this conversation on the phone with my son in St Louis while I am sitting in the lonely mall. I was invited to do the art show by my friend Amanda and I sort of talked Tony into playing music too. The fee was reasonable and Amanda and Tony were going to be playing music... should be a good time...right? Well it was fun. Dylan helped me like he always does. Amanda and Sherry bought lots of jewelry from me, Tony brought me dinner from Quality Sea Food but I just barely doubled my $25 booth fee. Monetarily it was hardly worth setting in an empty mall for 12 hours but I had fun and I met some really nice folks. That is one thing I have always loved about art shows, I always leave being best friends with neighboring artists and by the end of the show we trade and/or buy from each other. So the lesson here .... that I already knew... Pay close attention to the booth fee at an art show... if it is a very low fee, it is for a reason.... you aren't going to sell much. The really good thing about having done this show is that now have lots of inventory and I got a good first hand feel for what Amanda and Sherry like in my art and jewelry and can make more of the hot items. It's all good.