Boston Christmas Festival

This last weekend, I had a booth setup for the Boston Christmas Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. Although hopeful in the beginning, I soon realized that the show was not for me. Although I sold one large painting and made a number of print sales, the crowds did not seem to have any interest in viewing my paintings. The crowds were definitely present, but they were primarily buying jewelry, food, or small/inexpensive items. Most of the people were just walking by my booth and didn't even come in or look at any items in the print bin. After talking with several other 2D artists, this trend seemed to be pretty consistent among them.

For those who did stop within the booth, the standard comments of "This is Gorgeous!", etc were given out. Usual questions about commissions or purchasing over the website were also answered. It'll be interesting to see how many contact me after the show.

Some interesting things did happen at the show, though. First of all, I met an old friend of mine from college. I went to Boston University in the mid-80's for a couple of years (until I couldn't afford it any more). A friend from freshman year, Sam, showed up in my booth. He immediately recognized me and I had an inkling of who he was when we first met. Since it was quiet in my booth, we had a chance to catch up a little bit. That was a great surprise.

Quite a number of the artists mentioned that I should be doing the Paradise City Art Fairs or art fairs in general (rather than just craft shows). The clientele who goes to those shows are more inclined to purchase my paintings. I totally agree. The traditional craft show seems to be filling up more and more with buy-sell vendors and people who don't do their own products (just resellers).

Got a nice compliment from an artist who mentioned that he thought that I had one of the top 15 booths at the show (considering that there were around 400 booths), that made me feel pretty good. Even the show producer stopped by my booth one morning and complimented me on how gorgeous my paintings were and how well my booth looked. She loved the style of my paintings and the presentation.

Another vendor mentioned that I really should be focusing on galleries because my work would sell well and fast. She took my card and is planning on presenting it to some gallery owners that she knows.