First Art Show? Here are my tips!
Recently, I was accepted to participate in Thomasville’s 101st Rose Festival Rose Fest Market as an artisan vendor and it was so much fun! With this being my first ever show, I was super nervous but with the support of my family, I was able to have a successful turn out. I wanted to write a post about some of the things I learned from my first show, some of the things I would do differently, and the things I found to be super helpful.
Receiving Acceptance
For this festival specifically, an application was required and I didn’t really know what to expect. With the help of my mom (who has tons of experience from her own shows) she was able to give great ideas! The Rose Festival this year was accepting a total of 16 vendors and I found out that 65 had applied; I was honored! When reading over the requirements, I paid extra attention to what kind of vendor they were looking for. They wanted artsians with floral/natural/landscape aspects and only original pieces (no reproduced items such as prints). I already had a few pieces similar, so I made sure to paint as many different variations of those subjects as I could. They also wanted to see my current booth. So my mom and I worked to get a staged photo ready to let them know what to expect as if I was setting up at the show. This was my chance to make an impression! I also paid extra attention to some of the technical requirements. They informed me I would have a 10’x10’ tent provided, but I would need to bring my own table and chairs. They also wanted the tables to have floor length coverings. In short, just make sure to read over any and all information as many times over as you can!
Props + Syling
One thing I wanted to make sure to do was to have super cute props, storage and styling for my booth! This included rose gold baskets for flip-through’s of my smaller paintings, rose gold vase with floral stems at my checkout station, and a cute planter box with gold legs for my larger paintings. I felt that it was super important to make sure the props accentuated my work, but didn’t take attention away from it. I kept the props all in the same colors for the most part (rose gold, light pink and soft golds). I felt that having a bunch of colors everywhere along with the different colors of my paintings would have been too much. I kept things simple, but the booth was decked out. I also had a greenery garland to go along the edge of my check out table with my sign hanging underneath. I had lots of faux florals to really take off with the theme of the entire show. I think this really helped my acceptance when I submitted my staged booth photo!
Inventory
I had 4 months to prepare for the show because I was scrolling on Instagram back in January and saw the opportunity and quickly decided I was going to apply. At that time I had only about 10 paintings that weren’t related to each other at all and they were not my favorite. By the time of the show in April, I had a total inventory of 75+ paintings. Within the 75 or so, it included several different collections and not just random stuff. I had Hydrangeas in various sizes and colors, a Gold + Blue landscape collection in different compositions and sizes, and of course several Rose paintings in many different styles. I felt that having a few different subjects that fit the theme of the show, but having those subjects presented in many different ways, really helped to make everything look cohesive, but also a large variety for people to choose from. Also, when I saw on the news that 30,000+ people from all over the south were expected to come, I knew only a few paintings wasn’t going to cut it.
Create a Team
I cannot stress how important it is to let your friends and family know about your goal to participate in a show and allowing them to be a part of it! If it wouldn’t have been for my mom’s experience to guide me through and my family helping to set up, I couldn’t have pulled it off. There is a lot that goes into it, especially for your first show, that you ARE going to need the help! My husband encouraged me and provided me with a lot of the resources I needed to prepare. My mom had the best ideas for setting up and applying. And the rest of my family showed up the weekend of to help pack up, babysit, provide some laughs to ease the nervousness, and to be there for me through it all. My brother in law joked that he was going to take my paintings and spin them around like they do signs at a car wash. He didn’t actually do this but it just made me laugh!
