Review of Shaker Heights Art Festival

I've finally gotten my first art show under my belt and it feels great.  And you know what else feels great?  Being back at home and sleeping in my own bed! :) 

That being said, I feel refreshed, energized, and ready to tackle more shows.  My overall experience at the Shaker Heights Arts and Music Festival in Shaker Heights, Ohio was positive.  Although I did not make any sales, I feel like the show was a necessary initiation I needed to go through.  As a first show for a budding artist, this was a great one to be involved in.

Here's a run down of my weekend...

Loading my tent and inventory in to the show site was extremely easy.  Steve and I got there early on Friday, and they let us right in to set up.  We were able to pull the car up right to my spot!  We unloaded our stuff and got to work right away. 

Overall shot of booth set up on Friday

Steve unloading the artwork from the car

Three hours later, I had my tent and business set up.

Setting up and cleaning up (check out my cheesy happy grin!)

We had neighbors and fellow artists working right along our side, and everyone there was super friendly.  The only bad thing was the heat.  The sun was beating down directly on us in the parking lot, and it was a hot set up.  No worries though, because we got to set up the day before the show, which is AWESOME.  You can sweat and stink as much as you want!

For those of you who know me very well, I am an anxious person. :)  The night before my show, I barely got any sleep.  I was so excited/nervous/anxious/worried about going to my first day of "work."  I've always been like that with anything new-- work, school, fun trips.  I "woke up" at 7:00am on Saturday morning and got ready to head into my new, temporary office.  Once Steve and I got there, I ran around and did some finishing touches.  Here are some shots of my booth (with Steve reading his IPad, of course) right before the show opened.


Directly in front




Left side




Right side

The show on Saturday ran from 10:00am to 8:00pm.  It was a very long, hot day.  I had many people coming in and out of my booth, and I received a bunch of compliments on my work. 

Shot of the crowd early on Saturday morning



Me sitting at my booth



Shot of the sea of tents at Shaker Heights

Unfortunately, the majority of patrons in attendance at the fair did not seem to have the budget to drop a decent amount of money on an original painting.  A majority of pieces that were purchased at the show (in my opinion) were between $5-$50 dollars.  Jewelry and pottery seemed to do exceptionally well there. 

The show on Sunday began at 11:00am (with a lovely artists breakfast!) and ended at 5:00pm.  The crowd was much lighter since it was Father's Day.  I had a few people visit my booth and compliment my work (I will always welcome that!) but again, no buyers.  The day ended with a nice thunderstorm right before we had to break the booth down.  It wasn't too bad, though.  Really, the storm could have been much, much worse.

So!  With that being said, here are my overall ratings of Shaker Heights Arts and Music Festival (ranked 1 through 10- 1 being the worst to 10 being the best).  Please remember this is simply my opinion and I'm trying to sell high-end paintings.

Location- 5
Shaker Heights, Ohio is a beautiful town, but high end buyers were not there in abundance.  The parking lot is a decent location since it is right in the center of all activity in the town, but there is NO reprieve from a hot sun.  Even the patrons were complaining of the heat, and it was only about 85 degrees.
Audience- 5
Patrons were extremely kind and quick with the compliments.  Unfortunately, most did not seem to have the budget to afford any of my work. 
Sales- 1
No sales.
Show Organization- 10
Shaker Heights was the perfect show as my first show.  The staff there were all friendly and eager to help.  I had booth sitters come by and ask me if I needed a break, and I had warning from several staff members right before the storm hit on Sunday.  Even break down was organized.  Thank you!
Overall- 5
Fun crafts and jewelry do very well at Shaker Heights.  I had the priviledge of having awesome booth neighbors which enhanced my first show experience, such as Bill Jman.  He was kind enough to give me some solid advice to help me in the art show world.  The town of Shaker Heights is lovely, but there are some less-than pretty areas surrounding it.  Althought it is no surprise, the impact of our economy can be seen everywhere.  Bottom line: Shaker Heights Arts Festival is not the best location to sell fine art.

Well, there you have it.  My next show is July 22nd and 23rd in Port Huron, Michigan.  Only a month away! :)  I can't wait! :)

Thanks for reading!
Peacing out,
Nikki