Sausalito Art Festival Reviews.

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2017
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $10,000+
Price Range of your Work: $475 - $4,500
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
3-5 times
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: Forever...
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 4
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 3
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: 10,001 - 50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Affluent and educated clientele who do come to buy. Crowd is conservative (landscape paintings etc) from the Sausalito area, but they get contemporary buyers from San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area.

I think with the new director (Cindy Lerick from St Louis) they will get a larger crowd too.

The show has traditionally had a small crowd, so no need to bring small items. In most cases, you literally can not sell enough to pay for expenses with inexpensive items.

Almost always perfect weather & helpful staff.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Set-up and Tear-down are the most difficult aspects of the show. That said, they have a large volunteer group and staff who help with carts.

Ideally, set-up would last 2-3 days and allow vans access to booths early in set-up to assist with this process.

Given the huge population in the Bay Area, the crowd should be triple the size. I anticipate that it will grow with the new director, hopefully marketing to San Francisco more aggressively.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Right now, unless things change, it is a huge booth fee and unless you are from the region, a large break even.

I always add a show like Sun Valley or Park City to make the costs more relative to possible income.

Posted by: Anonymous but verified | 04/14/2018 at 10:29 PM

I wish to submit a review for this show but no review form is available on the submit page.
Here is my review anyhow, I exhibited at this year's show. Sales are not what they used to be, for the expense of the show I would not recommend this show.
I do contemporary metal art, wall pieces. I sold two paintings. I had virtually nobody in my booth except for my two sales. Many people walking around with wine, champagne and beer enjoying the music.
The festival has an older crowd, attracted by the music venue mainly. To draw younger professionals there needs to be a music lineup that appeals to them. The music acts this year were long in tooth, explaining the older crowd. Older folks have bought all their art, they are downsizing and getting rid of things.
The festival is well organized and of very good quality art, but for the expenses involved something needs to be done to attract a buying crowd.

Posted by: Michael Protiva | 10/21/2016 at 03:12 PM

Medium: Sculpture
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2016
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Price Range of your Work: $85 - $3,000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 1st year
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 5
Location: 5
Facilities: 5
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 1
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 10,001 - 50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Pleasant artists with extraordinary talent. Lots of people walking around, good attendance. Most needs met, easy communication. Potential for good sales if you are somewhat generic and have safe art.

Open minded people who still enjoyed seeing art they would not buy. Decent human beings walking around being pleasant. Volunteers willing to help.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
Security was necessary at the end of the festival due to an emergency, but security slowly strolled to help. I didn't feel confident with security to the point I wouldn't leave my art for the next day to pack up.

Although good attendance, after a day of too much booze and too much music, people would stroll around the art and get a little dangerously careless. One volunteer went crazy and destroyed one side of an artists booth. The show co-coordinators were quick to try to help with the after math.

Judging art was obviously gauged to something other than best in category. I feel that it was very obvious that many artists were returning artists that have found their way into a rotation of who wins. I only learned this through listening to comments made by regular returning artists. It was like expected that there wasn't any surprise except to the newbies.

Basically everyone I spoke to had dismal sales and blamed it on an election year.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Although there are obvious refined wealthy people who enjoy looking at art and walking their dogs, I didn't see many people buying. It seemed that items $250 -$400 had an opportunity to be sold as gifts to someone else. These items would be more novelty silly art and that if the person was buying something for themselves they may go as high as $800. But the art needs to be something with less color and very neutral and subtle in content.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I felt that the show did have very wealthy people but that it wasn't the wealthy that was spending their money. It was the average Joe, and that average Joe was splurging if they spent $800.00 on art.

I feel the promoters did an awesome job on every level, from advertising to entertainment. And that everything that could have been done was done.

I just feel that the booth fees didn't equal the potential sales, and that it would be unlikely that it ever really could for anyone that does unique art that isn't basic and expected.

I guess I would say that the most stated comment I heard was that my art didn't fit into color schemes or their decorating plan. Yet silly colorful robots weren't going in their house so they would buy it for someone else.

The URL of your profile on ArtFairInsiders.com. http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profile/karaunland935

Posted by: Kara Unland | 09/09/2016 at 06:39 PM

Alison, Thank you! What a thorough review. It really gives you a picture of what the show is about. It helps to know that there is so much help available. I hope they also help you take it back to your car when the show is over. I've applied, and am waiting to hear if I've been accepted to this years show. If so, it will be my first time there. Do you know if there is a rental option for booth walls through the show? I've mostly done indoor, hard wall, shows and I want to try a few outdoor art fairs before I make the huge investment in art walls.

Posted by: Bettie Grace Miner | 03/23/2015 at 06:18 PM

Thank you Alison Armstrong for posting your comment! I have been trying to find reviews of this show and yours was exactly what I was looking for! I am going to give this show a try if I can get in! Thanks!

Posted by: Kelly | 02/15/2014 at 01:53 PM

I would love to do this show, but living in NYC it's just not geographically or financially feasible.

Posted by: Bernard Zalon | 02/08/2013 at 09:42 AM

Your Medium: 2D Mixed Media
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $10,000+
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 1st time
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show 2008
Attendance 5 (great)
Location 5 (great)
Facilities 5 (great)
Ease of Participating 5 (great)
Sales 5 (great)
Overall 5 (great)
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Great
Estimated Attendance: 100,000+ people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Sales, sales, sales! Upscale buyers with educated tastes but not snobbish. (I didn't have a single person try to haggle with me on price.) Helpful staff and decent food, with a fun gala the night before. Delightful weather and atmosphere; it's a great place for a working vacation.

I was astounded by the quality & originality of the work there - I had to slap my own hands to keep from spending all my sales on other artists' art. (Did get a few great trades though.) Best sales I've ever done at a show.

They also provide you with a tent and "booth lackeys" carry your stuff from your car to your booth on motorized carts, so setup is a breeze.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
Booth fee is daunting but ended up being less than ten percent of my sales, so it was well worth it. Lodging in the area is expensive, but I did find an older (and slightly smelly) hotel close by that was offering a good deal. After setup, you have to park in a reserved lot some distance away and take a shuttle bus in, so leave yourself plenty of time. No extra space between or behind booths so be prepared to store extra stuff in your booth somewhere.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
If you have something that is unique, you will sell very well. The only other artist I talked to who was not having a good show was a photographer with technically well-executed but rather typical landscapes. I think the buyers here have been everywhere and seen a lot, and are looking for originality, something they haven't seen before.

About the gala: it was fun (although loud and crowded) and the food was good, but you might want to grab a plate and take it back to your booth, because patrons wander around to check things out and snap up things before the show officially starts. I made several sales that night.

Also, be prepared to offer to deliver art to patrons homes after the show. (It's actually fun to drive around and look at the homes anyway.) Bring a sweater for foggy mornings.

Posted by: Alison Armstrong | 01/13/2011 at 06:22 PM

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