St. Charles Fine Art Show Reviews'

Medium: Painting
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2017
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: < $500
Price Range of your Work: $200 - $700
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 2-3 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 5
Location: 5
Facilities: 3
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:
The staff and venue were very nice and well organized. They offered breaks and were very responsive to requests.

We lucked out with good weather both days. Met some great people. Lots of very talented artists.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Electric relied on light poles on Illinois Avenue. Generators would be easier. Couldn't use our cart for ProPanels because of curbs.

Boxed lunch was awesome thought but perhaps consideration to gluten for next time.

Better promotion of artists who were exhibiting on Facebook or other social channels.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Sales were extremely poor - didn't even cover booth fee which is a bit high. This was a common theme for 5 or 6 other artists that I spoke with.

Small items were selling, large items were not. More of a gift type show.

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

Posted by: Susi Schuele | 06/20/2017 at 05:49 PM

Show Name: St. Charles Fine Art Show
City and State: St. Charles IL
Your Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2013
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: < $500
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 1st time
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 4
Facilities: 5 (great)
Ease of Participating: 5 (great)
Sales: 1 (poor)
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: 10,001-50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair: Amazing staff, they were great start to finish. Chris is great to work with. They provided lunch and great hospitality. They also had a great patron/artist meet and greet on Saturday(?) night. They have nice awards, and patrons that purchase.

Bad Things about this Art Fair: Good, but not the MOST educated patrons. Holiday weekend is never great for an affluent community, I think many people were out of town? I wouldn't have covered my booth fee if I hadn't won an award. Other artists said it was OK.. I don't think many people did exceptionally well.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show: If it's close, and convenient, try it out. It's a pain in the butt to get to, that's no one's fault. There just isn't a direct way to get to St. Charles.
For my first year doing shows, and this was one of my first shows, St. Charles and the artists were amazingly welcoming.

Posted by: Kate Tillman | 10/13/2013 at 11:01 AM

Show Name: St. Charles Fine Art Show
City and State: St. Charles, IL
Your Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2013
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 1st time
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 2
Location: 3
Facilities: 3
Ease of Participating: 3
Sales: 2
Overall: 2
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair: The volunteers are very nice and were often stopping by to ask if we needed breaks. Free box lunches for the artists, though you have to walk over to get them during the show. A fairly nice setting, with the exception of some of the uneven parking lot spaces.

Bad Things about this Art Fair: Poor sales in 2013. I actually ended up losing money doing this show, which is rare. I paid for a double booth and got one, but it was in the very far corner of the show (corner of a parking lot) and on extremely slanted ground. My 15' wide booth was probably 10" higher on one end than the other. I don't think my location got the same traffic as some of the street locations. Either way, no one I talked to was happy with sales. It wasn't terribly attended, certainly could have had enough attendees to make it a decent show, but very few of them were buying...just walking around, grabbing business cards and brochures and "not looking to buy today". The quality of the show was mixed, with some really exceptional artists and also a fair number of newbies mixed in. Set-up and tear down are sort of a pain in some locations, especially in the parking lot which has only a single entrance, so you may need to cart your work (over high curbs) or just have patience.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show: The show seems like it could be a good show and is well run, just that almost none of the patrons were buying much, despite the "not too bad weather." It was a high of 58 and cloudy on Saturday and on Sunday a high of about 65 with a little sun for a bit, then turning to rain...naturally, just as everyone was packing up, adding insult to injury! The committee is working on creating a "patron purchase program" much like what you see at Belleville and other top shows, however, it's still in it's infancy and I certainly didn't see any of these art patrons in my booth. If the show can get more attendance and a few enthusiastic buyers it could be good, but I'm hesitant to try it again, especially after losing money in 2013 without terrible weather to blame it on.

Posted by: Ryan Tischer | 06/24/2013 at 10:27 PM

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