Life As An Itinerant Artist

Before I found ArtGarters, I messed around with a lot of different ways to protect framed photographs in transit. Cardboard between the frames (scuffs the faces), foamcore between (same deal), carpet, you name it. Then a friend recommended these handy padded corners. They come in four different sizes, are connected with stretchy elastic, and provide just enough padding so that you can stack several frames tightly without busting up the corners.

The padding helps separate them just enough so that the frames don’t rub on each other. They are cheaper to buy from Nettie Myers at Mosaic Mind than they are to make yourself. We did make a couple similar ones out of headliner material (the stuff that pads the roof of your vehicle) for some odd-size panoramas, but discovered that it was easier just to get them ready-made.

You can leave them on the frames while hanging work pre- and post show, and they make it a little easier to set work on pavement without fear of dinging up a corner or the bottom of the frame. They are a bit pricey, but you’ll get a bit of a break if you buy in bundles of 5 each.

I love it when shows give you free postcards to mail out to all of your customers. A lot of shows do this, and the art is almost universally terrific, either showcasing a single image, or a montage of all the different styles and media that you might expect to see at the show on the face of the card.

So why is it that on the back side, most shows fill up the entire card with sponsor logos, copy (granted you do want to know when, where, what, how and all that) and other grimble? They usually remember to leave room for the address and the stamp, too. But what they forget is that most artists will want to indicate where THEY are located in the show. After all, it’s MY postage on the card, I want my name on it too!

A word to the wise promoter: don’t forget to leave room for the artist’s sticker, and to leave the bottom 3/8″ clear for the USPS sticker. Give us a throwaway area that we can cover, or some extra white space. Otherwise, your postcards may just end up in the trash!

After observing that my big rolling bins made it hard for shorter people to view the vertically oriented 16×20 matted prints, I came up with a new design that allows them to be displayed and transported lower to the ground. This design is similar to the box that Larry Berman describes on his site, artshowphoto.com, but has enclosed storage, and a pad to protect the face of the mat.

I built this bin out of 1/2″ oak veneer plywood and 1″ oak stock. I use plywood rather than MDF as MDF tends to swell and break if it gets wet, and there are no guarantees that bins won’t get a little water on them if it rains. The bottom compartment holds extra stock, and the bin fits nicely in front of the main rolling display. It will hold about 40 16×20 matted prints.

The door is hinged with a scrap of piano hinge that I had lying around, and the catches are basic hardware store barrel bolts. They don’t open when in the trailer. 4″ casters on the bottom make it easy to roll into the booth and back up the trailer ramp at the end of a show. Handles on each side make it easier to move around. I also made a pad out of thin plywood and carpet that fits into the front of the bin at an angle. The pad keeps the prints from falling onto a sharp wood edge and getting dented. The back of the bin has a scrap of foam plumbing insulation to let the prints fall backward gently. A couple of coats of polyurethane protect the wood, and keeps the water off.

Is it that August is traditionally one of the hottest months of year? Or perhaps that it’s the last month before kids have to go back to school? What about all those back to school expenses? Maybe it’s those last minute yard projects or the lure of fishing out on the lake. Maybe it’s just the political climate and the economy.

Whatever the reason, August this year has been awful for art shows. People just don’t seem to have the energy for it. Artists are lurking in the back of the booth, reading the newspaper or chatting up their friends. Customers are walking in the middle of the street looking this way and that, but very few show participants are actually engaging in meaningful discussions about art, politics or anything! I’ve noticed this trend at the past two shows — both Gold Coast in Chicago (a pretty affluent area) and in Perrysburg this last weekend at the Levis Commons show (also an affluent area) — people are so burned out that they just don’t care about art.

Oh sure, I had my share of nice conversations with people about my work, as did most of my neighbors at these recent shows. People have said some very nice things, and I do appreciate the people that take the time to make meaningful comments. Thanks to all of you who come to shows to be excited, to be influenced and perhaps to give some new work a home! But the majority of the crowds seem to be there solely as an alternative to the mall. I’d be generous if I said they were window shopping. Maybe that’s why the crowds were so sparse at Levis Commons this past weekend — the weather was hot, there were better things to do, like cut the lawn or go to the mall, maybe the art wasn’t that great last year — whatever the reason, it’s up to me as an artist to make it worthwhile for folks who do show up to get engaged with my work.

Art shows provide one of the few venues where art lovers can actually meet and talk to the artists whose work they enjoy. It’s up to all of us to make the most of these opportunities, even if the weather is hot, or the fish are biting. Life is too short to wander aimlessly down the path.