Art scam alert!

Avoid this scammer:

 From: Nancy William nannwilliam@gmail.com

Hi there, Could you please confirm if I can place an purchase from your shop/gallery? I am from Cyprus in Europe, I know the difficulties encountered shipping internationally but I hope we can sort it out without any tribulation. Kindly get back to me with your available work or with your updated website that displays your current work only, if you accept my request All the best. Nann

Saturday at Context Art Miami

Saturday was so far the best day at Context Art Miami. In fact, in the eight years that I have been doing art fairs, this was the best one day ever.

The day started early, as we shifted home base from the beach hotel in Hollywood Beach to Little Havana, in order to be closer to Wynwood for the crucial last two days of the fair.

After dropping the luggage and getting two "colados" to kick start the sleepy systems, and on the way to the fair, a phone call resulted in the sale of six of Dulce Pinzon's amazing work; that's the way to start the day.

The crowds at Context were huge; it was actually hard to navigate the halls!

We sold work by Simon Monk, multiple pieces by Elissa Farrow-Savos, and several of my drawings, including a major video drawing.

It was frenetic selling, with multiple trips to the gallery van to replenish the walls. We also noticed that the dealers around us seemed to be selling well. It is all a question of numbers: Art Miami succeeded in bringing large crowds to the fairs, and this is in direct proportion to the probability of a sale.

There were also multiple "wake" events as I call them. They are the potential after-effects of doing an art fair... For example, there are at least two galleries interested in Elissa's work, and one in Audrey Wilson's work and a local Miami gallery in my work.

Sunday is the last day; apparently there are more street protests scheduled, so it may get interesting.

Protest night

Friday was packed with people at Context Art Miami, and today I really saw some dealers move art off the walls - most noticeably our neighbor across the hall, a gallery from Colombia who was doing well with some gorgeous work by Colombian artists.

We also had our best day so far, selling a nice sculpture by Elissa Farrow-Savos and a very large drawing of mine.

Around seven PM, the sounds of helicopters overhead were quite loud, and a little checking revealed that street protesters (some protesting the sad
Eric Gardner issue, and others the death a year ago of a local graffitist who died after being tasered by the police) around Wynwood and eventually shut down I-95.

Needless to say this caused the area's usual gridlock to become gridlockier.

With the aid of some dexterous driving and Google maps we drove through Little Haiti and picked up I-95 north of the closed part and managed to get to our Hollywood hotel with little loss of time.

Thursday at ABMB Week

The sky fell yesterday, or at least it sounded that way when it started to rain hard, really hard and one is inside one of those gigantic tents where most ABMB art fairs are held.

Tents, regardless of size, always leak, so today was an interesting day in the life of a gallerist, as we scrambled to prevent art from getting wet.

The City Paper's Christina Cauterucci and Perry Stein were over in Miami Beach and delivered an outstanding report on DMV area galleries and artists at Aqua Art Miami, although somehow they missed the three DC artists being exhibited by Mayer Fine Art. Read their report here.

All three of these artists, Judith Peck, Victoria Gaitan and Jeannette Herrera, have been showing in Miami for ABMB for the last few years.

Art Scam Alert!

This is a scammer trying to rip off artists... pass it on!

From:  Lindsey Richard (teste@gtcell.com.br)

Good day,
I want to place an order in your store/Gallery/Company and i will like
to know if you ship to Singapore and my payment will be remitted via
Credit Card Issued in United States.

please let me know if you can assist me with the order,and please do
not forget to include your website in your reply.Your quick response
will be highly appreciated,I will be very glad if you treat this email
with good concern.

Best Regards,
Lindsey Supply Co.
Shun Li Industrial Complex,
603 Sims Drive, #03-10,
Singapore 387384

Call to Artists

 Deadline:  December 7, 2014

 

WHAT: The 24nd Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival

 
WHERE: In the streets of Reston Town Center, an upscale, elegant, shopping destination, located a vibrant suburb of Washington, DC.
     
WHEN:Friday, May 15 NEW Festival Launch Party - all artists invited to attend a complimentary dinner; Saturday, May 16, 10 am - 6 pm NEW Artist awards champagne reception 6:30 - 8pm; Sunday, May 17, 10 am - 5 pm.

           
From GRACE:

* Our Festival is annually produced by the Greater Reston Arts Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to enrich community life through excellence in contemporary art. The proceeds from the Festival directly support our educational and outreach programs.

* Our Festival is limited to approximately 200 juried artists in 16 media categories. We are committed to presenting original, well-conceived, and expertly executed works, made either by hand or with appropriate tools, by the exhibiting artists.

* We encourage artists who are exploring the boundaries of their media, by incorporating the use of found objects, repurposed materials, or technology, to apply.

  

* We have made significant changes to the Festival to reflect our desire to place emphasis on the art and our artists, and were developed based on direct input from the 2014 participating artists. Some of these changes include a Festival Launch Party that all participating artists are invited to free of change on Friday, a champagne awards reception on Saturday evening for all participating artists.   

* GRACE is committed to elevating the profile of our Festival, and has doubled its marketing budget for 2015 to reach new audiences and promote interest from collectors. To enhance regional appeal and promote an art-focused atmosphere for the Festival, GRACE is also partnering with internationally-recognized earth artist Patrick Dougherty. Mr. Dougherty will construct a site-specific, immersive, temporary installation in Town Square Park, which will be on view during the Festival and will be promoted as part of the Festival activities.

* Artist amenities include ample volunteer support, booth sitters, continental breakfasts for artists, drive up booth set-up/ tear down, free bottled water delivery, indoor restrooms, reduced hotel rates, reserved artist parking for oversize vehicles, security, and artist mentor opportunities in local schools.

* We are pleased to offer ten $500 equal merit Excellence Contemporary Art Awards selected via category to ensure more equitable distribution and the award winners will be recognized in a public forum. All artists are invited to GRACE for an awards presentation with complimentary champagne and light hors'd'oeuvres on Saturday evening.  

* Of the artists who answered the question regarding amount of sales on the 2014 artist surveys, 20.5% said they sold between $6k and $20k, with 9.3% saying they sold more than $10k, and 31% said they sold between $ 500 - $5,999. The 2014 Art Fair Source Book report from 21% or our artists shows an upward trend, with average gross sales at $5,882 per artist.

* We have an aggressive marketing and promotion campaign to better market, recognize, and celebrate our festival artists with well placed advertising in prominent magazines and newspapers, arts focused catalogues, online Going Out Guides, and outreach through social media, radio and television.

*Jury/Booth fees are $50/$500 for a single booth, with corner and double booths also available. Upon acceptance artists can indicate preference on street location for an additional fee.

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS:  
Deadline:  December 7, 2014

Notification:  January 21, 2015
  

Apply at Juried Art Services http://www.juriedartservices.com/index.php?content=event_info&event_id=840

      

For more information please visit  www.restonarts.org

Call or Email questions to Erica Harrison 703.471.9242 ext. 113
ericaharrison@restonarts.org

Streaker and other things... Context Day Two

Today was the opening to the general public of the Context Art Miami fair.

We arrived a few minutes after the official opening time of 11AM, as did most other dealers (we saw the hardworking Leigh Conner hustling to Art Miami).

This is the result of trying to get off the highway to North Miami Avenue... this simple operation seems to be a permanent parking lot at practically any time.

Plan for about 15-20 minutes to get from the highway to the fair; traffic is that bad!

Today was a much calmer and slower day than yesterday, with noticeably less young women, slim as rifles (and just as dangerous) confidently walking the aisles of the fair on needle heels and unshaven young studs with shiny hair, otherwise clean as a new stiletto, taking phone pictures of the artwork.

The day went fast, with the only novelty being the arrival of a couple of well-known DMV artists, Tim Tate and J.T. Kirkland, as well as a local guerrilla artist paddling his artwork ($20 a painting) while streaking through the fair.