Earth and Art
April has been a real busy month for me. I’ve been painting, collaging, and crafting nonstop to prepare for the Suffolk Earth and Arts Festival. I just recently started attending festivals and art markets and it’s a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun! It can also be very expensive and frustrating if things don’t go as planned. My first two art markets did not go as planned.
Back in December of 2024, I attended two art markets. The first was in conjunction with a local farmer’s market. Farmer’s markets are interesting because they aren’t just once a year, rather they go on for an entire season, sometimes more, and have a lot of regulars. Regulars like to shop with people they know. I was just doing this as a one off, and that ended up being a bad idea because no one knows me. It was 20 degrees and windy and almost no one even stopped to look at my booth. Luckily, this market ended up being free to attend and I didn’t waste too much money and chalked it up to a dry run for the next, bigger market I would be attending.
The next market was advertised as an arts and crafts market for the holidays. That sounded promising, so I went ahead and paid the $300 booth fee (this sounds expensive, but we were told that they had sold 30,000 tickets). Thinking about it now, that’s an INSANE number of tickets! That’s like the SuperBowl! This was no Super Bowl. It was more like 3,000 tickets sold, and it ended up being a very politically charged event, which was pretty disappointing. There was so much Trump memorabilia that it almost felt like a rally, and I instantly regretted even being there. The crowd was really weird, too. I was starting to question whether or not my artwork was going to find an audience when a lady picked up one of my spun cotton mice and almost started crying as she held it and said she had to have it. I have never had an experience where it felt like I was adopting out one of my art pieces to a new owner. She even asked me to name her! The few people who came and bought items from me were so enthusiastic about their purchases that it made it almost worth it to not make enough to cover my booth fee.
My booth at the horrible holiday market.
The spun cotton mouse.
Then I signed up for the Suffolk Earth and Arts Festival in Suffolk, VA. This event has been steadily growing in popularity over the years and I have a sweet spot for Suffolk because I used to work for the Suffolk Department of Parks and Recreation. The fee was a reasonable $100 and I knew there would be a lot of people there if the weather was nice. It turned out to be a beautiful day, other than a bit of wind, and set up was a breeze. This was the best event I’ve done so far. The Earth Day theme is right up my alley and all of the people who walked into my booth were so nice and gave me a HUGE confidence boost after the last two art markets. I sold things that people wouldn’t even look at before and realized that these first several art markets are really less about how good my art is and more about who and where my audience is.
My booth at the Earth and Arts Festival
Now I feel like I just need to focus on making the art that I love, and finding an audience for that art. This year will be about testing the waters and building a strong market for my work. Marketing has always been a weak spot for me, but I need to keep telling myself that my work is just as worthy as anyone else’s and I deserve to make money for all of my hard work just like everyone else as well!