Mayfair Aftermath

At my first Sugarloaf event an elderly artist told me that there's an old joke- you can do festivals/craft fairs until the money runs out. That's very funny. Well I'm out of money. The old-timer photographer I was talking to at Mayfair said this is a very strange year. Some shows are going okay and others are complete disasters. Overall it's starting out as bad year for artists. It is easy to look back at a show and say that particular show went the way it did for this or that reason. But looking ahead I don't think anyone really knows how any given show is going to go this season. Some will be okay. Others will fall apart. From here on out I'm sticking with low cost events. I don't have any further resources for high booth fees or travel. Right now I'm focusing on getting a full time day job to stabilize my financial situation. And I'm following my own nose for shows- no more recommendations from other artists and no more guidebooks.

The strange thing is that I'm more confident than ever that I'll eventually be successful at this. From the sales I've had and the feedback I've been receiving I feel very good about my long term prospects. I'm especially encouraged by the kinds of people who are taking to my work. But in the short term I need to be able to pay the bills before my landlord kicks my ass out.

So what's happening? That's what all the artists out there are struggling to understand. Everybody seems to have their theory. And the answer is probably a complicated one with no single pat reason. But I'll give one anyway. My brother was at Mayfair on Sunday. And seeing the small crowd he speculated that there is some underlying anxiety that is keeping people home and from spending money. It might be said that they have a kind of bunker mentality. I think artists are the canary in a coal mine for an ill society/economy. People buy art when they are happy and feeling confident about the future. But our nation is suffering a deep malaise at the moment. Some of it's this damn war. Some of it's the overall direction of the nation under the Bush administration. Festival sales across the nation peaked in the late 90s and then declined throughout the Bush years. Bush tries maintain his political support by keeping people afraid. But that isn't working out for him anymore even while it's hurting everything else. It may be that this situation won't get turned around until there's a different administration in power.