Hello everybody!
I have recently participated in a big Open Studios event and Art Trail in my area, and, since it was my first one ever as a stall holder/participant artist, I learned a lot from it and I would like to share my experience with you.
Just a short introduction about the event itself: it is the BEAT (Borough of Ealing Art Trail), an event in its 9th edition and growing more each year. It started as a smaller affair involving only a few artists opening their own studios and homes in one day during a September weekend, but today it is both of the first two weekends of September (4 days in total) and involving 66 different venues and about 200+ artists and crafters that live and/or work in the Borough: it is such an amazing celebration of the creativity of all the diverse people living in our area! In past years I loved to go around and explore some of the venues that were closest to me, and this year I was very excited to be part of it.
Some of the studios and houses are quite frankly something to drown yourself in pure envy and you may get offered high class refreshments (champagne and what not!), but there are quite a few ordinary homes and more common types of enticements (maybe a cookie for the kids if you are lucky?). A lot of the creative people also form groups or are already part of one, and band together to rent a space in public venues like church halls, our local theatre, local libraries or community centres, in an Art and Craft Fair kind of spirit that is embraced by us locals with gusto. Demonstrations may happen, and most people just go around it for the fun and vibe of it, and to say hello to friends and acquaintances taking part.
The whole thing runs with the moral support of the local Council, but through the actual work of a small group of volunteers who are also artists themselves, so all the stall holders need to arrange their own venue and get limited practical support, basically getting a packet of advertising prints and booklets, and a few reusable posters and balloons to use as signs (Plus of course the advertising benefits all of the artists involved, because it is done in the whole Borough).
This year the organisers also managed to set up a lovely charity exhibition running on the side, to raise funds for a homelessness charity, Crisis: we were asked to donate a small artwork 20×20 cm on the theme ‘Home’ that they could sell for a fixed price of 50£, completely given to charity. Check it here: I think it will run for a few more days online to see if they can sell a few more of the 70+ artworks that were donated by us artists, in different mediums.
Here is my piece, donated for this charity exhibition and sale:
Sadly, it has not been sold yet. (veiled hint, isn’t it?)
First of all, I need to say that I was not on my own, but I choose to participate with my local art group, the Ealing Art Group, for a few reasons: one was to have support from fellow stall holders, because it was my first time, and to get a venue to use together, as I do not have a studio or space in my small flat, that is also not easily accessible for people with mobility issues. Secondarily, to cut costs, as you can share the participation fee and also the cost of renting the venue: this means that you do not have an individual entry in the advertising booklet, just one with your group, but still you will have your individual name in the list of participating artists, good enough for me for starters.
I was quite happy with how this decision of participating with my group instead of alone has come out: yes, sure, I had to find different ways to put my business name out there, but the support and connection that I got from participating with others were what really made a difference to me, and I will be very glad to do it again with the group next year, instead of looking at ways to do it by myself.
Here is how my little corner was looking after set up on the first day:
Our venue was a listed outhouse building attached to an ancient mansion , Boston Manor House, in one of the parks in our area, very good for footfall if the weather stays nice and people can go around to walk dogs and kiddies! As the building is listed, we were not allowed to put up nails or alter the building walls in any way: I had been told that already by the person in our group who was taking care of organising the venue for us, so I went there prepared with frame holders and small frames that already had their table stand. Plus, talking with some other artist from our group at a previous exhibition, I understood that smaller (and cheaper) items were going to be a better fit for this event than the bigger artworks that I had had in mind to bring, and a selection of craft items in different ranges of prices would be also quite good for this: thus, I decided to bring a variety of smaller things along with one bigger work, and I think that it worked fine for this.
We were 10 from our group, in 2 rooms that were close but not conjoined: 6 in our room and 4 in the other, sharing a small courtyard. My fellow stall holders were all working with different mediums and each one of us has a completely different style: I am the only felter and I was also the only one working in textiles among the 10 exhibiting together (there is another artist who is a weaver in our art group, but she was exhibiting in another venue by herself). That meant that we had very different target audience, so we worked very well all together to cater to different tastes.
Here is a video showing our room and our different styles:
We also decided that we needed to make our venue and ourselves more visible by setting up some tables outside and doing demos on a rolling rota, so that the person outside could invite people to come on in and have a look. Having different mediums was very useful for that, so as to engage different people and send them our collective way. Plus, sketching and felting can withstand different weather conditions: and I can tell you that in London this is a good point, as the weather was very voluble for 3 out of the 4 days, so we had to rush in and out depending on wind and rain presence!
Here is me trying to produce an Instagram friendly video of my second day demo on wet felting, with my daughter’s help:
It was super challenging to wet felt outside, as all the days were particularly windy, so the fiber was flying and I periodically had to run after 100gr bags of wool rolling off the table! I was keeping the bags on the table to attract people by showing bold bright colours, and on the second day I also brought some felted things that I was not selling but just to show what you could do by wet felting, as plenty of people were asking about it the first day. (also, we were not allowed to sell anything outside our venue, so I could only sell the stuff that was inside the building) I partially solved the flying away issue by weighing down all the wool bags and felted objects with stones picked up from the park, and by frequently sprinkling water on the fibers that I was working with in the demo, and getting to the soaping phase as soon as possible!
I must have made an impression for my determined effort, though, because I sold the first little bowl that I wet felted for the demo before it was totally dry, so I can not show it to you (no photos, I am afraid!), but this is my second day produce, in Merino wool with silk rods and eri silk fiber embellishments:
On the second weekend, I decided to demonstrate needle felting, instead, as it was still very windy and there was a rain forecast for the afternoon, so I needed something where I could control my flying fiber better and pack it up quickly if needed. I decided on a simple Christmas bauble with a core wool inner part, in red merino wool with a sprinkle of Angelina fiber and spiral of violet merino. I think that it came out fine, considering that I was constantly distracted (stabbed myself quite badly at one point, because I was calling out at a potential visitor to encourage him to go in and not paying attention at my hands):
I noticed and encouraged interest from small kids: I would talk to them, waive bright red wool, entice them to touch it and give a wisp of wool or silk fiber for them to take home, asking them how it felt and if it was soft as a pet’s fur or shiny and smooth. I noticed that more adults were interested when I had my wet felting set up out than with the needle felting: I wonder if it was just random or if it is something about the needle felting that is less appealing or more intimidating. Maybe you also can share your experiences on that.
I think that taking a few small amounts of wool and fiber to this kind of event is very useful (note to self), as people are asking you a lot of curious questions about what you are using to make felt: I heard mentions to yarn, fabric and there were all sorts of puzzled blank stares when I was saying wool fiber and silk fiber, until I would take out a WoW bag and give them a small amount of wool to hold and touch..then more confused questions about how you go from there to that bowl. I mean, that was a proper effort in spreading the word about felting as I could. I am pretty convinced felters would do well to bring wool to show at their events, as most people are far from clear on what wool looks like before becoming yarn and what you can do with it.
Having a group to back me up also meant that I could try to focus on my demos and the persons in front of me, in the sure knowledge that if anyone wanted to buy from my little stall inside someone would come and fetch me, as I would do for them. While plying my wares inside, I knew that someone outside was doing their best to send people our way, so that we all could sell more. We would also pass on favourable comments from visitors and encourage each other during the lulls.
And, of course, chat about our medium, art, families, life and so on. I got to know my fellow group mates a bit more, in a way that just is not possible when you are stewarding for one or two hours maximum at a more sedate exhibition: I had also the chance to see some of them in action working with their chosen medium, and it was very stimulating both learning some of their techniques and explaining them some of mines!
Another good thing coming from sharing a venue with members of your same group was that I had my kids with me (long story) and I was worried about them getting bored, but my fellow stall holders managed to entice my kids into helping with the setting up, putting up balloons and they generally kept them entertained while not playing at the park playground. My daughter also got to try out watercolour painting techniques with one of the watercolour painters, so it is like as if she had a short art course activity for free! My kids were practically begging me to take them to the exhibition again, until we had a spot of heavy rain and their running around was restricted for a while and the place was, to be honest, a bit damp and coldish, so they had to cool down for a bit inside. That was on the afternoon of the last day, and we packed up early because of that (not many people going out and about in a park under heavy rain, not even in London, although we spotted some brave or silly souls still trying to play tennis in the courts…they probably had paid a bucket for the booking? who knows), so all in all it was a success also for my kids.
I managed to sell enough to get back my fee costs, and a bit more, and I felt that it was pretty encouraging as a first time stall holder. I also distributed more than one hundred of my new bookmarks: I had them printed to advertise my business with something different from a business card, and many said that it was a very clever idea and all were very keen to accept them. I guess that I am not the only one having several different books on hold with bookmarks on their bedside table!
Here it is what they look like, front and back:
I have had some new accesses to my website straight afterwards, so I guess that they are working in advertising it.
Here are my fellow art trail mates from my room on the last day (missing Bijan who was home with a cold the second weekend):
Hoping to do it again, maybe with different group members or the same, next year!
If you happen to be close to us in West London, also come and see us of the Ealing Art Group in October at Open Ealing in Dicken’s Yard.
I hope you enjoyed my post, and please leave your comment on your own experiences with this kind of events and being a stall holder.
http://www.kikistextileart.com
kiki.textile.art