This week I’m working on applications to 2010 juried art festivals. I participate in just a small handful of art festivals each year, at which I show and sell my fine art nature and travel photographs.   Though I only do a few shows a year, I’m looking forward to another fun festival season!  Of course, as always I will apply only to juried shows featuring high-quality artistry, and I generally only travel to shows within a few hours radius of my home.

Recently I’ve received quite a few questions about my art festival experience, so here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

First, I mentioned “juried shows,”  and I’m often asked what that means.  These are shows for which artists are required to submit several photographs of their work along with an application, and a panel of judges assesses the quality of the work.  The judges invite only the highest quality applicants working in each of several media to participate in the show.  In most cases, the jury also tries to balance the number of artists working in any one medium, to ensure a balanced overall mix of artists at the show.

Once admitted to some shows, I believe most artists will agree that the art festival business can be very challenging.  Over the past couple of years, the economy has dampened sales at most art shows overall, and the weather (sweltering summer heat, high winds, and rain – individually or in some cases all together!), and frantic set-up and tear-down on crowded streets, make for long, tiring days.  Not to mention the extensive display equipment and inventory required to have a competitive show exhibit, and a vehicle or trailer in which to transport it all from show to show, which altogether can make the art festival business quite a burden.  

But I find art festivals – in particular outdoor shows – to be highly rewarding.  I greatly enjoy the opportunity to share and talk about my nature and landscape photography, which itself is a rewarding personal endeavor for me, and I truly appreciate the buying public who come out to purchase original artwork from regional artists.  And of course there are some art buyers who return to shows year after year, to add another photograph to their collection on a regular basis.  Fabulous! 

Likewise, I’ve developed some great friendships with fellow artists with whom I frequently cross paths at shows.  And finally, art festivals are great marketing for other sales possibilities – I’ve initiated publication sales, commissioned work, magazine assignments, location portrait sessions,  nearly filled a photography workshop to capacity at a single one-day show, and even completed an extensive interview for a photography instruction cable TV program, to name a few…all while schlepping my photos at art festivals!

I’ll be applying to just a handful of shows this year, as I did in 2009.  I don’t have a firm number set yet, as there are still some shows with later application dates that I’m considering.  At this point, very early in the art festival season for this part of the country, I’ve been accepted to and confirmed participation in

• Historic Valley Junction Spring Art Festival (May 16), West Des Moines, Iowa
• Wayzata Art Experience (May 22-23), Wayzata, Minnesota
• 40th Annual Octagon Arts Festival (Sep 26), Ames, Iowa

I’ve done both the Valley Junction and Octagon shows for a number of years now, and they’re always consistent shows with solid sales.  The Wayzata show is new for me this year.  I’ll keep my 2010 art festival calendar up-to-date on my website, and will also plan to post show updates here on the blog.

If you’re in the area of any of my shows and you’ve read this blog or visited my website, please be sure to stop by and introduce yourself!

Thanks for reading!

All text and images © 2010 Mark S. Peterson Photography