Finishing Booth Set up and Two days of Wholesale show
Feb 18: Day 2 of Set up
We continued hanging and setting up artwork, and more exhibitors continued to arrive – there were still lots of cars and trucks on the show floor on day 2 of set up, delivering goods to booth spaces.
By 4pm, we had everything hung and were ready for the wholesale show to begin!
Feb 19/20: Best Memories from the 2 Days of the Wholesale Show
A man with a beaming smile came walking up to my booth and when I greeted him, he said, “Your work has taken me to a place I didn’t expect to go today. I like it, I can do something with this.”
And in that moment I knew it was the right decision to have done this show. We had a notebook in the booth to capture what visitors were saying about my work, and being able to go back and read through it now is heartening.
“I Love your lines.” “She knows yellow.” “Your work is sophisticated yet playful.” “I’m in love with this.” “We’ll be in touch.” “Your work stopped us in our tracks.”
One of the great gifts of this show is the opportunity for feedback from viewers and a chance to talk with and learn from other artists.
Barbara, ready to help me greet visitors during the show
I met many wonderful new contacts – buyers, museum store directors, art consultants/gallery owners, and several of the other exhibiting artists around us.
It was great company to be in and we were quite popular with our fellow artists, mostly because we had brought 2 anti-fatigue mats and shared them willingly with our fellow exhibitors as the hours wore on. This was one of the best tips I had received from a friend (thank you Anne B!) who had done these shows before….she said it saved her and it definitely saved us!
I wrote my first wholesale order to a Museum store on the first day of the show, and our Gallerist from MN made a day trip to Baltimore to see us and the show!
Overall, I am pleased with the feedback I received and the response to my work. Because all of my work is one-of-a-kind, it can be a little challenging to market it to a wholesale buyer. I did write some orders. And I have a number of follow-ups to do with others that are interested in my work.
There are buyers that want and appreciate one-of-a-kind, and I am getting clearer about who my buyer audience is. Although I did make more sales during the retail part of the show, I believe the wholesale part of the show was more valuable and I will do it again. This show was about continuing to get my work out there in front of more audiences and then developing relationships with those that are interested – it’s going to take time to develop.
I’ll continue with a recap of the Retail/Public show, the show end/booth tear down (near meltdown), and the overall results/things I learned from this ACC show experience in my next post(s).
I’m not surprised that this show was a success for you, your stand looks stunning.
Thanks Maggi, we did put lots of planning into it, and probably went a little overboard with packing so much art into the space. Will be able to put the learning from this show into practice next month at the next show!