A Summer Fayre For An Artist-Maker offers Gifts. Here is Why

May 19

Yesterday, I took a stand at The Alresford Watercress Festival, in Alresford, Hamsphire.

I had a CRACKING day in terms of meeting new clients, sales and most importantly feedback. For a solo-maker, feedback is golden…. below is why and a list of gains from selling art human to human.

I hope you enjoy my notes and they help you in whatever you sell, or how you support an artist whose work you love.

Much love

Sam x

I learned SO much. There is so much to gain by taking a market stall, setting out your wares and selling face to face.

Here are my key points (in no particular order.)

We NEVER know how a show is going to turn out on the day. All the preparation in the world can be axed by a deluge of rain, a transportation strike or other foreseen - no matter how experienced you are, there are always variables that we have to accept as par for the course.

2. A massive gain from a show is contacts—people who have taken the time to add themselves to your mailing list. Some of my best clients today I met at a fair some twenty years ago. Clients grow with makers over the years. Today, I am adding 22 new names, surnames, and email addresses to my mailing list, which is hugely satisfying because all of these people I had actual conversations with.

3. I’m not going to go into a list what to take with you to a fair, (email me if you wish and I’ll gladly advise) but the one thing I will suggest is good BIG signage - easy, digestable BIG, and easily readable signage of what you sell/make - not just your name. These signs are invaluable at getting people onto your stand.

Below is a photograph of one of my signs….

I took two of these BIG Inky Line Drawing signs which spoke volumes. I’m convinced without them, I wouldn’t have had such a great day.

4. By far, the biggest gain I had throughout the six hours was actual, hands-on feedback. This means looking and taking visuall notes of what sold, what bought smiles to faces, what made people laugh, what people flicked past quickly, and what stopped people in their tracks.

This sort of feedback is golden juice to take back into my studio and make work from. Precious feedback gained only by selling human-to-human.

5 - But what happens when you have a show and get NADA? No sales, no people stopping by and coming onto your stand? Believe me, I have had my share of these, especially in my early days.

Well, we have big lessons to learn and reflect on here. Once the pain passes (and it truly will I promise) firstly, you DON’T give up (puhleeze don’t do that), it’s time to take yourself somewhere quiet and answer some of the following questions.

Did I take the right work for the event? Were my prices reflective of the event? Did the event have enough people attending? Were the people attending my people? Were they the right client for my work? Did I take enough work for the event? (Clients LOVE having a box to route through at markets) Did I stand up, smile and welcome enough?

Tough questions, I know, but essential ones. With every event we attend with our work, we learn something new. I can’t tell you how nervous I was yesterday. It doesn’t get easier standing by your work and selling until we do it more often.

Because I do so rarely now, I get jumpy, and truth be told, 9am yesterday morning, whilst realising I’d left my post/business cards at home along with some of the work I wanted to bring, there were tears. I was really nervous.

By 11am I had sold a couple of pieces, and my confidence grew quickly. By the close of fair, I was quids in, happy as a bonny lamb on a sunny day, and completely s h a t t e r e d!

Much love and more soon