My First Art Festival!

I survived my first art at festival! This weekend, I had a booth at Festival By The Sea in Manchester, MA. It was a wonderful experience. Special thanks to friends who helped set up my tent and hang a few paintings before the show started - there is no way I could have done everything myself! :O

My set-up was pretty basic. I had a couple of tables for jewelry and small paintings, 2 hanging pegboards for larger paintings, a bust form to display my pet pins, a literature rack for beading kits, and 4 easels for more bead paintings. I was a bit nervous about having easels there because they take up quite a bit of space, and they can be a hazard in the wind. I came prepared with 20-lb sandbags & concrete blocks just in case..

Luckily, the weather cooperated. It turned out to be the perfect day for an art festival. I made a few sales, my tent was always full of people, and Cape Ann TV did an interview with me! Since this was my first show ever, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the response was very positive! Nearly everyone who visited my booth said they had never seen anything like my work before. One woman even said that this type of show is much too small for my work - she insisted that I need to show my work in a gallery in NYC (hopefully someday!).. Children of all ages seemed to enjoy my beadwork, too - they could relate to the subjects right away, and many asked me questions! Seeing people smile when they viewed my pieces made me very happy:)

Even though it was a lot of work, doing this festival was a positive experience. I think I may have to start doing more shows in the future! :D