94 – 6 Tips for Getting Started with Art Festivals with Larry Pile

Laura

0:06
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.

Nikki

0:08
And this is Nikki May with the Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.

Laura

0:18
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.

Nikki

0:30
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.

Laura

0:40
Last week, we introduce you to Larry Pile, a prolific kiln-formed glass artist who has displayed and sold his artwork in over 250 art festivals.

Nikki

0:50
Today Larry’s back to share his six best tips on getting started with art festivals with you. Larry, welcome back to the Startist Society. We’re happy to have you back.

Larry

1:01
And I’m glad to be here, Nikki and Laura. Thank you.

Laura

1:04
All right, we know you have such a wealth of knowledge to share with us. So why don’t you give us your first tip?

Larry

1:11
Okay, the first tip is evaluate your work. I think that you should look at is high quality? Is it significantly different from other people at a show? And does it stand out? If somebody walks along the street and sees a piece of work that’s yours, do they sort of know it’s yours? Because if there’s nothing unique about it, it’s gonna hurt you. So evaluate your work, the self evaluation is important.

Nikki

1:36
Great tip. So what’s your second tip for us?

Larry

1:38
Second tip is to pick high quality shows. For me, that typically means a juried show that ensures some level of quality. You want to show that’s well publicized, you want a show that’s well trafficked. So I look at numbers; if they say, Oh, we had, you know, 1000 people come to our show for two days, it’s not a very good show. I want to make sure there’s lots of people because I’m there to promote my work and to promote myself and nobody’s there, they won’t see me. I think, I look at repeat shows. So a show that’s been going on for two or three or five or ten years is much more attractive than a first time show, that’s risky. Not a bad thing, but certainly a risk. I think it’s important to ask other artists, what are the good shows and get them to define when a good show is. If they say, Oh, I made my booth fee, not a good show. So ask them to define what are good shows. If you can, walk the show first, get some press about that show. So pick a good show that’s appropriate for your work, for your price point, for your level as an artist.

Laura

2:42
Yeah, I think that’s great advice, to get as much knowledge as you can about it before you decide that that’s a show that you are interested in. Because if you invest all of that energy…

Nikki

2:53
…and money…

Laura

2:54
Yeah, and money. If it’s the very first time this show has ever existed, and five people show up, then that was possibly a waste of your time.

Larry

3:01
And that’s not necessarily a deathnail. I did a first time show in November in Fort Worth and I will definitely try it again. It was a first time show, it wasn’t as great as I would like it to be. But the promoter was nice and kind, the venue was really nice. The people that did show up, purchased work, it was in an arts district in Fort Worth, so the location was good. It had all the markings of a big show.

Nikki

3:28
And hopefully next year, they’ll have more experience, and more people will know about it so it could turn into a great show.

Laura

3:35
Alright, so what’s your third tip for us?

Larry

3:38
I think this is one that will surprise artists. Take responsibility for promoting yourself both before, during and after the show. I think you work on a mailing list. And if you’re starting out, that means you start with one name. I think post on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever social media you’d like. And I don’t urge you to try all seven or eight or however many there are, pick one or two and focus on those and do a nice job. Post finished work, post in-process work, post a picture of your booth at the show so people are know you’re there. And then send out some kind of reminder before you’re there because people will go expecting to see you, hoping to see you ,and maybe hoping to buy and that’s what you want.

Laura

4:21
And do you find that one particular platform brings you the most people and business your way?

Larry

4:29
Probably because I spend most of my energy on Facebook. That works for me, Laura. Certainly my mailing list is good. It’s probably set up behind Instagram, because Instagram is purely visual and you don’t get to give a lot of information, other than visual information. It’s helpful but it’s number three for me.

Nikki

4:50
Okay, what’s your fourth tip for us?

Larry

4:53
We spend a lot of time on art but we don’t think about our booth or our display. They are another form of art and it’s as important as your work. To me that means spacious, not overcrowded, well lit and just have it be inviting. So people want to come in, want to look at the world; make sure everything’s price, just think of your booth as another piece of your art. So many times we focus on the art and not think about the booth. And that’s important at an art festival.

Nikki

5:25
Think about it as a mini art gallery, you know, not just a table outside think of the whole the whole experience.

Larry

5:34
Agreed.

Laura

5:36
All right, so what is your fifth tip for us?

Larry

5:39
I think once you’ve gotten into the good show, and you set up your beautiful display, be present and communicative in your booth. Put away your book, put away the iPhone, be there the whole time. How many times have I gone into booth and the artists is gone? Have a price on everything. I like to greet every customer when they enter the booth or even when they look in from the aisle. I offer to assist, answer a question, maybe make a small comment about them. And then I back away, I don’t want to pressure anybody. I want to give them information, answer their questions. And if they linger on a piece a long time, I might go up and say, you know, do you want to hear this story about that, but I’m really sensitive about over pressuring people. And then if a pair, if two people enter your booth, one of them is going to be more interested than the other. And if you don’t engage the person that’s uninterested or less interested, they’re gonna walk away and their friend’s gonna go with them. And you don’t want to have that happen. So engage at least both people, if not that less interested person, keeping your really interested person in front of your work.

Laura

6:48
Yeah, that’s really good advice. And also, it is hard for some people. I know personally, if somebody’s showing interest, I don’t want to be too salesy. And so I’m nervous about going up, and what do I say to them? And are they going to feel pressured and walk off immediately from that, and there’s probably that fine line between, you know, being communicative and touching base with them. And then just walking away and saying, Okay, you can, you can make your own decision.

Larry

7:13
I have a cool sign in my booth. It says, Please touch the work. If you think about it, every art show you’re at, you see, don’t touch, don’t touch, don’t touch, don’t photograph, don’t photograph, don’t photograph. And sometimes I’ll tell somebody walks in the booth, Please feel free to touch the work. Everybody reads that sign as don’t touch, but it doesn’t say that. That’s my job as the artist, if I can answer any more questions, I’m happy to do so. So I give them some humor, some information, differentiate myself, and I’ve greeted them and I back off.

Nikki

7:42
But don’t pick it up, because you might pick up the whole pedestal.

Larry

7:48
This is true. They’ll pick it up with a piece of glass. Does this permanently attached now? Gives me another opportunity to engage, because then I’d engage the museum gel and say feel this, how soft it is and how smooth it is.

Nikki

8:05
Pedestal not included.

Laura

8:06
Well, and that’s one of the benefits of being a glass artist, because glass also cleans up really nicely. You wouldn’t necessarily do that on a watercolor painting, you know, or something that if it was exposed to the elements. But if it’s something that’s like glass than it should be something that’s tangible. I actually went into a gallery once that had that written on this fine art gallery, you can touch any, and it was in they were paintings, there’s like you can touch any painting here. And I thought that was such a cool experience that they were having. And the gallery was going gangbusters, too. They were doing really well.

Nikki

8:37
When I first saw a Van Gogh painting in person, I really wanted to lick it. I didn’t see a sign that said please lick the art. But it looked like, it was so thick and textural look like icing. I just wanted to lick it.

Larry

8:58
I’ll think about it. Why should we limit our experience in an art booth or an art gallery to just visual why can’t we go tactile?

Nikki

9:04
Yeah, as long as it’s not something that’s going to be damaged, why not? So I have before we ask for your final tip. I have one question that fits in this category about how you treat people when they walk in the booth and what you’re doing. What’s your opinion about, sometimes people will be working on their art in there, like making whatever it is they make? What’s your opinion about that?

Larry

9:30
They say I could make that, I said Yeah, but you didn’t.

Nikki

9:38
No, I mean when the artist is…

Larry

9:39
I know, I had to make you laugh. I think that you’ll get people who want to take pictures of your work. And by the way, I don’t care. Take all the pictures you want. If you have the skills to recreate what I do, go for it. By the time you’ve done that I’ll moved on so I don’t have any problem with people taking pictures of work. I will talk about how I do something, the process. As long as two things happen, it doesn’t distract me from other customers, because I’ve got to be able to engage everybody that comes in the booth. And usually it’s more than one person. Hopefully it’s more than one person. The other thing is there are some things that I’m not ready to talk about. Either it’s still evolving, or I want to keep it to myself a little bit until I sort of get the most I want out of it. And then I’ll talk about it. So there’s outside of those, I love sharing what I do. Does that answer your question, Nikki? You said they’re working on they’re work.

Nikki

10:31
Not exactly, I was asking about artists who, while in their booth, are working on their own thing. So if I’m selling jewelry, and I’m at a table making another piece of jewelry.

Larry

10:44
I have a story. When I was a stained glass artist, I used to try to make stained glass panels in my booth, I would copper foil them and be soldering there. And I realized after a couple of years or doing that, that was my introvert way of avoiding engaging with people. So I’ve stopped working in my booth, I will not do that. Because that’s akin to reading or eating your lunch or talking on your phone. Think about it. If you see somebody intent, on I don’t know, making a piece of jewelry, do you want to interrupt them? You’re gonna feel like you’re intruding? So I don’t want to work in my booth, because it’s gonna be off-putting to my customer.

Nikki

11:24
Yeah, I get that 100%. But I kind of can see both sides. Because I think sometimes seeing the artist make it draws people in; I know that I’ve done some things where I’m drawing at an event, and people like to watch and ask questions about the technique. So I can see both sides.

Larry

11:46
So why not have a video on an iPad mountain on your ProPanel wall that shows the process of something? I’ve done that a little bit and would like to do more. I was in art festival, they had an iPad, a big iPad on a span with two or three videos, you could click one and watch it, talking about keeping your customer in the booth a long time and engaging them. That’s the ultimate. So I think it’s really helpful. The more a patron understands about how you create your work, what your challenges are, what makes your work unique, What makes your work unique? They’re gonna be amenable to buying your work, or at least supporting you as an artist. So I’m for that.

Laura

12:29
And Larry, you can’t have molten glass in your booth.

Larry

12:34
There’s a little challenge. I can’t ever say I tried that one.

Laura

12:41
All right. So what’s your final tip for us today, Larry?

Larry

12:43
I think doing an art show. If you’re going to do these, it’s a long term endeavor. It’s not a one and done. So I think of this as something, in fact, when I do a new show, I commit to doing it three times. First time people are going to be surprised to see me there, they don’t expect that, except for the small number of people that I have on my mailing list, they don’t expect you there. So they’re gonna be surprised, maybe they buy something, maybe they don’t. The next year, they’re going to sort of not be surprised. Maybe they expect me to be there. But you know, as a one and done last year, so they do that the second year, but the third year, they’re coming expecting and maybe even hoping that you’ll be there and hoping to buy something. Maybe they’ve even targeted something they want to buy or a style they want to buy. And so that third year, is sort of the sweet spot. From then on, if you cultivate, like you show for art show number one, you can do that. But I think that and I think it’s an evolutionary process, an organic process about building your display, even building your work, you may find that if all I have is $1,000 pieces of work, I need to develop something with a little bit lower price point, or if everything is $95 and people want something great big for the living room and the guest house, I may need up my price point. And so I think that gives you an opportunity to think of this as a long term endeavor.

Laura

14:08
It’s playing the long game. And also, what you were mentioning was is having different price points and sizes of art available so that you’re hitting a larger target audience when people want it.

Larry

14:18
I think that’s why painters sell prints. Now a lot of shows will say you can’t have more than 10% or whatever percent of print because they don’t want you to be selling only prints. But if I can’t afford a $2,500 painting, maybe I can a print and that’s plants a seed. So yeah, multiple price points.

Nikki

14:37
Yeah, that idea of playing the long game. And committing to it, it can really apply to anything. You know, there’s a lot of things that we try once or twice, and they’re not huge instant successes, so we think that’s not gonna work for us, I don’t want to do that, I quit. But it’s that momentum that you get and experimenting and changing and learning and getting better and better each time. So that’s great advice for art festivals or any kind of promotion you do. Don’t just try it one time. Keep going,

Laura

15:12
Larry, you’ve done 250 of these. And I’m sure they were not all, you know, the best shows in the world for you where you made the most money. There had to be a few in there that were challenging.

Larry

15:22
There were some dogs. But I have a story for you. I was at the Fort Worth Art & Jazz Festival when it was happening. I was three booths down from what I think was a new painter. He had a little pop up tent, an inexpensive festival tent. He had canvases, nothing framed, no fancy display, just canvases on the cement sidewalk. But he was invested in being a painter. He had paint stained jeans, he was painting in his booth. And I gotta tell you, his work wasn’t very good. And it wasn’t selling. And so over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday festival, you could see the frustration growing and in my fantasy, you know, somebody told them, Oh, your work is great, or you ought to go sell your work or whatever. But anyway, there he was, frustration growing. So Saturday night, we closed up amid art and jazz, came back Sunday, and he didn’t show up. And I later learned he abandoned his booth with paintings inside. Just walked away.

Nikki

16:23
Oh, that ‘s sad.

Larry

16:24
It tells me… it’s it’s tragic. But it tells me he had the expectations of big successful, making money, the first time out. And that’s just not realistic. So this is a long game and you got to take your licks, develop your thick skin and evolve. It’s organic. I really believe that. So, this is not for the light, faint of heart. Think of it as a long game.

Laura

16:48
For sure. Larry, thanks so much for coming back and sharing all of your knowledge with us.

Nikki

16:53
Yeah, thank you so much for coming back. This has been really, really educational. To get a downloadable PDF with Larry’s art festival tips and tricks, visit startistsociety.com/artfestivaltips.

Laura

17:07
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.