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Art Fair Madness - Intro to the 4 Part Info-Dump

Writer's picture: Emily LangeEmily Lange

Updated: Oct 24, 2023

I'm going to try and literally regurgi- (no wait.... not literally) metaphorically regurgitate everything I learned.

I decided to apply for an art fair at the beginning of September 2023. It's long been a goal of mine to do this and I guess I just got a bee in my bonnet one day. The decision to apply was on a whim, as all good and sound decisions are made of course. In a turn of events I clearly didn't anticipate, I was accepted for the fair and essentially locked myself in with only 3 weeks to prepare! I can't say that I'd recommend this strategy for others looking to get into the art fair scene, but I will say I did learn an insane amount in a very short time. By willfully drinking from the fire hose, putting the cart before the horse, [insert whatever phrase you like most to describe someone doing something while their hair is on fire and they're on a bonkers deadline], I was forced to make decisions on everything: content, inventory, display/set-up, and day-of-logistics.


A website showing project organization categories using the website Airtable
Overview page for fair prep (using Airtable)

In the next four entries, I'm going to try and literally regurgi- (no wait.... not literally) metaphorically regurgitate everything I learned and all the decisions I made to get ready for the fair. As a bit of an introduction to the event, this was a relatively small (~90 artists) local art fair in Denver, CO. I was provided with a 10x10 plot of asphalt and I needed to procure everything else to get ready. If you're finding yourself in a similar position then, read on, this might be helpful!


The reason I'm doing this is that, while doing rapid-fire research for this event, I felt like there were few single sources that had all the information for which I was looking. I'd find a random reddit article where someone gave advice on booth setup; a lone blog article that talked vaguely about how many art pieces can fit on a wall; a 9 second Instagram reel that showed someone's booth layout. The other issue I ran up against was getting advice from seasoned art fair veterans. I don't mean to besmirch their contributions but, it's a little hard, when I'm looking at an empty patch of 10x10 ground, to jump ahead 50 steps and follow their instructions on building custom display walls because quote the ones on the internet are garbage, unquote. That may be true but advice like that can be pretty overwhelming for someone who's really just trying to make sure their art isn't sitting in the mud.


There's something to be said about learning from someone who just slayed the same beast you're attempting to best. They remember what it was like to not know anything.

These are a set of blog articles for noobs, by a noob! I wanted to capture my thoughts, as undeveloped as they may be, before I learn too much and forget these first impressions I've made. There's something to be said about learning from someone who just slayed the same beast you're attempting to best. They remember what it was like to not know anything. They remember what parts tripped them up ("Ok, maybe cutting off the many heads of the Hydra is a less than productive strategy..."). Long story short, I'm the nerd that just beat level 5 and I'm here to give you my walkthrough on how I, as a beginner, did it.



I'm going to put in as much detail as possible. I'm not going to vaguely advise "your art needs to fit this space, so figure it out". I'll provide specifics on exactly what I put together. Said specifics might not be something that you'll want to replicate, but I think it will provide a nice frame of reference when you're looking at, say, how much inventory you want to buy. I'm also hoping to make these articles as organized as possible so it will be easy to skip around to the parts in which* you're interested.


The first step I made was to organize my plan of attack into 4 clearly defined paths that would help me account for every element of the fair:

  • Content

  • Inventory

  • Display/Set-up

  • Day-of Logistics

Spoiler alert, these are the 4 topics I'll be covering in each blog article. Happy reading!


*Note: In case you haven't noticed, I hate ending sentences with a preposition. If that irks you, you might need to find a different blog to read. Don't blame me, it's my 7th grade teacher's fault. I'm not saying I'll never do it, but I'm usually willing to leap through some pretty extreme hoops to ensure it doesn't happen. 🤷‍♀️

**Note: also, if you made it to the end of this article, comment with your favorite fictional dragon!

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2 Comments


Guest
Oct 25, 2023

Favorite dragon probably has to be Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon!

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Guest
Oct 18, 2023

Great article!

Also..favorite dragon: The Reluctant Dragon! Haha!

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