Philadelphia Buyer’s Market Recap- Day 2

After some discussion about the state of parking in Philly, mom and I decided that she will drop me off at the convention center in the mornings and pick me up in the evenings so that she’ll be free to do whatever during the day and I won’t have to take out a loan to park every day (Thanks mom!).

So I arrive on the second morning of the Visiting Artist Program ready for more. Before the session starts
I learn a little more about three my table-mates at the conference. The first is ceramic artist and Philadelphia local, Peter Cunicelli…you can check out his work here. The other two artists at my table, Diane and Wayne Ahrendt are glass artists all the way from Portland, Oregon…you can check out their work here. We manage to trade introductions and cards before our first session starts.

Day 2: Session 1: Pricing and Production
So the first session of the day was led by…none other than our fearless leader, Bruce Baker. He tells us straight off that the session will mostly be about production. Why production and not pricing, the bane of every artist’s existence? Because there’s no magic bullet when it comes to pricing. Every artist is different, every piece of art is different, every situation is different. Coming up with a pricing formula that fits everyone is the definition of futility. However, Bruce gives us some pretty good guidelines. When you are figuring out your wholesale costs, be sure to add things like:

1. overhead costs
2. labor ( above minimum wage, please!)
3. materials markup (to cover the ups and downs in the cost of your materials)
4. sales fee (to cover the cost of you shlepping your work out of your studio and to a show or gallery to sell it)

As far as production, Bruce said that the key is to be productive! That means hiring someone to repetitive, non-artisitic work, getting the best price for your materials, and basically working smarter rather than harder. There were lots of great tips on hiring assistants, production techniques, and a great conversation on what the difference is between an artist and a designer (What’s the difference? Designers are happy!).

Day 2: Session 2: Marketing and Promotion
After lunch was the session on marketing and promotion which was led by the very colorful and hilarious mixed media artist Stacy Simbrom. First thing you noticed was that she was wearing ponytails decorated with angel’s wings…totally not what she looks like her picture in the program. Why she was wearing wings in her hair became clear the more she spoke. She gave great examples on the different kinds of marketing materials that artists need to have in their arsenal like business cards, line sheets, bios, websites, postcards, and even how an artist presents themselves to the public (hence the angel’s wings). She is especially fond of using postcards and if there is a key thing that I took away from her session is that artists need to create marketing materials that do double or even triple duty. Her examples of her postcards were great and I know I’ll be redesigning mine in the near future. You can check out Stacy’s equally fabulous work on her website.

Day 2: Session 3: In and Outs of the BMAC
Now this session is where you get down to the real nitty-gritty, and I’ll admit that I was somewhat overwhelmed about what I learned at this session. This session was led by show director Christine Kloostra, mixed media and fiber manager Laura Bamburak, glass and ceramics manager Allison Muschel, and jewelry and supplies manager Valerie Heck. They answered a whole range of questions about the Buyer’s Market; about the application process, about how they select their artists, about who attends the show, the cost of doing the show…and most importantly the logistics of doing the show. Logistics like how to ship your booth to the convention center, about how to set up the booth, what tools we’re allowed to use during setup, whether we’re allowed to plug in our own lights, whether it’s more economical to ship and warehouse your booth ahead of time or whether it’s better to ship the day before the show, and all about a very scary and expensive word called…”drayage”.

The Buyer’s Market has an interesting approach to their application process. If you take a look at their application, you’ll find that they ask if you have any wholesale accounts and their contact information, if you’ve done shows in the past and how much you’ve made, and about who your main suppliers are and their contact information. Why are they so nosy? (actual question) It was explained to us that it’s so that they can get a feel of how serious you are about selling wholesale, so they look at your application and actually call your wholesale accounts and suppliers to get a feel at about how professional you are. If they think that you’re not ready for the big game, they’ll suggest that you try again later or perhaps attend the Visiting Artist Program or some workshops by the Arts Business Institute (ABI). They want to make sure that the artists in the show are as professional as the buyers attending the show. Interesting approach indeed.

After the session, it was time for the individual mentoring sessions. Since none of us had a session scheduled, Peter suggested that Wayne, Diane, and I go get a beer. So he took us to a local sports bar called The Fieldhouse that was about a block away. I decided to skip the beer and go for a cheeseburger instead since I only had a Slim Jim and a box of raisins up till that point (I have a really bad habit of forgetting to eat). The cheeseburger was a great call because it was delicious…but I kinda wished I had time for the beer too.

Day 2: Tour of the Buyers Market Floor
Since the show is so big, I tried to be strategic about how I walked the floor. While I wanted to see how the jewelers display their work, I also wanted to see what ideas I could get from other mediums, so I spent some of my time in the ceramics and mixed media section as well. I’m certainly glad I did because I found this terrific display by Mel V. Inc. This particular artist, Melissa V. Scott is a mixed media artist from Waterloo, Canada who makes beautiful, modern looking inspirational wall tiles in plaster and resin. The first thing that attracted me was the modern-looking, beautifully understated booth…and once I entered the space, I noticed the gorgeous wall art. I wish I was able to take photos, but one of the rules were that there are no photos allowed on the show floor. One of the things that I loved about the booth was the way that it drew you in and created a fitting atmosphere for the work…it was almost like being in some one’s living room or home gallery space. Yet it didn’t overpower the work itself, which is something that Bruce Baker had warned against in the previous day’s session on booth design.

I took some time to talk to the gentleman in the booth (I believe his name was Spencer Thackray) and he told me that they had actually designed and built the entire booth from scratch. They have three versions and all of them break down flat for storage and transport. Plus, the booth is assembled with only one tool…a oversized allen wrench. Which is great because as we learned in previous session, there are union rules that dictate what kind of tools we can use in the hall for setting up our booths. Very impressive! You can check out Mel V’s lovely work at their website.

Some key takeaways for the day

• Work smarter and not harder
• Aim to be a designer and not an artist…you’ll be happier
• Postcards = Very, very good…paying yourself minimum wage for labor = Very, very bad
• Drayage (which is the transport of your booth from the loading dock to your space on the show floor) is very expensive and should be avoided when possible
• The Fieldhouse over on 12th has really good burgers (Thanks Peter!)
• There are artists in the world nice enough to pay for your lunch (Thanks Wayne and Diane!)