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Artsplash in Sioux City, Iowa 09

We are back, and I’m still a little groggy from the event. Yesterday, (Labor Day. Perhaps I don’t fully grasp the meaning of that holiday?) we put in an 11 hour day at the gallery. We have 4 days between events and loads to do.

Artsplash is located along the river in Sioux City, Iowa. It has an expected attendance of 30,000 - 35,000.

Sales were in the normal range for that event which is a nice surprise considering so many events this year have been a little less. The weather was gorgeous which has got to help. If my last three outdoor events are as nice (weather-wise and I suppose sales-wise too) as this one, I will be a very happy gal.

It seemed to me the artist numbers were down. They had 78 artists which I thought their usual was somewhere between 100-125. I’m not sure what that is about. I was a little surprised to not see any of my good friends there. We’ve been doing this art fair thing so long, often it’s like a family reunion. The art fair staff knows me by sight. (Actually that freaks me out a bit. I mean what did I do to stick so firmly in their minds?) At any rate, I knew several artists but not enough to go out to dinner or something. Weird.

I did make a few new aquaintances. This is Bill Keitel from the Buffalo Billfold Company. Bill is not only talented with a piece of leather he is a professional musician. Seen here, he is serenading me with a song about horses and women. (Something like: “When I die, tan my hide and give me to a horse lovin’ woman. So I can spend eternity between my two favorite things.” He also won an award of excellence. (Congrats Bill!)

The Good Things about Artsplash

  • Easy Load-in and out.
  • Artist Parking is very close, so access to inventory is easy.
  • For 78 artists they have over 300 volunteers, so the artists are treated very well. Goodies and water are brought around every hour.
  • Catered awards dinner on Saturday night.
  • Judges introduce themselves and actually talk to you and ask question. This is extremely rare. Judges hate it, artists love it.
  • The event is on pavement but is in a scenic location along the river.
  • Spacious booths. I had 6 feet to the left of me and 3 to the right. Had I known this in advance I would have packed more and utilized the extra size. And while not everybody had this much room we were able to put up a second tent behind (for shade only.) Sweet.


    • Artsplash Negatives.

  • Gate Fees They have a $5 gate fee which went up this year. In this economy this may have hurt a little bit in regards to shoppers. I mean a family of four pay $20 just to get in.
  • But here’s the biggee, the Friday Patron Preview. $30 to get in pre-purchase and $40 at the gate. They get wine and hors d’oeurves. All the artists donate an item (which I’ve no problem with) and then the patrons raffle for them.

    SO what all this adds up to is, us (the artists) having to set up in the morning (we are given specific load-in times) to be open between 4-8pm, only to have no sales. Okay, I am going to share with you my total sales for Friday here on the internet. $56. Thaaat’s right. (Of which $50 was to a staff person so would have sold anyway.) To quote a fellow artist “It was a turd fest.” Yeah, I know. I warned you we artfair folk are a classy bunch.

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    6 Responses to “Artsplash in Sioux City, Iowa 09”

    1. Angela Finney Says:

      Glad you had great weather and decent sales! It seems like it has been a pretty good year. Hope the next three are as wonderful, too.

      That’s quite a volunteer ratio. Mystery why the artist number was so down. Do you think you’ll ever find out why?

    2. MonaMajorowicz Says:

      I don’t know why the drop. Most artfairs are seeing a surge in applications since sales are down artists need to do more events to make the same amount of money. I doubt they deliberately cut the numbers because shows usually advertise that.

      This show does have a habit of only going with really artsy stuff. Not much for functional pottery or realism art. They did have allot of photographers though. I know it is their habit to reject really good realistic painters. I blur the boundary a bit. I still get rejected once every 5 years or so. I know many artists who just stopped applying to this one.

      Maybe it’s a little of all those things????

    3. Robert Sloan Says:

      They should’ve made that Friday preview thing “applies to your first purchase” on that preliminary thing. Or some of it applies to your first purchase. That would’ve hauled the collectors in buying before the show opened. Much more than wine and cheese. They’d all want their money’s worth.

    4. MonaMajorowicz Says:

      That’s a great idea Robert.I will try to mention itt in the future on the evaluation form.

      I think since the event is seen as a bit of a fundraiser for the art center they are really focused on earning the bucks. It’s kinda annoying but then it goes back to if they do well we still have a venue.

    5. bill keitel Says:

      Mona, Enjoyed making your aquaintance and I think your art is a Sensory Overload! I didn’t realize ….how much attention I pay to horses!
      Hope to meet you again.. out on the trail.

      latcho drom/safe journey
      bill keitel

    6. MonaMajorowicz Says:

      Hey Bill :) What a surprise. You really are quite a sweetie. I put in a link to your site in my post. I should have done that the first time but was too tuckered from the event to follow through.

      Seriously thinking about Spearfish next year. I’m sure we’ll see you again.

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