You can prepare for an (art) event all
you want but some things are just out of your hands.
The ArtWest Open Studio weekend was
promoted quite well by the organisation. I properly framed all art I wanted to
show. I send out invitations via e-mail, via Facebook, I put the event on my
website, wrote a blog about it, shared it a couple of times on Facebook… We cleaned
the studio, hung the art (it looked quite good I think), bought drinks and
snacks, we had a massive flag waving for attention, the door stood wide open…
But then on Saturday there was rain,
lots of rain and Sunday there was a storm and only a few people dared to
venture out of their warm, cosy homes.
Saturday we had 36 visitors and
Sunday 46, considering the weather not that bad but still, if the weather had
been nice the turnout had been much higher. From our group of 5 I was the only
one who did not sell.
That evening wasn’t very pleasant. I
doubted myself and my work. Was my attitude too much ‘wait-and-see’? Should I jump
people when they enter the studio (something I hate when people do that to me
in shops etc.). Was my art just bad/ weird/ unmarketable? Did I present it
wrong? What did I do wrong??
Sunday, at the end of the event our
group of Grafisch Collectief Thoets decided to prolong our open studio to next
Sunday. We would again invite everybody and hope for better weather.
The weather was nice, a lot of
people who couldn’t make it the weekend before came by and I sold some small
things. Happy.
I need to remember that there’s nothing wrong
with my artwork, I just need to reach the right people.
