- After returning from my first indoor wholesale show in Philadelphia I proceeded to fulfill all the gallery orders I received there. The work and income was rewarding, but after all the orders were filled, now what?
It was a waiting game, waiting for the galleries to sell the artwork that I supplied them and then reorder. I still needed a steady income.
At that time, I had my artwork at a gallery in St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota. The owner of the gallery was planning to move to Hawaii. He had an EZ UP DOME Tent for sale ( Yes, a DOME topped EZ UP…I’ve only seen two others in the last 15 years) and he suggested that I start doing art festivals. So I figured, Why not? I already had everything for a booth setup. So, I bought the tent.
My first outdoor art festival was the CraftArt Show on Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg on November 22nd – 23rd, 2008…and I’ve been doing art festivals up and down the East Coast since then, including Louisville, Buffalo, Atlanta, Virginia Beach, Hilton Head, etc., however, I have stayed primarily in Florida for the last several years.
So, between retailing and wholesaling over the past 15 years I’ve been able to rack up over 250 retail juried art festivals along with numerous wholesale shows…and sustain a nice living doing it. I never wanted to be a starving artist.
And that brings me full circle back to Creative Pinellas and the Emerging Artist Grant.
