Early American Artisan Fair 2019
Earlier this year on November 1 & 2, we attended our first show as New Towne Gallery, and as first shows go, I believe it was a great success!
In the spring, when we were first approached by the Colonial Homestead Artisans Guild and asked to have a presence at the show, I didn’t need to think about the answer for very long. An obvious fit for many of the Artisans whose work is featured here at the gallery, and a chance to showcase and promote the historical subject matter of many of our Artists, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ‘get our feet wet’ so to speak. Another deciding factor was the location- the show would be located at Harvest Ridge, our local fairgrounds and event center. So less stress on trying to get everything together beforehand... if we forgot something, it would be a matter of running back to the gallery and grabbing it. Which did happen. Several times. But I digress... While I knew it would take lots of preparation, I also knew we needed to be there. So I signed us up!
Fast track to late October- since I have this habit of leaving things till the last minute, the last few weeks before the show came, things were going well, and suddenly I realized I had forgotten about a backdrop wall. Somehow while the idea of a backdrop wall always factored into my plans, I hadn’t managed to actually check into what was going to be available at the show, or to what extent we needed to supply our own booth walls. And since we would have multiple pieces of art that needed to be hanging on the said wall... I began frantically exploring all my options. After finding several portable backdrops that could do the job, and narrowing them down to two decent options, both of which would require a lot of expense and effort to get to where we needed them, (but needs must) I was looking at one of my neighboring downtown merchant’s Instagram page where they had posted photos of a show they’d just gotten back from doing, and a lightbulb started flickering in my head. Why not ask if they might have a wall I could rent for our booth? So off I went to Farmhouse Frocks, where they were happy to help, only they didn’t actually have any portable walls that would work, although they mentioned Cottonwood Shanty might. Back I went to the shoppe on the other side of the gallery, where Alyssa Eliot owns Cottonwood Shanty, a lifestyle & home décor artisan boutique. And what did they have, but a stack of panels absolutely perfect for a backdrop wall at an art fair. Crisis averted. Phew. And not only did she immediately offer the use of the wall, but to this day Alyssa refuses to accept payment for it. Do we have great neighbors or what?!
On the evening before the show was set to open, my father, nephew, a friend, and my very grateful self set out to begin set up on our booth. In what felt like a short time, everything was on location and ready to be arranged. After a bit of trial and error the following morning, by the opening time we had a booth that seemed to at least do a credible job of displaying everything we had chosen to feature.
Show hours ran from 4 to 7 PM that first day, so we had time to get the feel of things before the crowds arrived on the following day. I even had enough time to make a round to say hi to the folks we knew and meet those we didn’t, and see the work of other artisans who were set up at the show. And what work it was! So many different styles of woodcarving, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, luthiers, furniture makers, scrimshaw artists, pyrography, folk art, rug braiding and weaving, homemade soaps, the list goes on... In short, it was an incredibly inspiring and informative show for us. And we had a backdrop wall with some beautiful artwork displayed for all to see!
So at the end of the day, we really enjoyed our first show. All things considered, it went very well, and we look forward to many more. We’re grateful to the Colonial Homestead Artisans Guild for the opportunity, and we look forward to seeing you all there at next year’s spring Show! Be sure to check out theartisansguild.org to stay tuned on actual show dates.