Putting On An Annual Art Show | Evelyn Ward | Episode 851

Evelyn Ward | Episode 851

Evelyn Ward makes functional earthenware pots, with monoprinted slip transfers in her studio at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, NC. Evelyn’s aim is to make well-made pots that are a pleasure to use and look at and have around. She really enjoys making pots and hopes that they bring a little joy to people’s lives.

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How do you get your seed money to put your art show together?

Well there are booth fees. Each of the artists pays one hundred dollars so that pretty much funds the advertising and everything and I have a background in graphic design so I am free. (laughter) So all the marketing and everything is basically done by me so it’s just the booth fee is enough to run the whole thing. I have a budget and I stick to it and do it.

How do you come up with the budget itself?

Well I have the total that I can work with and I just allocate more for this or less for that. In the beginning we did have to buy things like signs and stuff like that and over the years you don’t have to do that as much. If you buy signs once you keep them and that line item is gone off of your budget. You don’t have to do that again.

As the person putting on the event to receive a percentage from your vendors, like the food truck or the artists?

No. I don’t. So for years I was doing shows and I felt like the artists were almost an afterthought. Not necessarily an afterthought but anyway I wanted to make it really artist friendly and have booth fees pretty low and work our tails off to get the people here and I feel like it benefits me because I have a booth there as well so it’s another good show in my arsenal. So I feel like if you create it and do it it’s a lot of free labor but you know there’s a little bit on money left over so I do make a little bit.

Do you expect your vendors to do advertising also?

Yes, I do. I have asked them to share on social media. I even send postcards to people to pass out at any shows they are doing at upcoming events, but yeah, that’s an important part of it because it’s not just me but I’ve got twenty five people that can promote it as well, to their lists and to their people. That’s a big part of getting the word out.

How far in advance to you start the actual advertising?

So what I do is I create an event on Facebook and I start posting, each artist sends me photos and I say, Today’s featured artist is this person and they are going to be here. And I will have pictures of their work and say they’re great and come see them October 22nd or whatever. So I do that every other day starting mid September. I am really active on that Facebook event page. And then I run ads three weeks prior. It seems if you do them any earlier people don’t remember.

Besides being at their booths and selling their work are there any other things the artists have to do?

No. No, they are just there to sell their work. They seem to have a great time, I will say that. They love the show. It’s a fun environment. It’s chill, relaxed, there’s not a lot of rules. I mean I do have everything laid out and there is a plan. It’s pretty well executed, hopefully. It’s not an afterthought. They are the main focus. That’s the idea.

How long does it take to clean up after the event?

You would not believe it. Our artists are so good. Every year I get up Sunday morning, walk outside and there might be a straw or a napkin. You wouldn’t know anything had happened there the day before. Everybody is so good. They clean up theirs spots. It’s amazing.