Anyone going to the show in Baltimore or Philly

[Stuart Clayman]

I will be visiting Baltimore twice one for wholesale and then again on friday for Retail. Then will be going to Philly to help in a booth and to shop.

would like to say hi to anyone that will be at either show.

Stuart

[Rick Jarvis]

Well we are flying out today for the BMAC. Ali and I are in booth 4034, the last booth on the left of the first row of glass...stop by and say hello.

Rick Jarvis

[abes]

Which show?

[Tony Serviente]

My BMAC booth is 3302-Hope you can stop by.

[Dani]

We drove to last year's BMAC and got way slowed down due to highway road construction, broke 1/4 of my pieces driving the Missouri interstate, and then couldn't find the right exit to the Pennsylvania Convention Center because our Rand McNally road atlas had all the old exit numbers... and the signs had new numbers. And that was before the show even opened. What an adventure!

[Stuart Clayman]

Dani,
Are you going to try it again?

[Dani]

Not this summer, but I'll probably try for some February show. It depends on what the economy does. Right now I'm getting a better run for my money doing relentless regional marketing with color postcards and gallery theme shows. I have a peace show opening on Friday and am making more peace pins, magnets, and plaques with peace quotes because the stuff is selling already before the opening! I think peace is going to become a very popular and populist theme before too very long. In the meantime, I get to feel like I'm doing something of worth helping change the consciousness of the world.... or, at least, adding to something positive.

[Stuart Clayman]

Well,
I am back froim the shows... There were some glass artist at Baltimore and they were great to talk to.. they had plenty of time to talk since there were not wholesale buyers... there... ok, there were one or 2 but not many. I did not meet anyone from this board here. I then left for Philly but I talked to a friend that was doing Baltimore and he said that the retails days were empty also.
In Philly there were more glass artist.... I also enjoyed talking to them and met 3 artist from this board that were very helpful on work that they did. The artist I met were Tony, Gail, and Rick.. all very nice people... enjoyed meeting then and seeing their work,,, and learned things from all of them...

Stuart

[Dani]

And were there buyers in Philly? Were artists selling? I heard that February BMAC exhibitors were now required to attend both winter and summer shows and would have to sign contracts agreeing. Is this so... how do artists feel about that? Thanks for the input.

[Tony Serviente]

I was in Philly and enjoyed meeting Stuart, and in Feb. Dani. The foot traffic was down but our sales were up. The summer show is always a distant second to Feb but still worth my while. Most of my fellow exhibitors did not have a good show. I heard of sales being off from 40 to 60% and some wrote no orders at all. Wendy is trying to stimulate the summer show by requiring new exhibitors to do both shows, so there would be a good infusion of new work there, and next year she is moving the date to make it adjacent to NY gift. What I heard from my accounts is that the economy is too uncertain for them to stock up now, and they are going to wait a month or so before comitting to holiday orders.

[Gale aka artistefem]

Whew.......pulled in late last night from our east coast show & vacation adventure.

Fell in love with the nicely cleaned up Philly. It's a far cry from it's old, dirty city days. Luved the ethnic mix and architectural diversity and oh lordy - the next time I go there, I'm just going to take a cot and set it up inside the Reading Terminal Market. Rave reviews and gustory happiness! We ate very well while at the BMAC.

The Rosen Show was quiet, buyers are cautious right now and I heard from long-time exhibitors how a good number of their long term buyers hadn't even shown up to walk the show. We did ok, but there were artists present who didn't write orders.

Stuart Clayman came by to say Hi - we had a very nice chat. Also enjoyed meeting Rick Jarvis, Allison Baker, Tony Serviente and his partner and many other artists who work in other disciplines. Learned a lot from these exhibitors and from walking the show. We now have a solid understanding of where and how to tighten/tweak our glass line and our display. All said - a positive experience.

Took a driving route up through Jaersy and then onto Manhattan - construction has begun on the Trade Towers site. An architect has been selected, but I don't know what is being built at the site yet. Drove through shi-shi-poo-poo Soho (perfect example of area where artists move in, make the area trendy and then end up being driven out by escalating property and rent prices). But Soho is still a neat place to hang.

Tripped on up to New Hamp to see our kiddos and also got to visit the Bert Weiss Studio in the North Woods. Oh boy, am I in BIG trouble now. Bert and I have been talking about him coming out and helping us build a larger kiln. After seeing his monster kiln, I won't be able to get the kiln building materials together fast enough. KILN LUST................in a "big" way.

Bert also has the most amazing breaking tool. With barely any pressure, I was able to break a score on Bert's 3/8's float. It was broken out before I realized it had separated. I yipped - LOL! Gotta have one of these nifty tools - I usually hold my breath, give a mental offering to the breaking gods, stand on one foot and hold my tongue just so to get my float to break this perfectly. I like tools that make life easier.........

Thanks Bert - enjoyed meeting you and Suzy and enjoyed talking about glass, of course. I'm still experiencing feelings of awe over your huge case of float glass. Now this is tangible commitment to what we do and what we are passionate about...........