WarmGlass.com

The show is about 2 months away but I'm starting to hear from people getting in off the wait list and I thought I'd throw this idea out for consideration.

A fusers' dinner (exhibitors and interested visitors) on either Feb. 24th or 25th at a local restaurant? Those are the first 2 days of wholesale and we might be needing a drink or 2 and shoulders to cry on by then. The show is over at 6pm.

Anyone interested? Suggestions for restaurant? I'm fond of Joy America in the Visionary Art Museum but it can be pricey. If we're to be a large group, we'll need to set this up early.

Marty: I'm visiting, not showing, but please count me in. Thanks
Nikki

I'm always happy to eat & drink with you And it just so happens to coincide with my birthday (26th).

I would like to join the group for dinner in Baltimore. Let me know what the plans are.
Thanks, Richard

I live about an hour from Baltimore and would love to be included.

Thanks,

Liz

Off to the races tomorrow at the crack of dawn.
I'm in booth 1809- come visit.
Dinner plans will be last-minute, I haven't the energy to organize anything right now.
Marty

Famous Marty is famouser than ever; half-way through the show, most everything has been sold .
Seems there's a lot of warm glass this year, with lots of competition. Not much in the way of glass casting though. The show is too big to get through in one day, but there are at least 4 exhibitors making sushi sets. I met some really nice people in other media (bronze sculpture, ceramics, wood) and did a little cross-fertilization. It would ba handy to have a card to pass out for the numbers of people who want to know more about the WGBB. Spending a day at the ACC was quite a treat.
Nikki

I got thru it in 2 and a 1/2 hours but i was only stopping at the glass booths, I was impressed with the caster using tree bark as a mold form and the induced bubble forms I saw from using stingers crossed over Irid to Irid surfaces preventing them from fusing, she was very nice in satisfying my interest in her technique, she explained everything for me. That alone was worth the trip. Very easy concept but i never would of thought of it !

Over all I was a little unimpressed with all the similar hot glass. I mean some were very nice but mostly, and I guess that's just the method, the forms were mostly similar with different colours.

There was one girl who made a I'd call "river stone" piece, which was breathtaking. It was several pieces mounted vertically which set apart from all the rest. For those going she was in the second room. Hall B i think.

From the other side of the booth: wholesale days were quiet, there were a lot of missing galleries, people who are still in business but didn't come to the show. Still, I did ok. They were buying the newer, more expensive stuff for the most part (wholesale prices from $225 to $2200), and the average order was double that of last year.
Retail was wonderful on Friday and Saturday- I've never seen traffic jams in the aisles before on a non-holiday Friday! Sunday was tire-kickers, or in my case, glass flickers. Everyone had to click their fingernails on the stuff to determine the material. At least they didn't lick it.
The sales continue after the show- someone called to order a piece they couldn't buy at the show- a surprise gift. And it's also about visibility. Much as I hate it, people do have to see the work several times before buying.
I didn't get to see the whole show, but I did see Jerry Barnett's new stuff- very impressive, and Marcia Newren has gone colorless- mostly black and white, also great work.
The show is still way too big, both the wholesale and retail sections. Retail shrunk from over 800 exhibitors last year to just over 700 this year, and needs to go to about 600.

Thank you, Marty. It is scary showing an entirely new body of work for the first time; the support helps. I was disappointed in the wholesale portion of the show; far lower proportion of gallery reps than I had expected. It was, however, a compliment to be added to Ironwood Gallery's upcoming glass exhibit. Retail was much stronger, expecially on Friday. And I have also had calls since the show to buy pieces they had seen. (It seems that no one thinks to measure the space they want to fill before they come to the show.)

One of the pleasures of doing this type of show is meeting other artists. There was a great group in my area, including Barbara Galazzo and her beautiful glass. Those who saw the show understand why Marty did well. I can't wait to see more of his free-standing sculptural pieces. And Marcia Newren is a friend whose work never fails to make me envious.

Dick Kolpack, your frames were well received. Many of the people who came into my booth on Sunday were other artists wanting to know where I got my frames. Hopefully, some of them will follow through and contact you at ironwoodmetal.com.

I shipped to the show and want to recommend AIT Worldwide Logistics if any are thinking of doing the same. It went flawlessly and was 20% of the cost quoted by the "preferred" carrier, Yellow Freight. I worked with David Ingoldsby from their Tempe, AZ, office (888-857-7704), who was extremely helpful. He, or any of their other offices, can arrange a shipment from/to anywhere.

Jerry