Freezin' in Florida

Images
New Smyrna, FL

“Rainbow in the morn'; artists be warned”

At 7:30 AM on January 30, 2010 we were greeted by a wonderful double rainbow over the tents at New Smyrna, Florida where the Images Art Festival was to be held that weekend. The old saying proved correct. For 2 days we were treated with rain, cold, clouds, and wind.

From out of the northwest the wind howled between rainstorms on Saturday then the rain set in permanently at about 3 o'clock. No one was there so the committee said we could all close and come to the awards dinner early.

On Sunday the rain subsided but the wind, clouds, and cold continued. Winds over 20 mph were a constant with gusts above 30 mph. The temperature got to about 55 degrees and then went down. The crowd tried to thicken but never really got to normal levels. Sales were modest. We ended the show with about what we had done last year and grateful for it. At 5:00, closing time, on cue like someone flipped a switch the sun came out and the wind died off to nothing.

Images is a well organized show that tries to cater to the artists. The people of New Smyrna tried valiantly to support the show despite the weather. Although we did not win any ribbons the judging was done efficiently and the judges were interested and pleasant. In general the awards went to artists who deserved them.

Maybe the highlight of this situation was staying at Riverwood RV park in Oak Hill. This is not a high-end campground but it is right on Mosquito Lagoon just in back of the Canaveral National Seashore. There are usually dolphins here but this year seemed record breaking. Annie watched them often sometimes counting over 20 in one group. This may have been related to the cold or just good luck for us. Either way it was an awe inspiring sight.

Even the Bahamian Dancers could not bring us warm weather

Mt. Dora Art Festival
Mt. Dora, FL

A week later we found ourselves in another rainstorm waiting to set up for a show on February 6 & 7. The whole week in between had been cold and blustery and today was no exception.

We were able to park our RV in the high-school practice field and set up camp with about 8 or so other artist. It was about a mile from the show and when we arrived to assemble our tent the rain had nearly stopped slowing to an annoying drizzle while we worked in the crowded dark street.

Mt. Dora is a lovely small town in interior Florida lake country. It retains some of its “Ole South” charm although successive generations of northerners have managed to put their spin on it. The show is massive. At its best it will attract over 250,000 people although this year that figure would not be achieved.

The old downtown (where the show is held) remains bucolic except for the references to New York fashions in the store windows and the catering to old Midwest sensibilities in the cafes and bars. But due to the disconnect between the rather patrician town structure and the rather raucous occasion of a big time art show the downtown district crowd control becomes somewhat heavy handed.

There are strict laws enforce by the police. Dog owners are escorted out of the downtown area by the police for instance or anyone with a suspicious “drink cup” is asked to leave the street. Artists are given assigned parking which is good but once parked you can't get out. The strict rules on the artists had one veteran exhibitor telling me that the show had earned the nickname “Lock-down”.

Most of the police I talked to were pretty decent people who were just trying to do their job as instructed. Maybe a few over-reached but the real culprits were at City Hall and not with the officers.

The show is a very high quality “blue chip” art festival. Talent here is national and international quality. We were not fortunate enough to win anything but the judging was first rate and awards were given out to artist whose work merited them. Our neighbor, John Whipple, a wonderful painter won a ribbon and cash prize and it could not have gone to a better person.

Sales for us were dismal. Cold on Saturday and even colder on Sunday; perhaps topping out at 51 degrees and a constant 25 to 30 mph wind made it uncomfortable and smothered any buzz generated by the crowd. Some artists sold well but on average the show was at least down by half for many artists.

A short rest at Wekiwa Springs before the challenge in Mickey-Land

Osceola Art Festival
Kissimmee, FL

We struggled to tear down at Mt. Dora on Sunday night and get back to Apopka and Wekiwa Springs State park where we would stay and lick our wounds for the week before the next show. We got to camp in time to watch the forth quarter of the Super Bowl and see the miraculous Saints pull off the upset victory while we munched some totally appropriate Popeye's chicken.

Then there was Kissimmee. On Friday February 12 we rolled into Kissimmee to the Valencia Community College campus where the show was to be that weekend. It was raining; again. We were allowed to camp in the parking lot next to the Security Police and the was very welcome from a couple of standpoints.

At Mt. Dora our new Wal-Mart battery in the RV decide to have a dead cell and died leaving us without electric early Sunday morning and being “locked down” at the show with no way to repair it until afterward in the dark. Thank God the local Wal-Mart had a battery but without a receipt for the other one (2 months old) we paid full price again. We experienced no electrical malfunctions at Kissimmee but that was one of the few things that went smoothly.

The rain on Friday intensified. We got the frame up and the top on our tent in a strong drizzle which turned into a relative “goose-drownder” within a short time. The wind blew and the rain was horizontal but we anchored down the tent and got about 75% set up then called it quits.

The next morning was cold. You could see your breath. We finished setting up and opened to cloudy skies, cold, and more wind; perhaps 15-20 mph. Few people came we sold a little.

Sunday was colder; in the 40's. The sun came out by noon and the wind laid down a bit but it only gained about 10 degrees. The crowd was thin and not very prosperous looking. We sold a little less.

In all the years of doing shows this one did generate one new thing. I never heard so much grousing about the judging. Even some of the winners complained and that is very unusual.

Let me say a word about art show judging. First of all if you have a couple judges and expect them to work a whole show with numerous categories of art you are asking too much of the judges. Regardless the skill of the individual few people can reliably evaluate dissimilar media from oil painting to glass to metals to fabric; it's impossible to do a thorough job.

Any judges can have input on the appeal of art after selected by someone who specializes in the media but cannot be expected to be expert in all media. At the least there should be a two-dimensional (2-D) and three dimensional (3-D) specialist on the judging panel.

The complaining was not so much about who won but about the manner of the judges. After experiencing two shows with excellent judging in my opinion the ones for this show seemed detached and disrespectful. That being said I walked the show and looked at the winners. Although a little spotty many good selections were made. However, I don't live in Florida and most of the complaints came from Florida artists who may have experience this same pair of judges before.

Due to friction with the merchants this show was moved from downtown Kissimmee to the campus two years ago. By the looks of it the college was not fully on board with the show being there. Regardless how the show was promoted in the past getting a crowd in these times requires a targeted advertising buy and a lot of help from the community particularly the professional class without whom a first rate show will never materialize in this venue.

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