How Should I Display and Sell Work at Art Fairs?

Alex Jabore's store front from the Great Done Art Fair with the Peak District Artisan Guild

   The Derby 'Winter Art Fair'  took place  late last month, the last fair of the year for me, and introduced me to a brand new group of artisans. Still relatively new to the art fair scene I spend every fair questioning the exhibitors around me, trying to work out how they make sales and organise their business. I'm part of a great the Peak District Artisans which consists of a group of 60+ very experiences artists who specialist in a large variety of craft and art forms. Unfortunately, while wonderfully organised and set in a great venue, the fair was very quiet. Then again, this gave me plenty of time to investigate those around me.
  Below are some of the things I learned from the artists directly around me, they are notes concerning their displays and business rather than the obvious talent they all have in abundance. 
 

Clean and Classy - Casey Allum 

    The display consisted of three easels with framed prints and a small table with cards on. All art works are very fine prints of her original pencil drawings. The thing that struck me the most about this stall is the uniformity and effortless class. The works were simply displayed but using the highest quality of products that allow her artwork to speak for itself. Although she had a lot of different drawings at home she only brought the ones which matched each other so nothing clashed or over-shadowed anything.
  Casey operates her practice very much as a business, using galleries to sell her work and trade fairs to  get her cards in shops. Recently she's began to sell mugs, again using high quality bone china. As all are pencil drawings they sit perfectly as a set and, like her stand, they are simple and chic. Seeing these made me reconsider my own cup designs.

Bright and Clever- Juliet Forrest 

 
   I've exhibited with Juliet several times and am often left mesmerized watching her deal with

customers. Her stall is the opposite of Casey's: it's busy and shimmering with different items ranging from a few quid to several hundred. Her works shines just has bright, although there's no major theme except the actual art form. She sells ornaments, Christmas decorations, bowls and jewelry but far from confused people are drawn into looking at things closer. Her unity is in the materials she used and a strong stylistic voice.
  As soon as my first fair finished I realized I needed a proper stand to display my work yet there are alternatives. Casey uses easels beautifully and Juliet has constructed her own stand with a small budget but a lot of ingenuity. To show the details in her work she needs lights to shine behind them, so she bought reems of fairy lights, uses a window frame to hand art and roles of white table cloth to unity everything together. Now this wouldn't work for me as it's designed for her artform specifically. She presents her work in a cheerful but elegant manner.
  The majority of my sales are online which makes me doubt the use of art fairs yet Juliet sells mostly at fairs and very successfully. She also uses them to gain commissions and is kept busy almost all year round.

 Traditonal but Affective - Ruth Grey

   Ruth's stall is simple, and similar to a lot of other painters and 2D artists. The black pop up stand allows the paintings to really shine without distractions. The black theme is continued with the table cloth which unites the two sections of her display.  Ruth creates unity by keeping all her works to a similar dimension so they sit comfortably together. Cards and prints are stacked in front in crates and stands that allow people to riffle through. This draws people in. I watched people stand for a long periods of time flicking through her extensive collection. Her work is warm and draws the viewer in, so she has created a store to match.
  Ruth helps run a consultant business called  Purple and Grey which helps artists brand themselves and use social media to expand their business.  Naturally this makes her rather a social media wiz and twitter, facebook are essential parts of her practive. Her twitter account twitters away most days as does her facebook, and is followed by thousands who spread her art all over the world.

 My Own Store

Whitworth Center, May 2016-  1st Fair without lights or proper stand

   Before this year I'd never taken part in an art fair, now it's December and I've shown at three, so I thought it would be worth looking back and considering things I've learned. The stall above was my first attempt and is over crowded, confused and the paintings on the ground were damaged by the end of the weekend. While cheerful  it doesn't allow the eye to focus on anything for too long which will not encourage sales. Since then I've bought myself lights and a stand, invested in prints and cards, even framed one or two works. I have the same equipment as these people but have yet to stumble upon the unity they've achieved. Mostly, I think, this is about the unity of the selected artwork rather than the display. Over the winter I think I need to fix on a theme, something which will streamline my store and throw my work into the best light possible.

  I love to paint animals but there are at least three or four other very accomplished animal portrait artists in the guild. Still lifes sell okay and are interesting but I'd struggle to create very expensive works with them. Figurative artwork is a little rarer and my first passion so seems to me the natural choice. For the next art fair I will limit myself to 10 paintings and only display works based on the human form- force myself to be ruthless in my selections. Obviously no display will help me sell rubbish but, at the same time, work of substance can look cheap in the wrong setting.