Painting Newsletter: 7/17/11

Sunday, July 17, 2011

WHERE ARTISTS MAKE THE MOST MONEY

Where do artists make the most money? Where do artists sell out? Where was there over a million in sales in 11 days?? Surprise!!! THE CALGARY STAMPEDE!

Our first stop was the WESTERN ART SHOW halls D and E BMO Center.

Take a look at these booths.Wonderful art and displays! We visited on the last Thurs of the Art Show and found over $500,000 worth of art had already sold with 3 more days left. ( we added up the red dots and some booths didn't even display them so we asked!) Most artists were in the $15,000-20,000 range with the largest around $75,000.

We talked to many artists that usually had a representative stand in for them at art shows ( so they could stay home and paint), but came to the Stampede because of the the excitement and fun of meeting very dedicated art collectors. The art lovers were from all over Canada, US and many from central Europe.

The booths were professional and each had it's own flavor. Many had chairs or couches with coffee tables to make it easy to see how the art would look in your home. Some artists shared booths to give an airy look, not to crowded. Everyone had exceptional lighting.

The sculpture was beyond belief! We didn't add any sales of 3 dimensional art, so that $500,000 was only 'flat art' or paintings. There were many more 1,000's worth that sold in statues!!!

The center was open and there was a wine bar. Unlike the Capital Ex it was open to all ages, not really even roped off. There were living statues, speed artists ( painting in less than 5 mins) a huge sand sculpture of galloping horse being done on location

Most works were representational, alot were horse, western scenery, historical native, wild animals, farm and ranch. BUT there were many unique variations- wood cut, collage, wild colors, semi abstracted or hyper realistic animals and scenery. Even photographs!!