I was a booth helper for my fiber artist friend last week in
Baltimore. Of course, I was checking out all the wonderful jewelry
and noticed 3 artists who were not in the jewelry section selling
jewelry and displaying hollow ware and vessels. After checking the
catalog, these artists had juried into the metals category and not
any of the jewelry categories. I noticed that a number of artists
had juried into several categories so I know that if they had gotten
into several categories, they would be listed in each one.
My friend knew some of the other artists in the vicinity of these
metals artists and asked if this was a common practice. All said
that it was a common practice for these 3 artists to jury into one
category and to sell mostly jewelry at a show. A furniture artist
said he was across from one of them at the Washington Craft Show in
December and saw the artist sell maybe a handful of non-jewelry
items but high numbers of jewelry items (which are $20-30 range and
are low quality).
My friend reported the 3 artists to the show office on Friday and
said the show official didn’t seem very interested in this
Is this commonly done by others at high-end shows? I’ve never
applied to one of these big shows but have done plenty of "little"
ones where it’s common to see jewelers and other artists selling
manufactured goods along with a few token hand-made pieces. When I
have asked show officials about it, they usually say they sometimes
have a difficult time telling the difference, confronting the artist
during the show, etc. (although their rules clearly state that any
merchandise that does not fit the rules must be removed from their
booth immediately).
How big of a problem is this at better shows? Does the management do
anything besides look the other way? It’s really unfair to the other
jewelry artists there and the ones who are wait-listed.
Elizabeth
P.S. You jewelry people in Baltimore totally ROCK!!