St. James Court Art show was an amazing experience! First, before I jump in, I must thank everyone who came and supported me. Seeing so many friendly faces and getting to hug so many of you was wonderful. Now, I’d like to pull the curtain back a bit on this show for you.
St. James Court Art show has been around for 66 years, founded in 1957. It is always the first full weekend of October with 725 exhibitors and over 100,000 attendees. It’s pretty big. (If you want to know more in depth history, check out www.stjamescourtartshow.com/history) There are 6 sections of the show and each section is managed by someone in that neighborhood. As an artist you are only allowed to participate in one section however, many will apply to multiple in efforts to get accepted.
I grew up here in Louisville and have always attended the art show. Wide eyed and thinking how I wanted to be one of those artists but also telling myself I couldn’t because I couldn’t draw! (see blog post, "One foot in and one foot out!" or "That box doesn't fit anymore" – KP Reynolds Art (kpreynolds112.myshopify.com) ) The weather was always unpredictable, and still is. There are certain sections that you can, at times, feel a little like cattle and if you choose to step into an artists’ booth you face the possibility that you might struggle getting back into the flow of the crowd. If you have attended, you know this is true and you probably saw something cute that if it wasn’t so crowded you would have stopped. While this seems unappealing it is very exciting and exhilarating. (Unless you still have Covid anxiety and can’t deal with people or if you just can’t deal with people period.) As an artist it is amazing to have that many people see your work and of course the sales.
I got the privilege of being in a fantastic spot!! In fact, a few of the artists who were in the main court last year asked me how I got such a prime spot. It was patience. I’ll explain. I applied for the main court the night before doing Cherokee Triangle Art Fair. (If you are not local this one is another big deal the weekend before KY Derby. I’ll write about that when I do it again because it was amazing!!) While at the fair I was personally invited to another section. I could have accepted it and been in the show! However, I had my heart set on being in the main court. I decided to wait and see. I got wait listed! This means that my score was high enough but there were more artists in my section that they had spots for. I have to pause here to tell you about the jurying process.
The larger shows are often juried. What does this mean? Your work is judged by 3 – 5 Jurors who score your work. If your score is high enough, you get invited to be in the show. If your score is not high enough, then you are not. You are judged by category. Categories are jewelry, painting, pottery, mixed media, oh so many categories! If there are only 10 spots for jewelry and there are 15 artists that have high enough scores, then 5 will be wait listed. If one of the 10 invited declines, then one of the wait listed artist gets invited. I am sure there are more details to this process that I am not aware of but that’s the overview.
OK, so, I was wait listed. I could have easily gone ahead and accepted the invite from the other section and called it a done deal, but I really wanted to be in the main court. It was a dream I never thought could happen. I decided to wait. I thought if it didn’t happen then I would just wait till next year because if it’s meant to be then it will be. I was holding on tight to that dream! Why not hold on tight to my dream. Late July I got the official invite, and it was totally worth the wait!
I was in such a great spot surrounded by amazing artists. There was an artist across from me who had been doing this for decades. I totally stalked her website and talked to her a bit about her process which was inspiring. (I kind of want to be her when I grow up. Ha!) I was next to the kindest jewelry artisan who brainstormed some ideas with me and who’s jewelry is gorgeous! I got to have breakfast each morning on a patio behind one of those big beautiful historic houses with the other artists. I met so many artists and I learned so much just chatting with them. My spot was great because it was in an area where the street opened up and it was roomy. (People no longer felt like cattle.)
I will confess that some of those “I don’t belong” feelings cropped up, but I am proud of myself for how I was able to push them aside and truly embrace the experience without those feelings stopping me. I will also say by the 3rd morning they were gone.
It was interesting to watch people view and interact with my work. The passing conversations were always interesting. I enjoyed speaking with everyone who came into my booth. There are a few that stand out to me. One was the woman who stood for 5 minutes in my booth staring at one of my abstracts (Embarking) after about a minute I said, “if you have any questions let me know” and she put her hand up to stop me talking and said she would. Then stood looking for another 4 minutes. Then she said I had done things with the paint she had never seen, asked me for landmarks of where I was within the show and then left. I thought she would be back later, but I didn’t see her again. The experience was cool though to see how a piece of art can draw someone in and move them like that, and it was MY work that did it!
The other was a conversation with one of my collectors who is an avid art enthusiast. I was explaining my emerging artist pricing versus many of the more established artists, and he was intrigued by how artists price their work. It was just something he had never really thought about. (Here comes another peek behind the curtain.) Artist’s price their work by square inch. Anywhere from $0.50 to $6.00 a square inch. ($0.50 is extremely low. Average is about $1.00 – $2.00) They take the dimensions and multiply. (8x10 = 80 x 1.00 = $80.00) So, if you ever thought “Holy cow look at the price of that” it is because it is either large and the artist is more established or both. The work by more established artists is worth more due to their reputation and by worth more it means the resale value is high. I am priced as an emerging artist and sometimes collectors wait to see if you are truly committed, and you aren’t going to disappear and not continue. (Get some of mine now before I’m famous! Hahaha!) Honestly, I think if you see a piece of art that moves you then you should invest so you can be moved every day. I do believe in watching people engage with work that that is exactly what collectors do!
Art is truly subject and while I have learned many tangible skills and I can even view art through a more sophisticated lens, it is still in the eye of the beholder. I’m still learning about the business of art and with each art show I do I learn more. Everyone approaches things differently but there is a system too. I also enjoyed when people stopped and made a beeline for my booth because a piece of work pulled them in. Overall, it was an exactly perfect experience that I intend on doing again. It inspired me in so many ways and I am more driven to paint then ever!
This past week has been full of many parental duties but I’m finding space to work towards my next series! I’m looking forward to sharing it with you and I am excited to see where this path continues to lead.
Until next time,
Kathy
- I got a new piece of work from one of my favorite artists. He was at St. James and I had seen his work at the Brown County Artist Guild in Nashville, IN. I didn’t get it the first time I saw it in 2021. I even saw him as I was running back to my booth after a restroom visit and I still didn’t get anything. I went back to the Artist Colony and because I passed him up 2 times I went into the gallery and found the most perfect print of his. Zhen-Zhong Duan is the artist if you want to know the kind of work I collect.