Wholesale review

So, it’s the day after my first trade show, I have just unloaded the car and put everything back into my studio and I have had over night to reflect on how the show went.

I have learnt a lot! It was really good to see the seasoned pros at work, who gladly shared how they worked, giving all the newbies tips. This show was a new one, in fact it was its first, so there probably wasn’t enough people selling and people buying.

I think maybe the most I have learnt is that trade shows are probably not for me. The galleries that came were not interested in my work at all, I guess they already have artist and their work already in place. What they were looking for was the extra small stuff that they could sell, jewelry, cards etc. I did take a few original works with me incase a gallery saw my work and fell in love with it and signed me up there and then.

There response to my figurative work was quite negative, “oh no, we don’t sell figurative work, it doesn’t sell” To be honest I was very surprised at this response and maybe a little deflated, because the majority of my work is figurative, and I have sold plenty of it. They were not interested in my prints either, so a lesson learned for Dawn.

I did however really enjoy the experience and always love to chat with fellow creatives, we don’t get out much, as many of us work in isolation so its always really good to exchange ideas with each other.

So that was my first and last wholesale show, I am glad I did it, because I never knew what would happen, I did dream that it would all end up slightly better than it did, but it wasn’t to bee.