I recently had the pleasure to act as a festival juror for the Art & Apples fest in Rochester, Michigan the weekend of September 7-9. I have worked with the Paint Creek Center for the Arts (which puts on the Art & Apples festival) in other capacities before, and currently have several original artworks and notecard prints for sale in their year-round art market, and I was honored that they asked me to participate as a festival juror for them.
I looked at the quality of the individual pieces for sale, as well as the overall booth aesthetic (i.e. how well the artists were utilizing their booth space, engaging with visitors, or drawing people over to their booth) and gave each booth a score on a scale of 1 to 7, seven being the highest. There were other jurors also walking around giving scores; at the end of the day, all of our scores will be tallied and averaged together to see which booths were ranked the highest and which artists will be given jury-exempt status for returning to participate next year.
I love the Art & Apples festival because they do such a great job at bringing in a variety of artists (and at a variety of price points) so there truly is something for everyone. There were more than 250 artists in attendance, representing 18 categories: 2D Mixed Media, 3D Mixed Media, Clay (Functional), Clay (Non-Functional), Digital Art, Drawing, Fibers (Non-Wearable), Fibers (Wearable), Glass, Jewelry (Metal), Jewelry (Non-Metal), Leather, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Wood.
Afterward, I remarked to my husband that if I had "unlimited money and unlimited storage space in our house," I would've purchased SO MANY things. I was really impressed by a lot of the booths. I saw gorgeous purses and backpacks, adorable birdhouses, beautiful indoor wall art, functional wooden kitchen utensils and serving dishes, fun Halloween decorations and costumes, colorful pottery, gorgeous photographs and paintings, whimsical outdoor garden art, many Michigan-themed gifts, and hilarious witticisms printed on notecards, tea towels, baby onesies, t-shirts, and wall plaques. As I was walking around, I also saw an artist being interviewed for local ABC-7, an artist and recent purchaser posing for a photograph, holding up a large painting that had just been sold, and quite a few artists demonstrating their technique right in their booths, making art en plein air.
I started going around and jurying as soon as the festival opened at 9 am, and by 11:30 am it was getting harder to judge the booths - because there were already so many people walking around the festival and cramming in to look at all the art, that it was difficult to fight the crowds and get a good look at everything. Art & Apples really brings in a lot of visitors and art enthusiasts, and it was great to see so many people out and about on a beautiful fall day, enjoying themselves looking at quality artwork against the backdrop of music provided by the local high school marching band and the delicious smell of elephant ears and roasted almonds in the air. I'm so grateful that PCCA gave me this opportunity to act as a juror - it was a great excuse to walk around and make sure I got a good look at every single booth. :)
I looked at the quality of the individual pieces for sale, as well as the overall booth aesthetic (i.e. how well the artists were utilizing their booth space, engaging with visitors, or drawing people over to their booth) and gave each booth a score on a scale of 1 to 7, seven being the highest. There were other jurors also walking around giving scores; at the end of the day, all of our scores will be tallied and averaged together to see which booths were ranked the highest and which artists will be given jury-exempt status for returning to participate next year.
I love the Art & Apples festival because they do such a great job at bringing in a variety of artists (and at a variety of price points) so there truly is something for everyone. There were more than 250 artists in attendance, representing 18 categories: 2D Mixed Media, 3D Mixed Media, Clay (Functional), Clay (Non-Functional), Digital Art, Drawing, Fibers (Non-Wearable), Fibers (Wearable), Glass, Jewelry (Metal), Jewelry (Non-Metal), Leather, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Wood.
Afterward, I remarked to my husband that if I had "unlimited money and unlimited storage space in our house," I would've purchased SO MANY things. I was really impressed by a lot of the booths. I saw gorgeous purses and backpacks, adorable birdhouses, beautiful indoor wall art, functional wooden kitchen utensils and serving dishes, fun Halloween decorations and costumes, colorful pottery, gorgeous photographs and paintings, whimsical outdoor garden art, many Michigan-themed gifts, and hilarious witticisms printed on notecards, tea towels, baby onesies, t-shirts, and wall plaques. As I was walking around, I also saw an artist being interviewed for local ABC-7, an artist and recent purchaser posing for a photograph, holding up a large painting that had just been sold, and quite a few artists demonstrating their technique right in their booths, making art en plein air.
I started going around and jurying as soon as the festival opened at 9 am, and by 11:30 am it was getting harder to judge the booths - because there were already so many people walking around the festival and cramming in to look at all the art, that it was difficult to fight the crowds and get a good look at everything. Art & Apples really brings in a lot of visitors and art enthusiasts, and it was great to see so many people out and about on a beautiful fall day, enjoying themselves looking at quality artwork against the backdrop of music provided by the local high school marching band and the delicious smell of elephant ears and roasted almonds in the air. I'm so grateful that PCCA gave me this opportunity to act as a juror - it was a great excuse to walk around and make sure I got a good look at every single booth. :)
