A Lovely Town and Great Art Show - Melrose Arts Festival

I applied for Melrose Arts Festival this past December because it was highly recommended to me by a woman I met at SoWa Open Market last summer who purchased some of my greeting cards and a large original birch painting for her daughter. A good friend of mine, J.J. Long, also recommended it to me because he grew up in the town and has shown there for years.

I was a little skeptical because when I looked at the exhibitor work from previous years, I noticed it was pretty conservative and the dominant painting style was photo-realistic with a few token oddities here and there. I figured, "What the hell, you never know," and dropped the application in the mail.

In February, the cordial photo-copied rejection letter arrived. No surprise, but a little disappointed.

A few weeks later in March, I received an e-mail saying that I was on the waiting list and was I still interested? Lightening fast I responded, "Of course I am still interested!"

Fast-forward to this past Friday...set-up at 3pm, opening preview 7-10pm, festival Saturday 11-6pm and Sunday 11-5pm.

What a fabulous festival! 

A warm and wonderful group of artists, a very organized and professional committee and great art-loving traffic all weekend. I was very impressed and hope to do this festival again next year. 

The perks:

• They provide you postcards for advertising
• They feature a short interview about you and your work on their blog - my interview can be seen here http://melrosearts.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/tracy-levesque/
• They provide 3 -  3' x 6' display panels and hooks for you to hang your artwork, two lights for the display and chair for you to sit in
• The people are great who organize the show and like I said before, all the artists I met were warm, encouraging and refreshing to talk with during the show
• The traffic was steady and the people who attended the show had a genuine interest in the arts and seemed interested and engaged in what I had to say about my work

It was a terrific show for me and I made a number of great connections - thank goodness I got bumped off the waiting list :)

Here's some pictures of my booth from the show...

Art Festival Fitness 101

Do artists need to be in good physical condition?

For the festival season ahead of this girl the short answer is...hell yes.

Is this for real? YUP.

What follows is a true and humorous explanation of why a festival artist needs to be fit based on what I have learned in my adventures as a festival artist...

Let's see...

From May to October I have approximately 50 outdoor festivals ahead of me (yes, I am crazy) and yes, that is EVERY single weekend. 

What does that mean exactly?

Well, for starters, producing a ton of original paintings and prints during my weekdays (I already have an impressive start on this), then carrying a ton of stuff around, up and down every weekend and then setting up and pitching my tent 50 times in various weather conditions, locations and challenging situations all over the New England landscape on good, bad and ugly terrain. It means meeting thousands of people, hundreds of fellow artists, talking to all of them about my artwork and the why behind its creation (always with a pleasant smile and a calm, understanding demeanor even when facing the most outrageous individuals) and finally - having a marvelous time doing it.

Being physically and mentally fit is an absolute necessity (in this humble person's opinion) to be a successful festival artist.

Because truly...why on earth would I do it if I didn't love it?

So why do I need to be in shape?

• I am just one person and have to set up and take down my whole display by myself in a very short time in the same day (except for on the rare 3-day festival)
• My tent alone weighs 60 lbs
• I have 3 mesh side walls and a half a dozen support bars (where I hang my paintings) each wall weighing about 25 lbs each
• My painting totes, tables, festival supplies are all stored in many shaped and sized boxes weighing anywhere from 10-20 lbs each
• The weather at outdoor festivals can be pouring rain, gusty wind and sometimes extreme heat and humidity - meaning I need to be able to handle being out in such conditions for 10-12 hours
• At each festival I have approximately 1 hour to set up my entire display (tent, 3 sidewalls, hang all the painting, set up 2 display tables, hide all my storage stuff and be ready to business). I may have a great location I can pull my car up next to and unload or on other more tragic days, I may be 2-3 blocks away from my space and have to carry or cart everything there in a short 10 minutes. You gotta be fast and strong to get this done in a reasonable time
• Oh, and did I mention I live on a second floor without an elevator and have to cart this stuff up and down the stairs every weekend. Yeah, that too...

Thus, one must approach such an ambitious festival season like an athlete on the verge of greatness - with a program and a sparkling positive attitude,

So what's my pre-festival program?

Mental Program:
Watching re-runs of  "I Love Lucy" to stay witty, clever and positive.
Staying above negative energy and away from negative people (I highly recommend this for people in any profession).

Physical program:
Last year I relied on the Beachbody Insanity program to get into shape for my summer season and it worked wonders for my endurance and strength. This year I am doing a hybrid program of Taekwon-Do and weight-lifting. For inspiration and a truly kick-ass routine, I rely on the genius of former American Gladiator Beth Horn. I have an autographed copy of her brilliant book "The Natural Way" and it's awesome. I cannot quite recall how I acquired it but it has a personal dedication to me saying "Tracy, Train hard and follow your dreams and goals. Wishing you love, good health and happiness. Love, Beth Horn (with a heart drawing). Beth's book is a great way to gain strength FAST - a perfect fit lifting all the heavy stuff I will be lifting all summer so I don't get hurt. It's good stuff.

So, that's it for now. 

This artist is getting ready for a fantastic festival season in the great outdoors!

3 weeks and counting and the fun begins. Hope to see you out there :)

For my full festival season, visit http://www.tracylevesque.us/page/exhibitions

First Festival of 2013 - Set-up for Paradise City Art Festival Marlborough

Today was set-up for my first festival of the 2013 season at Paradise City Art Festival in Marlborough, MA. This is my first time doing a show with them and I am very excited. They selected only 175 artists out of over 1000 entries this year and I'm one of them! Below are some pictures of my indoor set-up (also new for 2013). I love my mesh walls and used them all throughout my 2012 outdoor season so I wanted my indoor set-up to mirror that. I think it looks great! Final finishing touches to be added tomorrow morning before we open officially.

My 10x10' space (#237) after I set up the poles for my booth.

Booth with the addition of mesh walls.

Right side view of the booth with artwork.

Left side view of the booth with artwork.