I have always loved attending art festivals, and eagerly looked forward to them. But, this was as a potential customer and not as an exhibitor.

Fast forward to last year, when I found myself wanting to start exhibiting my photography in art festivals. But, being in Germany, there aren’t many guides available to help one just starting out. Then, I happened to learn about a self published book by Maria Arango entitled “Art Festival Guide“.  It sounded just like what I needed, so I quickly ordered it and waited for it to arrive on my doorstep. I was hoping that the book would fill in all the blanks for me.

I was not disappointed.

Maria has called upon all her years of knowledge as an art festival exhibitor in writing the book. She holds nothing back in sharing what has made her so successful in the industry. She often uses humor to guide you through some of the pitfalls and situations that she’s encountered over the years.

And how does it all translate to art festivals here? I wanted to come across as professional but demonstrating my own flair as a “foreigner”. And, using the Art Festival Guide, I believe I have accomplished just that.

As they say, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” And I think I’ve made a good one.

Maria’s book can be ordered at: www.artfestivalguide.com. Happy reading.

I recently exhibited at an art festival of the like I have never participated in. It was put on by an organization called “KunstRausch”, and boasted of 100 artists of various genre, hosted in seven villages. In many of the villages, older farmhouses were converted into makeshift galleries for the weekend. In some of the villages, there were several locations to peruse.

I found myself in a village called Ergeshausen in an old multi-building farmhouse. I picked out my location and set about making it “mine”. Actually, it was a large room, to which I claimed half. The other half was occupied by a talented painter by the name of Kai-Iris Martin.

Saturday morning, we packed the car as I went over my checklist to make sure I had everything. Since Ergeshausen is only about 20 minutes away, it was nice to know that, if I forgot something, I could drive home to get it. It took about an hour and a half to set up my “gallery” to my satisfaction.

And then the rain came.

It rained on and off during the weekend, naturally dampening the crowds enthusiasm to venture out. But, Stephanie, the chairwoman of KunstRausch and organizer extraordinaire, had acquired a bus to shuttle the public around the various villages. I daresay that, without Stephanie’s foresight to have the bus made available to us during the weekend, the crowd would have been much less.

It made for a fun weekend, all around. The crowd, although heavy at times, was a bit less than what Stephanie said there was with the first KunstRausch weekend. But I was not disappointed. I met a lot of wonderfully nice artists who made this “foreigner” feel welcome and one of them. My photography was featured (and favorably reviewed) in an article about the KunstRausch weekend in the Rhein Zeitung newspaper. Many of our friends, after receiving the brochure about the weekend, showed up to look at my latest work, chat for awhile and check out the other artists in the area. I had the opportunity to talk with many people about my photography, and I received many, many compliments on it. I also talked with a gentleman, a member of another local artists organization, who suggested that I visit them.

Oh and, yes, I did make some sales.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

A portion of my room.