The Gekkards participated in the Southwest Arts Festival for the first time this year. The show setting is the Empire Polo Club located in Indio, CA. The magnificent views surrounding the grounds make it a lovely place to put on an art show. It is not all that easy to get accepted into this show, but after three years of applications, the Gekkards were finally asked to participate. The weather turned out to be perfect for the three day affair, but the results proved to be somewhat unremarkable.

My rule of thumb before applying to any show is to research the quality of the show and get first-hand accounts from fellow artisans who have similar work and price points as mine. This show had an abundance of positive comments from a variety of sources. All aspects of this show were quite pleasant, the staff was friendly with lots of helpful volunteers, setup & tear down were easy and amenities for artist were plentiful.

The nature of the art business is many highs and lows. This show was by no means the low of lows, it just turned out to be less than spectacular than many artists had hoped. This was evident as I waited in the line to pay the show commission. (15% of sales in addition to the $250 booth fee.) Many artists complained that they had little or no sales at all. They seemed genuinely surprised by the outcome of the show, which leads me to believe this was just an off year for the show. Artist should also recognize that sometimes it takes several appearances at a show to build a following.

This show also strives to be very high-end, so it is important to exhibit your best display of art. It is a large show with a steady stream of traffic entering the show all weekend. Yet the aisles in and around my booth were sparsely populated for the majority of the show and I cannot explain why. Perhaps we were located in the quiet corner of the show?

If this show does not require long travel, it is probably a good choice for those artists. There are not many shows of this caliber going on in the month of January. The show proved to be successful enough for me to return and try again next year.