It's been a few months since I attended the May 2018 Blueprint Surface Design and Print Trade Show in New York City. The purpose of the tradeshow was to hopefully sell or license my artwork to companies who would then manufacture and sell my art on their own products. I thought this was the path for me and so I dedicated an entire year to prepare, invested thousands of dollars, my time and my talent. What came of this experience was not what I expected, the result put me on a completely different path.
I've been sitting on my trade show experience since the day I returned not sure if I should share it with the world or not. I spent almost 4 weeks post show feeling completely crushed by the way the show changed my perspective on an industry I thought I wanted to be a part of. Since it was my first show and I was "inexperienced" some people recommended I keep quiet, be polite, not step on any toes incase I wanted to try again or maybe just shake it off and focus on something else. But that's not me, if I choose not to be forthcoming about my experience I'd be misleading those who look up to me or anyone who stumbles across all of the cheerful Instagram posting I did leading up to the event. (I'll probably delete those posts sooner or later, at least the ones promoting my attendance at the 2018 Blueprint show.)
I've been struggling to find the appropriate words to put in this post. I've been stopping and going with this post for weeks now. The experience was just so strange, so not what I thought it would be. So disappointing. But was it just me? If i really say what's on my mind, how will that compare with the experiences of others? Why does it matter? It matters because leading up to this show everything was all about buying, studying and following trend forecasts, prioritizing Instagram posts (and getting social media perfect to avoid being unfollowed because who wants to buy art from an artist without a social media following), taking Make Art that Sells courses and Make it in Design courses to stay relevant. Spending money to make money. Don't be like everyone else, but be like everyone else was the message.
I think I have a good sense of intuition.
Sometimes I feel it and hope like hell it's wrong.
My husband and I drove to NYC from North Carolina. It was a 12 hour drive. On the way up we listened to a Joe Rogan Podcast where he was interviewing Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. Steven Tyler was telling Joe how how predatory the music industry is. He explained how much the managers and record companies make but how little of that money actually makes it to the artist, the musician. I spent some time pondering what I had heard and couldn't forget it. I knew this was also relevant to the same industry I was driving into. How much money had I spent preparing for this show? And did I have any guarentee that I would make any of it back?
Hotel Hell
We arrived in the afternoon. Hotel Pennsylvania. Normally I spend a lot of time checking hotel reviews but in a pinch to save money I canceled the 4 star reservation I had previously made and asked my husband to book us something cheaper. $260 or so was the going rate for Hotel Pennsylvania and the website photos looked average, kind of like a holiday inn would look. Plus the location was cool. I could elaborate here, but I'm just going to say, we checked in to hotel hell at 3:00 and finally escaped it at 1:00 am. It was probably the dirtiest and scariest hotel experience I've ever had. If you want to know more, I encourage you to read the Yelp Reviews. Rats and bedbugs!
The show: I think bullet statements are the easiest way, otherwise I'd have to write a book.
The music selection was super strange downer music consisting of either industrial techno, bad eighties, or The Fray on repeat all weekend.
Advertised refreshments meant my husband having to tell the event coordinator they were out of water. A case or two of bottled water would then be fetched from the convenience store only to run out again within the hour. No snacks. Bummer.
Rooftop party? Serve yourself and enjoy warm slices of sunbathing cheese.
Three days of people walking by my table and maybe five people actually sat down to talk, most of these were students who wanted to know more about getting ready for a trade show.
A big art buyer walking by my table stuck his hand in my face and briskly walked away when I introduced myself. He came back the next day and took a card. One of his people later contacted me for a portfolio review. These people think they are gods I guess.
The event coordinator who hails from the U.K. decided he wanted to have an unprovoked conversation with me about Donald Trump, the U.S. President and then questioned my political affiliation after his rant by saying "I hope you aren't a republican". What! Regardless of my political affiliation, I served in the U.S. Air Force and my husband is still active duty Army, I had an odd feeling that he already knew that about us.
The final hour... the first two days were slow but the last day was like being in a strange time warp. It was rainy and hardly anyone walked through. The two biggest shows of the year were happening just down the road- SURTEX and The National Stationary Show. No one seemed to know we were just up the road having our own show. I wonder how much of the money we paid for the show went into marketing? About 30 minutes before the end of show several of us exhibitors decided enough was enough, especially those of us who had planes to catch or long drives. Apparently this was not allowed. The biggest source of entertainment that day was watching the coordinators dash from table to table telling people not to tear down yet. What were we supposed to be waiting for? More crickets?
The finale: You have to use parking garages in NYC. Since we were in such a hurry to get the heck out of there after the show we didn't realize until we got home that the parking garage attendant smashed the front end of my 4runner so on top of the bad experience, that had to get fixed too.
I could probably add a few more things to that list but I'm just going to leave it at that, BluePrint Tradeshows won't be getting another one of my hard earned U.S. pennies again. The signs were there but they came a little too late, I was already there and I couldn't turn around so I had to experience it. I feel like everything happens for a reason and I kept hoping something would come of it, but what I was hoping for was an art buyer or a licensing deal. The Joe Rogan/ Steven Tyler podcast kept playing itself back in my head. Was that really what I wanted?
I make art because it makes me happy, it entertains and satisfies me. Creating is like breathing, it's like magic. I didnt sell any of my work at the trade show and it's ok because what I know now is that it wasn't meant to be, here on this different path, I don't think I'd be happy if something I created was now exclusive to someone other than me.
So what's next?
I'll certainly be worrying less about the wider world of art, agents and contracts and focusing more on putting my talent to work where it feels right. I've decided where I want to be is here in Southern Pines. Local is just enough for me. My studio is downtown and in the fall I'll have a day each week when I am open to the public. I've started creating my own line of products! I'm currently selling the first of my cute little lapel pins, now available in my online store.
Up on the roof with Tom, he kept me smiling despite everything else.
This was the room door at Hotel Pennsylvania room. Welcoming!
NYC is so friendly. Parking garage smashed our 4Runner.