After meeting Steve Gruber during the Michiana Pottery Tour he asked me to sign up for the Elkhart ArtWalk. I couldn’t make it to the first one he asked me to be a part of but I signed up for the first ArtWalk of 2016 on May 11.
My application was accepted and I was paired with Lori and Jeff and their awesome space, Our Place on Main. They live upstairs and use the downstairs as a space to host events. I hauled my pots over there the weekend before the event. They provided me with plenty of tables and nice black table cloths. I had gone through, checked prices and re-packed my pots the day before so setup was quick.
Wednesday evening I arrived a little early to finish setting up and added a few new pots fresh out of the kiln. People started showing up around 4:45. Our musician, Doug Harsch, came a little after 5:00 and started playing. Great singing and playing. Even a few Dylan tunes.
There was a steady stream of people until it was close to the end of the event. Towards the beginning I was really busy and made 3 sales right in a row. I made 6 sales on the night for a total of just over $200. Not bad for a 3 hour event. I also had a lot of positive feedback.
It was fun meeting new people and talking about my work. It was a little hard to hear over the music sometimes but it was a fun atmosphere. Even though they didn’t buy anything, my favorite visitors were my wife, daughters and a surprise appearance by my mom. It was fun to have them there for a little while.
Around 8:00 I wrapped things up and went over to Arts on Main for the artist gathering. I got to see some work by Ben Roseland at the gallery and meet some of the other artists that participated in the ArtWalk. I only wish that I got to see some of the other artist’s work at the other locations.
Three awards were handed out. Going into the event I thought that my best shot would be that one of my pieces might be considered for the “Best Funky-Eclectic Piece” award. But that award came and went. And I barely mentioned the ballots for the “People’s Choice” award to my visitors. So imagine my surprise when they called my name for the “Best Body of Work” award!
What?!
And the second best part, after some confirmation that I’m making progress in my work, is that there was a cash prize for each award!
So it was definitely a worthwhile event. I hope to return in the future.
You can see some more photos by Digital Mitchell Photography.