“Root of the Problem” one of the pieces I sold at the Loring Park Art Fair.
We were all quarantined for 15 months, no festivals, no fun, and then at last a vaccine to save the day! I filled up my fall schedule with shows and festivals. I had my first two shows- one in Michigan and one in Minneapolis. People were out and buying and buying and buying! Art was finding happy homes at last! We all thought there was going to be a simple happy ending to the narrative of the year without art fairs. BUT there is always a twist in the plot!
As you all know it’s the Delta Variant. I had my third large festival in Milwaukee, the Morning Glory Art Fair. On the Friday before the show while sitting in my Airbnb I listened to the news and heard an expert say, “we should not be getting together in large groups for festivals”. And on and on about the dangers of getting a breakthrough case even if you are vaccinated. I vowed to wear my mask, social distance and eat all my meals at my Airbnb. I made it through, but the crowds were smaller, and the worries had set in.
Looking at five more festivals ahead I had to make some tough decisions. In my 28-year career as an art fair artist I have only cancelled out of one show and that was because it was 50 degrees and pouring rain and I had my 2-year-old and 5-year-old with me (I drove there and changed my mind while sitting in a restaurant, realizing I didn’t want to torture my children). Otherwise, I’ve gone to every show I have ever committed myself to.
But I did my research and considered the impact of bringing back the virus and getting my husband and his employees at the tile studio, Clay Squared, sick while they are in full production and already 8-10 weeks out on a pile of projects. I looked at the vaccination rates of the places I was going in the next two weeks and the protocols of the festivals. One wasn’t too big and might have been fine, but the weather was looking dangerous. The other was a huge festival in Salina, Kansas, which I LOVE, it’s one of my all-time favorite festivals in the country but I was staring at 47% vaccination rates, and I knew I had to be smart and cancel.
It was easier during the first 15 months of the pandemic to accept that shows were cancelled. I didn’t have to make the decision myself, but now with this twist in the plot I am facing the decision weekly. I am studying the numbers and coming up with my own rules- I won’t go to counties where the vaccination rate is lower than my county. Seems smart. And of course, I will mask and social distance if I do go. Who knows what the next twist in the plot will be- but you know there will always be something unexpected.
My booth at the Morning Glory Festival this year.
Epilog: I have made the very tough decision to cancel out of a third festival. The Riverfront Festival of the Arts in Northfield has been the one show I have done every year since I moved to Minnesota in 1994. I’ll greatly miss not being in my usual spot under the bridge by the river showing my art to new customers and followers that go way back.