From: rcampb@cac.washington.edu (Russ Campbell )
Subject: Re: Hello Confrancisco?
Organization: UW Computing
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 16:55:28 GMT

In article <51yoVB5w165w@lunacity.com>, mwallis@lunacity.com (Michael Wallis) writes:
|> In almost 20 years that I've been attending cons, I haven't seen that at
|> all. In fact, most artists who can DO try to attend the shows. Having
|> stuff in the art show is not the sole reason they attend. They attend for
|> the same reasons anyone else does. They get to hang out with friends and
|> collegues they may not ordinarily have the chance to, the get to go the
|> the partiues and have fun, they get to see the other artowrk and discuss
|> style and structure and colours and techniques. They sometimes get to be
|> on panels and expouse their view on things. In short, they come to be PART
|> of the convention. If they like a convention but can't make it, they'll
|> ceratinly send art, but if they can, they usually try to attend too.

Thanks, Michael.  That was better stated than I could've done.  I have to
echo the sentiment expressed in the above inclusion.  I and the artists
that I generally "hang out" with do exactly that - we'll attend as many
cons as financially feasible.  One point to note is that MOST of the
artists whose work you ever see displayed do not make a profit at the
shows they attend due to the expense of attending a show.  The ones that
do are the ones that make cheap laserprints and sell 40 of them at a show
for $20 each.  MY OPINION is that such prints do not constitute artwork. 
I have come to that opinion through the coaching of several professional
artists who do make their living off their art.  Generally, though, when
attending a con where we're displaying, the best most of us hope for is to
break even for the weekend.  A serious fight over a piece in the auction or
the sale of an original at something like what it's worth (i.e. more than
$5.00 per hour spent, which doesn't pay the bills) is greeted with much
joy and graciousness and the knowledge that at least one (or a few) of us
will be going home with a profit without having resorted to the "flood the
show with many cheap pieces" ploy.  Not that I'm saying the pieces
depicted in such a way are not good, mind you, I just think it hurts the
field of speculative fiction art in the long term.

|> Same thing. I have x number of panels. I mail to the artest and say " the
|> line forms to the right." If I get more reservations for space than I can
|> accommodate, I write thesee artists and let them know the show has filled
|> up and that they are on the waiting list. As the show approaches, I keep
|> the list up to date as some artists cancel. Anyone who hasn't confirmed
|> for and prepaid for their space, or who hasn't assured that they will be
|> there, is contacted. Any available last minute space is distributed to the
|> top waitlisters. At con, you make do with the situation that arises. It
|> really isn't that difficult.

One additional thing that Durlyn and I do is notify the artists in the
letter we send out to solicit reservations that the reservation is not
secure without payment.  Those that arrive without payment can be
overridden as soon as all spaces have been reserved if someone else then
sends in a paid reservation.  In this case I suppose I should change the
saying to "First Come, First Paid, First Served".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|  Russell  D.  Campbell        : No new snappy quote or saying.   |
|  rcampb@u.washington.edu      : I'm just tired of the old one.   |
|  (206)543-0846 @UW in Seattle :                                  |
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| Anyone can have an opinion, but very few people ever bother to   |
| educate themselves before expressing one.                        |
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