Concerns for AITO

Galaxy Shoes

Although, I enjoy selling my work and meeting people at Art in the Open. I do have some concerns on why the BAC refuses to let me paint or work at my own booth.

Every Saturday morning, I wake up at 5am to get ready for Art in the Open which starts at 7. By the time my tent is up and my table is set, I'm fully prepared to sell my work until 1pm. Obviously since it's so early in the morning, usually customer traffic only picks up by the time it's 11:30 - 12:45pm. After a month being at AITO, I realized that I should work on my artwork so that I can do something productive than sitting there doing nothing. 

So last week, I decided to do something new and brought a pair of shoes to paint at the market. I set up my mini paint station and before I even began to paint, I was instructed by a BAC member that I wasn't allowed to do any demos at my booth. My intention wasn't to teach people on how I make my shoes, my goal was to create more product to sell at my booth. So... if I'm not allowed to paint, that would mean that the knitters next door should stop knitting right? I've seen them knitting since the beginning of the market.. so honestly I don't get it.

Did you know that before AITO started, the BAC hosted a workshop called "Creating Great Booth Displays" by Barry Siskind. He provided an example that an artist who paints at their booth attracts customers. I'm only doing what I was advised to do.

"Art in the Open is a Program to assist with your entrepreneurship, business efforts toward selling your product. As a result, AITO is not the best time to be practicing/demonstrating your 'product making'. Please use AITO for the intended opportunity that this program provides, the selling of your work."

This is not the only time the BAC has stopped me from doing something creative.