I'm getting married in 10 days and I'm totally overwhelmed with last minute wedding details, including rescheduling all of my hair & makeup appointments with a new salon (don't EVER go to Trim in Nashville - they treat their customers like garbage).
I did, however want to blog a tiny bit about the American Artisan Festival. I applied to it, wrote a nice cover letter, sent a resume, slides and crossed my fingers. It's a great show - it's here in Nashville, and I've been going to it as long as I can remember. Well I got my answer yesterday after a generally crappy weekend in Knoxville -
rain mixed with sleet and thunder and lightning do not yield a successful 3 day outdoor craft show and they dismissed us all early since there were no customers and so many crafters had already left. Sitting in this freezing weather for 3 days also produced a nice pre-wedding cold sore. Lucky me.
So anyway, I opened my letter and knew what it would say - yep - I got
denied. I didn't cry or anything but I sure felt like it. I don't take rejection too hard or too personally because I know that shows, especially one this great, have a ton of vendors that come back year after year who are practically guaranteed a spot and that leaves very few spots open for new people like me - especially in the jewelry category. There was even a nice note that said my work was great but that they had too many jewelers.
Plain and simple, it just sucks, and I sort of got that "woe is me" feeling because I have gotten denied for every show I've applied to in my own freaking hometown (with the exception of the Nashville Craft Mafia show). It sucks that I have to haul my ass all over the southeast, pay high gas prices and stay in hotels in order to sell my jewelry at a show. I can't seem to ever just drive down the road to do a great show just miles from my home. I don't think these promoters are snobs (well, I think some judges are snobs since i see so much of the same
scary and horrible albeit well made and
expensive yuckiness at big fancy shows that I would
never buy and when someone new and modern like myself comes along, of course I'm rejected because I don't make gigantic forged/fused
hideous sculptures to wear around your neck.... do I sound bitter?), I just think they are loyal to all of their past vendors.... for year after year after year...
I guess I'm just kind of down because I have been rejected from
a lot of shows this year, probably because I'm applying to better ones than last year, but currently I've been rejected from more than I've been accepted - several of those I
really wanted to do. Hopefully one day these people will shake it up and let the new, young, hip generation of crafters in their club, and possibly expand their buying audience who will be pleasantly surprised to see something different.
(photo by Arlund Imagery)
