The Irvington Artist Market (IAM) was not all that we had hoped it would be. We did not make the sales we had hoped for due to low attendance of the event. We're chalking this one up to limited advertising by the event organizer (it was their first time out), cloudy weather in Portland and the long-established
Bite of Oregon event happening downtown on the same weekend.
We have learned that shows and markets are a live-and-learn kind of experience and each time we attend we learn what works...and what doesn't work. We were pleasantly surprised by the variety of the other artists and crafters who participated at the market and impressed with the quality of their work. I am including a list of the names and contact info for those vendors we connected with at the end of this post in case you're in the mood for eye-candy and maybe some handmade shopping!
Our booth did look fabulous thanks to a few yards of Ikea's Lena fabric I had stashed away months ago for another project. Our photo album idea worked out nicely and caught the interest of a shopper who asked for our business card. Judy has plans to open a small gift shop in the uber-hip Mississippi Avenue district here in Portland this fall. She loved our photos of local city dwellers and architecture and is interested in opening a wholesale account to sell postcards of our work which gave us a silver lining for a cloudy day.
B.Hive Designs - handmade clothing for baby, kids, men, women...in shops and on Etsy.
Stubborn - modern jewelry handmade with stainless steel, aluminum, silver and opaque resins.
Molly Muriel - homemade natural soaps and vegan soy candles in found glass.
tiny forge design - handmade silver jewelry (also on Etsy!).
The photos included in the latter part of this post were used by permission and are the property of the individuals that create these fine art and craft items.
