Exactly a year ago I wrote a blog-post about the Spring Fair. This is where and when the professional art, design, furnishing, and gift worlds get together in the middle of England. And the general public don’t know about it.
Here it is again! I am reposting the blog because it is that time of year once more. I have updated the post to include latest news. And to share the discovery that Shyama and I are among ‘the most popular’ artists.
Spring Fair 2017 logo
The Secret Centre of the Universe for the Art World
Subscribers to my occasional newsletters may recall that about this time every year something big and important happens in the art business world.
And yet for many of my subscribers it is a puzzle. It is the annual Spring Fair!
“Spring Fair ?” they say, “never heard of it!”
The Spring Fair is a very well kept secret! It is a secret because the Spring Fair is a trade only show and the general public are not admitted.
It is actually a huge event that takes over the whole of the vast National Exhibition Centre [NEC] in Birmingham, UK for a week.
Nothing else is as big.
It has been going for a million years [slight exaggeration … it was opened by the Queen in 1976] and I have exhibited there from the very first show right up to the present day.
In the past I have had my own stand, or I shared a stand with other artists.
For the last couple of years I have been happy to be included on international art publishers stands as one of their artists. I let them pay the staggering upfront costs and do all the work.
It is a trade only show where artists can rub shoulders with dealers, gallery owners, interior designers, other professional artists, potential licensors, the Fine Art Trade Guild, publishers, department store buyers, and a worldwide audience of people who might just want to give you lots of money.
It is so big because it doesn’t just exhibit art. It also shows furnishings, jewellery, tableware, greetings cards, gifts etc. There are over 5000 exhibitors.
In past years I have given seminars to invited audiences and I have demonstrated my painting techniques live on the stand.
Nowadays my annual visit to the NEC is a tiring, exciting, one-day affair to meet my various publishers and pick up their latest trade catalogues with my images inside [hopefully].
This year Shyama and I are featured in trade catalogues and on the Art Group stand. We are both listed as their ‘most popular artists’.
I know that the publishers are going to be showing some of our new work to important buyers with very deep pockets.
[“93% of the 64,000+ visitors who attend Spring Fair have direct purchasing responsibility. And last year £2.4bn was spent as a direct result.” Spring Fair website]It is a chance for us to meet up with old pals and check out the latest trends and ideas.
So, if you are reading this and you are registered in the art business, maybe we could bump into each other.
But if you are an art collector or an art lover, then we wont because you cannot go there.
Of course you can see all of our available work on our own website as well, or instead maybe.
