I have to say that my overall experience during this event was awesome. The crew that organized every detail and helped out the entire weekend were amazingly great. For the registration fee, I received a huge industrial quality (water proof!) tent to use, a 6-foot-long table, two chairs, and they even made each of us a vinyl sign displaying our business names. They provided a really nice bagged lunch each day which consisted of a sandwich, cookie or brownie, apple, and chips as well as gave us bottled water throughout the weekend. The people that worked the event were also available to stand in your place if you needed to take a break during the day. They provided huge containers on wheels where we could pull up on Atlantic Avenue, unload our gear, and they would wheel it to our booth for us. Outstanding help, really ... I couldn't get over how cheerful and polite everyone was despite the icky weather on Friday.
Two people that I found to be extraordinarily helpful were a lady named Marquis and a man named EJ. It was quite windy all day Friday and my sign had blown down twice. Each time, they came by with a tall ladder and fixed it without me even having to ask them for help. I was so touched by their gestures of kindness and willingness to help throughout the day on Friday that I baked some chocolate chip cookies and gave them to them on Sunday in appreciation. I got two very big hugs and smiles which totally made my weekend. :)
Okay so enough of my sappy story telling! Here are some photos from the weekend (click on any of them to enlarge):
This was my booth all set up and ready to go on Friday despite the rain and crazy wind.
This was the sign that they made for my booth. Isn't it nice? I mean, yes, it's plain but having everyone's with the same format really made the entire show look orderly. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me take it afterwards but it sure was nice having something to use during the show.
A view of the Financial District from where we were with a shot of the Custom House Tower on the left. Tony used to work in the glass building on the left, and we both used to work in one of the buildings on the right (that's where we met!).
To my right was Claudia Kaufman and her beautiful still-life paintings and prints. My favorite piece of her work was this painting of a loaf of challah bread in a plastic bag. Doesn't it look like it's a photograph?!
And to my left was Connie Barbour of Migrant Wind Prints with beautiful silkscreened prints. I met Amy Hitchcock who was across from me with her gorgeous pieces of assemblage and collages created out of found items. Brian from Boston Coasters was there with his neat stuff, and not too far down from the Dyslexic Press who had this t-shirt that I was so tempted to buy for someone. My crafty friends Amy Casher, Bren Bataclan, and Beth Gaertner were also participating in this year's event so it was nice to spend the weekend amongst familiar faces.I tell you, I feel so lucky that we live in a community where art is really thriving these days. I mean, being surrounded by so many talented artists that weekend was quite inspiring and uplifting in many ways. And then to see people out and about enjoying art through various mediums just makes it all come together.
Speaking of familiar faces, I had a few friends stop by to say hello. Of course, I only remembered to take a couple of photos.
Here I am with our friends Mike, Chris, and Lynn. We all used to work together (which is how we met) and it's funny to think that I've known them for almost ten years now. My goodness how time has flown by!
Our friends Norma and Johnny came by during their lunch break on Friday with a little treat: a raspberry cheesecake from Lyndell's Bakery! The downer was that I couldn't eat it because of the raspberries but believe me, Tony was delighted to eat it for me. (Thanks you two!)
And then on Sunday, my So of course, the people I didn't photograph and would like to thank for stopping by to visit ... Kate and little miss Sophie, Allen, Amy C., Kathy O'B., Tara G., Chris D., and Janice. Thank you all for stopping by to say hello!
Oh and the entertainment throughout the festival was great! Here's a shot of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus singing their hearts out to tunes from the '80s despite the crappy weather. It was awesome how the crowd simply whipped out their umbrellas and got closer to the stage when they started to sing.
In contrast, this is what the main stage area looked like on Sunday when the sun was out.Speaking of rain, they decided to cancel the event on Saturday because it was supposed to pour all day. And the weather people were correct this time. It was a mixed feeling for me when I found out that morning because I had already stayed up until 3 am the night before making new cards based on requests on Friday, and I was pumped up for the day's events. But in hindsight, I know we (artists) would've been miserable there in the cold, wet weather. Friday was quite gross but once the winds died down it seemed like more people came out.
The plus side to Saturday's cancellation was this nice surprise from Stephanie:
She had planned to see me at the festival on Saturday so she went by one of our favorite bakeries, Flour, and bought me my favorite pastry: brioche au sucre! So having that with fresh French pressed coffee made by my wonderful husband (and being in my pj's all day in a warm apartment) made me feel better about the cancellation, plus I managed to get more things together for Sunday.So what's next? Besides sleep and a little bit of catching up? More posts to come! Seriously folks! I have yet to tell you about The Killers concert, seeing Heart and Journey up in Manchester, and tons of food-related posts on the other blog. Not to mention gearing up for the next show (the Design Hive Market) on Sunday, October 4th. Busy busy busy, that's for sure.
But until then, goodnight everyone! This girl needs some serious zzzzz's!
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