Friday, September 29, 2006

The New Show Booth


Speaking of showing....to do it you need a booth, tent, E-Zup or Canopy...depending on what you want to call it. We, Linda and I, just recently purchased ours from an online art supply company called Jerrys Art-A-Rama. It measures 10'X10" and is white which is the standard for showing. We wanted blue so it would be easier to keep clean but the shows all want white.....naturally, they don't have to wash it when it gets dirty. Ours is a pop up style which has the roof already attached saving time in setup. We also bought the four sidewalls for the additional $79.00, this way you can completely close it up at nights when doing 2 or 3 day shows.



IMPORTANT! These tents are super light and good winds will lift them off the ground in a heartbeat so they need to be anchored. You can use sandbags, weights, waterbottles, cans filled with cement, cinderblocks etc....I bought metal racks called Gridwall from an AcmeDisplay in downtown Los Angeles. These are just heavy enough to keep my tent anchored in place.
I took one of those dollies that convert to a cart and built a wood frame to carry everything from van to spot and so far it has worked pretty well....I will change the smaller tires on the top part of the dolly and install larger pneumatic tires to make the rolling easier when on bumpy ground....but it works great as is if you don't go offroading with it. crossing vacant lots or something in that nature.


I can do all of this by myself but it is a hassle so having a second person is a Godsend and makes it all a breeze. I can't imagine being an older artist and doing it alone. You'd kill yourself.
I'll be posting more pics of behind the scene action at shows as we do more soon.

2 comments:

visioneerwindows said...

Have one of those, and as an older artist, am stuck with putting it up on an upcoiming show [Oct 21-22],so it should be fun...

Robert
[objectivistartist]

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Robert,
Hope you don't think I'm picking on older people...getting close to that myself! hahaha. It's just heavy work lugging stuff back and forth and I have 10 racks made of steel not aluminum...it helps having someone hold the racks together while bolting them with the little clamps so 2 people make it all a lot easier. Good luck with the show you are going to be in! Let me know how it goes.
Ron