Journal: Sunday, 12/07/08

►  Sundays are almost always the slowest days at an art fair.  They take a long time to get started and tend to die early. Today was no exception.

►   The show closed at four o'clock.  Jo and I spent the next three and a half hours or so packing and loading.  Functional potters are almost always the last folks to leave a show.  When a show site starts getting empty -- down to the last half dozen exhibitors or so -- and you look around to see who's still packing and loading, at least five of the remaining six artists will be your fellow potters.  We have a lot of work that needs to be displayed and then packed and loaded. 

►  Although I couldn't throw a pot if my life depended upon it, when it comes to  packing and loading, I'm one of the potters.  Jo actually packs all the pots, but I pack the tiles, pack my work and load most everything.

►  There is one advantage to being slow at this show. When the hall gets mostly empty, we are allowed to drive into the exhibit hall and park right next to our booths instead of having to park in an adjoining hall and dolly everything to our van.

►  After leaving the hall, Jo and I drove back to our friends house for the night.  We almost always stay over instead of heading home directly from a show.  In this case, staying over was the only reasonable option since we needed to pick up Rusty and Bucket on the way home.



.

Journal: Sunday, 12/07/08

Journal: Saturday, 12/06/08

A pretty much routine day of modest sales at Arkansas Craft Guild's Christmas Showcase 2008.  We were back down at the Statehouse Convention Center by 8 AM.  The show closed at 6 PM.  After the show we enjoyed a great potluck supper and visiting session back at our friends house.

The Peabody is a privately owned hotel that sits atop part of the Statehouse Convention Center which is owned by the City of Little Rock.  Jo and I began exhibiting at the Arkansas Craft Guild's Christmas Showcase in 1987.  Since that time, the hotel has changed ownership three or four times and undergone a major renovation. 

The Peabody group is originally out of Memphis and has long been associated with ducks. 

Since Jo and I have been doing Showcase, the Convention Center itself has just about doubled in size.  Back in 1987, it consisted of three large conventions halls (separated by movable walls), a lobby, and various offices and small meeting rooms.  The only entrance was through the side of the hotel lobby.  The expansion eight or so years ago added a couple more large halls (one connected to the other three and one on an upper level) plus several smaller meeting rooms and a large entrance lobby accessible directly from Markham Avenue.



.

Journal: Saturday, 12/06/08

Journal: Friday, 12/05/08

►  Up at 5:30 AM and back down to the Statehouse Convention Center by eight o'clock.  The show opened at 10:00 AM.  Jo and I didn't really need to get down to the show quite so early, but we hitched a ride with someone who did.  We and two other artists stayed with a friend who was also exhibiting at Christmas Showcase.  We usually all ride together on Friday and Saturday.  I greatly prefer getting down to the show a little early as opposed to having to drive down and find a parking place for the van, especially on Friday.  Of course, arriving at 8 AM made for a long day since the show was open until 8 PM on Friday.

►  There's really no point in providing a blow by blow description of our sales over the the three days of Christmas Showcase.  In general, our sales were mediocre -- a little bit ahead of last year, but last year was way down.  The show followed a typical pattern:  Saturday was our best day, Friday was second and sales on Sunday were the lowest.  There were periods of time during the middle of the afternoon and late in the day when most of the folk one saw wandering the hall were wearing name tags, artists with nothing to do except visit with other artists.

►  I suppose the big event occuring on Friday was the visit by Ginger Beebe, first lady of Arkansas.  She and her entourage spent quite a bit of time going through the show.  Ms. Beebe, her personal assistant and a couple of security guys were in our booth for a while.  (A good thing Jo and I had a double booth and could accomodate the crowd.)  Decorations at the governor's mansion this year included a "potter's tree", a tree decorated with ornaments made by Arkansas potters.  Jo received a letter from the first lady's office several mouths ago explaining the potter's tree and asking her to submit an ornament.  Jo worked on designing an ornament for a while, but the demands of needing to produce inventory for our shows eventually shoved this one-of-a-kind project onto the back burner and, eventually, completely off the stove.  The gist of the conversation between Jo and Ms. Beebe was that the potter's tree contribution did not necessarily have to be a conventional ornament.  Other potters had just sent small pottery items.  Jo ended up donating a small creamer to the cause.



.

Journal: Friday, 12/05/08

Great Taste Is Everything

Yarnell's Ice Cream truck at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock, AR.

.

Great Taste Is Everything

Journal: Monday, 12/01/08

►  A very light dusting of snow is being blown around by a gusty north wind.  29ºF/-1ºC @ 1:30  AM.

►  Time to throw a couple more logs into the wood stove and then go to bed.  (28ºF/-2ºC @ 4:45 AM)

►  Blog Post on Nature in the Ozarks:  Buck Deer in the Garden


►  So far today is much better than yesterday -- and better than today's forecast too. (Partly cloudy, blustery north wind and 40ºF/4ºC @ noon)

►  Unfortunately, the weather seems to be coming into compliance with our forecast. Clouds are moving in and we appear to be heading toward overcast. (40ºF/4ºC @ 1 PM)

►  Jo made a run into town.  She had some orders to mail plus routine grocery shopping, etc.  Jo said the line at the post office was long, but she'd used Click-N-Ship and her packages were ready to be mailed.  All she had to do was hand them to the clerk, which is exactly what she did.  Some of the other people in line acted as if they did not appreciate her jumping to the front of the line, but she really didn't.  She stacked her packages on the counter in front of a closed clerk's window.  She didn't take up any of the one working clerk's time.  And, anyone who wants to spend the time online can use the Click-N-Ship service.

►  Jo also bought some "extra" food.  When we do Christmas Showcase down in Little Rock, we stay with a friend.  A couple of other artist also stay.  Everyone brings food and we have potluck meals in the evening after the show.  Jo is making King Ranch Chicken.

►  Spent several minutes looking for my knit cap before heading outside. Only when I gave up looking and decided to put on a ball cap instead did I discover the knit cap on my head. Nap time? (Still 40ºF/4ºC @ 3 PM)


►  Back from our afternoon walk. Can't believe I found a violet blooming.  (Varying between partly and mostly cloudy, moderate north wind and 35ºF/1ºC @ 5 PM.)

►  After alternating between partly and mostly cloudy all day, our skies finally cleared around sunset.  We got a good look at the conjunction of the moon, Venus and Jupiter.

►  Jo is loading her kiln for the last glaze firing before our last art fair of the season.  Not all the glazed pots will fit.  Which pots go into the kiln and which stay behind?  What are we going to sell this weekend?  (Mostly clear, light north wind and 30ºF/-1ºC @ 8 PM)

►  Last pre-show glaze firing underway. 29ºF/-1ºC @ 11 PM



.

Journal: Monday, 12/01/08