What It's Like to be a Nomadic Show Artist
My brain has been on planning-overdrive getting ready for the crazy stretch of shows I'm headed into, and it got me thinking about sharing with you, my dear reader (sorry, I just binge-watched Bridgerton and it kinda felt like a 'my dear reader' just fit right there) what it's like to live this crazy nomadic lifestyle. Once I started writing, it started to have a life of its own, and I decided to post this before I hit the road even though I just published something else recently.
Why not?!
That's the perk of being my own boss, lol.
The Long Game
I almost never choose a window seat, so this must have been a lucky flight where I got the whole row to myself—-or maybe not.
It all starts months before the show with applications and then waiting for the results. I've written about that process before, so I won't waste your time rehashing it all. But let's just say that the planning for shows really starts the moment I get an invite. Once I see "invited" in my inbox, the logistical planning begins. I start to figure out flights, hotels, rentals, shipping. I get the ball rolling almost immediately because I've come to recognize my working style. If things don't get done in my world right away, I see something shiny and whatever task was meant to be done is forgotten forever.
Then I map out my schedule in an old school paper calendar. I order a special one online that starts the weeks on Monday so I can see my weekends together. I'm a visual kind of gal, and I can't tell you how many scheduling snafus I've made using a calendar that starts on Sunday and visually breaks up the week. It's kind of embarrassing, but whatever. I own my quirks, lol.
Throughout the year, I'm constantly amassing work. My "new work drops" help me stay focused on collections and producing more. I’m annoyingly goal oriented, so these monthly drops are like little challenges I give myself.
I've also mentioned in previous writings how much time I spend packing, consolidating, and coming up with new and better ways to travel with my work, but I actually can’t even exaggerate how much time I really spend on this. My pieces are bulky and heavy. And I want them to stay in pristine condition, so the packing system has been an ongoing evolution. Or as my husband says when he sees it all laid out on our dining room floor for the 800th time: "Seriously? You're doing this again?" But yes. Every time the airlines change their allowance or bin policies, it shakes my work up all over again.
I'll also mention that this upcoming travel extravaganza happens around the time my corporate taxes are due, so there's life-span time lost in the anxiety of trying to track down my CPA. I won't bore you with that, but just know there's a massive amount of time wasted energy spent trying to not only get him to return my call, but also to get him to do what I need him to do in a time frame that doesn’t make my head explode. Chasing him is almost its own full-time job. Every year I say I'll find someone new, and then I don't.
It’s always more fun to travel with a great friend… jewelry artist Ayala Naphtali is one of my fave travel companions!
The System
After years of travel, I've learned to start hunting and gathering about a week before any trip so I know I have all the personal stuff I need. I can't tell you how many times I've had a meltdown looking for one specific article of black clothing in my dimly lit closet that's full of black clothing. It’s like a demented game of Where’s Waldo except no red stripes. I've learned to pull what I want aside about a week before I need it so there's less last-minute drama. My family thanks me for that, lol.
My booth has evolved over the years, and many of you have been around to watch the entire evolution. But with each iteration, I've whittled my display down so that aside from renting a tent and 2 tables, everything else fits into 2 fifty-pound suitcases (on the dot, I'll have you know), my work bag which after hours of mind-boggling packing and repacking, now fits under the seat in front of me, and a carry-on suitcase for overflow work and the handful of personal stuff I can fit. Phew.
Departure Day
Surprisingly, the day I leave is usually the least stressful day because at this point, all the thoughts have been thought, the plans have been planned, and whatever will be will be. That's not to say I haven't had major travel stresses in the past. Like the time I got to the airport and thought my husband grabbed the bag with my work, and he assumed I did. I got to the airport on my way to Kansas City with no jewelry bag. Yes, that really happened. Luckily I always arrive at the airport stupidly early, and I only live about fifteen minutes from PHL. But the mental image of my husband cartoon-racing home and back with my bag is pretty funny, though it wasn't at the time, lol. Another time, I got bumped off my flight to Cherry Creek. That took time off my lifespan. But live and learn. I now book my flights with (hopefully) enough time built in to get rebooked if needed.
What Can Possibly Go Wrong?
Was I a pack mule in a former life? (Seriously though, some of this isn’t mine.)
There's a lot of schlepping, hauling, and dragging involved once I arrive wherever I'm going. And there's always some anxiety that my bags will be lost. One time years ago, I arrived in California (I think), and the zipper to my suitcase was busted wide open. All of my display stuff, business cards, etc. were strewn all over the baggage carousel. The airline person wasn't sympathetic at all until I mentioned my Sonicare toothbrush was also among the things missing. I guess dental hygiene is his thing because that was what pushed him to give me a voucher to replace some of my belongings, lol. That was fun.
Before I figured out how to fit my display in my suitcase, my shipping container with my jewelry cases was delivered by UPS to the wrong address, and the people who received it wouldn't give me my box back. That was weirdly also in Kansas City. What a nightmare. Thank God there’s a Walmart, Target, and Home Depot everywhere in this country because I was able to cobble together a weird display with whack-a-doo things to get through the show. People kept telling me my display was ‘creative’, umm hmm.
At one show in Winter Park, Florida, the tent rental people decided not to set up my tent until mid-day on Saturday. I seriously lost time off my lifespan from that one too.
And one time in Texas, the show decided to rent lightweight pop-up tents, and they all got destroyed in about ten minutes of Texas winds. At that same show, that same year, someone stole my empty suitcases from my booth overnight. Which, I guess if you're going to steal something, that's the best case scenario, except I couldn't figure out how I was going to get my stuff home again. Luckily the bags were located by the police a few blocks away and returned with things stolen from other exhibitors inside. Can't make this stuff up.