The history and development of Cherrywood Art Fair has been exciting over the last 10 years! Read more on how this East Austin tradition has grown much larger than what it originally intended to be.
Summer of 2002 – After a successful Cherrywood neighborhood-wide garage sale, Kathleen McTee, artist and new mother, seeking to re-energize her artwork and reconnect with people in the neighborhood, floated an email to the NeighborNet suggesting an art fair in the ‘hood.
“Thanks! …and an idea–
Thanks to the neighborhood for a great Garagezilla! Perhaps we should do this again sometime…
We had fun meeting neighbors, talking to friends we haven’t seen in a while, and finding new homes for lots of our old stuff. It was a lot of work, but a great success.
Another idea occurs to me as I write this—I wonder if there might be any interest amongst us all for some sort of Holiday Bazaar? I am an artist, and I know there are many others in the ‘hood who make art, crafts, music, cook, grow plants, etc. Perhaps, if we could find a space, we could have a holiday-time ‘do, and donate a share of the profits to neighborhood projects? It’s just a notion…”
Priscilla Boston and Rebecca Kohout, co-chairs of the Cherrywood Social Committee thought that might be a great idea for a neighborhood social event and jumped on Kathleen’s bandwagon. Marilyn Fenn designed the poster
the Cherrywood Neighborhood Association paid for a banner, and 8 neighborhood artists convened at Asbury Methodist Church the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the first Cherrywood Art Fair.
And so the Cherrywood Art Fair was born!
2003 – At the close of the 2002 Fair, Priscilla Boston wrote “As one of the organizers, I have to say that I’ve been to several other art shows this season, and the art at this one was the best overall… I can’t wait to use what we learned this first time around to plan an even better festival next year.” The organizers were hooked! And another key to success surfaces: Good art. No junk. No manufactured goods, nothing but original art.
For the 2003 Fair, Liz Potter was asked to design a poster that could be used to promote the show, and the fabulous Cherrywood Art Fair poster series was born. Each poster is a work of art itself, and Liz captured the retro spirit of the new location, the mid-century campus of Maplewood Elementary, in that first beautiful picture of a family headed to the Art Fair in the family sedan. Liz’s poster
captures more than just a time period, it captures the spirit of the Fair: neighborhood involvement, family fun, and good times. That spirit has wisely been kept alive in successive posters by Liz in 2004 and 2005, and by Melissa Gable in 2006 to the present. Marilyn Fenn captured this same spirit in the first Cherrywood Art Fair website in 2003, which was artful in and of itself.
Moving the show to Maplewood was a natural next step. From Kathleen McTee:
“It was obvious that we needed more space, and it seemed like a natural fit for us to connect with Maplewood school—arts programs were suffering lost of funding cuts, and..I loved the idea of helping several groups simultaneously. We could raise money for the art program, show the kids at the school that the arts were valued and valuable, give the neighborhood a fun event of which they could be proud, and also create a high-quality, fresh art show in town. I really hoped we could give visitors a great selection of art and craft AND support the artists with reasonable booth prices, free snacks, volunteers; sort of a win-win-win scenario.”
This captures another essential principle of the Cherrywood Art Fair—making it “good” for everybody.
Artists at the Fair say it is the friendliest in town. Visitors at the Fair say it has a comfortable, down-home feeling to it, and they can find unique, high-quality items.
The idea of coordination roles emerged in 2003—Kathleen McTee was the primary organizer and spokesperson, Marilyn Fenn ran the website, Priscilla Boston coordinated sponsors and volunteers, and the core team of organizers was fleshed out by Audrey Gray (auction and signage) and Cynthia Ballesteros (music). But the original spirit of ‘pitching in to do whatever’ prevailed.
Publicity through web, TV and print media was added. The second Art Fair on November 22, 2003, increased to 40 artists, a silent auction was added to the line-up, and food was sold by Maplewood parents.
The size jump created a desperate need for volunteer help.
2004- Staying at the Maplewood location was a given, since it had served so well in 2003, but the decision was made to move the Fair to December 11th to keep a perpetual date on the second weekend in December. Clearly, this was a viable event that had grown larger than life, and Priscilla Boston set up a series of planning meetings to involve a much larger core group of organizers.
In August of 2004, the future of the Art Fair hung in the balance. The organizers now understand the magnitude of the task before them, and the crucial role of volunteer participation. Kathleen McTee wrote this appeal to the ‘hood:
“Last November, Cherrywoodites had a blast at the Art Fair… we met our neighbors, listened to good music, shopped for locally-made art and gifts, ate tamales, watched our kids make art on the spot, bid on cool stuff in the silent auction, and generally grooved on the homegrown festivity.
This December 11th, we could do it all again — there’s a date set, Maplewood is ready to host the event again, artists are calling and e-mailing about participating… but the Cherrywood Art Fair is NOT going to happen in 2004 without a few more folks to help MAKE it happen. In the next ten days, the fate of this year’s event will be decided.
The Art Fair has the chance to become an annual, anchoring event in our neighborhood calendar, a time and place when we can see neighbors, support our elementary school, and be proud to welcome the rest of Austin to our lovely neck of the woods…
So think about giving a little… come December 11th, you’ll be basking in the glow, tapping your foot to the music, saying hello to some folks you haven’t seen in a while, taking in the art, feeling happy that you live in the heart of Austin.”
Priscilla Boston advertised for “missing KEY positions” for the Art Fair, and a meeting was held on August 24th. People came, roles were assigned, and the Cherrywood Art Fair survived. Jane Walton was added to the core group of volunteers as Treasurer.
2004 was the first year there was an abundance of applications, and the show could be juried, to achieve balance in the mix of media. Maddie Kadas worked on public relations, and Marilyn Fenn mastered the website once again. Kelly Miles hustled up volunteers. There were 41 artist booths, and food was sold by Vivo’s restaurant, netting a $200 donation directly to the PTA.
2005 – Maddie Kadas suggested the name CHULA for a new non-profit that would focus on the Fair, and govern the use of the proceeds to benefit the arts, art education and artful landscapes in the surrounding neighborhoods. Jane Walton pushed through the application for non-profit status, which was awarded in November 2005. A Board of Directors was constituted (Boston, McTee and Walton) to get the fledgling organization on its feet.
The growing size of the Fair made the task of organizing seem daunting, but Priscilla agreed to act as director once again, and Kathleen agreed to return as artist coordinator. A new goal emerged, to add a second day to the Fair!. The dates were set for December 10th and 11th and the location was once again Maplewood. Food was sold to the public by Go-Go Gourmet.
Marilyn Fenn signed up for another year as webmaster, Liz Potter agreed to produce another astounding poster,
Luke Torn volunteered to recruit and coordinate musicians, Rick Behal took on volunteer coordination, Jennifer Elsner oversaw graphics and printing, and Jane Walton served as Treasurer once again, and fronted the money for advance expenses. Blue Shoe Marketing was enlisted to coordinate public relations.
Kathleen writes this about running the Fair:
“There were thousands of decisions to hash out, and most of them we addressed on e-mail, really burning up the bandwidth. We had lots of different people come and go on the team, and some who even stayed. It took many, many hours of work by many different people to make it happen. The continuous thread through all of those meetings, emails and conversations, though, was good humor and honesty, even when we were exhausted. A shared vision is a great motivator!”
Rick Behal sent a thank you email to 30 people who helped with general logistics support.
With over 40 artists, a half-dozen bands, 10 coordinators, and 30 volunteers, the Art Fair was becoming a village.
The Fair received favorable press in XLEnt, and attendance was great! Artist sales were great too!
2006 – We just keep doing this thing, expecting it to be bigger and better!
The 2006 Fair was scheduled for December 9th and 10th at Maplewood, and the key players were again Priscilla, Kathleen, and Jane with Erika Allbright joining the team for the silent auction.
Applications were so numerous (80 applicants) that we could begin to charge a small application fee, to compensate for the huge effort involved in jurying the show.
The experience of Kathleen in the “real world” of art shows is invaluable! She had the idea of adding outdoor booths, which multiplied the festive atmosphere of the Fair. It also increased the number of artists to 56.
In 2006 we made a few improvements. We counted traffic for the first time (2,500 visitors, 60% on Saturday, 40% on Sunday.) We surveyed visitors about how they heard about the Fair, and discovered that our best avenue of publicity was from the artists and musicians themselves, second best was neighborhood newsletters and email, with posters and postcards in public places running third.
We also learned that people come to an Art Fair in groups of twos and fours, and make it a social event.
Food from Go-Go Gourmet was well received in 2005, and repeated in 2006. Kelly Miles coordinated the food in artists lounge; Priscilla coordinated volunteers. Melissa Gable created the memorable poster for 2006 and every year since.
Cherrywood Art Fair 2007- photographed by Alina Prax info@ladolcevitaphoto.com
2007 – Again, already? The time between Fairs seems to be shrinking. The Fair was scheduled for December 8th and 9th at Maplewood. The same basic core team signed up for another year of madness, with some notable new faces. Julie Bernal was recruited to help with the silent auction, and became a key addition to auction coordination. Wendy Morgan (Dot Connector) and Scheleen Walker joined the team as Marketing gurus. We got really good press this year.
Improvements for 2007 included creating a central cashiers station and credit card processing for artists and food sales. A new arrangement with Eastside Pies was formed to serve food to our Fair visitors.
The Little Fair That Could continued to grow:
The auction was 50% bigger than 2006. Over 90 artists applied, and we accepted over 60 artists. This was the first year we had staggered booth rates for different sizes of booths. Artist credit card sales doubled, and many artists said their individual sales doubled. Over 4,000 folks visited the Art Fair.
In 2007 we experimented with “photos with Santa.” It was fun, but logistically challenging, and not financially viable with a hired Santa (although it would have worked with a volunteer Santa…)
Maplewood students sold salads and drinks to make money for a science trip.
Cherrywood Art Fair 2008- photographed by Alina Prax info@ladolcevitaphoto.com
2008 – The core team was the same folks, but shuffled roles. Priscilla Boston coordinated food, Jane Walton coordinated sponsorships, Erika Allbright coordinated both volunteers AND the silent auction! Wendy and Scheleen returned as PR gurus. Kathleen McTee returned as artist coordinator. A new injections of energy and good cheer was provided by Kay McManus, who took over decorations.
Traveling Bistro provided the public food, and we met the lovely Beth Been, who returned in 2009 as our food coordinator.
The first of two major developments for 2008 was the hiring of a paid project manager to ramrod the show. The second major development was the creation of the Little Artist/Big Artist Program, which was run by Jane Walton. Five artists were paired with 5 sixth grade students from Maplewood Elementary, to create two original works of art: one to keep, and one to auction at the Fair, for the benefit of the school.
The students could experience art outside the classroom, in a professional studio. They could learn first-hand about the full range of the creative process, from idea, through design, through actualization. In fact, their creation could be auctioned at the Fair to benefit Maplewood, and they could experience the commercial aspects of art as well. This program was extremely successful and well received.
In 2008 the Art Fair saw over 4,500 visitors who saw the work of over 60 artists and heard the music of 12 bands.
At the close of the 2008 Fair, Kathleen McTee laid down her scepter as the Queen of artist coordinators, and retired from the Cherrywood Art Fair. She writes:
“Overall, I think what made it fly was that enthusiasm, even when we felt we couldn’t go to one more meeting or write one more email (a feeling we had early and often!). What made it work, what made it worthwhile, was the sense that Cherrywood Art Fair was something special. The artists were carefully juried, the show was balanced. That meant better sales for the artists, and better shopping for the customers. Happy artists and customers mean good vibes! And the good vibes just sort of multiplied.
Austin responds to quality! A good cause, good art, good times—this town has high standards. When people talk about how Austin is special and has a unique spirit and soul, I think this show represents the best of that.”
Cherrywood Art Fair 2009- Alina Prax info@ladolcevitaphoto.com
2009 – Jane Walton was the Fair Chair for 2009, and Mary Evelyn Daughety and Sherri Whitmarsh were co-assistant Chairs. Priscilla Boston was in charge of Sponsors, Holli Brown was Artist Coordinator, Wendy Morgan and Scheleen Walker were in charge of Public Relations.
This was the second year of Little Artist/Big Artist, in which 6 artists worked with 9 kids to produce original artwork for auction. Auction proceeds went to Maplewood. All participants expressed appreciation for the program, and a hope that it will continue and grow.
This was the biggest Art Fair ever, with 80 artists, 9 bands, four food vendors (Traveling Bistro, MMMpanadas, Luscious Pastries, and Innocent chocolate), and over 6,000 visitors.
The silent auction stayed on par with the previous year, but booth fees were up.
This is our first year without Kathleen McTee as artist coordinator, who reflects on what she has done for the Cherrywood Art Fair. She writes:
“This year, I’m like the mom with an empty nest—my baby’s grown up and gone off to college! I’m not part of the day-to-day nitty-gritty now, I’m off to focus on my teaching and my artwork and my family. But I am incredibly happy to see the show become one of Austin’s beloved events. I feel like you feel the day after throwing a really great party—you’re exhausted and you think “I’ll never do THAT again!” But then you look at the pictures and savor the memories, even the memories of hard work. I’m really looking forward to the Art Fair for 2009!”
2010- history to come
Cherrywood Art Fair 2010- photography by Nine Francois nine@grandecom.net and
Chelsea Fullerton chelseafullterton@gmail.com
