Artists, festival producers adapt to virtual suburban art fairs this summer

Amy Amdur, president and CEO of Amdur Productions, thought she had seen it all. In 37 years of producing outdoor art fairs in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, Amdur has dealt with extreme heat, unseasonable cold, high winds, hail and downpours that resulted in flooding.

"The current situation with the pandemic is something I never ever anticipated," Amdur said.

Amdur is not alone. Art fair producers and artists who make a living selling their work on the festival circuit have all had to make tough choices and adapt because of COVID-19.

"If I had been told that my job was going to end, I would have laughed at you," said Jill Tortorella, an Antioch-based ceramics artist who normally sells her work at around 35 art fairs a year and just started a site on Etsy.com. "I also teach classes on a private basis in my studio, which has also ground to a halt because of social distancing."

The coronavirus has forced some fairs to be rescheduled, like the Amdur-produced Barrington Art Festival, which moved from Memorial Day weekend to Sept. 12 and 13.

Others were canceled outright. These include Schaumburg's Prairie Arts Festival, which normally takes place over Memorial Day weekend; the Geneva Chamber of Commerce's juried Geneva Arts Fair in July; and Libertyville's Festival of the Arts in August.

"We had 140-plus artists who were accepted, and what we did was give them a 100 percent refund of their money," said Erin Melloy, a consultant with the Geneva Chamber.

In place of a refund, other juried art fairs are also giving artists the option to defer their spots to 2021. That's what Tortorella chose to do for the spring edition of the Fiesta Arts Fair in San Antonio, Texas.

"It's very competitive," Tortorella said. "I would rather not go back to the jury pile. I'll let them keep that money and use it next year."

Inevitably, many 2020 art fairs have gone online. For example, Chicago's 57th Street Art Fair set for June 6 and 7 has now become a virtual one with links to individual artists' websites.

In other cases, the art fairs create their own websites to showcase the artists' work. One such event earlier this month was the Grayslake Art Alliance's May Fest.

"It came off really well. It exceeded my expectations in terms of sales," said Grayslake Arts Alliance President Ernest Schweit. "We had more dollars and cents in sales than any show we've ever done."

Amdur</a><![CDATA[ considersself to be really fortunate that she didn't have to build a website from the ground up for art shows going online. Amdur Productions launched the art sales site ArtZipper.com in 2018, and that's the platform they're using to host the refashioned Northbrook Virtual Art Fest (June 6-13), the Virtual Promenade of Art Arlington Heights (June 20-26) and the Virtual Gold Coast Art Fair (June 27-July 3).

"We see the artist just like you're at a show, we see some of her art - 10 to 100 images," said Amdur, adding that some artists also will have online hours from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays so patrons can video chat via Zoom for seminars and demonstrations.

"We're trying to not just make it a shopping site, but an interactive site," Amdur said. She even joked that it might be possible for a customer to show his or her home and ask an artist for suggestions of what piece would be the best fit.

Amdur is also making producing plans if state restrictions ease up for outdoor public gatherings. Currently, Amdur is making the call for art fairs to be canceled, rescheduled or go virtual 45 days ahead of the planned opening.

"Our festivals will look a little different," Amdur said. "The aisles are going to be wider, the booths are going to be spaced out rather than wall-to-wall. We're going to have the direction flow for people to walk like you already see in some stores. Artists may be wearing masks with hand sanitizer in every booth."

Amdur hopes that the public will support artists, because they're all operating as small businesses in this trying time.

"There are artists that I've known for 10 to 30 years, and they need to make their mortgage payments," Amdur said. "They need to sell art to put food on their table. The more support that we can give them, the better."