My First Art Festival and How I Plan to Set up the Display

It’s official! I will be showing work at the upcoming Riverside Festival of the Arts in Easton, PA. I’ve been checking the website every so often over the past week and finally saw my name on the list, along with about 60 other artists from around the region. The festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 21 & 22, 2013.

This will be the first time I’ve done an art show/festival like this so I’ve had to get a bunch of things together for it, including a new tent and a means of displaying my recent paintings.

The tent was easy – I ordered something from DICK’s Sporting Goods that wasn’t too pricey and had good reviews. But it’s taken me some time trying to figure out the best way is going to be to hang my pieces. It goes without saying that I want it to look as professional as I can, but at the same time I’m trying to be cost conscious of what I spend on all of this.

What I finally landed on is a set of home-built grid walls that I can attach together and create a fully enclosed area with. I’ve been making them out of 1 x 2 pine, ripped down in half and then put together to form 6″ x 12″ grid system. They are each 48″ wide by 7′ tall. I need six of them in total, and have three made so far. They’re light enough that I can move them around pretty easily, but seem to be strong enough to support the weight of my heavier pieces. I think I’ll be able to attach them to the posts of the tent with zip ties and form walls on three sides. A shot of one of them is below. When I get a chance I’ll post a step-by-step on how to create one.