gallery/spring fair mini interviews
The Review
Peter Hancocks out & about at
Spring Fair
uality, not quantity was the order of the day country as well as the States, Canada and more recently,
Q
within the Art Hall at Spring Fair. Germany.”
Despite the worst winter weather for many He continued: “We have a new crystal and bronze mix
a year and a credit crunch that was beginning range entitled ‘Victoria’ which is performing well. Th e
to bare its teeth, the vast majority of exhibitors experienced principle is that you have crystal animals in diff erent coloured
a trade over and above their conjoint expectations when crystals, which are then mounted onto bronze bases. It’s an
all things were [eventually] considered. Admittedly, had extremely diffi cult product to get together because you have
I interviewed people on the Monday, I would have been diff erent shrinkages, between the crystal and the bronze, but
enforced to write-up a diff ering view of events as Southern when you put them together, you have a very high quality
snow harried the-would-be trekkers North! However, the presentation. Retail prices are £70 to £95 and it looks as
serious buyers in many instances rescheduled and found time though the product has a great future.”
to come on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the show before Vicki Higgins of De Montfort Fine Art kindly showed me
the added snow of Th ursday cancelled out all further vestiges around their extensive stand. As ever, there was a fi ne array
of improved visitor levels. of works from diff ering artists far to numerous to mention
Bjorg: On Her Way to Mum & Dad
In short, business was done, exhibitors were allowed so we concentrated on one of the company’s more recent
to spend a longer time with both existing and would-be signings in the form of a mix of originals and limited editions
customers and time wasters, if indeed there were any, could by the artist INAM with whom the company work closely.
have been counted on the fi nger of one hand! Vicki said: Th e style is very much silver birches seen through
Th e proof of the pudding is in the following comments of the seasons with lots of light and shadows. We started off
a fi ne cross-section of exhibitors and I commend it to your with spring and summer, which moved very well and we have
attention. now entered into autumn and winter. Besides the originals,
what you see here are small limited editions with big price
Ben Moss, the UK sales director of Bjorg told me that points. Th ey can be purchased individually. We don’t have a
Bjorg Th orhallsdottir, to give her full name, is a very minimum order, there is no prerequisite on what one has to
fl amboyant lady. He said: “She’s Norway’s biggest selling buy and that goes for any of our artists.”
female artist in any genre. Although she’s well established in Colin Ruff ell, one of the three professional artists that
mainland Europe, and has collectors like Dave Stewart of form Artreo.Com told me that as far as he was concerned the
the Eurythmics, she does not have an English market as yet. show had been considerably more constructive than he would
I say ‘as yet’ because she wasn’t sure how the English would have fi rst envisaged after the inclement weather conditions.
respond to her work, however she had no need to fear as the He said: “I’ve actually been painting on the stand and this
response has been amazing. To date, ten galleries, stretching has drawn a lot of interest. I’ve been testing the market with
from the Orkney Islands down to London have bought a new range and because of the reduction in footfall I’ve been
several pieces and want to feature her work. We’ve achieved able to give people more time and got much more feedback
everything we wanted to achieve and now have an opening which in turn has manifested itself in additional business. I’m
in England.” very pleasantly surprised. We’re three independent artists who
Sue McDonagh of the aptly named Sue McDonagh Studio live within 2-300 yards of each other. We’ve been exhibiting
& Gallery told me that the show had been OK and certainly at Spring Fair for some years now to off er an alternative to
Art Garden Studios: Bathers
on a par with last year. She went on to say that: “A lot of the big publishers. Th ere is a demand for our work and we
galleries from the South Coast haven’t made it up, although are all self-publishing.”
it’s probably to do with the weather. So given the economic Ashley Younger of Wessex Pictures told me that he
and geological climate, I did OK.” thought 2009 was to be an interesting show before the
Sue was presenting a fi ne array of contemporary original collapse of the banking world, but with daily reports of the
paintings and prints as well as a new collection of ‘Children failing economy, a recession expected to last for years and the
on the Beach’ in pastel and enhanced giclees on canvas. pound on a rollercoaster against the euro and the dollar, as a
Richard Cooper of Richard Cooper & Co told me that the long standing exhibitor he waited in anticipation!
company had two stands at the fair, the other being in the He said: “We were pleased with the uptake on our ‘show
Jewellery Hall. He said: “Our products are sold to art galleries promotion’ tailored to introduce existing and new customers
and jewellers and the response in the Jewellery Hall has been to our range of specialist glass, most found it was too good an
strong, but the visitor numbers in the Art Hall have perhaps off er to miss. Our experienced staff was on hand to explain
not been quite as good as we hoped. Th at said, we have met the benefi ts and this was supported visually with a range
new customers and are gently/modestly satisfi ed with the of framed images clearly showing the diff erence a specialist
trade that we have done. Our products retail from £25 up glass can make, subsequently we sold a signifi cant amount of
to £4,500 and are found in good quality outlets across the deals.”
Scenes: Pictured from left at SF are John McAfee, Graham
Case and Sarah Sutter
18 picturebusiness
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