Bend art show’s national ranking climbs

At only eight years old, Bend’s Art in the High Desert has become a Central Oregon signature event with national recognition drawing top caliber artists from across North America.

Greg Lawler’s Fine Art Fair SourceBook has put another spotlight on Bend, ranking Art in the High Desert as the 12th best fine arts festival in the nation based on sales of fine art. Art in the High Desert, Central Oregon’s premier juried art & craft show, takes place the weekend before Labor Day weekend in Bend’s Old Mill District.

AHD got a foot in the door of the big league shows two years ago with a ranking of 14th in the nation; this year’s move to 12th makes a statement about the show as well as Central Oregon. “To be ranked #12 on a list of over 600 shows the Art Fair SourceBook is a big deal,” says festival Director Carla Fox. “It is exciting for the show and an honor for Central Oregon. It says that Central Oregon is a place for great art and art appreciation.”

The ranking places Art in the High Desert (AHD) firmly in the big leagues and at the top of the list for Northwest shows. Art in the High Desert (#12) shares the TOP 25 spotlight with highly regarded shows such as La Quinta Arts Festival (#1) near Palm Springs, CA; Art on The Square (#2) in Belleville, IL; the St. Louis Art Fair (#3) in St. Louis, MO. Old Town Art Fair (#8) in Chicago, IL; and the main Street Art Festival (#20) in Fort Worth, TX.

“The new rankings mark another milestone for Art in the High Desert,” says AHD Board Member Shari Crandall, “they place Art in the High Desert higher in sales than any other west coast show excluding La Quinta. That’s more sales than well known and respected shows like Portland’s Art in the Pearl, The Bellevue Art Museum Show, and the Scottsdale Arts Festival. Like Carla said, it’s a BIG DEAL!”

From Chris D’Arcy, former Executive Director at Oregon Arts Commission and Oregon Cultural Trust, “Congratulations to Art in the High Desert. You were brilliant to conceive the idea of Art in the High Desert. You have created a show with high style and quality bringing artists and businesses to Oregon while showcasing Bend and Central Oregon at it’s best. Bravo!” Noelle Fredland, Old Mill District Marketing Director added, “We knew the Art in the High Desert Board had produced a first class event, a real winner for our community. We are happy they are getting this tremendous recognition.”

The Art Fair SourceBook (AFSB) exists to create an independent one-stop resource for artists and artisans that enable them to more confidently, efficiently, and effectively select the events most likely to optimize their profits. Now in its nineteenth year of publication, The Art Fair SourceBook™ is the bible of the industry. Each year the SourceBook collects extensive data on sales and anecdotal evidence from the exhibitors at over 1,000 art fairs and craft shows around the country through it’s AFSB Exhibitor Feedback postcards and online at their website (http://artfairsourcebook.com/).

Over the last 20 years, AFSB has visited over 900 events and continues to do so at the rate of 60-75 events each year. The information gleaned from these visits and collected from exhibitors is then read and analyzed by AFSB, and presented to the subscribers in Greg Lawler’s annual “Editor’s Commentary” on each of the shows in the “Top 600 Events” list. “It’s a daunting task, involving hundreds of hours of reading and summarizing literally thousands of reports from artists,” says Mr. Lawler. “This process allows us to draw from a vast pool of exhibitors’ reports to gain valuable insight into today’s art fair marketplace,” he added.

Art in the High Desert is a juried show and asks applying artists to go above and beyond the usual and takes selecting artists very seriously. It is also a show that is created, managed and run by artists and art patrons, just one of the many reasons Art in the High Desert was all the buzz among artists right out of the gate.

AHD is still considered a relatively young show moving into its eighth year. With an early upward trajectory, the national ranking bestowed upon Art in the High Desert last week is huge. Not only for the show but also for Central Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Drawing top artists from across the United States and Canada, Art in the High Desert’s national ranking will increase applications, quality, buyers and public awareness of Central Oregon’s importance in the art world.

Art in the High Desert showcases over 100 talented artists each year and uses the ZAPP application system (http://zapplication.org). The application process for the Eighth Annual Art In The High Desert is currently open until February 27th, 2015. A jury preview of 2015 applications will be held on March 27th and is open to the public. The 2015 show event dates are August 28, 29 and 30. For more information on the Art in the High Desert, visit http://www.artinthehighdesert.com.