Alrighty, let me just share a brief backstory of what lead me into being a part of the 2022 Spectrum Miami Art Fair.
Last year when I attended The Other Art Fair in October of 2021 (which I wrote a blog about that here too) I remember my booth neighbors Jessica and Raphael Crump attended Red Dot Miami after The Other Art Fair. I stayed in touch with them on social media and got to see parts of the show that they shared on their Instagram feeds. It looked like a great show, so I researched it and found out that Red Dot Miami is for galleries and gallery represented artists only (I’m not represented by a gallery yet 😉) but I also found out that Spectrum Miami Art Fair ran at the same time alongside Red Dot and it was for emerging and solo artists….like me! 😃
The 2 shows running alongside each other made it a big attraction for art lovers and collectors, plus it was held during Miami Art Week (one of the largest, most internationally known art events of the year) After discovering all of this info, I knew I wanted apply when applications opened up for 2022.
After I got back in the spring from competing on an artist reality tv show in Greece (wrote a blog about that here as well) I knew they would be opening their applications soon, so I began working hard on creating a new collection of paintings to submit to the show. They eventually opened their applications in the summer and I enthusiastically submitted my application with my new line of artworks and within a week I received a call from Mark Shapiro, the Exhibitor Accounts Manager of Red Wood Art Group, while I was on my family’s large tractor getting ready to mow the fields 😅. He told me, my application has been accepted! WOOOOOHOOO 🎉…..I was so exited, I almost leaped off of the tractor 🤣.
Ok, now that you know the back story, let’s fast forward to the day I began my travels to Miami, because if I shared everything I did to prepare for this show, including how many paintings I did, the supplies I ordered, prints I had made, checklists I wrote, and tasks I had to complete to ensure I’d have a successful show on my part, you’d probably lose interest in this blog, leave, and miss out of the exciting, fun surprises to come! However if you are an artist reading this and you are interested in some tips and things you should know about before attending/ exhibiting in art fairs/ shows, please feel free contact me with any questions you may have by reaching out to me through my contact form here or through any of my social media profiles 🤗 I will do my best to respond to you in a timely manner.
So the journey began with a 21 hour drive from my home state to Miami 😅 I decided to drive, because it would have been even more expensive to have shipped my art and supplies down to Florida. I planned on doing the drive by myself, but 2 days before leaving my Daddy surprised me by graciously offering his time to drive down with me to help with the driving and setting up my booth. 🥰 I’m so grateful for all of his help and for my Mommy’s help with watching my Doberman puppy Hope while I was gone.
We left on Saturday morning November 26th and arrived in Miami on Monday Nov 28th. I remember on our drive the day before arriving in Miami, we stopped at Mellow Mushroom 🍄 🍕 to get some fresh pizza for dinner, well actually my Daddy got a calazone and I got a pizza.
Haha!!! 😅 And yes I ate the whole thing 😋 It was freakin delicious!
When we arrived at Spectrum, we got right to work setting up my booth. My Daddy showed me all of his tips and tricks on how to get things hung and centered a lot more efficiently than I would have done by myself. Then after we finished doing that, I had to drop him off at the airport as he had a flight back home to get back to his job.
Then I drove to the Airbnb I would be staying at for the week. The host did such a nice job setting everything up. Her home was very artsy which I appreciated 😉 and everything was spotless clean. I gotta say it was probably one of the best…if not the best…Airbnb stays I’ve experienced so far. Here are a few photos of it ⬇️
A little dream came true on Tuesday, Nov 29th when I decided to go visit Wynwood Walls. I got to see one of my favorite artist’s new mural he finished creating just a couple days prior!
If you don’t know who the artist is, his name is Mikael Brandrup. I’ve been an admirer of his work for quite sometime and he is an inspiration to me. He’s originally from Denmark and he sold his very successful graphic design business he had with his twin brother, to pursue his dreams of becoming a full time artist. He moved to LA to make those dreams come true. If you want to learn more about him, click here.
Here are some fun shots I took by his mural ⬆️ , but if you want to see my behind scenes video of it…check out my YouTube Video Here.
Haha I did, sort of get yelled at by security for doing a handstand in front of it 🤣 He said something like this “Hey Miss, you can’t do handstands. I don’t want anybody falling or getting hurt.” I get his point, but he doesn’t know that I’m an artist who uses handstands to create art 😂. On the bright side one of the other security guards said “Hey you got the photo though 😉”
Lesson learned “there will always be people telling you, you can’t do it. Keep pursuing your dreams anyways.”
📝 Funny side note…... Even though the security guard yelled at me, Wynwood Walls reposted this ⬇️ photo of me on their Instagram Stories 😂 How funny is that?!
Here are some more photos I took of the other murals I got to see at Wynwood Walls.
Alrighty! Wednesday Nov 30th was the first day of the show and it started with a surprise…….The Redwood Art Group published an article about me as 1 of the 6 artists their art curators choose to spotlight for the show 🤩☺️ If you are interested, you can read the full article here.
YAYYY!!! Now it’s time to share about opening night 5-9pm……
Haha! How could the dancer in me not strike a pose on Opening Night of Spectrum Miami Art Fair? 😄 💃
Last night was a blast!!!! I met so many people and had lots of conversations and fun interactions with people walking by stopping to watch my art process video playing on my IPad. The video shows how I create my art with all the flips, dance, contortion, martial arts, and aerial art movements. A lot people said “Girl your wild” 🤪 and I would respond. “Haha yes I am 😆”
These two paintings ⬆️ got the most attention last night. Multiple people would stop and take photos of them, which I’m very grateful they liked them and that something about them grabbed their focus.
And this right here ⬆️ was a huge surprise to me! Mark Shapiro (the exhibitor accounts manager) and the man who called me back in the summer saying I have been accepted to show at Spectrum, gave me this newspaper and told me this is one of the most difficult newspapers to get your art featured in, in Miami. He flipped to page 4 to show me who was in there and to my surprise there was a photo of me 😱. I was blown away!!! Still am actually! Woah what a remarkable day.
I didn’t believe my booth neighbor when she told me we were done for the evening (it was 9:05pm when she told me). I was like, “You’re joking….I thought it was 7o’clock). The time flew ⏰ 🕊. I was just having sooooo much fun! 😅
Thursday and Friday went well too. I sold some prints and of course go to met a lot of people and I had some time to walk around the fair to see other artists’ works.
This artist’s works in particular grasped my attention ⬆️ ⬇️
He creates his miniature paintings while using a single cat hair to paint on camel bones. Geez! I can’t even imagine how meticulously long that takes him to do.
Saturday December 3rd had a few highlights. One of those was Santa Claus visited my booth 🎅😄
Then a big surprise happened…..I was given 1 of the 6 Spectrum’s 2022 Spotlight Awards! I feel overwhelmed with gratitude and I just can’t even find the words to express how joyful and humbled I felt in that moment.
After that this sweet little girl came up to my booth because she wanted a picture with the lion “Majesty.” I mean how sweet is that 🥰. She looks like an adorable princess 👑
The last day of the show Dec 4th, went very well…… First I got to pick up my Daddy from the airport. He flew back to be with me on the last day and to help me pack up my supplies and drive back home. It was so nice to spend the final day in Miami with him by my side 🥰
I sold some more prints, 3 original sketches, and a mini original painting that both Hopey and I created together (the butterfly in the top left) 🦋 🐾
About half a hour before the show ended…one of my booth neighbors just decided to take down her art and leave without saying anything 🫤. So my other booth neighbor’s friend saw it as an opportunity to do something funny….she took her soda can and duct taped it up on the empty booth’s wall and put a $100,000 price tag on it 🤣
And apparently it became one of the most attracting booths of the show 🤯. I lost track of count how many people stopped to stare at it and take pictures of it 🤪. I gotta say it was quite hilarious!!! Then the show eventually came to end.
I thank God for this remarkable journey I had in Miami. I am grateful to have met and been surrounded by so many incredible artists. I thank my family, friends, and supporters for all of their encouragement and support. And a special thanks to my Daddy for all of his help with everything and for giving up time at home to be with me. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for everything he has done in my life. Also thank you to my Mommy for watching Hopey. I love you Mommy and Daddy 😘❤️
Thank you to all of my readers. I appreciate you and feel free to message me with any questions you may have about exhibiting at art fairs/shows. Hope you have a beautiful rest of your day. 🤗
❤️🔥Bri
…..time to go back home
