For the first time ever, I will have limited edition reproductions (prints) of my Found Cartoons at the East Lansing Art Festival this May.
I picked them up from Capital City Reprographics here in Lansing (Old Town), where I’ve had other reproductions made in the past.
These reproductions are shrunk down versions of three of my 24″ x 24″ canvas Found Cartoons I made for my Nelson Gallery exhibition last year. The 12″ x 12″ versions look great and I’m excited to have them for sale this festival season.
Each reproduction will be individually signed and numbered by me. The limited run will be of 150 copies each.
Most art festivals have strict rules about reproductions and prints. Basically, they have to be limited editions of so many copies at a majority of art festivals. This is the case with the bigger, juried festivals like East Lansing Art Festival. Smaller shows don’t always have the same rules. Regardless of rules, I enjoy offering limited editions, because it makes them more special.
These Found Cartoons reproductions are part of my new plan for 2025. With a couple of exceptions (Lansing Pride, Scrapfest), I’m only selling my Found Cartoons at art festivals this season. I wanted to try streamlining my offerings and set-up to focus only on my Found Cartoons this season and see how it goes. In the past I’ve offered other works as well, but I’ve felt I was spreading myself out too much.
In my season off last year, I spent time walking around art festivals and noted what other artists did. Most didn’t offer a wide variety of work like I was doing in the previous seasons. A couple of different styles may have been ok, but I had at least four different types of work in my booth (Found Cartoons, ScrapToons, Three Panels, and my dragons/unicorns/etc).
It doesn’t hurt to be known for a specific offering when I’m doing the same event every year too.
Other changes I made for this season:
- I’m not bringing any framed art to festivals, just canvas and matted/bagged pieces. Depending on how the season go, I may have to bring older framed pieces towards the end, if I’m low on stock to fill the walls.
- All matted/bagged new Found Cartoons will be 5×7. One size, one price. I did different sizes and prices in the past, but not this season. This helps with making and selling the pieces. I’m cutting one size of paper, I’m buying one size of mat/bag/backer board, everything on the wall is one price.
- Matted/bagged Found Cartoons will fill an entire wall of my booth. Thanks to some old photos and playing around with the Freeform whiteboard app on my iPad, I know how many 5×7 pieces I need. This replaces my old boxes on a table system, which also frees up floor and packing space.
Here’s to a successful season.
