The Colors of Shelby – Show Recap
“The Colors of Shelby” Art Show and Sale was the first Chestnut Group/Shelby Park & Bottoms collaboration to benefit the Friends of Shelby group, and it was, by all measures, enthusiastically received! With almost half of the roughly 150 paintings selling during the Patron Party and the 4-day, in-person public show, event attendance and sales exceeded expectations.
Numbers are listed below, but suffice it to say that the success of this show was due to our talented members’ participation and was built on a solid base with an excellent partner in a receptive new market. We are grateful for the experience and look forward to the next collaboration with Friends of Shelby.
And the best news is…. the event still goes on! “The Colors of Shelby” launches online tomorrow, Thursday, April 27th – and runs thru the end of May 2023. The quality of artwork in the in-person and now online show was quite impressive across the board. We are grateful to all of our members who volunteered to make this a great Chestnut opportunity to network and participate in moving our group forward.
Please join us in spreading the word about the online show to your families, friends, followers, patrons — you will see our promotion of the show tomorrow via email and in our social channels. Please like, comment and share away!! Let us know if you need any additional promo materials to help promote the show.
Here is the link to the Friends of Shelby site where the show is promoted: https://www.friendsofshelby.org/artshow. And here is the link to The Colors of Shelby online show: https://chestnutgroupshow.com It goes live at 8:00 a.m. Thursday, April 27th (tomorrow!)
NUMBER DETAILS
- Sales totalled $37,658 which is an incredible number for this new collaboration in a new marketplace where we have invested much time into painting the many picturesque areas of this park and into learning more about the people, the partners, and East Nashville culture.
- Our 46 participating artists submitted a total of 154 paintings – fourteen paintings were donated. This number of paintings proved to be an ideal amount for the show space we used!
- Of the 154 paintings entered and displayed, 69 original works of art were SOLD to very happy buyers.
- The percentage of submitted to sold for this show was 45% – compared to shows in the past three years, this was the highest! The average price of pieces submitted was $500.
VOLUNTEERS AND NOTES OF THANKS
- 38 volunteers covered 83 shifts. Thank you to all who helped make this show possible.
- Volunteers who went above and beyond include: Margaret Cameron: 8 shifts, Suzanne LeBeau: 5 shifts, Bitsy King: 4 shifts, and Seth Tummins: 4 shifts.
- New member Virginia Ferrante-Iqbal jumped in, came to several paintouts, brought potential buyers to the show, and volunteered for THREE shifts.
- New member Matt Maynard entered his first Chestnut Show and sold two of his three paintings – beautiful work!
- MaryAnn Grib is another new member who volunteered and got in the mix of it all.
- Ellen Bibb is always there to make sure we present well with our promotional graphics to advertise and promote the show – she makes us shine!
- Donna Brumbergs coordinated the title block information and inventory roster, and generally kept the co-chairs on track, always helping with improving and streamlining.
- Judson Newbern and Ed Routon for organizing the storage facility haul, set up, tear downs and then return to the storage facility – they did some heavy lifting both literally and figuratively!
- Sarah Clinton coordinated the sales components and worked with the Friends of Shelby director, Rebecca Ratz, on the details of our systems of operation. We love how Sarah looks for ways to improve our record keeping.
- John Michael Cassidy, manager of the Nature Center, worked with all of us on facility, paintouts and education and outings throughout the year.
- Thanks, as always, to Suzannah Green for keeping us on track in meetings and promotion of the show, and looking for ways to maximize the effort.
The Colors of Shelby Co-Chairs 2023
