Comments

1
I plan to go to this, but I'm not sure that this is "affordable art" just because "all of it has to cost below $10,000".

For those in the 99%, "affordable art" might be more along the lines of South Park Art's annual Art Under $100. http://www.southparkarts.org/tag/art-und…

By the way, this is not a competition, Art Under $100 is on December 1. So if you can afford "affordable" art, you can do both!
2
I like to put my "affordable" art in the back of my "affordable" BMW 1-series.
3
I loved walking through the space but I little disappointed that I didn't see anything priced for $100. It seemed like $500 was the new $100. There were some gorgeous pieces, but why advertise $100 to $10,000 if there aren't any $100 pieces--or if you're shoving them all in a dark corner somewhere, by the bathrooms?
4
I totally support the idea of this fair - as I said, if this is a doorway/gateway for people to have access to art then I'm all for it. And Patricia Cameron is right - it's awesome to have an art fair in Seattle. Maybe next year I'll say yes if I can afford the booth. But a friend - I can't take credit for this - offered up an excellent, and better name for a fair that wants to make the price of art more approachable: Art Fair 101

I think that if people want to support and nurture fledgling art collections beyond the fair, there are quite a few homegrown options (yeah, I'm promoting, blahblah) including SEA-CAT, ArtsYo, ARTACHE market at Vermillion, and South Park Under $100 as mentioned above which is awesome.

So uh, hmm, maybe *we* should all start a homegrown arts fair .....
5
Make sure to check out all the Artist Trust grant recipients' work at the Affordable Art Fair! And come tonight for the party to benefit Artist Trust! 100% of ticket proceeds go to AT -- so we can keep supporting the fantastic artists of Washington State. www.artisttrust.org
6
Seattle Arts Fair 101: Everything costs between $100 and, what, $1500? $2000? I'd love to see more large, complex art but not too much that could be used as the down payment on a car.

And offer payment plans from the word jump! No, you can't walk out with the piece to hang on your wall, but if you can pay [xx]% of it and agree to pay the rest on a monthly basis, you'll have it later. It's not the greatest approach, I grant, but if I could have made that deal last night (as I've done before), I would have bought at least one piece, and I'm not exactly rolling in the spare cash.
7
It is an idea who's time has finally come, and maybe 5 years late...
I agree with you Jenn, the Seattle/Portland artists looked good in that co., but I wonder if the notion of affordability will affect the sustainability of the fairs return. Too cheeep (...and already know, and if not known pretty bad art) for the swells and too pricey (...and already known, and if not know pretty bad) or the regular folk.
8
I really like the idea of this - but to me an "affordable" art fair would be all the art being under $200, with more than half under $100.

I go to my local art fair every year, and it's really kind of insulting when the "affordable" art is a postage stamp sized print of something for $25-$30.

I did pick up a nice, small-but-decent-sized robot picture for $30 though ...
9
Compared to the NYC AAAF which I attended in the spring of 2011, this was priced way lower, which was great. Even the galleries from outside the PNW were deliberately priced lower for Seattle's market. I always find the definition of "contemporary" interesting. I also saw a women break a sculpture from a Spanish dealer like it was NBD.
10
You know who has affordable art in the range of $30 to $250? Schack Art Center in Everett. And they do layaway. Please go check it out.
11
Affordable Art? Based on what?

Like Sharon, I totally support the "idea" of this fair. However, I think the fair did a better job at promoting/comparing various galleries and artists around Seattle and beyond than to promote the affordability of art. Not to say that the art featured was not worth it's price tag but that maybe it wasn't the right art for the concept of that fair.
Was the artwork affordable? Well I suppose that's a personal question.

Here's one idea: Maybe next year instead of gallery booths the fair could be quartered by pricing, e.g., In the blue square we have artwork under $500. In the red square we have artwork under $1000... and so on. Del Webber had a great idea, how about activating the perimeters with truly local art under $250?

Nonetheless, the venue was fresh, easy to navigate and the excitement of another Seattle Art Fair emerging with mostly great art emanated.

This Saturday Georgetown (and Ballard) will be having their monthly affordable art fair, well actually it's an art walk... but believe me, it's super affordable.
12
Oh, and thanks for the photo op Jen. I didn't realize I looked so amish last night!
... that was actually one of my favorite booths though. The gallery guy/instructor was really enthusiastic and informative.... But I felt bad for the girl who had to keep fishing garbage out of her, achem, found object art.
13
Actually, how about an Approachable Art Fair? Just anything to not make it sound like a bargain basement. Otherwise I really do want to start seeing "Affordable Science Fair" and "Affordable Technology Fair" and "Affordable Architecture Fair" or whatever. Blah. Blargh. Boring.

YAY A FAIR. let's have one.
14
Affordable art needs to be affordable for the artist as well. An artist would only get $50 if the piece sold for $100. Sometimes paying more is worth it.
15
One thing being overlooked in many of these comments, is that on any day of the year, all across Seattle, even in the white box galleries, there are artworks priced from $100 - $1,000. I would bet that EVERY art dealer in Seattle has art below $1,000 and even below $500. Most of that will be by Seattle artists who live from the proceeds. We all have affordable art for those who want to seek it out and support it. And Seattle's art dealers are here every day to help you with advice, information, and time payments.

The AAF does look very attractive in its presentation. The Seattle dealers and artists do look very good by comparison and in context with the rest of the fair. Go, see, investigate, compare, and support these dealers.
16
One thing I think we should all keep in mind is that the artists put a lot of time, effort, education, practice, skills, research and money into a piece of art that they create. To support the arts is to support the artists, they need to eat and pay bills just like the rest of us.

Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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