Florida International Trade Expo

It's been over two weeks since I've made my debut as a professional artist and I'm honestly STILL reeling. Broward County hosted the 10th Annual Florida International Trade and Cultural Expo where culture, international trade, and foreign direct investment collide. I'm not exactly sure what the latter two consist of, I was just excited to be there!

When I applied to be an artist for the expo, it was around early September. I got a call the Friday before the FITCE and was asked if I still wanted to participate and I'm in my era of opportunity so of course I said yes! However, I had forgotten I applied to be an artist and assumed I was doing a pop up shop because I also have a small business expo coming up November 22nd. Imagine my surprise when I read the information email and realized I indeed would have the space to display my art! Now, I had exactly one mostly finished art piece, and immediately started panicking about having something to show, and feeling out of place amongst "real artists". Selling my nails once a month at Michaels is very different from debuting as an artist who is presenting NAILS as art. Which, is what I thought before I got there, but very quickly realized that my time at Michaels perfectly prepared me for my time at FITCE. Every month for the last 4 months I've gotten few sales, but many compliments and assurances that my nails are indeed art- which helped give me the confidence to bring my glitter tablecloth and already worn nails to display.

The Art

When I applied to be an artist for FITCE I emphasized my nails are the art, but I also plan to open a gallery filled with art about nails along with the actual nail art and I wanted my exhibition to reflect that. The canvas with the glass on it is meant to represent bridging the gap between fine art and nail art, and the pool of nails underneath just gives the piece a 3D element that is just cool to look at. I'm not even sure what to call the big piece, but I am immensely proud of it and it will have a special place in my gallery, along with my Starry Night nails! I was hard pressed to find some of my best sets, (I try to keep them all in one place but I rarely keep all 10 nails in my packaging unless they're really important to me to keep them in the right order) and a good way to display them. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for except, I came across magnetic frames and they would do the trick.

The Experience

I would love to shout out all the amazing people I met at the FITCE, even in passing. So many people stopped at my table and gave me amazing advice, kind words, and I learned so much each time I met someone new. I would love to give a special shoutout to all the artists because they really helped ease my fears and made me feel welcome. Of course the key to this life is believing in yourself, but when there are people in your field who can validate you also it is so amazing. I can admit I was highly intimidated being there. I hadn't done anything artistically professional in my LIFE...what if no one understands my vision, or worse no one cares? If I can't get anyone to notice me at a table, how will I sell tickets to an entire gallery? All of these thoughts are silly because at my monthly pop-up shop at Michael's people often tell me my work is beautiful and its art, (and they mostly look and not buy!) which is exactly what people do when they go to exhibitions! Almost every single person who stopped at my tables told me they've never seen anything like it before, they loved the idea, and my work was beautiful. It was heartwarming, and so so many people gave me valuable advice and one of the artists I met even gave me an amazing opportunity to collaborate with him which i have to write another blog post about. It was two days, and the second day I was able to make my tables look more artistic and I just absolutely loved it. There were also artistic performances, government officials, and an entire itinerary that really had me in awe the entire time. I look forward to applying next year!