Art Fairs and their artists deserve your support!
Our Mission:
ArtFairCalendar.com exists to promote the work of the artists and craftspeople who earn their living exhibiting at art shows around the U.S. Their creativity and passion for fine craftsmanship provide art fair attendees like you with unique items not available in chain stores and shopping malls. These creative entrepreneurs work extremely hard. Constant travel, long hours, including heavy labor, hauling and setting up booths in all kinds of weather and high overhead mean that survival as a fine artist can often be a challenge.
About Us:
In 2004 ArtFairCalendar.com was created to increase contact between the art fair business and the customers who love to attend the nation's art fairs, a uniquely American cultural attraction.
ArtFairCalendar.com is still the only national online calendar listing art fairs, festivals, and fine-craft events. It has maintained its #1 Google search results ranking for "art fairs" and "art festivals" to help serve art festivals, art festival tourists, and artists since 2006.
Team:
Mary Strope serves as Operations Manager. Starting with an Arts Management degree from Eastern Michigan University, Mary has been a member of the art festival business since 1986. She has produced numerous retail and wholesale fine art and fine craft shows nationwide. Among many other industry roles, she served on the steering committee for the Craft Organization Development Association, wrote a monthly magazine column for professional craft artists, and serves as COO of Juried Art Services. Contact Mary: [email protected]
Jacqueline Bilsborrow has worked with Connie and her husband Norm Darwish since 1995, managing their art fair business and subsequently with the ArtFairCalendar.com team since 2006. She serves as editor of ArtFairCalendar.com.
Meg Mettler, Connie's sister, is a marketing whiz who has been the head of our email publishing since 2017.
Connie Mettler
Founder & Publisher Emeritus of ArtFairCalendar.com
Art Fair Events Director, Producer and Consultant - Retired 2021
A leading figure in the art show community for over 40 years, Connie brings deep experience in the art fair business. She participated with her artist husband photographer Norm Darwish in art fairs for 30 years, selling art at over 500 events from Maine to Texas and everywhere in between. This exposure to the great variety of art fairs around the country taught her the inner workings of producing an event and created lasting relationships with hundreds of artists and art fair organizers.
She was part of the Art Fair Committee of the Guild of Artists and Artisans in Ann Arbor and was a founding member of the NAIA, an organization established by artists to strengthen the relationship between the artists and the art show organizers.
She has used this experience to produce multiple events (e.g., Greektown Art Fair in Detroit; Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak, MI; served on the 50th Super Bowl committee) and understands the difficulties of finding show listings for artists and art buyers. For almost 20 years Connie successfully built out and promoted multiple websites offering innovative online services helpful to the artist community, including ArtFairCalendar.com, ArtFairInsiders.com, ArtShowReviews.com, and CallsforArtists.com. Widely recognized for her art fair industry expertise, Connie built a career by helping artists, art show organizers, and art collectors nationwide.
Scott Fox conceived and built the websites for his mother, Constance Mettler, to leverage the deep expertise and relationships she had from being professionally involved with art fairs since 1978.
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Testimonials
Thanks once again for your contribution to the NAIA conference. I think you have a lot to be proud of and I am most certainly glad we asked you to help. You are a great resource. -- Holly Olinger, NAIA Board
I love this site and have learned about so many great shows through it. Thank you for all the work you put into it.
-- Teressa Foster
Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing the ArtFair Calendar with me. -- Sincerely, Dale Boydston, Ceramic Arts
Hi, Connie: I've been receiving your ArtFair Calendar emails for quite a while now, and they're always welcome. They're fun, interesting, and always informative. It suddenly occurred to me today that I've never told you that I'm grateful to you for your work, and your efforts on our behalf, that you just give to us and ask nothing in return. Kind of amazing in this world of ours. So THANK YOU! You are appreciated. -- Bonnie Shopper, www.shopperenamels.com
Connie, Thanks for all of your help and guidance for "our" Great Lakes Art Fair! We could not have done it without you.
-- Blair Bowman, owner Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi, MI
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ArtFairCalendar.com provides these listings for free as a public service. The constantly changing art fair business means that we can not be held responsible for inaccurate listing information or typos. Please contact the promoters of each event to confirm specific attendance details before making your plans. To receive regular updates on the fine art fairs in your area, please join our email list.
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