Selling at Markets
Left to right: Kim Harrell, Laney Clark, and Rachel Morris
Selling at Markets
What we learned at the August Metals Mixer
Seattle Metals Guild | Thursday, August 13, 2026 | Hosted by Laney Clark, Vice President
This page and its recording are for Seattle Metals Guild members. Sign in below to watch the recording and view the resources. The video is unlisted, so please keep it within our community rather than posting it publicly.
About this session
About a dozen of us met online to talk honestly about selling at markets, fairs, and festivals. Laney walked us through a slide presentation and closed with a note worth repeating: these are her own opinions, arrived at over many years as a full time artist, and the same goes for everyone here. You do not have to agree with any of it. Take what is useful.
Three members with long experience carried most of the conversation, and newer members shaped it with their questions.
Laney Clark has worked in metal for about 35 years and sold full time since the mid 2000s. She is a juried vendor at the Olympia Farmers Market and does summer and holiday shows.
Kim Harrell has been making and selling for over 30 years, trained in Europe, has run a gallery, and works across local shows, national shows, gallery representation, and private clients. She showed at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver this year.
Rachel Morris did her first craft show at nine, returned to the work later with a plan to move into higher-end shows, and now works a national circuit including Paradise City, Art in the Pearl, Plaza, Park City, and Heart in the High Desert. She also teaches.
Renee Ford, a metalworker in Maryland and a longtime veteran, added several points from the chat.
What we cover
Where to find shows, and how to vet whether one is worth applying to. How jurying works, why it stays unpredictable, and how to learn from rejection. Photography for jury submissions, the through line of the whole evening. What to bring, from canopies and weights to a full packing list. Setting up and running the booth. Price points and perceived value. Choosing among shows, galleries, and your own website. How to get started when this is all new. One show's real numbers, from Kim's Cherry Creek breakdown. And Rachel's walkthrough of fifteen years of her booth photographs, which is worth the watch on its own.
Share your experiences with us
We'd love to know about your experiences selling at and applying to markets. Feed the collective hive mind by responding to our SMG Markets Survey.
Watch the session
Ninety minutes on selling work at markets, fairs, and festivals. The recording is chaptered, so you can jump to any topic from the YouTube player.
Resources shared during the Mixer
This list was compiled with AI assistance and has not been verified by anyone. Fees, dates, deadlines, and jury requirements may be wrong or out of date. Treat it as a list of shows that might be worth looking into, and check anything against the show's own website before you apply or pay. If you have done a show recently and are willing to add what it was actually like, that is the part no research can supply.
Both get political at times.
Light Dome canopies, the Costco white-top pop-up, Abstracta display systems, Square for payments, Vistaprint for cards and signage, and ACT for annual artist insurance.
Get in touch
Laney Clark offered herself as an open book, and meant it, and noted it does not have to be about markets. Reach her at vp@seattlemetalsguild.org.
Rachel Morris is at eclecticnaturejewelry.com and @EclecticNatureJewelry on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Christen Coomer is at president@seattlemetalsguild.org. If you think of something after the session that others should know, send it along and it can be added here.
