KMAF - A Virtual Affair - Michele Hausman

Looking for safe fun this Labor Day Weekend? Here's an idea. Visit a Virtual Art Fair, by yourself or along with friends or family, "together" while apart.

Kings Mountain Art Fair is one of the premier outdoor Art Fairs in the Western US. This volunteer run, not for profit event is designed to help artists and provide funds for the local community Elementary School and the local Fire Department. Great People run the show! For over 50 years, this event has been held out in a redwoods park all 3 days of Labor Day Weekend.

This year, with the virus still present in our communities, the King’s Mountain Art Fair will be a Virtual Event, as it was last year! I'll miss the Redwoods and the crowds, but this will allow you to visit my studio virtually. You can chat with me, and see both my finished and yet to be completed paintings right where I paint them. I'll provide a bit of tour and help you enjoy browsing my available paintings.

How to use this virtual art fair ...

The event is organized using the Booth Central platform. Click the following URL or enter it into your browser: https://my.boothcentral.com/v/events/kings-mountain-art-fair-2021/live. You'll be asked to register by entering an email address for your free admission to the fair. Then you'll be "in the fair" on the website and looking at lots of artist booth sections.

Second - find my "booth" - search for my name and you'll find a section for me with pictures of my work and a Video Chat button. (Selecting category "2D/Painting" may make it easier to find me.)

Third - Click the red Start Video Chat button, and you'll be given a video link - right in the window on that website page - with me at the other end. I'll be glad to see you! Or use another link there on the art fair page to browse my own website for information about me and available artwork.

And the Details ...

Here are 7 tips for this Virtual Art Fair:

Tip 1: Desktop computers work best, but phones and tablets should work as well.

Tip 2: On non-Apple devices (Windows PCs, Android phones) you can use either Chrome or Firefox. On Apple devices, you may be best to first try using Safari. The button above will open in your default browser.

Tip 3: Clicking in from the button above will take you to a "register" page, where you need to enter your name and email for the free admission.

Tip 4: Once registered, you can browse all the artists at the fair, viewing pictures of our work, reading about us, viewing our videos about our art. You can also follow links to our websites, where many of us offer much more information about our art and full online stores.

Tip 5: Try the video chat rooms - you can enter artist "booths" to chat with the artist, and see their work as they explain their artistic process, motivations, and histories.

To find me, for example, enter "Hausman" in the search field near the top of the page and then click the "Start Video Chat" button in my section.

Tip 6: Booth Central provides a short dialog when you first seek to enter a booth to chat. It will check your browser type, and make sure you give permissions for the website to use your camera and microphone for the video chat.

Tip 7: Perseverance may be needed. If you have any troubles connecting (which happened last year for some folks), check in by clicking the help buttons for live support from BoothCentral or KMAF fair specialists.

Redwood Mist 24x30 brown frame — *Redwood Mist* 24x30 brown frame

The show website goes LIVE at 10AM Saturday Sept 4. It runs 10am-4pm all three days of Labor Day Weekend. To be ready to join the show, click and register at the the Art Fair's website.

This will not be the first time for me to participate in a virtual show, so if it's new to you, maybe I can guide you through it. (Email me at hausmanstudio@gmail.com.)

Labor Day Weekend, I’ll be working in my studio, surrounded by paintings, with my camera and mic on, ready to chat from 10-4 each day.

Click here to connect on the three days of the show.