Thanks for the the comments, KatieQ.
Opinions are always welcome, good or bad...it lets us know what we're doing wrong AND right!
Art is one of the great equalizers. It's all preference and taste. Your least favorite piece is the coolest piece someone else has ever seen. Some people didn't like the stampede at all and thought it was too fantastical simply because it could never happen....or they just didn't get it. That's one of the great things about art, though.
That said, it's impossible for me to "...print more of the cool designs and maybe less of the bland ones.." because I'm not sure which design you're talking about.
When someone told you we strive for "traditional" art for the main artwork, that's not quite right. Generally speaking, the official artwork for TBF has been "fine art", i.e. a watercolor or hand painted piece of art instead of something digitally produced or manipulated. "Traditional" isn't far off, but it puts the idea a bit too much into a corner (I'm not even sure what traditional art is or means). For years the art was done by the internationally renowned William Matthews (back this year for the 40th!) who is a very well respected painter and artist. The past few years, since Willie left, we've branched out and tried some new artists. One thing is true after 40 years of art: you win some, you lose some.
Your comment about the t-shirts is valid...to an extent. The reality is that we do not sell much festival merchandise outside of the festival(s) themselves. Especially dated and year specific items. With that in mind, it's very hard for us to justify spending loads of money to purchase tons of merchandise that, if we don't sell it, becomes dead weight. With that in mind, my goal each year is to sell out the Country Store. The less I bring home the better! That's why there is ALWAYS a line on Thursday for the store. People know that if they don't get in early they are bound to miss out on something super cool. I also do my best to ensure that we have lots of diversity and something for everyone...hopefully you've at least found something that has met your needs.
We usually have t-shirts through the weekend, but we usually don't always have all the designs left and the sizing can get tricky. We will reorder shirts occasionally during the weekend when we can, but that loops around to the idea of not taking anything home with us...and there can also be limitations to that option (which I won't bore you by going into).
The best thing I can suggest is to get that camp order sooner than later and come get your stuff early!
I'm sorry you didn't like the bridge piece last year. I personally thought the depiction of the waterfalls from way up in the canyon closer to the source was a unique perspective...but that's just my taste.
I'll do my best to print enough of the piece(s) you'll like this year. I promise.
D.
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