The San Diego Art Fair 2010

Art Fair 2010, formerly the Beyond the Border International Contemporary Art Fair, and now known as Art Fair 2010 is fast approaching: this year the four day event begins on Sept 2^nd and runs through Sept 5^th at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel in downtown San Diego. The objective is simple: bringing people who love art and people who love to make art together.

Included in the experience are art exhibits from about 60 galleries in the U.S., Mexico, and other international areas, in addition to panel discussions, film screenings, dinners, cocktail parties, and other performing arts events. About 5,000 guests are expected to attend this year.

Last year, the art fair was a two day affair at the Grand Del Mar resort in Carmel Valley. Although it was merely a pilot project, the event was a huge success, drawing over 2,500 art collectors from Southern California. “We launched it as a pilot project last year and weren’t sure what to expect, but we sold out our gallery space, sold out our opening night and all the galleries reported strong sales,” Director Ann Berchtold said to the North County Times. “It proved that there was an appetite for this kind of event this year.”

In order to amplify last year’s success, Berchtold made several changes to the fair this year: she moved the event downtown, made it more central, expanded the event by a day, appointed a new curatorial staff, and changed the name. The goal is to eventually turn San Diego into a major art town, with Art San Diego as one of the region’s major art fairs.

Jeffrey Laudenslager, a sculptor from Encinitas, expressed his hope that the fair would put San Diego on the map as a hub of visual arts to the North County Times: “This is a new thing for San Diego and if it works, the rewards will be substantial,” he said. “In order to become a major art town, it takes a four-cornered approach. It takes the galleries, the artists, the museums and the collectors to pull together to create the critical mass, and we’ve never had that situation. But Ann has put a lot of energy into making this happen and it’s an exciting opportunity.”

Photo from Port of San Diego via flickr