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The Art Fair SourceBook Award
PRESS RELEASE: Announcing…..
The First Recipient of the Mo Dana Memorial Best
Art Fair Director Award.
Greg Lawler, editor and publisher of The 2007 Art Fair SourceBook
announces that the first recipient of the Mo
Dana Memorial Best Art Fair Director Award will be Ms.
Patty Gregory, Director of the Art
on the Square, in Belleville, Illinois.
This award was named in memory of Mo Dana, who passed away
in November 2006 after a six month battle with cancer. Mo was
a true dynamo of energy, and was one of the best loved and most
respected art fair directors in the country, primarily due to
her stalwart attitude that always put the artists and their
needs first.
It was Mo Dana’s vision and vivacity that practically
single handedly created the highly successful Des Moines Art
Fair 10 years ago. And it was without a doubt her drive and
dedication, and her unprecedented spirit and spark that built
the show from its former modest profile to being the number
three ranked show in the country, according to Gregory Lawler
of The Art Fair SourceBook. (Rankings are based on the artists’
sales averages, as reported anonymously each year to The Art
Fair SourceBook.)
In six short years, Patty Gregory
has similarly developed Art on the Square
from an unassuming small town show, into the fifth ranked show
in the nation for 2006 (rankings are not yet out for 2007).
She has done this with incredible drive and dedication. And
amazingly enough, she has accomplished all this while continuing
to work full time as a public elementary school teacher.
Ms. Gregory has also created one
of the top Purchase Award programs in the entire country, even
though Belleville’s population is just 43,000. In 2006,
Ms. Gregory and her capable staff
set a record by pre-selling $65,000 worth of art to committed
patrons. (These “Purchase Awards” are then redeemed
during Art on the Square with each
patron’s artist of choice.)
These are a few of the many ways that Ms.
Gregory has shown her strong support for her artists
and for the arts in general in Illinois. She exemplifies the
spirit and drive that Mo Dana represents to so many, and in
this way is a most fitting recipient of this first annual Mo
Dana Memorial Best Art Fair Director Award.
Our congratulations to Patty Gregory!
Keep up the great work
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