MagiCon

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	MagiCon
Dates:	September 3–7, 1992
Frequency:	the 50th Worldcon
Location:
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URL:	at Wikipedia
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MagiCon was the 50th Worldcon. It was held September 3–7, 1992, at the Clarion Hotel, The Peabody Orlando, and the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, United States.

Con Reports

The art show of MagiCon was held in the huge room the dealers room was inside. This explains the rumors of the art show not being sold out, they could expand to include anyone who wanted to be there. Check in on thursday was a breeze. I found my pannel had the two pieces from Comic Con that April had transported down (and Heather's had hers). I guess this didn't confuse the art show staff, and I certainly appreciated getting the art back without headache for April or myself. Ingrid also put together a packet of information from the manufacturers of Art supplies for the artists (A great idea! I think the other World Cons should do this as well!). The show had a superb resepctive of SF art past, with some to die for pieces that were splendid to see in person. Although I didn't have any pieces in the Print Shop, it was a well packed area right off the main show. I understand it was wel run. April made a goodly number of sales from the print shop this year. The show also had a re-sale area that was overly packed. The re-sale bid sheets were different from normal sheets, and it took me a while to realize that these pannels were re-sale. There were a few 'display' areas, and I thought this was one. It was great to see all the paintings for the year. I especially enjoyed some of the Maitz bright and colorful pieces. The first row was the big name Hugo Nominees, so as you came in the show, you were immediately hit with the powerhouse group. The last row of the show was all the 3-D work, and it took me a couple of days before I got far enough with my tiered feet to admire everything. The Artists Reception had some of the local Art Gallery owners cruising up and down the aisles, sizing up potential shows. Ingrid managed to contact the Gallery people to come down.

The bad news of the art show was the security. There was none to speak of. People could take all their pocessions inside the room to look (I took my sketch book around and made notes from my favorite paintings). The person on bag check would give your stuff a perfunctory look on the way out. They never looked hard, and some of the 3D pieces were small enough to be hidden in pockets. I saw more people with cameras snapping shots of the pro pieces then ever at a con! After a while, they started making people promise not to use their cameras. This, at least, called people's attention to the fact they weren't suppose to take pictures. Except that, if it didn't look like you were wearing a camera, you didn't hear the phrase and so some people didn't know (and took more pictures). The staff finaly found some garbage bags, and stuffed tiny cameras in huge bags and tied them shut The other part of the security was the fire doors in the show. You can't chain those shut. The staff had a convention center person watching them - although I kept seeing them off then - post, chatting and looking around. My husband and I figured we could get a Michael Whealan out the door without too much trouble. It was kinda scary, but people would have gone for the Big Names before my stuff anyway... Bidding seemed to be a bit slow. I checked my panel, and found bidding light. Then I checked Terrie's panel, knowing she sells well, and hers was light as well. Terrie and I checked Heather's and found 3 pieces already going to auction - so we discounted Heather. (pbbbbt!). Prices seemed low this year. Many of my pieces went for minimum. I heard that Terrie picked up a pencil Whealan this year. I showed 29 pieces (I had 2 panels), and sold 22. I expect a big check, but that was due to the fact that I showed 29 pieces.

The convention center was lovely--right across the street from our hotel, and everything was in a central area. The huge exhibit area, the hucksters room, and the art show was in one HUGE room in the center of the place. Leading into it was a covered atrium-like space with eating areas in the center and meeting rooms surrounding it, with more meeting rooms up an easily accessible mezzanine. The only place not right there was the con suites, non-smoking and polluted, which were over at the Peabody.

It was a breeze to check my prints into the ASFA/Pegasus run print shop, which was adjacent to the art show. I did it in a few minutes while Terrie and Cheryl Smith held my place in the main check-in line. That line went quickly too. We were right in front of a guy who was (very sadly) putting pieces into the re-sale section because his house was damaged and his business blown away by hurricane Andrew (major reality check). We were shown our panels and were pretty much left alone. The panels were all pteg-board, 4x6, a few 4x4, arranged in bays, very neatly. Bays aren't terribly good for distance viewing, but there was plenty of space in the aisles and the bays were large enough to keep things from looking cramped.

There was a whole section of panels in the front set aside for the Artist GOH, Vincent DiFate. Also in the front were the artists Hugo nominees. And continuing, were the big names: Michael Whelan, Don Maitz, Tom Canty, David Cherry, Alicia Austin, Ruth Sanderson... with others like James Christensen, Janny Wurtz, Keith Parkinson, Tom Kidd, Real Musgrave, etc. scattered about. Well over 200 artists were showing. There was also a retrospective art area - with pieces by Frazetta, the Hildebrandts, Bok, etc. As well as the area for re-sale art. All in all it was a very diverse show. Not quite as spectacular as Chicon or Noreascon in, as far as huge impressive paintings went, but still very nice as good as most Worldcons are, especially with the retrospective - which had pieces that aren't ordinarily seen in shows any more.

Went to the artists'reception in the art show that night. It drew quite a crowd, which stayed until well after midnight. There were ballots available for the public to choose best pro and amateur artists. Other awards were to be awarded by chosen judges.

Panels: Made it to the Tom Kidd slide show on Friday. He's doing an illustrated book about a boy going to an altemate world (very fantasy-victorian style). There were several of his huge paintings for this in the show — they are lovely. He's also got a small book of color and B&W work out from Tundra - square bound, comic book format for under $5, which he was selling, signing and sketching in at his table in the dealer's room (we all got a copy, naturally).

The next panel was "Art Disasters — My Worst Painting" with David Cherry, James Christenson, David Mattingly, and Micheal Whelan. Those of us who were at a similar panel at Boston's Worldcon remember Micheal Whelan literally ripping apart one of his paintings — quite a sight (audience members scrambled for the pieces and some had Whelan sign them).

This panel wasn't quite as dramatic. They showed slides of pieces they didn't think worked out — all telling each other that they were nit-picking and that the pieces weren't that bad (which was generally the opinion of the audience).

Later that day: "First Works-Well Known Illustrators Show Their First Portfolios" withChristenson, Romas, Ruth Sanderson and Whelan. This was even more depressing since, again, the early works were all quite spectacular. Romas and Whelan did reveal some weak pieces - very Frazetta in style. Whelan moderated both panels - he's extremely articulate and very insightful - doing a great job.

Lots of people at the ASFA meeting. Carl Lungren, the president, kept all discussions brief and to the subject. Suggestions were made to do away with the Quarterly in favor of monthly bulletins for more current news (to be put out by his wife), also call for help with the Chestley Awards, since one of the committee members had been "removed". Also a call for contributions to the slide show. David Cherry is liaison with the ConFrancisco art show. He said the fact that Shawn Blanchette, the appointed director, had never been to a Worldcon didn't necessarily mean that she couldn't run a worldcon art show, even though many had doubts. The ConCom was still backing her, anyway. Those of us who have shown at Baycon know that she's had organizational problems even at that level (Baycons are pretty large, but not quite on the scale of a Worldcon). Several groups and people who DO know about organizing Worldcon-size shows mentioned that they had written to Shawn to offer their help, but had received no reply... We'll see, I guess. I will tell anyone interested in showing at ConFrancisco to keep in touch with someone who knows what's going on, otherwise it's bound to be confusing -- unless Shawn gets some major help. I plan to keep in contact with Shawn herself - by phone. That's been the only way to find out about Baycon shows, so this pattern might well repeat itself for ConFrancisco, unfortunately. Right now, it seems as Shawn's still at the planning stage, which means that she's already behind a bit. Cross-your fingers that it'll all work out OK...

The artshow auction was held at 2 p.m. Sunday. This actually was a fine idea. The hours the artshow was open were long on the previous days, so most people had a very good look at the show and enough time to bid by the time bidding closed at noon on Sunday. Bidding, silent and voice, was pretty slow overall. Lots of great bargains were to be had at the auction and in theartshow's silent bidding. The check-out started soon after the auction ended. The show staff was being VERY careful, checking and cross-checking all their records and numbers and papers (as it had been from the first ~ they like lots of paperwork, it seems, along with charging very high prices for panels!). But the check-out went smoothly and very quickly, just like the check- in. Very efficient. There were plastic bags, tape and tissue paper for wrapping purchased art (as a purchaser of art, bubble-wrap would have been better!). No payments were made at the con. of course. Checks were sent out about 30 days later. The printshop was also easy to check out of, and sent out checks within 30 days.

Sales overall were down. Personally, I did very well in the Printshop (sold 23 or 30 prints at S25 each, 10% commission). And although I only sold three pieces from my panel, one went to voice auction so I ended up making about $300 - there (no commission charged for some reason), which is decent for an average show, a bit low for a Worldcon show, but added to the print sales, an above-average amount for me (although it might be small potatoes to some!).

Overall assessment: Very organized and smoothly run. Good hours for the art show. A bit chaotic in areas of security and getting people to sign up for bid numbers before bidding!!!

Very expensive cost for reserving panels. Nice layout of panels. No real complaints. Sales -- fine.

Lists and Photos

• Virtual MagiCon Memory Book at FanAc.org