The crowds came to Portland’s Pearl District this weekend to look at paintings, woven tapestries, metal sculptures, pottery and other handmade art.
Buying it was another matter.
At Art in the Pearl, where nearly every purchase can be put off for another day, artists are getting a close-up look at how consumers feel about spending. The Labor Day weekend festival has brought artists from across the country to Portland’s North Park Blocks.
The picture isn’t entirely straightforward. Several artists said shoppers seem more cautious this year, browsing longer or weighing purchases more carefully before committing to expensive pieces. Meanwhile, the artists themselves are paying more for materials, travel and other expenses.
“It takes a lot more work convincing people…to buy art,” said Joshua Pass, a metal artist who traveled from Nederland, Colorado. “Other than a few outliers, people are looking rather than buying.”
Pass has traveled to 11 art shows this year, including Art in the High Desert in Bend last weekend. Art in the Pearl is his first time at the Portland festival and his final show of the year. The weekend’s sales will help determine how well he does financially for the rest of 2026.
He said his success at shows has been “up and down.” Some customers tell him they don’t have the money right now. Others love a piece but don’t have room for it. Pass said wealthier customers still seem willing to spend, while middle-class shoppers appear more cautious.
The broader economic picture is similarly mixed. Oregon’s economy is growing at about the same pace as the nation, and people are still spending. But prices remain high, and state economists say consumers are saving less and taking on more debt to maintain their spending.
That tracks with what several artists said they’re seeing at their booths: Some shoppers are taking longer to decide whether to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on something they don’t need to buy immediately.
Artists are facing higher costs, too.
Pass creates his work from copper, stainless steel and rock at his Colorado studio. He estimates his stainless steel and bronze costs have risen about 25% over the past year. Fuel and shipping cost more, too.
Francisco and Laura Bautista know the feeling. The fourth-generation weavers from Sandy said wool costs roughly 30% to 40% more, while shipping their heavy woven pieces and traveling to shows around the country have also gotten more expensive.
To cut costs, the couple started making more of their own dyes this year, using marigolds and other natural materials to color their wool.
At the same time, Francisco Bautista said customers are deliberating longer over the couple’s larger, more expensive pieces.
“I would say people are much tighter with their wallets this year,” he said.
Diego Fidelis, a painter based in Lynnwood, Washington, has noticed the same hesitation. He travels to roughly 10 shows a year and said 2025 was particularly strong. Business is still good this year, he said, but shoppers are browsing more.
“I think [they’re] thinking twice before spending on something that they think they can wait a little bit,” Fidelis said.
That doesn’t always mean losing the sale. Fidelis said customers interested in an original painting sometimes walk away because of the price or to figure out whether they have room for it.
“If they really want it, they make it work,” he said.
Not every artist was ready to blame the economy.
Matt Conlan, a potter from Ogden, Utah, has been making pottery for 27 years and produces roughly 1,500 to 2,000 pieces a year. This is his seventh Art in the Pearl.
He said his sales at art shows are down about 10% this year. He just isn’t convinced the economy is responsible.
Weather can make or break a show, he said. So can the way he arranges his booth or another event happening nearby. With so many variables affecting turnout and purchases, Conlan said he can’t draw a straight line between his lower sales and the economy, tariffs or other national events.
His costs are easier to measure.
The high-fired porcelain clay Conlan uses costs about $1.50 a pound, up from roughly 80 cents a decade ago, he said. Gas and art-show booth fees have climbed, too.
Some longtime pottery materials are also becoming harder to find, he said. For example, the South Dakota mines that produced Custer feldspar, a common ingredient in pottery clay and glazes, stopped operating in 2023. More recently, United States Gypsum, a major plaster maker, announced plans to close its Oklahoma plant and phase out specialty plasters that potters use to make molds.
Conlan said he doesn’t use much plaster because he makes most of his pottery on the wheel. Still, with supplies expected to tighten, he’s considering using even less of it. He said closures like these have disrupted supplies potters relied on for years, leaving them to find substitutes and, in some cases, pay more.
Conlan tries to offset rising expenses where he can. He sleeps in a camper van instead of paying for lodging when traveling to shows and aims to spend no more than 20% of what he brings in at each one.
He also relies on volume. While some neighboring artists can make a significant chunk of their weekend’s revenue from a single expensive piece, Conlan needs to sell many more individual items.
During the interview, at least, customers kept buying. Three walked away with his pottery.
For other artists, a handful of purchases can make or break a show.
Fidelis produces only about 30 to 40 original paintings a year because each takes considerable time to complete. He said selling nine or 10 paintings this weekend would make Art in the Pearl a great show for him.
By Saturday afternoon, Fidelis had watched prospective buyers photograph paintings, leave to measure a wall or think over the price. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a lost sale.
“They usually come back,” he said.
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