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Minutes of VPS General Membership Meeting: March 2005
About 20 people gathered at the Wood Art Gallery on Sunday March 13th for a portrait demonstration and business meeting. Jeneane Lunn from Montpelier gave a fun and informative lecture and demonstration on pastel portraits. We then broke into committees to make future plans.
GENERAL BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Fiona Cooper Fenwick has regretfully resigned from her role(s) with VPS. We would like to thank her for all her work as Vice President and her leadership roles on the workshop and exhibition committees. She will still be a VPS member, but we will miss her leadership.
We also thanked Phil Laughlin for designing and maintaining our wonderful new website: www.vermontpastelsociety.com Many members have gone to the VPS web site and found it informative and easy to use. Please send copy ready announcements and news to Phil Laughlin at plstudio@together.net This is a great way for us all to stay connected and share resources and information. The more we each use it, the better it will be. If you have not sent him your artwork, please do so. When we contact exhibition spaces we will be directing them to this site.
The International Association of Pastel Artists will be holding its biannual meeting on May 4-7 in North Carolina. This is an opportunity to meet with other pastelists and take workshops with nationally acclaimed pastel teachers. For more information, go to the IAPS website - www.pastelinternational.com
COMMITTEE UPDATES
The Exhibition Committee will now be chaired by Wendy Soliday wsoliday@aol.com. Jan Ghiringhelli offered to assist. There are many others who have volunteered to be on this committee who were not present; we hope you will become involved.
This committee hopes to continue the annual show at SVAC, (thanks to Fiona and Mallory Rich) and to find another exhibition space for a regular fall show. Wendy will pursue fall exhibitions at: 1) The Helen Day Art Center, Stowe; 2) The Governor’s Office, Montpelier; 3) Green Mountain Fine Art Gallery, Stowe; 4) The Chaffee Gallery, Rutland. There were other suggestions as well. In addition, it was agreed that anyone who might want to organize local or regional exhibits should contact Wendy Soliday at 229-9594. Rebecca Gottesman volunteered to contact an exhibit space in White River Jct. and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. The Exhibition Committee does have a small representational sample of member’s slides. If you would like to be included in this sample, please send a labeled slide (name, size, title) to Wendy Soliday at 885 Murray Rd., East Montpelier, VT 05651. We will also be referring to our member gallery on our website; if you have not sent in your artwork, please do so.
The Exhibition Committee also discussed preparing a traveling show that might extend beyond Vermont. If you would be interested in working on this, let Wendy know. Developing a “thematic” show (perhaps “pets”) was also discussed with no action taken. We will discuss the jury process we might need to use for some exhibits (those with limited space) and the issue of signature membership at a future business meeting.
The Workshop Committee was chaired by Sandy Buck buckart@directway.com. Anne Batten, Pam Meyers, Phil Laughlin, and Sandy first discussed the two workshops being planned for this summer:
The committee agreed to hold the one day workshop with VPS member Michael Chesley Johnson on Sat, July 2nd, as the results of the query to members suggested that most could make it on that day. It will be held along the shores of Lake Champlain, the exact location still to be determined.
The committee agreed to host a workshop with Serguei Oussik from St Petersburg, Russia, both a 2 day weekend workshop June 25 & 26 and a 3 day workshop of either side of this. Members discussed various locations to hold this as well as future workshops. Pam Meyers will be calling 3 inns in East Burke, VT to see what they could offer us. Anne Batten suggested we consider The Craftsbury Center and will be calling them, and Phil Laughlin suggested we look into using some of the Vermont State college campuses and will call some of them to see what they might offer us. Sandy Buck mentioned a camp in Northfield, Vermont that has been purchased and is being renovated to become a conference center as a possible future workshop location, and will look into that, as well as the Grafton Inn, for a more central location. The committee also discussed a possible dinner or reception to accompany this workshop.
Once location and dates have been finalized, the committee will go ahead with cost calculations, and get the letters and registration forms out to VPS members for both of these workshops, hopefully by late April. Although not in attendance, Pat Tribastone had previously offered to handle the informational letters and registration forms, for these 2 workshops.
Sandy Buck discussed her correspondence with Susan Ogilvie, and the
committee agreed to commit to a workshop with her for the last week of
September, 2006. Sandy will contact her. Susan has offered to do a 5
week-day workshop, and also a weekend workshop if there is interest.
She also suggested an afternoon or evening program for all VPS members
– slides/ lecture or whatever.
Sandy also updated the committee about her correspondence with Bob
Carsten about possible fall and spring one or two day workshops with
him.
An offer for a workshop on marketing by VPS member Lucy Petrie’s sister, was discussed. She has generously offered to do this for VPS in return for her airfare from Santa Fe where she is a very successful artist. She is currently writing a book about marketing and the business of art, and has a video for sale which is shown in the Cheap Joe's catalog. Many were interested. Sandy will contact Lucy for more information.
Jayne Shoup jshoup@pshift.com chaired the Program Committee. Ideas for future programs were discussed with Skye Forest, Rebecca Gottesman, and Lucy Petrie. Skye volunteered to work on a materials program for January 2006 meeting. Rebecca has expertise in framing and offered to develop a framing program for members who want to frame their own art. This program will be presented in the Upper Valley Region in hopes of attracting and including members from southern Vermont. Lucy detailed work her sister does teaching other artists how to market themselves. The committee agreed this was a workshop rather than a program. Other suggestions for programs included: An informal paint out at Shelburne Museum during lilac season in May; An invitation to one or more gallery owners for a discussion of what they look for in representing new artists; A slide show critique for members to examine and comment on each other’s work. The Committee also discussed having regional events around the state to lessen travel time to programs.
Our next meeting will coincide with the Opening Reception at
Southern Vermont Art Center on April 9th from 2-4. This will be a
chance to gather and see each other’s work as well as share
ideas.
We had hoped to plan a Paint Out at Shelburne Museum for Lilac Sunday
in May but have not heard back from them. Rene Schall commented that
the Museum usually sends its event publication to the printers well in
advance of the actual event and discussion ensued about having an
informal paint out during lilac season or at Shelburne Farms along Lake
Champlain.
We will plan a June program to coincide with the workshops being offered.
We discussed holding regional paint outs and events through out the state and having “whole” state meetings and events only twice a year. Some felt that many people do not want to travel but do want local events happening. It was agreed informally that anyone wanting to “host” a program or paint out for their local area should do so and should open it to all by advertising it on our website. This happened last summer on a limited basis; Mallory Rich (near Manchester), Pat Todd (Lincoln), Marla Ianello (Thetford), and Wendy Soliday (East Montpelier) all hosted paint outs. Please let Officers or Committee Chairs know about your plans prior to finalizing them.
Rebecca Gottesman Rebecca@rebeccasart.com expressed interest in organizing some local events in the Norwich area