Friday, September 25, 2009

Frederick County Art Association faces new challenges

The Frederick County Art Association faces several new challenges this year.


Elections


Annual Board Member elections are in November and members are encouraged to submit nominations as soon as possible. Current officers are:


President - Patrick Hiatt

Past President - Barbara Gere

Vice President - Karen Peacock

Recording Secretary - Peter Plant

Corresponding Secretary (Newsletter) - Kristin Simanek

Treasurer - Jeff Gere


Nominations for all offices are open. While most current officers are willing to take on another term, I have talked to our Vice President, Karen Peacock and she regrets that her work schedule makes it imposable to participate in our programs and activities.


The Vice President is responsible for organizing programs for our monthly meetings and heading up publicity for our activities and events. We definitely need someone who is willing to take on this important office. Please talk to your member friends and help find some one to take over this job.


Frederick County Art Association Website


Don Dunsmore, our association webmaster for the last 10 years, has indicated that he will not be able to maintain the FCAA Website after January 1, 2010.


The FCAA applauds his providing this valuable volunteer service for such a long time and we understand his desire to hand this job over to someone new.


So, the FCAA needs a new webmaster.  Our association’s visibility on the internet is an important requirement in this digitally connected world. Members therefore are asked to make suggestions on how we can meet this challenge in the future.


It is my personal belief that the association needs a website committee with more than one person to share this task. It’s a big job and sharing the load would make it easier.


New Exhibit Opportunities


New opportunities are constantly opening for FCAA members to exhibit their work.


Ron Roos is currently looking into an invitation to exhibit FCAA art work by Buckingham's Choice, a continuing care retirement community located in Adamstown. They regularly have art done by residents, family members, friends, etc. displayed in one of the main hallways in the community center building, and they are always looking for new displays.

We have a similar invitation to do the same at Victoria Park, a senior community, at Walkersville. They are also interested in holding arts exhibits for their residents and welcome small groups of artists who would enjoy showing their work to and talking with them. Anyone wishing to participate and chair this opportunity should contact me for more information.


Patrick Hiatt

Friday, August 28, 2009

Summer is almost over

Summer is almost over and I hope that everyone enjoyed it to the fullest. It is also time to start looking at the upcoming year with the FCAA.

Twenty FCAA artists will be exhibiting their work at the Blanche Ames Gallery at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. The exhibit opens Sunday, September 6th and a reception will be held Sunday, September 13th from 12:30 to 2:30. Judy will be contacting you about refreshments. The show closes September 27th.

I want to thank everyone who submitted work. A special thank you goes out to Carol Silkwood and the congregation for this opportunity and their support of the FCAA.

Member’s meetings start again at 7:30 on the second Monday of each month. In September, this will fall on the 14th. It is a tradition that the September meeting centers on greeting new members and providing them the opportunity to introduce themselves and show us some of their work, so if you are new to FCAA, please plan to attend and bring your latest creations in for us to see.

In October, Shawn Butcher, Director of the Frederick Cultural Arts Center, will present a program on increased opportunities for FCAA members. Dianne Sibbison will present a program on preparing to exhibit in November and there is the annual Christmas Party in December.

Besides our Members Show at the Delaplaine in January, there are several new exhibition opportunities if we can find people to chair and organize them. My goal for this next year is to do everything possible to promote greater attendance at meetings and get more participation in committees. Our success as an effective art organization depends on active participation.

Monday, June 22, 2009

FCAA at The Delaplaine 2009 Regional Juried Exhibit

At The Delaplaine 2009 Regional Juried Exhibit, which ran from June 6th to July 19th, the FCAA was well represented by Craig Caven (3 pieces), Scott Grove (1 piece), Christine Hahn (2 pieces), Patrick Hiatt (2 pieces), Tom Kozar (1 piece) and Cindy Stegle (3 pieces).

Of the 28 artists selected for this exhibit, 6 are members of our organization. Of the 48 pieces in the show, 12 were done by our artists. This is a respectable percentage which we would like to see increased next year.

In the past, many of us have submitted work that was not selected, which can be discouraging, but we must keep trying. The time to create and prepare work for next year's exhibit is now. The entering of any exhibit, especially a prestigious one like the Delaplaine, benefits from months (or years) of planning, creating and preparing. We are planning some workshops on this process which should be helpful to newcomers. Hopefully it will also rev up some of the oldtimers--if not, we can contribute our sage advice.

The philosophy of a juried show depends a great deal on the current jurist and changes some from year to year, so there is no way to know in advance exactly what they will be looking for. However, this kind of show always differs from our own members' shows where we accept work from every member who wishes to exhibit.

The 2009 Delaplaine Regional was a bit unusual in that they selected a relatively few number of artists with up to 3 pieces from each. There was great diversity among the 28 artists in regard to subject matter and medium. We were told that the jurist selected the work without knowing the names of the artists, although it would have been obvious that certain pieces were done by the same artist.

The 2010 jurist may be looking for your special kind of work, so plan to enter!