January's Newsletter

Hello everyone,

It’s hard to believe we are nearly in February.

There was no directors meeting in December… in case anyone was wondering what happened to the December newsletter.

As there have been so many developments with the Fort Edward Gallery, it’s a pretty good place to start the newsletter.


Fort Edward Gallery (FEG)
The Hants County Arts Council’s permanent display space in Windsor Home Furniture is continuing to grow and improve.

New Gallery Sign The new gallery sign is now on the wall. It is a little small but does look good and add a nice finishing touch to the main display space.

Display Space We now have a small wall display unit for the artist having a solo exhibition to use to promote their work. This is a great thing for members to take advantage of during their shows. Those having group shows should also take advantage of this.

Revisions We are working on revisions to the FEG application to include the "Gallery Standards”.

Self-Promotion Your show is all about self-promotion… don’t forget to bring your business cards and/or brochures to your opening. These can be left on display throughout your exhibition for visitors to take. If you are offering classes or workshops or have other upcoming shows you would like to advertise, this is a great place to let everybody know.

Binder for Biographies The HCAC’s binder containing the bios of our members (previously part of our display table at our Festival of Art shows) is now on permanent display for everyone to see at the FEG. If your bio isn’t there, what are you waiting for. What you do to represent\promote you and your work is often all the public has to form a perception of you - when you are not there to speak for your work. With today’s technology, it’s very easy to put together simple and effective professional marketing\promotional materials.

Waiver We will be having a waiver for art shown at the FEG. Pat is exploring this for us.

Saving the most important thing about the gallery for last…the shows!

Solo Exhibition Jaki Durocher put on a great show. If I remember correctly, the show was perfectly symmetrical. The large pieces worked well together, the sizes and arrangement were planned ‘to the T’ and the wiring job was so precise (Phil told me) that it took no time for them to hang the show. The two portraits really shone. Great job Jaki!


Group Exhibition The group show is now on until February 2. Tacha, Kristie and Jaki did quite a job managing to include so many pieces in the show. It’s a great feeling…seeing so many people participating in it. I hope all those involved have enjoyed being part of this show.


Next Solo Exhibition Tacha has already sent out a thorough e-mail regarding June’s solo exhibition so this is just a brief reminder:

The next solo show is of June Brown’s work.
The show will open from 7 to 9 PM on February 3.
The show runs from February 3 to March 2
This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some lovely watercolours.
Please join us in supporting June at her opening.


Upcoming Exhibition (also a reminder as Tacha’s e-mail covered this)
Carlos Da Rosa will be having a solo show from March 3 to April 6.
The opening will be from 7 to 9 PM.

What great back-to-back solo exhibitions to launch this year at the gallery. I’m really excited about both of these shows. Good luck to both of you!



If artists having shows would like the digital files of Tacha’s promotional event flyer (to print off and help promote their own show) please let Tacha know.

From Tacha’s e-mail: “Here at the FEG we are proud to announce our new blog chronically exhibits past and present. Going forward every artist who displays at the FEG will have their biography highlighted online as well as at the gallery: fortedwardgallery.blogspot.com”

There are already two or three artists not mentioned here lined up for solo exhibitions this year, though dates have yet to be set. Please contact Tacha, Kristie or Jaki for information about having your own solo exhibition or being in a group show. Group Shows are ideal for those not having enough work for a solo show.



A pause for credit….
Between the dedication, professionalism and computer savvy of the likes of Andrew and Tacha, we’re looking good.

Our websites looks good and works well. Where it is lacking, it is most often due to lack of images provided to Andrew. We are working on this. I have offered to do the photography at the openings of the next few shows. If you would like to take on this small task, please let me know.

As you probably already know, Tacha does the layouts for all of the exhibitions at the FEG and is now setting up and managing our new website at:: fortedwardgallery.blogspot.com
Tacha will keep everyone posted about this. The FEG will have its own page on Windsor Home Hardware/Home Furniture’s website with pictures. This is a work in progress.


Speaking of looking good, I’d like to remind everyone that our wonderful logo was designed by our quiet leader Pat. A fitting touch.


Our own calendars:
Kristie was unable to attend our last meeting, but I thought I would just remind everyone about something (lifted) from our last letter: Kristie Sheehy pitched the idea of the arts council putting out its own calendars using the artwork of our members. A vote was taken on this and we decided to move forward with it. Kristie has put together a framework for this project and now, with Tacha’s help, is going to pursue this further getting some hard numbers for us. This will not be replacing our Arts Digest. It is intended to complement it. They will have very different audiences and serve different purposes.

FEG fundraiser (organized by Kristie, Tacha & Jaki)
An excerpt from an e-mail from Tacha:

As a last minute attempt to raise funds to cover the rising costs of the FEG we organized a raffle containing an assortment of donations from members of the group show and a few additional members of the arts council (Tacha Reed, Dora Davis, Terrie Greencorn, June Brown, David Howells, Andrew Harvie, Sue Robinson and Jaki Durocher)

Dora Davis and Terrie Greencorn were overly generous in their donations. We considered saving some of the items for a future draw - we ended up having 5 gifts baskets altogether - but the gals insisted we raffle them all off at the time. The draw ended up bringing in $150, which is good considering that we only had two time slots in which to sell the tickets. It was a valuable learning experience and it is good to know that as a not-for-profit we can book that spot at Home Hardware in the future for other fundraising events.

As a great stroke of luck both Dora and Terrie were selected as winners in the random draw, so their generosity was instantly rewarded.

The list of winners are as follows (I have pictures of the baskets should need them)

• Lisa Church
• Donna Slaunwhite
• Dora Davis
• Terrie Greencorn
• Claire Surette

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the gift baskets. A lot of work went into this fundraiser and it certainly showed.


Festival of Art
We have staged this annual show for four years now. Each year it has grown and continued to improve. I think I’m safe in speaking for all of those involved when I say that we are proud of what we have accomplished and what the show has become.

A part of the reason for having this show in the first place was the fact that there was no local venue for artists and we felt that, as an arts council, we should be doing something to create one. Now that we have a permanent gallery space, the future of the show is undecided at this time. Further discussions will be held regarding the future of this show. The most important thing about the future of the show (should it continue) is that it can only continue if members are willing to help make it happen. More specifically, we would need someone (new) to coordinate it. I would be happy to discuss the details regarding coordinating this show with anyone interested.

This is your arts council and we would really appreciate your feedback about the future of this event, what it means to you and if you are interested in getting involved.

If we were to have a show this year, we would need to establish a date and location very soon.


Gifts from the RDA
Pat Gould-Thorpe is going to look into the possibility of getting a laptop (being retired from the RDA…I believe) for the HCAC. As the arts council has a nonprofit status, we may be in the running. Should we get this, it will be put to good use by our dedicated secretary Karen.

Karen handles all of our advertising for the shows. We apologize for the mistake made in the last printing of What’s Going On. As it was the publisher’s fault, we are hoping that with the correction in the next printing, perhaps they might offer adding a free image.


Arts Digest
Pat Gould-Thorpe is getting some quotes for us on the printing job.
Our next Arts Digest will be 2012.
Listings will be free to members. Paid colour advertisements will be offered in a range of sizes.
These costs and other specifics have not been finalized yet.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we will be applying for a grant to help pay for this. Tacha and I will be working on this.
Again, this is a big project and volunteers would be greatly appreciated. A few of the jobs will be contacting artists regarding paid advertising, compiling the listing of members to be included (and doublechecking all the information) and helping with the layout.


New Members
I’d like to welcome our newest members, Ken Spearing and Kelly Morehouse.


Next Social
There will be a social at Susan and Andrew Harvie’s home on February 12 at 7 PM. Andrew will be sending out information about this. I’ll leave it to Andrew to try and navigate people to his house. Who knows, maybe Susan could be coerced into playing her harp.


Next Meeting: Our next meeting is at Craving’s Café in Upper Rawdon on February 23. Our meetings start at 6:30 PM and members are invited to join us. This is a great time for members to learn more about what the directors are doing from month to month and to get involved. We have great opportunities to get involved that range from helping with the arts digest and helping hang shows, to roles on the Board of Directors.


Visit our site: www.hantscountyartscouncil.com

A reminder that all past Newsletters can be seen at: http://hantscountyartscouncil.blogspot.com

Happy creating!

Cheers,

David