April 2024 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I resurrect the Arts and Craftsmen Guild newsletter! The Guild is undergoing several changes that you may or may not be aware of, but one of our important guidelines from this point forward will be transparency. Many of you have joined the Guild not knowing “how things work” or who does what, and we thank you for your blind faith. My commitment to you is to have more open and frequent communication. That is why I feel it’s a good time to bring this newsletter back.
First and foremost, I would like to announce one of the biggest changes to the operation of the Guild itself. Many of you know that up to this point, the Guild has been governed by a Steering Committee. As is wont to happen in any organization, people come and go, lives change, folks move and time marches on. With the shift in presidency as well as a shift of Steering Committee member availability, we have reassessed the structure of the Guild. Guided by our Roycroft Campus representative, Curt Maranto, Executive Director, we have concluded that the best course is an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will consist of myself, Stacy Kist, as President; Lisa Ballowe as Vice President; Kim O’Sullivan as Secretary; Melissa Buckley as Treasurer; Jack Thiesen as Scholarship and Fundraising Coordinator; and Paulette Krakowski as Membership Coordinator. This Executive Committee will be working closely with Curt as the Guild becomes more active and, hopefully, a more integral part of the Campus. We have a number of Committee Chairs who are also very important to the Guild, and a full list will appear on the website.
In the newsletters, I hope to give a general overview of what has been discussed in Executive Committee meetings, as well as our meetings with Curt. In that way, everyone should be aware of what is currently happening and what we hope to achieve. As such, our first meeting with Curt was mostly regarding the above mentioned changes. However, we also talked about field trips. This is a topic that has been raised several times, and we are absolutely on board for more of these. Because we all have a limited capacity, we would welcome any help in planning these trips. If you have a great idea and think the members would agree, let us know about it so we can help you with passing information. We would stipulate that field trips should not overlap with open meetings, as we cannot take our Zoom presentation mobile at present. When you’re ready to plan something, please email us at artsandcraftsmenguild@gmail.com and someone will get back to you as quickly as possible.
In our regular Executive Committee meeting, we discussed our fundraising plans for the year. Jack Thiesen is in charge of the Scholarship that the Guild awards annually, and this year’s fundraising will return to the raffle format we have used in the past. We have enough donated art pieces to run our raffle, but what we do not have is enough hands on deck. Jack will be away for the Roycroft Campus show June 29th and 30th, and while we have people to get the tent up and ready, many of us participate in that show, so we still need volunteers to sit in the booth and sell raffle tickets as well as talk about the Guild. If you would like to spend some time on either day, please let us know as soon as possible, and we thank you for considering it.
Regarding the appearance of the ACG sculpture along the Appian Way, please look for a forthcoming press release on its installation. The sculpture is a representation of the roses associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe, and then in the United States, and our yellow rose presently used as the shop mark of the Guild. It is a permanent symbol of our group as a part of the Campus, and we should all be proud to be a part of that. Fundraising for the sculpture is ongoing, and recently we made one more bid for donations on social media. I hope you all saw and shared that post. If you would like to have your name added to the bronze plaque that will accompany the sculpture, you still have time. Donations of $500 or more will see your inclusion, and the deadline is April 17th. Again, please email us if you wish to participate. Additionally, donations of any amount are certainly appreciated to close the gap with funding for this project.
Artists, we have several opportunities for your work to be seen on the Campus. Melissa Buckley and Paulette Krakowski are co-chairing a rolling display of artwork in the Castiglia Art Center. You may have seen emails go out regarding this opportunity, but I thought it prudent to mention it again. Also, we have a social media campaign, led by Holly Wentlent, for featured artist of the month. There is a schedule for this as well, and if you missed it, please check your inbox or email us and we will put you in touch. These two opportunities are limited to juried artists. However, our annual exhibit is open to all members. We will again be running our exhibit concurrent with the fall show on the Campus. Once the co-chairs have met and plans have been set, you will see information come out for this as well. Last year was quite a success, especially for our first time out. I hope that you’ll all participate this year.
I would also like to announce that we have two new juried artists as of March 9th. Ray Morin successfully juried with his woodwork, and Ina Randall with her fiber art. If you are not familiar with these two very capable artists, please see our website and find their information there. You won’t be disappointed. March also saw us re-jury oil painter Karen Carlton and wire sculptor Paul Fehringer. Congratulations to all of you on your Juried Artist status!
Speaking of Juried Artists, we have two artists participating in a Juried Fiber Art exhibit called Different Threads. See more about the show here:
Both Melissa Buckley and Suzanne O'Brien are taking part in this exciting event. If you get the opportunity to view the exhibit, please take pictures and tag us! We want to support our fellow artists. To that end, if you will be participating in any shows or events, let us know so we can add it to the next newsletter!
In closing, I would like to say thank you to all of our members, those who are new and those who have been with the Guild since the early days. It is our membership that makes us who we are, and together we are able to do so much more than we could ever do alone. Your feedback is always welcome, and my contact information is available on the website if you wish to reach me directly. I look forward to the rest of 2024 and beyond!
