FROM THE PRESIDENT---ARCHIVES
Fall 2000
Each
and every person who attended Watermedia 2000 last month was treated to an
outstanding exhibition. I wish to thank all the members who made the event such
a grand success. Special thanks go to Tina Schwartzman, Watermedia Chair, who
did a marvelous job. I have been in her shoes, and I know how much work it is to
produce this event. It’s not easy, but Tina made it look that way!
As
usual, thanks go to Bob Lindborg for all his work throughout the year. I don’t
know what we would do without you, Bob!
Carol
Barbian, Slide Director, and Vickie Johnson, who produced the Watercolor Raffle
Book, deserve our thanks, as well.
The
Bigfork Art and Cultural Center and their director, Marine Forbis, along with
their corps of volunteers, are such a big part of our Watermedia 2000 success
that words can’t express our gratitude.
Those
lucky 24 of us who attended juror instructor Jean Grastorf’s workshop had our
work set out for us. What a joy it was! Jean is a caring and giving, talented
teacher and artist who made us all feel she was right there to help every step
of the way. The companionship of this workshop was very special, and happy times
like we had are hard to come by.
Remember
January 2001 is sign up time for the next Watermedia workshop, and that is just
around the corner. Each of our workshops are special, so try to register quickly
after you receive your January 2001 newsletter, and consider it your belated
Christmas present to yourself.
You
deserve it!
I
would like to welcome our newest Board member, Gail Garrison. She will take over
the Watermedia Slide Director position. My thanks to Carol Barbian for taking on
the new Director of Membership Development job. I also want to thank Vicky
Campbell, loyal Vice President, who worked for five years as our Signature
Membership Chair. Although she inherited a jumbled box of records, she turned
her job into an organized work of perfection! Then there is our Gordon. What can
I say? Gordon Zuelke has been a loyal Board member and former President and
Watermedia Chair and has done just about everything our Society has ever dreamed
for him to do. How we will miss Gordon at our meetings! I wish him great success
and happiness with his new studio and teaching facility in Helena.
As
I watched how everyone worked and how they did their jobs so well during the
past Watermedia, I became excited about the future of our Society. We are in
good hands, fellow members!
Winter 2000-01
Winter 2000-01
Dear
Members:
Happy New Year Wishes to You and Yours...
May the coming months be filled with good health for all of us. I hope that you will paint that masterpiece which has always been just on the tip of your brush during 2001.
With the opening of the year, we are also holding our Annual Membership Drive. Please send in your membership dues of just $25 before January 31 so that you can get the membership discounts and be eligible for the May and October workshops.
Members get first choice at being in these workshops and a lower rate for the October workshop as well as a discount on the entrance fee for Watermedia.
Also, members can enter the May MTWS Members Only show in Lewistown.
If, in the past, you have waited to pay your dues, say, in October because you will be carried over for the coming year, please be aware that you will have to pay all the non-member fees and will not be able to enter the May show.
Also, it’s a sure that you’ll be put on a waiting list
for the workshops. Please join now and save yourself some cash. After
January 31, the regular fee of $30 will be in effect.
I hope you will ask your non-member artist friends to join us. The membership insert provides for more artists than just yourself. We certainly will be happy to welcome all adult newcomers.
If, by chance, you know of artists who once were members, it just may be that they have forgotten to pay their dues and therefore do not receive newsletters anymore. Ask them to join again, and give them a membership form. Spread the word! We need your help in recruiting new people. Thanks!
Be sure to sign up for the October workshop now! Mary Alice
Brauckman, our instructor and juror for Watermedia ‘01, was a featured
artist editor in winter 2001’s Watercolor
magazine published by The American Artist. Check it Out.
The workshop will be very exciting, and, as always, it is a
real bargain for MTWS members.
As MTWS members, we have a great opportunity to be on the brand
new MTWS web page. Vickie Johnson is working on this, and from
what I have seen so far, it will be really nice. To be included, please
quickly send Vickie a good photo of a painting
with the dimensions and title. Please include a #10 SAS envelope so
Vickie may return your photo. Finally, MTWS will join the rest of the
world on the Internet! We need your artwork to make it a beautiful page.
The Board has been working on this for a long time, and Vickie deserves
a great big THANK YOU for making this dream COME true. There will be
more exciting news on this topic in the coming months.
In the last issue, we featured the Gold Merit Award Winner
for Watermedia 2000. This newsletter has Watermedia 2000’s Silver
Merit Award Winner by Z.L. Feng. We hope to show all of last year’s
Merit Award winners in upcoming issues. As an interesting side note. Mr.
Feng’s “Mountain Man’ portrait which won our award is the same
portrait shown in the current winter 2001 issue of Watercolor
Magic magazine but it is a different rendition. Both are outstanding
works. So much for painting
a series on the same subject. Try it. You might like it!
Spring
2001
The
Big News is that we are on the Internet Yes, indeedee! Our address is www.angelfire.com/art/montanawatercolors.
There are still a few updates to be made. We want to include the Prospectus so
that artists out there in Internetland will be able to copy it and send in
Watermedia entries. Also we hope that once you see it, you will want your work
added to the Gallery page. Please check it out and see what a fine job Vickie
Johnson has done for us. The site is right in our price range--- free!
Due
to an error by the printer we did not receive a full page of Membership
forms in the last issue. I am sorry that this happened.
There
is a full-page insert in this issue,
which you can pass along to your friends. Also there is a Membership form
which can be copied off of our website. Sure hope that you have joined by now
and will help us out by finding new members.
Today,
as it was when I first became a Board Member, I have had the job, along with
other duties, of being the coordinator for the Newsletter. I worked with Jamie
Butler for all hut a few of her ten years of service as our Newsletter Editor.
It was a pleasure that both she and I enjoyed. Sadly, Jamie has had to resign. I
will miss our comradeship and all of her professionalism in helping to make our
quarterly issues possible and I wish her the very best for the future.
Nancy Harte has
accepted the job as our new Newsletter Editor. She will also continue on with
her duties as our Membership Chair. Tina Schwartz man has consented to stay on
as our Watermedia Chair for another year. My sincere thanks to both of them for
all of their help. It is greatly appreciated.
This month Spring
will come and you know what that means. Did I hear you just say, “What?” For
shame! Of course it is our Members’ Show and Workshop in Lewistown! This year
as in the past we will have the good fortune to have our Show at the Lewistown
Art Center. Plus there will be a wonderful new workshop teacher and a brand new
location for the workshop and the Saturday night dinner. Be sure to send in your
paintings and to make plans to attend all of the special events, which are
announced in this issue. This is Kris Shaw’s first outing as Chair of our Show
and Workshop and she has been doing a great job. See you there!
Nancy Beelman, President
Summer/Fall 2002
Wouldn't it be nice if we were 'rolling in the dough', or had a 'Rich Uncle' to finance the Montana Watercolor Society? Gee, there I go, dreaming again. Put on your thinking cap and see if you can 'dream up' some ways to support our organization. We used to get grants to supplement our endeavors, but the past few years, we've had to rely solely on ourselves to fund our Watermedia Exhibition and catalog, the workshops and our newsletter. This made me think. Hmmm...what can we do to lighten the load and help support MTWS?
Each year, the Board of Directors finances the "Board Award" for Watermedia. Each director contributes $10, which we pool to finance a prize for our show in BigFork.
Anyone, member or non-member, is welcome to donate a 'tax-deductible' contribution to MTWS. Your generosity will help finance the advancement of watermedia in Montana, and it will make your heart feel good. What if our goal this year was for each member to invite another artist to join MTWS? Do you realize our membership would double! That would double our income of annual dues, while cutting our workload in half, because there would be more people to help promote MTWS! "Many hands make a lighter workload."
Maybe you don't realize it, but we have a General Member's Meeting each fall in BigFork. This is an annual meeting that all our members are invited to attend, Have you ever attended? It is really fun to meet everyone---you'll have faces to go with all those names you read about in the newsletter! Not only that, when you attend the meetings, you'll learn first hand about all the exciting upcoming events!
Something I have enjoyed doing after attending the annual General member's Meeting, is going back home, calling all the watercolor artists in our community, and inviting them to dessert at a local cafe. It's fun to get together, and then I share my notes from the MTWS meeting. I've introduced quite a few artists to MTWS, and if they feel like they belong, they are more likely to become active and participate in our organization. We need their input, and they are important to MTWS.
So, what are you doing to help promote YOUR watercolor society? You could help by teaching a workshop, donating an award, writing an article for the newsletter, donating an auction piece, or painting an entry for our annual Sketchbook Raffle fundraiser. We want to be important to you...because YOU certainly are important to us!
Vicky Campell, President
Winter 2002
You’ve
heard the old expression, “Do your part. Uncle Sam needs you!” Well,
here’s the new
But,
did you ever stop to think that in order to learn more about an organization,
it’s best to ‘put on
The
other position that needs to be filled is that of Watermedia Catalog Chair. In
the past, Bob Lindborg, of Bigfork, has created our fabulous catalogs,
and he is doing it again this year. But, you know, people cannot be expected to
perform the same jobs forever. This is your opportunity to work with Bob and
learn how he makes that wonderful
If
either of these positions sounds exciting or interesting to you,
Vicky Campell, President
Winter 2003
Okay folks, be on the alert, and keep your eyes open, because in this issue of the MTWS Newsletter, you will find information and entry forms for all three MTWS shows for 2003. Jean Hand-Triol will share her exciting news about Watermedia 2003 and the Carole Barnes workshop in Bigfork; Kris Shaw will inform you of the MTWS Members’ Show and Marsha Davis workshop in Lewistown; and Florance O’Neal will offer you another chance for the "Montana Blues" Traveling Show (to travel throughout 2004).
Whew!
It sounds overwhelming, but we are here to offer an exceptional opportunity
for our members to ‘get out there, and show your stuff.'
Being accepted into any one of the three shows would be an honor, however
only being accepted into Watermedia 2003 will count on your journey
toward Signature Membership ("being accepted and showing at
three (3) juried exhibitions" contributes toward Signature Membership).
Get busy, and paint your masterpieces, and then enter them in our shows.
Winter-Spring 2004
It’s all subjective! You have probably
experienced this: You work your fingers to the bone, composing, drawing,
painting, and framing the most wonderful piece of artwork. Then you have slides
taken, fill out entry forms, and mail it off for some fancy art show. You get
accepted, and you daydream of having your painting selected for a big ca$h
prize. Then, when you attend the exhibition, you notice that some other painting
has won the prize, and walked off with the big buck$.
Or you’re displaying your artwork at a nice
show, when you overhear a potential art buyer exclaim, “Oh, I just LOVE that
painting (as they point to someone else’s artwork). I have to buy it, because
it matches my SOFA!” Maybe, as artists, we should be checking with the
industry that predetermines the colors and styles for upcoming seasons(?)—I
know they have entire corporations for such things.
What’s an artist to do? I say, paint whatever you darned well please, and paint with emotion—paint from your heart. After all, it’s purely subjective! Someone, somewhere will absolutely LOVE your painting, and they’ll purchase it, because after all, it just might match THEIR sofa!
Happy Painting!
Summer 2004
This is my motto. I
joined MTWS in 1995, and I immediately jumped into the position of
Signature Chair. It was a wonderful way to meet people, learn more about
our society, and to volunteer my time and efforts to help advance a
wonderful organization. After serving as Signature Chair, I went on to
become Vice President, serving with Nancy Beelman. What a truly
fantastic experience that was! I am so glad I was able to “learn the
ropes” under
Well, the best-laid
plans sometimes have to be changed. I have been having difficulty with
an ongoing medical problem, and my doctors have advised me to cut back
on many of my activities, for my health’s sake. So, I will be unable
to serve as Watermedia Chair. As is the custom of our society, whenever
we have an open position within our Board of
Directors, we generally
canvas the existing Board to see if anyone wants to change their
position. If we do not fill the position from within the existing Board,
we advertise in our MTWS Newsletter for members who would like to help
MTWS while learning more about our organization.
I am currently looking
for a member to step forth and take the position as Watermedia Chair. We
do have one person currently serving on the Board who would consider
Co-Chairing this important position. If
you are interested, please contact me. My address, e-mail, and phone
number appear on the last page of this
newsletter. By the way, this position pays all expenses incurred through
the position, as well as a yearly stipend.
I’ll be waiting to
hear from you.
Thanks ever so much,
Fall 2004
For the most part, being President of the Montana Watercolor Society is a fun and rewarding position. I enjoy working with all the members of the Board of Directors, and meeting with members at Board Meetings, workshops, exhibitions, and at casual social events across our vast state ofIt has been fun learning more about
Watermedia, and how MTWS operates. I remember signing up to be a Board
Member at the time when I joined the society—I was anxious to meet
other artists, and I was willing to learn all the ‘ins and outs’ of
our organization. Over the years, I have found it extremely interesting
and very rewarding.
As we carry on the tradition that has
become MTWS, from time to time we change officers and members of the
Board of Directors.
At this time, we are currently looking
for members who are willing to perpetuate the tradition of MTWS, by
helping in some important positions. The current office holders are
willing to train the incoming replacement officers in each position. If
you can find it
We are currently seeking people to help
as:
Please consider what you can do for MTWS.
Thanks,