QUARTERLY QUOTE

A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others.
Salvador Dali

Our first VPS Online Juried Show is still available for viewing on our website until January 31, 2021.

• One regional hub continues to meet regularly, via Zoom, and two others have begun to meet this way, too.
• Workshop planning is continuing for 2021.
• Exhibition planning for 2021 continues but needing a new format.

Continue reading below for more details.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 1-31, 2021: Final days of the 2020 VPS Online Juried Show.

April 20, 2021: VPS Board Meeting 7-9 p.m. remotely via Zoom

April 30-May 2, 2021: Lyn Asselta workshop in Bennington, VT

Oct 23-25, 2021: Dawn Emerson workshop in Bennington, VT

Oct-Nov 2021: VPS Members’ Exhibition at T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT

 

VPS REGIONAL HUBS UPDATE

VPS: SouthWest continues to meet monthly via Zoom. VPS: MidState re-united this fall on Zoom, and VPS: SouthEast is meeting remotely as well on Monday, January 4, 2021. We have a new Hubs Coordinator, Cristine Kossow, and you probably recall having received a Hubs Happening Constant Contact message from her.

Of note, when our hubs system was first adopted in 2017, we didn’t intend that hubs isolate themselves, but wanted a hub’s activities, whenever possible, to be open to artists in the other 5 hubs. We realized, however, that some activities a hub did, because of space limitations, could not be opened up to all VPS artists. Also, distance would make it impractical for all VPS members to attend. So, we used the terms “open” and “closed” to characterize the activities that a particular hub was doing. “Open” meant that the hub’s activity was open to attendance by VPS members of any hub. “Closed” signified that the activity was only for artists of that particular hub.

Now, however, because several hubs are using Zoom, space and distance issues are less restrictive—although obviously, too large a zoom meeting can limit an individual artist’s time to show a painting and invite feedback. Accordingly, we have been discussing how to make one hub’s Zoom meeting available to VPS members from other hubs. Mark Grasso and Linda Masten are looking into getting a VPS Zoom account for this purpose, and we will be talking about how to communicate the date, time, and zoom link of a particular hub’s meeting, and to develop a sign-up process so that there will be an optimal number of participants for such a hub meeting.

So, stay tuned—or better yet, get in touch with your hub point person or persons and give them any input you may have.

VPS EXHIBITIONS

Our first ever VPS Online Juried Show is still happening—look at our website to see the exhibition and the award winners, if you haven’t already. But don’t delay, as the show ends January 31, 2021.

With Susannah’s departure as our Exhibitions Coordinator, and with no one willing or able to take her place, in order to continue to have exhibitions, we will have to do some creative thinking. For our first online juried show, for example, four board members worked together, and, in a relatively short amount of time, put together a virtual exhibition. That required partnering with ShowSubmit for the submission process and the jurying and judging; finding jurors and a judge willing to do those tasks; and posting the images and contact information for the selected artists on our website. In some ways, a virtual show is easier to put on.

With a Members’ Exhibition upcoming in the fall, assuming we can all safely gather, we will need to do more than manipulate images on a screen. We will need real people—VPS artists—receiving paintings, hanging the show, hosting the reception, photographing and publicizing the event, and more. Just like before. But we will need someone or some cadre of artists to organize the whole process. Will that be members of the board or will that be members of the hub of the region where the show is going to take place? Your input will be valuable to working through these and other questions, so please communicate with your hub point person or persons!

As for our annual Juried Show for 2021, we are tentatively scheduled to exhibit at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in spring, but there is still a real question as to whether we will be able to gather safely by then. We will keep you posted, as it is only three or four months away!

VPS WORKSHOPS

Let’s keep our hopes high that we will have workshops this year! So far, the following are in the planning stages:

Lyn Asselta workshop will be Apr 30, May 1 and May 2, 2021 in Bennington.

Dawn Emerson workshop is planned for Oct 23-25, 2021 in Bennington.

BOARD NEWS

At our 2020 Annual Membership Meeting, held via Zoom on November 9, 2020, we elected one new board member, Cristine Kossow, as Hubs Coordinator, but we are down a board member, with no Exhibitions Coordinator. Please visit our website to see who is on the board, and please don’t hesitate to volunteer to serve on the board, especially if you are interested in exhibitions.

We will be holding our next board meeting virtually via Zoom on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 from 7-9p.m. The link for the meeting will be sent out closer to the date.

Remember, as a VPS member, you can show a painting on the VPS website with a link to another image and a short bio. If you want to do this for the first time, or if you want your image changed in the VPS Website Gallery, please use this link: https://vermontpastelsociety.com/participation-in-the-members-gallery/.

Don’t forget that you can also rent DVDs for free as a member. The information is on our website.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN VPS!

With a vaccine now being distributed, we seem tantalizingly close to being able to meet again in person. But even if that doesn’t happen right away, there is still much to be gained by remaining a member of the VPS, so please renew your membership today.  We are who we are because of the undying support for our organization that you all provide. Keep it coming, as you keep on painting in pastel!

Matt Peake, VPS President