QUARTERLY QUOTE

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

Thomas Merton

 SPRING CAN MEAN MANY THINGS FOR US VPS ARTISTS, ONE OF WHICH IS WELCOMING THE BUDDING SEASON AND TELLING THE WORLD ABOUT IT IN OUR PASTEL CREATIONS

We have two tantalizing workshops scheduled this year, one just a couple weeks away.

We now have a Members’ Exhibition and Juried Show set for 2018.

Continue reading below for more information.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 23-27, 2018: Alain Picard Workshop at Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT

June 9-July 7, 2018: VPS Members’ Exhibition at The Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, VT.

June 21-24, 2018: Karen Margulis Workshop in Hyde Park, VT

September 9-November 17, 2018: VPS Juried Show at Laumeister Art Center, Bennington, VT

VPS REGIONAL HUBS UPDATE

Some hubs, like VPS SouthEast and VPS MidState are welcoming new members, meeting regularly, providing a critique opportunity to all artists who bring paintings to hub gatherings, and offering painting challenges, like paint-alongs with a black and white photo reference.

Other hubs, like VPS UpperValley and VPS SouthEast are finding venues for exhibiting their hub’s artist’s works.

VPS Social Media Teams—one or two members of each hub becoming Social Media Artists (SMAs)—are offering to photograph hub events, activities, shows and to post those images on FaceBook and Instagram. So far, VPS SouthEast, SouthWest, and Midstate, have SMAs. VPS Upper Valley artists are hoping to meet in the near future to discuss this. VPS Central has some savvy artists who understand FB and Instagram and have offered to be of help to their hub. Thanks again to those artists for helping to make the VPS Social Media Team a reality—it provides another way for individual VPS artists to help our organization succeed.

VPS EXHIBTIONS

Thanks to Michael Shafer (VPS UV) and Louise Kinney (VPS MS), for their suggestions and helpfulness, Susannah Colby (VPS UV) has secured us a venue for our Members’ Exhibition (ME) for 2018 in The Chaffee Art Center in Rutland, VT from 6/9-7/9/18. Details will be forthcoming, but like the last two MEs, we will be offering prizes in 9 categories, which are fun and open to each judge’s interpretation—like Most Lively Still Life, Going Gaga with Color, The Yin and Yang of Light and Dark, etc—so watch for Susannah’s upcoming emails and put a painting or two in this show!

And once more, thanks to Susannah’s indefatigable spirit, we have a place for our Juried Show at Laumeister Art Center in Bennington, VT from 9/9 to 11/17/18. Specifics for this show will be arriving in early summer, so stay alert and paint a thing or two to enter.

Two more things:

• The Regional Hub’s Role: This year, we will be asking the Hub of the region that the show is taking place in, to help with the hanging, if needed, organizing the reception, and attending and photographing the exhibition reception and award winners. For the ME this year, VPS MidState will be the responsible host, and, for the JS, it will be VPS SouthWest. Thank you both in advance!
• Exhibitions Team: Because the responsibilities for putting on a show are numerous and sometimes quite involved, one person cannot do it all. Thankfully, we have generous VPS artists willing to give some of their time to join Susannah in this endeavor. So I want to thank those members who are helping this year: Louise Kinney will be joining Susannah in the organizational and communicational aspects; and, as they did the last two years, Pat McPike (VPS SE) and Deedee Jones (VPS SE) will be securing the prizes for the ME). Thanks to all three of you!!!

 

VPS WORKSHOPS

Alain Picard’s workshop, April 23-27, in Bennington, VT, organized by Linda Masten (VPS SW), will be a combination of portrait-making for 2 days and landscape-painting for 3 days. Artists can take one or both parts. Only a couple weeks left to register, so do not delay!

Karen Margulis’ Workshop, June 21-24, in Hyde Park, VT is being organized by Diane Szlachetka and Patti Braun (both from VPS CEN). Although this is a couple months away, please sign up soon if you want to assure yourself a place!

BOARD NEWS

Several items to report.

1) Our long-time Treasurer, Norma Jean Rollet, (VPS MS) will be moving to TN in April, and so will be leaving our board and will no longer be serving as our Treasurer. We wish her luck in her new location and thank her for the years of service she gave to the VPS.

2) Taking over as Treasurer will be current board member, Linda Masten. We are so lucky to have an artist member who is so qualified to act as Treasurer and is so willing to give of her time—thank you, Linda!

3) In a vote at the end of March, VPS members elected Jerry Ralya  (VPS CEN) to the VPS board to complete the 2-year term that Norma is leaving (11/17-11/19). Thank you, VPS members, for voting so promptly, and thank you Jerry for being so agreeable to being on our board.

4) A couple weeks ago, our VPS Website was hacked. We do not know if any information was used by hackers, but as always we should not open anything spam-looking, but that should be true always anyway. Cindy Griffith, (VPS CEN) and a tech guy fixed the problem, and we bought more protection, but in the process, Cindy realized that she is not as qualified to do the high tech things that a webmaster should be able to do, so we are asking if there is a VPS member who can technically manage our website to either join her or take her place as webmaster. Please email me at [email protected] if you want to help in this way.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE VPS!

We are who we are from the inspiration, creativity and energy that you all give to our organization. Let spring bring you all rejuvenation, renewal, and revitalization!

 

Matt Peake

VPS President