QUARTERLY QUOTE

An artist discovers their genius the day they dare not to please. (Forgive my gender-neutral substitutions, Andre!)

Andre Malraux

Summer has arrived, Vermont has lifted CoViD restrictions, so we are able to meet again in person!

• Regional hubs continue to meet regularly, and now for several hubs, Zoom meetings can be on hold.
• Holding an in-person workshop looks promising.
• One Members’ Exhibition has successfully concluded and one more is coming in the fall.
• Our next board meeting via Zoom is in October.

Continue reading below for more details.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sep 1-Oct 31, 2021: VPS Members’ Exhibition at T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT

Oct 13, 2021: VPS Board Meeting, 7-9 p.m. remotely via Zoom

Oct 21, 2021: VPS Members Meeting, 6:30-8:30 remotely via Zoom

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

VPS REGIONAL HUBS UPDATE

Our Hubs Coordinator, Cristine Kossow has been supplying us with Hub Happenings over the last three months, and we have been excitedly reading what all the hubs are doing remotely. Some activities included painting a nocturne, an abstract, a self-portrait, a landscape with figure; doing a tonal piece; exploring green; exploiting textural effects in a pastel; painting in the style of Degas; using pastel pencils; trying a 20-minute pastel; critiquing other’s work; and planning for hub exhibitions.

Remember, all that was accomplished via Zoom! And this is about to change as VPS: SE set up a meeting at a member’s home for June and VPS: SW announced that they are no longer meeting remotely.  Please let Cristine know what your hub is doing, so we all can vicariously experience what you all are actively participating in. We learn from everyone so keep us in the know! And thank you!

VPS EXHIBITIONS

Coming off our first Online Juried Show in January, our VPS did something innovative once again: we organized our first Wholly-Hub-Hosted exhibition. In the past, our Exhibitions Coordinator did all the preliminary work to enlist the venue and to get the show going, and asked the hub hosting the exhibition to help with activities directly related to hanging the show and putting on the reception. As we currently do not have an Exhibitions Coordinator, the board asked the hubs to take on one exhibition or show every three years and to manage all the details, such as coordinating with a venue, communicating with members, finding prizes, selecting a judge, and on and on.

Just to remind those who know, and to inform those who do not, our philosophy as a pastel society has been to have two types of shows. Our Juried Show (JS) showcases our most accomplished pastel painters, as determined by a pair of nationally recognized pastel artist jurors. That was our JS this past winter.

Our Members’ Exhibition (ME), on the other hand, celebrates our diversity, our varied interests, our courage to take risks, our membership’s depth and breadth. Accordingly, we hang one or two pastels of every artist who submits to the ME, and we ask our judge to pick pieces according to categories of subject matter (landscape, still life, abstract, etc.) and compositional element (line, shape, color, texture, etc.). This offers a chance for everyone to be recognized for their work.

VPS: SouthWest did an outstanding job with our inaugural Wholly-Hub-Hosted Members’ Exhibition (ME) at the Southern Vermont Art Center (SVAC) this April and May. And because we could not gather as a group during the months it was hanging, VPS: SW had the innovative idea to do the awards presentation on Zoom, where judge David Francis talked at length about the winning pastels. After the ME came down, our board sent out a survey to members who either submitted or did not submit to the ME to listen and learn whatever we could so as to improve our process for subsequent ME and JS.

Coming up this fall is another opportunity for VPS members to show their work. This will be another ME, this time Wholly-Hosted by VPS: Central. Scheduled to run from September 1 to October 31, 2021, a save-the-date memo has already been sent, so remain alert for more details coming soon.

VPS WORKSHOPS

With many Vermonters getting the CoViD vaccine, and, as venues are opening up in our state, it is likely that our workshop with Dawn Emerson will take place in Bennington from Oct 23-25, 2021 as scheduled.

VPS BOARD NEWS

We will be holding our next board meeting virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 from 7-9p.m. We always have a number of interesting subjects to discuss, so please feel free to attend. The link for the meeting will be provided as we get closer to that day, but put it on your calendar now.

Also, after last year’s successful Members’ Meeting via Zoom (with more people attending than in the previous year’s in-person event), the board has decided to hold this year’s meeting virtually as well. The link will be coming, but the time and date are Thursday, October 21, 2021 from 6:30-8:30p.m. As before, we will have a short business meeting in the first hour. Following that, something new: a presentation by Dakota Pastels in the second half. Linda Masten has already seen this presentation as a member of another pastel society and enthusiastically testifies to it being of interest to all of us. Put that date on your calendar too!

Remember, as a VPS member, you can share noteworthy news about your artwork, about prizes you were awarded, about your upcoming shows, about your hub, or about other pastel items of personal interest. Check it out by going to the VPS website and clicking Member News on the drop-down menu or click on this link for submission instructions:

VPS Member Noteworthy News

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 another Members’ Exhibitions coming this year, a workshop planned for the fall, and our Hubs meeting in person again, there is much to be gained by being a member of the VPS. Thank you to those who have renewed, and who continue to be active in our society. 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

QUARTERLY QUOTE
Art has a voice—let it speak.
Rochelle Carr

• Spring is here, and a renewed feeling of hopefulness abounds. Let’s celebrate in whatever way we want…including by painting!
  
• Three regional hubs continue to meet regularly, via Zoom, and three others are hoping to meet this way soon.
• Holding an in-person workshop continues to be fraught even as the pandemic winds down, but our VPS artists persevere in planning for 2021.
• Exhibitions for 2021 include two Members’ Exhibitions: one now, and one in the fall.
• Our next board meeting via Zoom is in April.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 3 to June 4, 2021: VPS Members’ Exhibition at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT

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

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

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

VPS REGIONAL HUBS UPDATE

With VPS: SW modeling how to stay connected as a hub during physically distancing times, two other hubs, VPS: SE and MS, are now meeting regularly via Zoom. And VPS: CEN has begun with remote meetings as well. VPS: CHP and UV promise to give things a try soon. The spirit of hubs gathering in-person was inspirational in early 2020, but the pandemic put an abrupt halt to that. With the real possibility that artists can safely start meeting again soon, these remote meetings now offer a transitional bridge to that brighter future ahead. So, thank you, VPS: SW for showing us the way, and thank you to our other hubs for embracing the virtual approach while we dream of the real thing to come.

VPS EXHIBITIONS

Our Board decided, with our VPS Juried Show occurring so late last year, and being displayed on our website from November 2020 through January 31, 2021, that we will not have a Juried Show this year. Added to that, we have been isolated from each other for a year and have been unable to visit galleries and see actual pastel paintings on the wall. So, with venues opening up again, our Board felt it would be better to welcome all our VPS artists to exhibit now, in a Members’ Exhibition, one in the spring, and then later on, in the fall of 2021.

Just to remind those who know, and to inform those who do not, our philosophy as a pastel society has been to have two types of shows. Our Juried Show showcases our most accomplished pastel painters, as judged by a pair of nationally known pastel artists. Our Members’ Exhibition (ME), on the other hand, celebrates our diversity, our varied interests, our courage to take risks, our membership’s depth and breadth. Accordingly, we hang one or two pastels of every artist who submits to the ME, and we ask our judge to pick pieces according to categories of subject matter (landscape, still life, abstract, etc.) and compositional element (line, shape, color, texture, etc.). This offers a chance for everyone to be recognized for their work.

For the April ME, we have 50 paintings to be displayed. They will be judged by Master Pastellist Dave Francis during the opening week. Although there is no opening reception, our pastels will be able to be viewed in person during the show’s two-month run, and there is hope that by the close of our ME, there might be opportunity for larger groups to gather in public.

This ME is notable for another reason. Because we don’t have an Exhibitions Coordinator, we have asked the hosting hub to do all the organizational aspects of putting on a show. VPS: SW has been our first hub to do this, and they’ve done superbly. Please find any opportunity you can to let them know how much you appreciate their efforts. Without them, we would not be having this ME!!

VPS WORKSHOPS

Unfortunately, our Lyn Asselta workshop slotted for April 30 to May 2, 2021 in Bennington, had to be cancelled, but it is being rescheduled for 2022.

With many of Vermonters getting the CoViD vaccine, and, as  venues are slowly opening up in our state, it is likely that our other workshop with Dawn Emerson will take place in Bennington from Oct 23-25, 2021.

VPS BOARD NEWS

We will be holding our next board meeting virtually via Zoom on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 from 7-9p.m. We have a number of interesting subjects to discuss, so please feel free to attend. The link for the meeting is included below

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85244204701?pwd=VEltYm9wSmg4dWlTamJsTlVBVGFIdz09

Remember, as a VPS member, you can show a painting on the VPS website with a link to another image and to 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 two Members’ Exhibitions coming this year, a workshop planned for the fall, and our Hubs rebounding from a pandemic-imposed isolation, there is much to be gained by being a member of the VPS. Thank you to those who have renewed, and, to those who have not, please consider renewing 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

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

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

SUMMERTIME…AND THE LIVIN’ IS EASY We now have six active hubs and one more to bring into the fold—up in the Northeast Kingdom.

We’ve had one successful show and one to come. And we’ve had one successful workshop, and one more to come as well

Finally, we are unveiling a new communications tool—Constant Contact—to help all of us visually gifted people to see at a glance what information is coming to us from the VPS. 

Continue reading below for more details

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

We have another great workshop this summer:

Doug Dawson September 15-17, 2017 in Newfane, VT

Currently there are 16 participants, but there is room for 3 more so contact Jean Pollack [email protected] if you want to sign up.

We will be having another VPS show this year:

VPS Juried Show September 14-December 27, 2017 in WRJ, VT.

The venue is small, so only 29 paintings were able to be selected for the show, but the Coolidge Hotel seems to sell a lot of paintings and the time of year should encourage many visitors. Stay tuned for more information.

VPS REGIONAL HUBS UPDATE

Over the last three months, I have had the opportunity to meet with three more groups of VPS artists in three different parts of our state, as we continue the process of forming regional hubs according to the proposal made at the end of last year. I am finding a lot of common themes with each group I meet with, a recurring one being hubs providing opportunities for artists with a love of pastels to get together and share the love in a multiplicity of ways. 

Three new regions have had their first meeting, have adopted a name, and have chosen a point person to facilitate their hub activities. They are VPS SouthWest in the Bennington/Manchester area; VPS Upper Valley centered around White River Junction; and VPS Champlain uniting the Burlington/ St. Albans regions. Activities that their hubs want to engage in have been brainstormed, and once more, many are similar from hub to hub, but some are unique. Overwhelmingly, the response has been enthusiastic for regional hubs to allow members to gain that sense of community that comes with becoming part of the VPS.

I will be getting together with the artists of the St. Johnsbury/Newport region soon, and with that meeting, we will have our 7 hubs up and going as proposed.

We also have a Director of Hubs, Judy Albright, who has sent out several Hub Happenings communiqués letting everyone know what each hub is up to. Hopefully this will give ideas to artists in other hubs for activities to engage in.

VPS MEMBERS’ EXHIBITION AT SVAC

Numbers to remember: 40/9/5

We had 40 artists participating (40 paintings displayed). Robert Carsten was our judge and awarded prizes in 9 categories. Five paintings were sold–those of Karen Baker, Wendy Soliday, Norma Jean Rollet, Angela Arkway, and Ann Wickham. Congrats to all participants, to award winners, and to painting sellers! Read more at https://vermontpastelsociety.com/vps-exhibition/.

VPS WORKSHOP WITH DESMOND O’HAGAN IN NORTH BENNINGTON, VT

Desmond O’Hagan’s workshop was greatly successful, with 12 attendees. It made a modest profit, but more importantly, it generated a lot of enthusiastic discussions among not only the participants, but in at least two hubs where paintings, begun in his workshop, were shown and talked about to all hub members present. Let’s give a big shout out to Linda Masten for her organizational efforts in getting this workshop for the VPS.

 OPPORTUNITIES TO USE VPS FACEBOOK

We have two opportunities to show our art-making on FB:

One is for an artist who is willing to take pictures of their work during the painting process and send that to Carol Corliss at [email protected]. By doing so, we can all get an idea of a member artist’s approach, mistakes that were made and corrected, or serendipities that occurred that changed the course of the painting for the better. After all, it’s all about the process, right? So please email her with your interest, and/or send her 4-6 photos of a painting from start to finish, each image with one or two sentences explaining something special about that step in your creative process.

Two is the 40/4 Challenge announced in June: Paint four paintings using only 40 strokes each on 4 separate days. You can do a painting a day for four days or  in a time frame that works for you. Post your paintings on the Vermont Pastel Society Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-Pastel-Society-1526769437591380/?fref=ts and share a little about your experience.

 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE VPS! These are action-packed times for all of us, especially as we continue to attract new members every week who want to share in what we, in the VPS, are all about.

Matt Peake

Welcome to the new VPS Website.  It is an evolving site, so please have patience as it settles into what you, our members, would like to see.  We hope to provide a site where our membership can find most of what they need to maneuver around in Vermont’s VPS world and a location for art information and opportunities.

This new site has a BLOG feature included so as of now, our old VPS BLOG site is obsolete and our old VPS website has been taken off line.  You may need to clear out your browser to start seeing the new site.

The Home page will have a scrolling Art Show which consists of one art image from each artist who submits images for the Member Gallery.  The Home page Art Show will show the artist’s name and art title when you hover over the top with your mouse.  In the Member Gallery, under the Members menu, one art image appears for each member who submits to the Member Gallery.  Again, if you hover over the image with your mouse, a small menu bar (in blue letters) appears with the artist’s name.   If you then click on the artist’s name menu, you will be taken to an individual art page for the artist which contains art information provided by the artist and images the artist has submitted for inclusion in the VPS Member Gallery.

Note: These functions may perform differently depending on the mobile devices you use.  This new website should display in the mobile app format, but touch-screen functions may act differently across devices.   With a touch screen, you don’t “hover”, but you may just need to touch the area verses “hover.”

Eventually, we will adding functions allowing you to pay your annual membership right on line using PayPal (you will have to have a PayPal Account for this function).  Also, you will be able to enter your own application information and submit it directly rather than having to print the form from the website and sending it in.

For now, to print any portion of a page, simply click on the little print icon in the lower right-hand corner of each page.  Pick what you want printed, then print.  You may now print off information you find on any page on the site.

As a VPS member, you may have two image and your own page on the VPS website.  If you would like your images and bio/statement included on the VPS site, feel free to send along the items need by following the guidelines found under the About menu, and Policies and Procedures.

If you have thoughts or suggestions, please pass them along to the webmaster ([email protected]).

Once again, welcome to the new site and take a tour around.

Regards,

Cindy Griffith,

Webmaster