President’s Letter

Greetings!

I hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Thank you to John Hampton for recently stepping up to be Advertising Director! If you’d like to be on John’s committee and help with this important function, you may contact John at madfish1a@att.net. If you are looking for the perfect way to volunteer with the Guild, you can review the list of positions still needed which is in this newsletter, and you can discuss any questions you have with either Dave Sampson or me. We will be co-hosting the December Art Council meeting with CCAS at CCAS on Tuesday, December 8 at 9:30 AM in the Paint Lab, Building 2. We can still use some help with refreshments, so let me know if you can help. I’d like as many Guild members as possible to attend this meeting as well. The December Business Meeting will be held on Saturday, December 19 at 10 AM at the Alliance for the Arts. I will try to keep the business portion of the meeting as short as possible so we can have plenty of time for the Dirty Santa gift exchange! If you’d like to participate in the Dirty Santa, you must bring a hand-made, wrapped gift. Please feel free to bring a guest or guests, but make sure you bring gifts for them as well. If you just want to observe the fun, that’s fine too. For our Board members, please remember that we are taking a holiday from Board meetings in December. The next Board meeting will be held next year at CCAS on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 10:30 AM. Warm Wishes, Lorraine

Southwest Florida Fine Craft Guild Business Meeting

November 21, 2015

President Lorraine Capps called the meeting to order at 10:30am. She welcomed snowbirds, new members and folks who haven't yet been to a meeting. Bev Londano and Carolyn Gora introduced themselves as new members. The minutes from the previous meeting were approved unanimously. Birgie Miller and Toni spoke to us about a new opportunity for an art exhibit at the Ding Darling visitor’s center. We are taking a different spin for this year’s event. They received a grant to get a travelling exhibit from the Smithsonian and it will be there from the end of October to mid-December. The theme is waterways, the impact that water has on humans, taking a world view of religion, culture, and life. She loves the idea of the Guild doing an exhibit in conjunction with this event. It will run Nov 14th – Dec 9th, 2016, and will be run like any other Guild exhibit, have a Prospectus and probably limited number of pieces per artist. We will have to supply pedestals and maybe easels as there is limited wall space. The Guild will keep all entry fees, Ding will get the judge, do the advertising, and pay the prize money. They want our show to be loosely nature or water themed. Sales will go through the gift shop and are they are thinking of a 30% commission. We may ask artists to donate a portion of sales to the Smithsonian. Many aspects are not set in stone yet. Lorraine asked how soon we have to come up with a title for the show. Birgie said we’ll have to wait until at least the first or second week of December, but they still don’t know exactly what the Smithsonian exhibit will have in it. Tania Begg was awarded first place for People’s Choice Award for “The Bachelor” and Edie Limbright was awarded second place for People Choice for the Guild’s Art Attack show. Treasurer’s Report – Dee Cooper distributed the Treasurer’s Report. We have $2707.79 in our account. Membership update – Kathy Erickson reported that we now have 117 members. Dues for 2016 are being collected at this meeting. Anyone paying before December 1st will be discounted $5.00. After December 1st dues are $35. Peer Review update – Lorraine asked the Peer Review committee to explain their process, how it can be useful, enjoyable and helpful to artists in need of ideas, pricing, or just getting better at what they do. Bobbi and Kelly commented how much it helped them grow as artists. It is not a threatening process but can give input that some artists need to be more confident and improve their skills. Kelly reminded us to READ the “How to critique” page on the website, also more info on the website. Lorraine suggested we attached that page to next month’s newsletter. Art Council update – The next Co-op Gallery receiving is Monday, December 7th from 10 AM – 1 PM. Six items are allowed per person, 3 of which can be wall pieces. The monthly reception will be held on Thursday, December 10th from 4-6pm. All members are eligible to participate in the Gallery. It was also announced that the Co-op gallery is looking for holiday ornaments and there will be no limit on the number that can be displayed by a single artist. They still need more ornaments. Fine Craft Expo – The Expo will be held on Saturday, Feb. 13th at the Cape Coral Arts Studio. We need as many donated pieces as possible. You can start bringing them to meetings, to the event, or to the gallery show the night before. The Expo is a day-long event featuring 15 workshops, artists and demos and is the new name of what used to be the Craft Bash. There will be a Guild gallery show entitled “Elemental Art: Wind Fire, Earth and Water” in conjunction with the Expo day of workshops. The reception on Friday evening, February 12th will kick-off the event. Other information on the Elemental Art: Wind, Fire Earth and Water show: Receiving is Monday February 1st from 9am to noon; Reception is Friday, February 12th from 5 to 7pm and removal is Friday February 26th from 9am to 3pm. John, our new Advertising Director asked members to put up our Expo posters in grocery stores, gyms, and other places you go. Tell a friend and ask them to tell a friend. They are taking reservations now. Edie has volunteered to be our new treasurer and John will need people on his committee. Nancy will be our new president. Webmaster is needed so that Nancy doesn’t have to run the website while being president. Toni said that our show at Ding is something we’ve been working for years and is a real coup for the Guild. Nancy and Lorraine are very busy lining up shows for next year. We’ll have one at the VAC in October, and we’ll also have a show at the Von Liebig at the small gallery. This should be the last time it’s in there and in 2017 we should be in the big gallery. The Winners Circle show will be in the big gallery this season. Bobbi showed the group her light box. All the information about using this to photography your work will be in the next newsletter Alex reminded members that they can sign up to display their art in the CCAS display corner. It is a well-lit area with a black background. Your work will be displayed for an entire month. You can also share the space with another artist if you so choose. Talk to Alex about signing up for a month in the future. New Business – Reminders: • Next meeting: Saturday, December 19, 2015, 10am at the Alliance for the Arts

• Program: Dirty Santa Gift Exchange

• Art Council Breakfast for the Arts co-hosted by the Guild at CCAS December 8th at 9:30am.

2015-2016 SWFFCG Business Meeting Dates:

All meetings will be held at 10:00 AM At the Alliance for the Arts:

10091 McGregor Blvd. Ft. Myers, FL 33919

Saturday, September 19, 2015 Saturday, October 24, 2015

Saturday, November 21, 2015 Saturday, December 19, 2015 Saturday, January 30, 2016

NO MEETING IN FEBRUARY DUE TO THE FINE CRAFT EXPO AT CCAS ON 2/13/16

Saturday, March 19, 2016 Saturday, April 16, 2016

DECEMBER 2015

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 Receiving at Co-op Gallery-- 10AM-1PM

8 ACSWF General Meeting, 9:30am - 1pm, Co-Hosted by SWFFCG & Cape Coral Arts Studio at CCAS

9 10 Reception at Co-op Gallery-- 4-6PM

11 12

13 14 15

16 17 18 19 SWFFCG Business Meeting@Alliance for the Arts-10:AM Dirty Santa

Exchange

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

JANUARY 2016

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 NEW YEAR’S DAY

2

3

4 Receiving at Co-op Gallery-- 10AM-1PM

5 SanCap Receiving—9AM—12:00PM

6

7 Reception at Co-op Gallery-- 4-6PM

8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15

16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 SWFFCG Board Meeting—CCAS 10:30AM

25 26 27 28 29 30 SWFFCG Business Meeting@Alliance for the Arts-10:AM

31

Angela Aradia, Martha Grattan, and Alex Chung, will be selling their pottery at the FGCU’s Pottery sale on Dec. 4 from 10AM-4PM. Renee Farr needs a donation of the following glass colors for her mosaic workshop for Fine Craft Expo: yellow, red, and orange opaque glass size 4”x6” or larger and she will cut it. Please bring all that you might have to the December meeting if possible. The students will be making 48 fish out of the glass. CORRECTION: Francine Gerson’s correct e-mail address is: glassbyfrancine@gmail.com. Please make note of that in your directories. She is selling wrought iron stands and can be reached for information on them at: glassbyfrancine@gmail.com, 239-495-6477. Petra Kaiser will be teaching classes in fused glass at the Sidney Berne Davis Center in Ft. Myers, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 20. For information: http://kaiserlee.com/weeklyclasses.html. Toni Ory has a Tommy Bahama style queen sized sofa bed for sale. If you are interested please contact her for photos at toni@toniory.com. Bobbi Robertson has provided the following link to the photo box she demonstrated at the November meeting. https://2.photojojo.com/awesomeness/foldio-portable-studio. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE:

MEMBERSHIP: Did you remember that dues were reduced to $30 until December 1? There were 47 members who did and have paid their 2016 membership. Dues are now $35 for individual and $50 for a family. All members need to pay for the 2016 year no matter when they joined. Your new membership card has been printed and can be picked up at the Christmas meeting. Many of you have not picked up the 2015-2016 Yearbook and it has your name on it. Please pick it up so Kathy doesn't have to carry it to each meeting! See you December 19th! Remember to notify Kathy Erickson, kathye1745@exede.net, if any of your contact information changes. The Yearbook for 2016-17 is already making corrections for a new year.

CO-OP ART GALLERY UPDATE:

December is traditionally the busiest month at the Gallery. Take advantage of this and participate! If you haven’t been to the Gallery, please stop in the next time you are at Coconut Point. It is next door to Panera Bread. All Guild members are eligible to participate in the Gallery. December Receiving is Monday, December 7, from 10 AM – 1 PM. The Receiving process must be completed by 1 PM. In order not to be rushed, please arrive at least by noon. Participating artists are allowed a total of six pieces in December, three of which may be wall pieces. You may also enter as many ornaments as you wish for the Christmas tree. Remember, Receiving is always on the first Monday of the month.

The Gallery will be open seven days a week for the month of December only from 12 Noon – 6 PM, which are the hours every day the Gallery is open. The December reception will be held on Thursday, December 10 from 4-6 PM. Participating artists are encouraged to help advertise the receptions and invite friends and family. The cost to participate is $25 per month, and the Gallery keeps 30% of sales. You must sit the gallery one day per month. The Gallery sitting schedule can be found on the Art Council’s web site. If you must change your sitting date, it is your responsibility to find a replacement AND you must email Ginny Whiteman at ginny@whiteman.net AFTER you have found a replacement. Ginny must have updated information regarding the sitting schedule. There is a list of people at the front desk who are willing to sit for a price of $50. For the latest information on the Gallery, you may consult the Gallery Prospectus and Art Council newsletters for details. Both can be downloaded from their web site: www.acswf.org.

CCAS GUILD CASE:

The Guild’s display case is located in Building 2 of CCAS. CCAS retains 30% of the sales, so work should be priced accordingly. New members and members who have never shown in the case before should take advantage of this opportunity. Contact Alex Chung at alexchung 20032003@yahoo.com to reserve your spot. December 2015: Zdenka Fiala January 2016: Fine Craft Expo February 2016: Fine Craft Expo March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016

ALLIANCE FOR THE ARTS: Many opportunities exist at the Alliance for both members and non-members. Check their web site for further information: www.artinlee.org, or call 239-939-2787. SANIBEL-CAPTIVA ART LEAGUE: The 40th Annual ACSWF Exhibit, Creative Space will be held from Jan. 6- Jan. 30th. Receiving is Jan. 5th, 9am-12pm, at Big Arts. The prospectus can be viewed at http://www.sancapart.com. The exhibit is open to all members of the Art Council art leagues. There are many exhibits open to Arts Council members throughout the year. More information can be found in the Arts Council Newsletters and on their website.

Advertising Committee: John Hampton is our new Advertising Director! Thank you, John! He needs a committee to help him. Art Council Delegate: The Art Council Delegate goes to most Art Council meetings (November through April), and reports to the membership all Art Council and Co-op Gallery news and developments. The Delegate also collects information for the Art Council’s biennial Winners Circle Exhibit, presents it to the Board for approval, and provides that information to the Art Council. Fine Craft Expo: We are still in need of volunteers. We mostly need general volunteers to be assigned duties the day of the event. We will also need donations of art work for our raffle, which will benefit our scholarship fund. If you would like to help out, please contact Lorraine Capps. Recruiting Committee: We are in need of a Director and committee members. This too is more important than ever because we have a new meeting place at the Alliance for the Arts which will allow us the space to continue to grow our membership. Webmaster: Since Nancy Giffin will be our next President, she

needs to turn over her duties as Webmaster to someone else. If

you have experience with web design, this is the perfect job for

you!

Please contact Dave Sampson at davesamp@comcast.net to

discuss volunteer needs and assignments.

UPCOMING GUILD EXHIBIT: Elemental Art: Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water, CCAS: Run of the exhibit: February 5-25/16 Receiving: Monday, February 1, 2016, 9-12 Reception: Friday, February 12, 2016, 5-7 (Joint Reception with Fine Craft Expo) Removal: Friday, February 26, 2016, 9-3

OUR PEER REVIEW PROCESS: The following is excerpted from the Guild’s Home page on our website: We are now accepting requests for Peer Reviews! Peer Reviews are where art pieces are informally displayed and critiqued by peers to give the artist constructive advice and independent perspectives. Each Peer Review will have up to four artists, each displaying up to three pieces. The artist may select any pieces for feedback. For example, pieces planned for potential shows, problem pieces, transitional pieces, or any others the artist chooses. The Peer Review Committee set the following four strategies and the Peer Review process will align as closely as possible to these strategies:

Make SWFFCG an open / all-inclusive organization within the designated SWF FCG media.

Continue to raise the bar by growing the artists Conduct stellar exhibits Continue fair and open processes

The artist can tailor their review; the Peer Review Committee generally recommends the artist select an Open Discussion forum. The artist can informally introduce his/her work to the reviewers, providing information on inspiration, methods or any other background information they feel is useful (verbal and/or written cards.) Open discussion allows the artist to follow up with questions and obtain further details on methods, challenges and suggestions by other artists. For more information go to: http://www.swflfinecraftguild.org/#!our-peer-review-process/c1bry.

SPONSORS NEEDED!

We've had a very successful summer season of giving to kids' arts camps

at the Alliance, CCAS, and BIG ARTS; however, it has left our Treasury depleted. We all need work to find advertisers and sponsors for the Guild

so that we can fund our scholarship program for the upcoming season. One way that would help is to find sponsors for our exhibits. We have

another exhibit right around the corner in Naples, so we need to focus on that area. We could start promoting it and our sponsor(s) now if we had them. Costs for our exhibits vary with the venue, and the cost for our

Naples exhibit will be $1,500. We will heavily promote our sponsor(s) on our web site, in our newsletters, on social media, as well as in print in our

publications and publicity. We are a 501(c) (3) charitable organization, so the sponsorship would be tax deductible. Proceeds will be used to fund our scholarship program with art awards at FSW, FGCU, and Cypress Lake

High School, as well as summer art camps for kids at CCAS, the Alliance, and BIG Arts. Sponsorship brochures are available for download on our

web site: www.swflfinecraftguild.org. Please approach any businesses in Naples that you are familiar with and ask for their sponsorship.