NEWS

A fellowship to expand our artistic horizons

November 2016

ANNOUNCEMENTS •• November Challenge - Cast Shadows •• Charity - We will collect canned and boxed goods for those less fortunate than us at our November meeting. Start a bag now while it is on your mind. This is a good thing! •• MMAG Holiday Party - Coral Gables, Friday evening, December 9. SAVE the DATE! •• Winter Show - MICA Gallery, Old Town Lansing, January and February. This will be limited to ABSTRACT art and it will be a juried show. You will be allowed to enter 2 pieces. The drop off for entry is Tuesday, December 20, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and the pick up for rejected work is Wednesday, December 21, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. You also must submit a paragraph as to why you painted the art. •• Golden Workshop Reschedule— to be determined in the spring •• Mark Mehaffey - Demo—Plein Air to Studio, Thursday April 13; follow up workshop - Saturday April 15 •• Check In/Pick Up times - MMAG is fortunate to have places to show, and sell our artwork and have our receptions. In order to respect the gallery owners, the board has decided to accommodate everyone by making a set time from 3:30-5:30 p.m. for all show activities unless otherwise notified. For those of you who cannot make these times, please arrange to have someone do this for you. Get to know your fellow members. We have members leaving their work up to several days earlier. This inconveniences gallery owners, and they cannot not be responsible for damage or missing artwork. So going forward: NO early birds and NO late entries.

From the Board President Bobbie Margolis says MMAG is still going strong! We are looking to bring members new demonstrations, to learn new approaches to embellish their artwork, and just have a fun night out! Our meetings are open and friendly so members leave feeling good about our time together. Your board is open to listening to your ideas—in person and through surveys—and we are working to create innovative, creative activities throughout the year to suit a variety of tastes. We make decisions via consensus that can be observed, if you choose to come earlier than our usual meeting time of 6:30 p.m. According to our bylaws and the IRS, we have open board meetings. Although, we cannot take questions or comments from listeners during our board meetings, your input is always welcomed during the announcement period. We respect your ideas and hopefully we can accommodate some of your wishes. We have at least thirty minutes for announcements, sharing, challenges, and prizes at our monthly meetings. I urge you to read your NewsBytes, since this is our main avenue to keep you apprised of our activities, dates, and other important events, and opportunities. Don’t forget to check out MMAG’s website and Facebook. A lot of effort goes into keeping photos and information updated.

Vice President Dar Matthews recently took a spill and broke her shoulder in 3 places! Yeow! We all wish her a speedy recovery. She had been working hard coordinating the volunteers and she comes up with our monthly challenges. She arranged our show at MICA Gallery and was going to work on the Holiday party. Hopefully she will mend quickly and will be able to help us again soon. Director Judi Bogart is working on the policy committee, is coordinating refreshments for the monthly meetings, helps check in artwork at our exhibits, and will be working on the Shiawassee Art Center show for next year with Jann Lardie. Director Diana Popp is spearheading a project with help of Bobbie Margolis, Vicci Knowlton, Judi Bogart, and Judy Carr. They are preparing a handbook for current and future board members. It will include critical organizational documents, such as MMAG Articles of Incorporation, bylaws, and the IRS 501c(3) letter that specifies MMAG is a non-profit. It will also include policies and procedures. Policies will provide operational guidance and procedures will give guidance on how to do a specific task within a policy. Andrea Jeris, Communications Chair, (NewsBytes and Newsletter) encourages members to send her their time-sensitive news for NewsBytes, and other news, awards, art book reviews, art show opinions, and photos for the Newsletter. Always write in the 3rd person please (He/She NOT I). Nancy Kronenberg, Membership Chair, reports as of today, we have a member count of 81. David Annis, Webmaster, is having technical difficulties with the company that bought out our previous web-hosting provider. So currently there are some missing links and the photos from the spring show are still up instead of the recent fall show. He is diligently working to correct this.

MEMBER NEWS Juanita Baldwin received a Purchase Award at the 88th Regional Exhibition at the Muskegon Museum of Art for her oil painting “The Yellow Team”. Her two entries were accepted to the show. Angela Hamilton has been accepted into several shows. Studio Juani 23 in Bay City accepted, “Banjo Player” into their All Area Exhibition. Studio West in Brighton accepted “Sturgeon Bay Beach 2,” into their 2nd Annual Gallery Exhibition. And Midland Center for the Arts passed 3 of pieces through their first round of jurying for the 55th Annual Greater Michigan Art Exhibition: “Bronc Buster,”“Evening Graze,” and “Mackinac Island Fort Tower”. AND she has 2 pieces in the 55th Annual Greater Michigan Art Exhibit at the Midland Center for the Arts. The show runs through December 23rd. Mina Greco Hall has been included in one of the most prestigious Italian nationwide magazines, “VERNICE”, published in Torino. It is a literary and artistic journal, and Mina’s book entitled From Italy to America with Love was mentioned in it along with references about her artistic life. Arlene Bragg has illustrated her second book cover for Finishing Line Press. She was commissioned by Mary Fox, author of Waiting For Rain, a book of poems and short stories. Three passages were chosen as suitable subjects for the cover art, the one she selected was an idea of a little dandelion girl. It was based on a painting of her daughter at age five. The book can be purchased at Amazon or Barnes & Noble and there is a biography and other information online.

Arlene

Deb Drew Brown has an ongoing exhibit at Schuler Books in Okemos and she has an exhibit at Fernando’s Cafe in Haslett. As part of the LAAC group, she has art at the NEC in Old Town and at the Mid-Michigan Physician’s building on Lake Lansing Road in Lansing. She is proud to announce that her ArtPrize 2014 entry titled, “The World War II of Jack A. Drew” [her father] has been purchased by Lansing Community College for their permanent collection. It will hang in

the Veterans’ Memorial area of the Health & Human Services building where Deb teaches in the Radiography Program. MMAG member, Maureen Ryan, will have work in the Greater Lansing Potters’ Guild sale at the All Saints Church on Abbott Road in East Lansing. Hours are 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, November 3rd, 9 to 9 Friday, November 4th, and 9 to 4 on Saturday, November 5th. It’s the best pottery show this side of Ann Arbor!

MMAG - MMAG participated in the MSU Art’s Council, “CreativeCollaboration”, Saturday, September, 10, at the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts. The event was designed to introduce students to a variety of arts affiliated organization and to highlight all the opportunities within the arts at MSU and surrounding community. President Bobbie Margolis, Treasurer Vicci Knowlton, and Secretary Judy Carr, were there with a colorful art display, MMAG handouts to share, while networking with students. This is part of our OutReach to community project.

September—Valerie Allen from Golden Paints shared new products and techniques with MMAG members!

October—MMAG’s Jann Lardie demonstrates A Type of Mono Printing

And members get to try it out too!

Every Month Brings a New Challenge—White or Bird’s Eye View

Fall Show at Absolute Gallery Congratulations to all the artists who entered the MMAG Fall Show at Absolute Gallery. Judged by Roy Saper of Saper Gallery: 1st place Jane Cloutier, “Waterfall - Copper Sky”; 2nd place Mino Greco Hall, “The Appointment”; 3rd place Andrea Jeris, “Shell Seeker”; Honorable Mentions - David Annis, “In a Bubble”; Bobbie Margolis, mixed media relief; Joy Schroeder, “Reconnaissance Flight”; Carolyn Texera, “Italian Woman”; Patsy Woodman, “Rhapsody in Blue”; Certificates of Merit - Judi Anderson Bogart, “View From My Window”; Anita Brett, “Just Because”; Judy Carr, mixed media batik; Scott Yukio Fergus, “The Spice Shop”; Stuart Knickerbocker, “Cosmos 2”; Nancy Diane Kremsreiter, “Falling From Color”; Maureen Ryan, “Anauaraza, Turkey”; Jaye Yoon, “White flowers in a Pot”.

Memory Is Added To Knowledge Artist’s have recognized the important role memory plays in art. Hopper’s paintings are, in the artist’s own words, the result of “a long process of gestation in the mind and a rising emotion.” Degas also observed: “It is very well to copy what one sees. It’s much better to draw what one has retained in one’s memory. It is a transformation in which imagination collaborates in one’s memory. It is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory. One reproduces only that which is striking, that is to say, the necessary. Thus one’s recollections and inventions are liberated from the tyranny that nature exerts.” Note to MMAG members from member Stu Knickerbocker I have only been a member this past year and my impression of the MMAG shows that were held very few (if any) works were sold. It seems that nobody in this area buys art. I can understand that because art is something that nobody really needs. I have been painting since I graduated from MSU in 1951 and have sold only four paintings and have given that many away free to friends, (much to my wife’s horror). My cash awards total from exhibitions is $180.00. Since I haven’t given any away recently I have a portfolio of 32 paintings, many which are too big to fit into my car. When I entered two paintings in Artprize two years ago I had to rent a small truck to get them to Grand Rapids which amounted to over $200.00. Add the entry fee of $50.00 and another $100.00 plus gas to pick them up and I’m out $400.00 and nothing to show for. I’m not entering Artprize this year because they seldom award paintings. They appear to be interested only in conceptual art where the IDEA is more important than the finish product. Anyway, to get to the point of this note I think if you have a computer, the answer to this dilemma is to search Goggle for online gallery’s and web sites where you can enter art contests. You wouldn’t believe the number that pops up. For instance I entered a monthly contest($15.00 per entry fee) where 25 winners. 1st, 2nd 3rd, etc to 25th place could win anywhere from $500.00 to $2.00. It’s not much but it’s a hell of a lot more than nothing and you still own your painting because your entry is only uploaded. If you want to know if I won anything for the month of June send me an email to: [email protected] I have a portfolio of over 30 paintings stacked up in the basement so I joined MMAG to get exposure start selling them. But of the two shows I entered none have even come close to selling and I don’t think they will in the future. So, to get worldwide exposure I went online and found Saatchi Art and joined. It took me a few weeks to learn there procedure but I now have a gallery who will represent me. I have upload 19 of my abstracts in there system and all 19 of them will be shown all over the WORLD. There paintings prices range anywhere from under $500.00 to $5,000.00. They might not sell for big bucks but all of them will get exposure. So, 1. Google: search: Saatchi Art and click: .Saatchi Art -Official Site & JOIN.

Art is... what we call the thing an artist does. It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human. Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.

Send your articles to Andrea Jeris at [email protected]

Photos by Bobbie Margolis