Next Meeting March, 4^th 2010 at 7:30 pm

CRITIQUE WITH MILLIE SCHOTT

Greetings,

Hopefully, everyone survived the February snows and you are ready to get out of the house and attend our March meeting. We have rescheduled Millie Schott to do a critique for us. Millie was scheduled for January but the meeting was cancelled due to snow. Let’s hope that March brings spring and no more of the white stuff. All members may bring two pieces to be critiqued. As usual we will have a sign up sheet for people wanting to participate in the critique. Also at the March meeting, Holly Holienski will, briefly, speak to us about the Rockville Arts and Crafts Fair. There is a March 12^th deadline to enter work for this show.

There was a good turn out for the February meeting. Fortunately it was the day before the double blizzards began. Rob Bettmann gave a very inspiring presentation on marketing and esp. the use of social networking media.

RAL will be sponsoring a workshop with Chica Brunswold on Sunday, May 23^rd. Chica did a demo at our Sept. 2009 meeting on Experimental Watercolor Techniques on Yupo Paper. Her demo was very popular and several of you requested a workshop. Chica is widely known, for her experimental watercolors, both locally and nationally. She has been featured numerous times in Watercolor Magazine, the Splash watercolor series and a variety of other publications. She has also won numerous awards locally and nationally. The class will be held at Plaza Art, in Rockville, and will meet from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. The fee will be $65. We need a minimum of 6 students and a maximum of 15. If you are interested in attending please send me an e-mail to me at sschelb@hotmail.com. We need to get an idea of how many people would like to participate.

The Unitarian Church in Rockville has invited RAL to have a show at their church during August and the first two weeks in September. Artists can submit two digital images of their work to Lilian Blom at LilianeBlom@aol.com by July 1^st. The Board will meet and choose the works to be included in the show.

Due to declining membership and rising expenses RAL has been experiencing a budget shortfall. Attracting new members would help tremendously, so spread the word if you know people who might be interested in joining. We are a fun, friendly group and put on great shows. At the Feb. Board meeting the board decided to reduce our number of meetings from 10 to 8. We are eliminating the January and June meetings, since they are the most sparsely attended. We also need to reduce the money we give to Montgomery College Art Department Scholarship fund and reduce the financial rewards for our shows. As of September membership dues will increase to $35 from $30. It has been many years since our membership fees have increased and this is currently a necessity. I have talked to people from other Art Leagues and Associations and declining membership seems to be a general trend.

Hope to see many of you at the critique on March 4^th.

Susan Schellberg, President RAL

As in years past, the Rockville Art League and the City of Rockville co-sponsor the annual Rockville Student Art Show. Many volunteers are needed to make this a success. Thank you to the members who have signed up already. We still have many positions to fill. As you can see from the list below there are many different jobs, very similar to our own member show. Volunteering for this show will waive the $5.00 entry fee for the May member show. Please contact me at 301-590-9437, or mackerer@comcast.net.

Thank you,

Marian MacKerer

The telephone committee makes calls or sends e-mails to remind RAL members about each meeting. We have many unassigned RAL members, so we still need another person or two to serve on this committee. Besides the chance to help RAL, committee members' $5.00 entry fee for shows will be waived. So please consider joining the committee! To do so, e-mail Irene at icglaser@verizon.net or call 301-983-1699.

The Rockville Art and Craft Festival will be held on Memorial Day weekend. The deadline for applying for this festival is March 12^th. Holly Haliniewski who is organizing it will stop by for a few minutes at the beginning of our meeting on March 4th to talk about the festival and hand out applications. She would be happy to get advance questions from RAL members e-mailed to her and will answer them at the meeting. She will also be open to additional questions at the meeting. Her e-mail is: HHaliniewski@rockvillemd.gov for those who want to email in questions.

MCA has a brand new website! Please look at all the great new content and features at http://www.mdarts.org. You will be able to find the latest news and advocacy events on the site, plus fantastic new features such as a Jobs Board for arts-related job openings from all over Maryland. In addition to the new site, Online Registration is now available for Maryland Arts Day, which is being held on February 9, 2010 in Annapolis. More information can be found on the Maryland Arts Day portion of the site: http://www.mdarts.org/news_events/arts_day/. Register by January 29th to receive the Early Bird 20% discount.

Sugarloaf Craft Festivals, one of the nation’s most popular and most recognized juried shows of contemporary crafts and fine art, is now accepting applications from artists in all media for its Spring 2010 show in Gaithersburg, Maryland to be held Friday, April 9 - Sunday, April 11, 2010. In addition to the spring show, Sugarloaf will host shows October 8-10 and November 19-21 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Sugarloaf shows are consistently ranked by craft industry publications as among the top fine arts and crafts festivals in the nation. Artists interested in exhibiting at Sugarloaf Craft Festivals can download applications from www.sugarloafcrafts.com. Applicants must submit slides representing their work and their display space along with the completed application. Artists who wish to apply online can also complete their application and submit digital images via www.zapplication.org, using the search term "Sugarloaf." Potential exhibitors may also request printed applications and additional information by calling (800) 210-9900.

Darla's Art Retreat/Workshops: Join us 18 April in Sedona, AZ (Darla has creek side cabins/houses reserved). Sedona is a beautiful, serene place and the cabins reserved should be great for our use. She will be using photography, watercolor and acrylic...anything goes! Next fall is Darla's annual Ghost Ranch Art Retreat/Workshop at Abiquiu, NM, 31 August-6 September (Labor Day) 2010. Details posted on the website [www.darlabostick.com].

Please send an email to Tom if you know of events or websites that members would enjoy! tomsharonlafleur@gmail.com

The receptions at Glenview mansion are now 1:30-3:30 pm, not 1-4 pm on the Sunday after hanging! Preferred drop-off and pick-up times for Glenview Shows are from 9 am to 12 noon. Note: please contact the mansion management ahead of time if you wish to modify the drop-off or pick-up times.

RAL 30-day Glenview Mansion Member Shows in Conference Rooms 5 & 6 (Rm 6 has the fireplace) are open to members who have received awards in previous juried member-only shows. If you have received a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place award and would like to sign up for a 30-day show in the conference rooms, please contact: Diane Jeang at 301-871-1589 or swinedoc@yahoo.com

Chair person: Diane Jeang (301) 871-1589 E-mail: swinedoc@yahoo.com

I am continuing with the On-Going shows for next year, but I'm looking for new venues for the shows. There has been interest lately in getting some more shows, so if you know of a place interested in hanging artwork on a rotating basis, please let me know. I have forms for signing up new establishments. I would need to know the name of the place, contact person, what type of artwork, how many, and any restrictions. Doctors, dentists, law offices and other businesses are good places, as well as restaurants and banks. Bookstores are also excellent. We may be considering some places that would require jurying (but we would continue the tradition of the "open" shows of course).

Thank you,

Diane Jeang

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