February, 2009 Newsletter

NEXT MEETING: February 9th 

Last October Linda Brauer and Diane Prather attended a week-long water media workshop at the Springmaid Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  They both signed up for a session with Frank Webb, who was a student of Ed Whitney, the master of all watercolor instructors.  Join us for an overview of his workshop, including many digital images taken during his demonstrations.  Diane will also bring an original watercolor that she purchased from him at this time.    

Hospitality for February:

Linda Brauer with help from Lori Krein, Saron Kotrosa, Melodee Yates, Brenda Mosso and Eric Wissel.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:

Several things have happened over the holidays that should make this year an exciting one for MAL.  First, through the initiative of Brenda Mosso, we have initiated a recruitment drive for new members.  Although we are sound and secure at our present membership level, we recognize that the addition of a dozen or so new artist members will enhance the organization.  As most members are aware, we started our drive at the end of 2008 and have had some success.  Nevertheless, the recruitment activity must be an ongoing one if it is to succeed.  Fortunately, Brenda will continue to play an active role in spearheading this task.  Be ready to help her.

The second event is the launching of an updated web site.  www.marylandartleague.-com was an early exercise in using the internet to communicate with members and the outside public.  Over time, its look and feel became dated, and the functionality it provided was limited.  A revised web site is now available at the same site address.  It adds two major features:

(1)  A members’ gallery of MAL images, one from each artist.  The gallery pages can link to an artist’s gallery of up to 16 additional images by that artist.  The main objective of this members’ gallery is to provide an easy-to-use, attractive tool for managers of prospective exhibiting venues to review the work of MAL artists.  We believe that this will help us in arranging additional shows.

(2)  An online list of MAL members including an email address as well as links to an abstract, individual gallery, and external web site where they are available.

The current calendar and notice of the next meeting have been moved to the home page, the information about MAL and information for prospective new members has been revised, a page on exhibits has been added, and the number of people who can be contacted from the site has been extended.  Newsletters continue to be available on line, but they have been edited to remove addresses, phone numbers, and information already available on the home page.

Each member now must do two things.  First, look over the site and feed back suggestions and corrections.  Second, review what I have (or don’t have) for your abstract, gallery, and/or page on the members’ gallery.  In making this first cut of the new web site, I used only images that were already available to me.  In many cases, some of the images were too small or unclear to reproduce well, and I did not use them.  If you have slides that you want to use, mail them to me, and I will scan and return them.  If you send me images, make them JPEG, at least 6 inches in the longest dimension.  Your images should be sharp, distortion free, and limited to the image (with or without a frame.)   The abstracts in the present version are still crude, and I will come up with standards to revise them at some later date.  Until then, if you don’t have an abstract or members’ gallery page, be sure to send me an image plus a short artist statement for the abstract.  I plan to update the site on a quarterly basis; errors and gallery pages will be corrected as soon as they are reported.

I look forward to seeing you in February.

Future Exhibitions:

Wells Real Estate: May and November 2009

Community Art Gallery at Holy Cross Hospital, Spring of 2010 with Senior Artists Alliance, April 1st to May 31st 2010. Each group may hang 15 paintings of an average size of 16 by 20. This certainly is not many. They want a framed biography of each artist plus information for a press release. They also will have a reception.  They ask for a 10% commission.

MEMBER NEWS:

Ellie Dean's husband, Richard, passed away on January 6^th.   Memorial Contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 415 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. We at MAL send our condolences and best wishes to Ellie and her family.

Ann Eid and Cher Compton participated in an Art House Exhibition, November 2008

Ann Eid is announcing her upcoming course titled “The Artist Way”, based on the book: “The Artists Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” by Julia Cameron. There will be 12 Tuesday morning sessions, 9:30-11”30 AM, with first class on 3 March. Call her for more information at 410-531-3774 or e-mail her at ACEID100@aol.com.

Mary Ellen Gordon has had two paintings juried by Joe Fitzgerald into the Maryland Pastel Society’s every member exhibit at the Ratner Museum in January 2009.

Joyce Lister participated at an Art House exhibition on January 10^th.

Eileen Williams had a work accepted for Art Maryland, at the Howard County Center for the Arts through December 12.  Of the 360 works entered, only 50 were accepted for inclusion.