Ken and I were talking about how many artists will be setting up at the Convention Center and realized we have no idea. For sure Ken, Dana, and myself will be there. I believe Char Howington and Betsy Baltzer will also have work there.If the room is mostly empty it will not be a good thing for us. Also, if we do not plan a way to get some foot traffic in there we may all be disappointed.  I know the city is buying some advertising on WLW talk radio. I really do not believe that will bring a lot of art lovers into our town, but I may be wrong.

Hi everyone – Area art teachers are excited about our upcoming Poe art show for students!

Below is a rough draft I came up with for an application for the Art Contest.  We can make the applications available to the school art teachers, and in other art venues.  I’ll also make them available for download on the ORVAG website.  We may be able to have them available on the museum’s website .

Please use this blog post to make suggestions/improvements and have a conversation about the event.

CALL TO ENTRIES

The Ohio River Valley Artist Guild and Kentucky Gateway Museum Center invites you to participate in a special art contest illustrating works from the book, GREAT TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.    .

REQUIREMENTS:

Artwork can be in any medium, including painting, drawing, photography or sculpture.  Artwork will be displayed at the Ohio River Valley Artist Guild in Old Washington for a special  exhibit on October 26^th at 6pm-9pm.  There will be a public reception where prizes will be announced for all categories.

PRIZES:

MANY prizes are available in both YOUTH and ADULT categories  with 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd place winners and honorable mentions,  including (but not limited to):

• of individual tales and poems
• by medium (pencil, acrylic, clay, fabric, etc.)
• by age groups (YOUTH ONLY)
• by amateur/professional artists(ADULTS ONLY)
• most original
• best of show

DEADLINE:

All entries must be delivered to the guild or museum NO LATER THAN October 19 with this application filled out.   2 dimensional artwork must be ready to hang (in a frame with a wire).

ARTIST NAME:_____________
ARTWORK TITLE:___________
MEDIUM:_________________­
TALE OR POEM USED FOR ILLUSTRATION
________________________________
CIRCLE ONE:     ADULT/YOUTH
YOUTH, enter Age _________
ADULTS, circle one AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL

SUBMIT ENTIRES TO:

OHIO RIVER VALLEY ARTIST GUILD
504 Duke Of York Street
Old Washington, KY

Or

KENTUCKY GATEWAY MUSEUM CENTER
215 Sutton Street
Maysville, KY

More information available:

http://www.orvag.org

Wethersfield Cove in Winter

Ken I had to change my e-mail address because sam got bombed for expressing his openion in the news paper. Our new username is rfbevard@localnet.com. please update my info with this new address when you get the chance.

Dear All,

Thank you all for including me in this exchange. I will report to the DBG both by email and at the next meeting. Following  your lead I will recommend that we vary representatives to participate in your meetings. Our meeting is held on the third Tuesday of the month at Daily Grind, at 8:30 AM. Please join in. I am a firm believer that working together can only benefit the entire community.

As of today I have had a few contacts with potential locations in Downtown. I have put out the word and as I get a list I will pass the info on to you so you can follow through.

1) I spoke to Janet White at the US Bank. She is more than happy to work  with local artists. If you  go in and speak  with her she will figure out what best suites the bank and what suites the artists.

2) I know that Willow at R2B has always wanted to display art so she is another person to contact.

3)Chan at Chandlers is opening up a new facility and is very open to displaying your work.

I am waiting for more responses. I have emailed  all our members.

Just to confirm our next meeting will be Tuesday 18th Aug @8:30 AM. And  yours is Wednesday 19th Aug. @5:30PM.

Laurie

We are in the process of moving all of the bisqueware and glazes to the downstairs studio and creating a gallery area in its old place. No one has really come up with a definite plan, and I think we need to throw out some ideas and decide how best to use the area. My vision is to put fine art on the walls representing all of the  painters and 2D folks who want to be a part of this. I would love to use the middle of the area and in front of the big windows to display pottery, sculpture, etc. Since there are now so many of us working in 3D….Dana, Betsy, Mollie,  Aaron, Ken, Bill, Amy, Pam, myself, and soon to be Carol and Steve, and of course Marjorie, we need to decide how best to do this. I would love to be able to have a few things there to show friends and prospective collectors, such as Tom has with his photographs. I would also love to see the guild showcase all of us. Steve Herndon told me the other day how impressed he is with the energy and vision of our group. He sees a lot of guilds and found ours impressive. I agree.  Anyway, please throw out your ideas, and, anytime you are at the guild and want to make a trip or two down the steep steps with some bisque, it will be appreciated.

On another note….in clearing the new area we found water on the floor. Aaorn was there during a heavy downpour and saw water running down the wall. It appears to becoming in near the front door area. I am not sure who we contact or how we fix it, but wanted to make sure the problem was addressed.

At last week’s meeting, Laurie Watt (E.A.T. Gallery), from the Downtown Busiess Group joined our meeting to introduce some ideas the Downtown Businesses had to promote our area, and  involving the local arts.

She suggested that a member from the guild attend their monthly meetings, and in return a member from their group attend our monthly meetings.  That way, we can plan activities that compliment each other, and both groups are on the same page.  I think that instead of the same representative attend each month, we both send a different person.  That way, each group can become familiar with each other’s members…and keep the meetings fresh.

August 24-29 – will be Customer Appreciation Week.  On the 29th, Market Street will be closed off for festivities, and artists are invited to participate in an art walk.  Downtown Businesses have volunteered to give artists a space to show their work.  We should recieve a list of participating businesses soon.  Jacob Werline (J.W. Gallery) is also sponsoring an art contest that weekend.  I encourage all local artists to participate.  He has “stepped up” to provide a show space for local artists, and I think we should do everything we can to support a local art gallery showcasing local artwork.

Businesses have also offered to display local artwork in their windows on a more permanant basis.  They also want to use artwork for display in empty windows.  It would be good to know who is interested in participating so we can match artists with windows.

The Business Group has been providing folders with information about Maysville businesses to our hotels.  It would be great if we were able to include information about our guild and local artists.

October will be flower month downtown, the businesses will sell bulbs as a fundraiser.  Maysville will recieve a governor’s award for the arts in October.  We might want to consider having a party to celebrate Maysville’s hard work in becoming a stronger cultural arts community.

The businesses want to produce and sell something like t-shirts (or notecards) that features local art.  We were invited to share in the cost/profits from those products.

The city of maysville offered the guild the use of the convention center during the Rosemary Clooney Festival (September 25-26).  We will need to bring our own display, and if we want to serve refreshments, they must be catered.

There was also a great idea of closing the Simon Kenton Bridge to have an art show/festival.  It would be a WONDERFUL and UNIQUE event for Maysville.  We are going to find out if it would be possible to close the bridge and have that kind of event.

Finally, they had an idea of Buffalos similar to Lexington’s horses, Cinci’s Pigs, and Chicago’s Cows.

they all sound like great ideas to me.  My notes are not so good, so please correct me if any of my facts are incorrect, and PLEASE add you ideas/suggestions/comments.  This blog post is meant to continue the discussion.

At last week’s meeting, we discussed our annual fundraiser.  We need to come up with ideas and a date.  October 10th was suggested, a few members were going to be out of town.  We have not committed to the date, so maybe we can consider a different date.

It was mentioned that we would like to try something different and “upscale” the event, possibly charge our patrons for a nice dinner.  There was an idea that we could have a “themed” dinner, like Italian food, decorating the guild in italian style.

Another idea was to have a “battle of the art” where artists created work as a performance for the public to enjoy.

I personally think that since we are starting to work more with the community through the museum’s BIG READ, and the Downtown Business Group, those groups are more likely to support OUR event.

What kinds of ideas do you all have?  Let’s brainstorm and get some great ideas to bring to our August 19th meeting.