Meeting Minutes: Women in Focus, August 12, 2009
Taken By: Valerie Gruner
Meeting presided over by our president, Gittel Price
Members and Guests Present: Delera Booth, Gittel Price, Tiffany Wiegel, Hazel Berger, Ledra Davis, Anne Berry, Andrea Brown, Jan Kapoor, Ruth Gogel, Dana S. Kemp, Joanne Green, Myrtie Cope, Valerie Gruner, Vickie Bethel, Sheri Garza-Pope, Peggy McKinney, Gail Des Jardin, Shiela Robinette, Linda Rathke, Debra Booth, Cindy Michaels, Rita Nicholas King, Mary Ann Mitchell, Phyllis Waugh, Gretchen Georges, Denice Lee, Virginia Twinam-Smith, Paula Eubanks, and Brenda May. Ladies, please write your names legibly, as your secretary is not a cryptologist.
New Ladies:
Brenda May enjoys photographing animals, including in Africa, and her niece.
Peggy McKinney likes to photograph things that don’t talk back.
Paula Eubanks shoots anything and everything.
Members in Shows:
Ruth Gogel has two pieces at the downtown library, two pieces in the South Cobb Arts Alliance annual juried show, and a piece at Art Station.
Virginia Twinam-Smith has work at the Terminus Building.
Hazel Berger has work at the Shady Side Arts Festival in Pittsburgh.
Anne Berry has work in the Photo Review in Pennsylvania.
Members accepted into the Slow Exposures show are Shiela Robinette, Joanne Green, Lucinda Bunnen, Susan S. Barmen, and Theresa Sicurezza.
Vicki Bethel is in the show at the Kennesaw State Fine Arts Center.
Cindy Sheffield Michaels has a solo show at the Archive Gallery through September 18.
Special Announcement: Alicia Kay Gelfond-Holtz was named HEad of Photography at Little Creek Conservancy.
Get your own portfolio page on the Women in Focus website! Gallerists look at our page, and if you’re not on it, your work isn’t seen. You can link to your own website from your portfolio page. The instructions are posted on the website. Please follow them, especially in regard to sizing your images, so that our web-master does not have to spend extra time (for which we pay) publishing your page. Also, keep the number of images down to 15.
Everything you could want to know about Women in Focus is on the website including all the information on the three WIF ACP shows. Use it!
WIF Survey:
Debra Booth went over, in general, the results from the survey she put online, to which almost have of the membership responded.
More than 70% think the organization is doing a Good to Excellent job at “benefiting you and your pursuits as a photographer.”
More than 70% rate the communications they receive from WIF as Good to Excellent and ranked minutes as the most effective, followed by emails, discussions at meetings, and the website.
57% have been in WIF 1-3 years, and 75% are 45 and older.
50% were invited to join WIF by another member.
54% attend 5 or more meetings per year.
64% belong to Facebook, 28% belong to Yahoo groups, and 24% belong to Linkedin.
63% have had their own show and/or have been in a show with 5 or fewer artists.
Several members may not participate in shows either because of the cost of entering or the cost of producing pieces for the show.
Although no one rated themselves as a “Novice,” several members indicated a desire for mentoring and help to move to higher levels of achievement.
Framing Help:
Members have frames, and members need frames. Our juried show as well as the Digital Arts Artist Choice show both require 16x20 black frames (with white mats), and because this is a frequent requirement for shows, some members have a surplus of such frames. To help out in these trying economic times, members with extra 16x20 black frames are encouraged to bring them to the September 9 meeting to share with members who would appreciate the help.
Do you Facebook?
If so, please join the Women in Focus group (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=97148752614). Amira Price has graciously volunteered to managed it, and maybe we can entice her to give us a little demo of its capabilities for the club at one of our meetings. The point of having a Facebook group is to provide an online presence for members to interact with each other, ask questions, share ideas, and get information about the group.
Kathryn Kolb Workshop:
It’s a workshop for Women in Focus members down at the Serenbe artist village. Email updates and further detail will be sent, but it’s to be a day of portfolio advice, image advice, and some shooting. Have 20-30 images on a disk or flash drive, and prints, too, if you’d like. Six members at a time is the limit, and about six raised their hands for the terrific opportunity. Another such workshop will likely be scheduled for September.
Turning in Prints for the WIF XVI Juried Exhibit:
Ladies had their prints, they were assigned a letter, and they assembled their submissions in their 9x12 envelopes. Fees were paid, envelopes submitted, and our precious packets went off to be juried by Julien Cox. Believe it or not, this process constituted the bulk of our meeting, but relating it in the minutes takes up only this small paragraph.
Good Luck, Everyone!
My thanks to Debra Booth, who’s excellent meeting agenda aided greatly (and was, in some instances, directly plagiarized) in compiling these meeting minutes.