ACGA Clay & Glass National

Kelly Berning, The Proportionist, Ceramic

The ACGA Clay and Glass National will open at the City of Brea Art Gallery January 22, 2011, with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Congratulations to all of the artists whose artwork was accepted, and thank you to all who applied. Approximately 400 pieces were entered into the competition and 82 works were selected by the juror, Jo Lauria, to be displayed. The exhibition awards are:

First Place - Kelly Berning, Fallbrook, CA

Second Place - Bill Zarvis, Bethel Park, PA

Third Place - Julia Feld, San Jose, CA

Juror's Award - Gary Marsh, Novato, CA

All of the artists juried into the exhibition are:

Shannon Abac, Steve Allen, Sonia D. Barrios-Roman, Steve Belz, Kelly Berning, Trent Berning, David Bogus, Monica Chapon, A. Blair Clemo, Nan Coffin, Jim Connell, Annette Corcoran, Patrick S. Crabb, Jean Nunez Donegan, Luz Mack-Durini, Virginia Eckinger, Pamela Eisenmann, Gary Erickson, Julia Feld, Mark Goudy, Rowan Harrison, Bill Heiderich, Michael Hermann/Gina Lunn, David Hooker, John W. Hopkins, Stephen Horn, Christina Lynn Johnson, Tasha Kali, Shane M. Keena, Yumi Kiyose, Noriko Kuresumi, Heldegard Linggawidjaja, Mary Alison Lucas, Gary Marsh, Lynne Meade, Peter Meyer, Kate E. Nelson, Kevin Bradford Nierman, Beth Ozarow, Kathy Pallie, Peter Pincus, Tom Post, Barbara Prodaniuk, Charlene Doiron Reinhart, Michelle Rial, Liza Riddle, Gail Ritchie, Audrey Rosulek, Bethany Rusen, Jonnie Russell, Adrian Sandstrom, Carla Sarvis, Yoko Sekino-Bove, Jose Sierra, Amanda Small, Linda Smith, Aimee Sones, Penelope Comfort Starr, Kala Stein, Staria Stine, Wangling C. Stokes, Cheryl Tall, Charles Timm-Ballard, Kent Tool, Adam Waimon, James Wayne, Ian Winsemius, Cheryl Wolff, Fred Yokel, Bill Zarvis


The City of Brea Art Gallery is located at One Civic Center Circle, Brea, California 92821. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., $2 admission, exhibition closes March 4. Visit http://www.breagallery.com/

Bill Zarvis, Emerging Green, Glass


Julia Feld, The Bridge, Ceramic

Letter from the President: The ACGA Jury

Before I became president of the ACGA, I was on the Board of Directors for many years. One of the many persistent, ongoing issues that are brought up from our members and from the Board itself is the jury system. Everybody knows jurying into the ACGA as an exhibiting member is a tough process. Prospective exhibiting members have to haul their work to San Francisco, hang out for a few hours while the jury considers their work, and then drive home late in the evening. It's trying, and nerve-wracking. Most people in any group of candidates do not get in. Many exhibiting ACGA members have had to jury two or three times to get in.

The jury's judgment about work is subjective, but it is not capricious. I've been on the jury several times over the years and I've always been impressed by the seriousness of purpose the jury members bring to the process. The ACGA's mission statement is to establish and maintain high standards of craftsmanship and design in clay and glass, and as the jury considers each person's work, that standard is held first and foremost in each juror's mind. Matters of personal taste are put aside as the work is evaluated. Long discussions ensue when the jury is split. Work is held and examined from different angles. Jurors step back and examine the body as a whole. And then, when everybody has had time to formulate and opinion about the work, there is a vote, and the majority rules.

Even with this careful process, there is no doubt that it is imperfect. Most members of the jury do not feel happy to turn away so many. I know as a former juror that I walk away from the process feeling a bit deflated that it is not perfect, worried that the people who get turned down will not be willing to try again. I think it is always worth a second or third shot, even more if it is important to you. But I hear from people, and I know that there are people out there who are not willing to go through the process again. I often wonder of there is a more perfect way to jury work, of making sure that people do not fall through the cracks.

I like to hear about people's experiences with the jury, whether good or bad. Members, both associate and exhibiting, should know that the jury process has been refined over the years and changes made in response to feedback. There are certain things that cannot change, we cannot lower the standard. But there are always tweaks that can be made, ways to make the jury process more perfect. What are your ideas?

Whitney

Letter from the President: Here we come Rinconada!

I'm assuming everybody knows we are not holding the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival at the Art Center next year. If you didn't know that, well: we are not holding the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival at the Art Center next year! The Art Center will be undergoing some long-planned renovations and will be closed at the time of our show in 2011. We will be holding the 2011 Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival at Rinconada Park, conveniently located right across the street from Palo Alto. If you take a peek at Rinconada on a satellite map, the show will held in and around the tree covered area West of the Fire Station, and in the big tear-drop shaped grass area a bit north.

I am really excited about having our show at Rinconada Park. I walked the grounds last week with our promoter, Mary Lou Atkins, and other members of the PACG sub-committee, planning where and how booths would be arranged. I am happy to report that any fears I had about the park not being big enough or an otherwise inappropriate venue have been laid to rest. Mary Lou easily placed all of the booths, so there is no issue with some artists getting shut out due to space. We will not have an indoor area, but we will be renting a large tent and placing it on the cement splash pad that is tucked away in some trees just South and West of the Rinconada Pool for our artists who are usually in the Studio area. Being under a tent is not exactly the same as being indoors, so for those artists usually inside, please think about the potential problems you may have ahead of time and let us know what we can do to help create a solution.

The biggest problem with changing venues is educating our customers about the location of the new show so we don't lose potential sales. We are working closely with the staff at the Art Center on this issue and they will be helping us with volunteers to direct patrons, and of course we will have plainly visible signage to help people along across the street. Fortunately Rinconada is easily seen from the Art Center and a quick hop across Newell Road, so I think the confusion will be minimal.

The application for 2011 will be coming out soon. Please take the extra time you will need to thoroughly read the application and understand the adjustments everybody will have to make to participate in the show and make it go smoothly for all concerned.

Questions? Ideas? Concerns? Please write to me via email or post a comment under this article on our blog.

Exhibition Opportunities Source

There is only a month to go until October 30th, the postmark deadline to enter the ACGA Clay & Glass National Juried Competition. Here are some things to think about before sending in your entry. If your work is to hang from the ceiling it should not exceed 40 pounds. All other work should not weigh more than 100 pounds, and not exceed 60 inches in any direction. Multi-section or segmented work is welcome. Work too fragile for public display should not be entered. For questions about the show email 2011acganational@gmail.com For a prospectus go to www.acga.net and look for a link on the right side of the homepage.

Looking for others places to show your work? Check out Art Opportunities Monthly. The ACGA National is listed there as well as many other competitions.
http://www.artopportunitiesmonthly.com

Letter from the President

For the past three weeks, I've been traveling with my husband through Belgium and Holland, completely by bicycle. This is a trip we've been planning for over a year, and dreaming about for far longer. Since I've been spending hour after hour pedaling my bike, primarily in contemplative silence throughout the countryside, I've had plenty of time to think about the effects of travel and what it means to me.

When I was an adolescent and thinking about the way I wanted to live as an adult, I thought traveling the world would be one of my main priorities in life, and I could think of no other reason to work, except to earn enough money to travel. As I got old enough to start traveling, I realized that travel is actually quite taxing, and not always the transcendental experience I wanted it to be. While moments of wonderment and joy do happen, they are passing, like everything else. As I've been on this trip doing some of my favorite things in life-- bicycling, drinking the world's best beer, eating fried food, and hanging out with my husband-- I'm all too aware that I am unfortunately still me, and people are still people. While bicycling 35 km from Gent to Brugge in a downpour is a challenge, it's nothing compared to what goes on inside my own head.

I think it is a shared human experience to want to escape from ourselves, at least temporarily, and there are many ways to try and accomplish that. As we pedaled across endless canals in Holland on our way into Amsterdam, I realized that there are only a couple of things in life that work as an "escape hatch" for me, and one of them is creating pottery. Travel helps feed my curiosity and creative impulse to keep the engines turning, but creating art is my ultimate journey, my reason for being. I think many people in the ACGA share the same journey, and my question is: what feeds your artistic sensibilities? Are you doing the things you need to do to keep your art from just feeding on itself? These are questions every artist faces, I'd love to hear your answers.

ACGA National

Just a reminder that the entry deadline for ACGA's first national juried competition is only two months away, with an October 30th postmark. This competition is open to all US artists who create handmade clay and glass artwork. You do not need to join ACGA to enter. The show will take place January 22 through March 4, 2011, at the City of Brea Art Gallery in southern California near Los Angeles.

ACGA members and City of Brea residents are entitled to a discounted entry fee. They can enter three pieces for the entry price of two ($25), or enter two pieces for the price of one ($15). An entry of just one piece will not be discounted.

It is a good idea to have your artwork professionally photographed. Entries must be submitted on a CD, at 300 dpi, no longer that 6 inches, and jpg format. In the San Francisco area I can recommend J. Jones as a photographer, 415-773-8784. In Los Angeles I like K&M Photography, 310-306-7574, www.kmdigitalphoto.com, ask for Tim. Most photographers will resize your images and put them on a CD for a small extra fee.

Go to www.acga.net for a link to the prospectus. Email questions to 2011ACGAnational@gmail.com

Letter From the President

I hope everyone who showed their work at the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival had a good show and even better sales, though I know some people did not. As I'm sure many already guessed, our sales were down this year. It is easy to explain it by saying it's the economy or maybe even World Cup! But I happen to think there are any factors at work when it comes to whether or not people buy at any given show, and the economy is just one factor.

Two weeks after Palo Alto, I did another show at Fort Mason called the Renegade Craft Fair. The Renegade Fair is a very different show from Palo Alto in that it highlights "indie craft and design," a term that is partially a code word for the next generation of young, emerging craftspeople and artists. Despite the differences between Palo Alto and Renegade, I couldn't help but compare certain aspects of the two shows. While Palo Alto caters to a sophisticated and educated buyer/collector, the Renegade largely brings in the 20 and 30-somethings, younger people who are just starting to establish homes and families, and are very interested in buying handmade and local.

The Renegade crowd doesn't have the big bucks that we see in Palo Alto, but what the two audiences have in common are a serious dedication to connecting to artists and learning to appreciate handcrafted items. It made me think about how many of our audience members at Palo Alto are getting older, and not as interested in collecting anymore as they retire and move into smaller homes and a different phase of life. Even many of our exhibiting members are getting older and to be frank, I do not see the next generation of clay and glass artists replacing them in our exhibiting membership. Where will that leave the ACGA in another 15 years?

As your "next generation" president, one of my interests is bringing in the next group of emerging artists and buyers to our association. But I can't do it by myself. Paying dues and showing up once at year at Palo Alto isn't enough to keep the ACGA relevant and interesting. I need members with ideas, energy, and a dedication to being active within our community. Come to a board meeting to pitch an idea, mentor a younger artist through the jury process, write an article for the newsletter. These are just a couple of things any member can do to keep the juices flowing, both for ourselves and our future. What do you think?