First Wednesday - Small Group Artist Connect

Last night (May 2, 2012) was the 3rd installment of AiA's First Wednesday - Small Group Artist Connect.

This event has been taking place at the Governor's Cup, 471 Court Street Northeast  Salem, OR 97301.

This week we started at 7:30 pm and over the period of the evening I am guessing at least 30 AiA members and friends showed up to sit down in a very informal format to talk about their art and to share their art with the group. Several members brought their portfolios and one or two members brought some of their original art.

I really want to thank AiA Board Member, Kristin Blix for all her hard work putting together this very worthwhile and successful project. As I have mentioned before I see the Small Group Artist Connect as the primary outreach to AiA members and the community.

I want to thank all the folks that showed up and helped make this successful. I also want to thank the staff at the Governor's Cup for taking care of us. We actually stayed about 15 minutes past closing and the staff was very understanding. ;-)

If Small Group Artist Connect keeps growing "we are going need a bigger boat"!

Thanks again to everyone!

NEW AIA BULLETIN BOARD FEATURE

If you look under ANY Bulletin Board Category you will notice that ALL postings now have a facebook and Twitter "button" at the bottom of the posting. This allows ANY VISITOR to post an individual AiA Bulletin Board posting to their facebook and/or Twitter feed.

When you click on either the facebook or Twitter button a popup window will appear where you can login into your facebook or Twitter account. Then you will see an excerpt of how the posting will appear on your facebook or twitter feed and also the opportunity to "Write Something..." Click the "Share Link" button and your done.

Please "test drive" this new feature and start sharing all kinds of great AiA Bulleting Board information with the rest of your world!

First Wednesday - Small Group Artist Connect

Hello Everyone,

We have created a NEW AiA Bulletin Board Category - "First Wednesday - Small Group Artist Connect"

Board Member Kristin Blix has come up with this great idea on how AiA Members can connect on a regular basis.

"...an informal setting where artists can meet, exchange ideas, share portfolios with each other and in general connect with other artists in a relaxed setting..."

Please visit the "First Wednesday - Small Group Artist Connect" category on the AiA Bulletin Board for more details.

Thanks to Kristin for coming up with this great idea!

Phil Krug - 2012 AiA President

Artists in Action 2011 - A year in review…

As AiA's 2011 official year comes to a close on January 17th 2012 I want to take a few minutes to recap the highlights and accomplishment of this past year.

Without all the fantastic help from AiA Member volunteers, the support of our community, the generous contributions of Merchants and our Sponsors, 2011 would not have been such a huge success.

Special thanks go to ALL the 2011 Event Chairs and their committees.

The VAST event, chaired by Cynthia Herron and Lorraine Dye

The World Beat Festival, chaired by Tricia Young. Tricia also donates the AiA double canopy setup for this event.

The Paint the Town event, chaired by Diane Trevett and Lori McLaughlin.

The Outside The Box, chaired by Diane Trevett.

The Something Red event, chaired by Marilyn Krug and supported by committee members Diane Trevett, Helen Wiens, Lori Pettenger and Joel Zak.
The 2011 Something Red event was a huge success and between Merchant and Sponsor support, the event brought in over $4,500 in fees and donations. The final numbers are still not in at this time but we are anticipating actually making a small profit from this event which will be a first!

Special thanks to Lorraine Dye for putting together and chairing two events at the Salem Heights Community Hall, Spring and Fall.

A huge thanks to Melody Fahey for continuing to chair AiA's only ongoing continuous art show at Spinnaker Place. 2011 was Melody's fifth year in making this happen and has rotated AiA artists through Spinnaker Place over 20 times!

Thanks to The Broadway Commons for providing AiA with a wonderful meeting space for our AiA Member Meetings at NO CHARGE for the entire year. And a special Thank You to Helen Wiens for making this happen.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the great support by the 2011 AiA Board, that without their help, time commitments and direction AiA would not exist.

Volunteerism makes AiA work and will continue to be the backbone of the organization.

Volunteerism is by definition is "the use or involvement of volunteer labor, such as community service and volunteering is generally consider an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve the human condition…"

Some "Technical" accomplishments in 2011
AiA Member Database
Online member registration and donation functions
Facebook and Twitter feeds



Thank you all, AiA Members!
Phil Krug
2011 AiA President

GREAT EXAMPLE OF WORKING TOGETHER

Its been a very long time since I have written on the AiA President's Blog. Lots has been happening since my last post in January this year.

I wanted to write about a great example of folks coming together to make great things happen.

Last year the Broadway Commons announced that it would be offering their meeting rooms at no charge to non-profits organizations. I jumped on this opportunity but the response had already been overwhelming. Broadway Commons General Manager, Tim France asked me to contact him in January of 2011 to see if the dust had settled.

I contacted Tim sometime early this year but the situation didn't seem to have improved. AiA's Vice President Helen Wiens said she had some "connections" with Salem Alliance Church, the owners of Broadway Commons and she was willing to see what she could work out. Working with Tim France, Helen was able to secure 6 months of FREE meeting space through August 2011. This was great news. Not only was this going to save AiA around $75/month but the facility was first class with all kinds of hi-tech equipment and services.

Broadway Commons informed AiA that after August 2011 they would be charging for the meeting space. Helen contact Tim French to see what that would mean to AiA, specifically how much would it cost and was pleasantly surprised when Tim indicated that the Broadway Commons would be providing meeting space to AiA free of charge through February 2012!

The Broadway Commons indicated that they have heard great things about AiA and AiA member Ron Wolf has been very good to them.

AiA Member Ron Wolf has many of his photographic works throughout the building and Salem Alliance Church commissioned Ron to create several pieces from subjects around the Broadway Commons neighborhood. These commissioned works can be found in the Grant Room (RM 206), large meeting room on the second floor.

AiA will be saving $900 over the course of the year we will have been at the Broadway Commons. This savings will translate into dollars that we can use for AiA programs and activities.

So a special Thank You to Helen, Ron Wolf and The Salem Alliance Church.

"I love it when a plan comes together."

Phil Krug
2011 AiA President

SHIRLEY JO FALCONER

As most AiA Member know by now, AiA Member and Board Member Shirley Jo Falconer passed away on Sunday January 9, 2011.

Shirley has been very active in AiA for the past several years along with her Husband David.

I am sure David would very much appreciate hearing from AiA Members.
You can send a card to David via US Mail.

David Falconer
1418 S. 7th
Independence, Oregon 97351

According to Shirley's daughter Wendy, there is no service planned at this time. The family expects to have some sort of "open house" when the weather warms, so there can be flowers in the garden. They plan to have a lot of Shirley's art to share with everyone and will be sharing stories about Shirley's life. Shirley's artist friends are more then welcome to attend. I will pass on any information regarding this event as soon as it is available.

On a personal note, I would like to say how much I always enjoyed talking to Shirley. Shirley opened my eyes to the medium of Fabric Art. I really enjoyed Shirley's quick wit. Shirley was much sharper them most of us. I will miss her as will others in the art community in and around Salem.

Please keep David and his family in your thoughts and prayers. David certainly has had his share of challenges in the past few years.


Phil Krug
2010 AiA President

2010 SOMETHING RED A HUGE SUCCESS

More photos HERE!

I want to take a few minutes to thank everyone for making this year's Something Red Event a HUGE success.

I visited several participating businesses on Wednesday evening and they all said they had lots of folks stopping by to meet the artists and look at the art. Several businesses said this was the busiest Something Red they could remember.


The Something Red Awards Reception and Ceremony at the Reed was Fantastic! Diane Trevett and Jody Bartruff really went all out putting together three huge tables of food and beverages! I think there was at least twice the amount of things to eat and drink then past years and that was a good thing because I think we had at least twice the number of folks attending the reception! I also need to thank all the folks that donated the food and beverages! Way to go!

Special thanks to Liza Marshall for chairing this year's Something Red event. Liza did an outstanding job of putting together all numerous parts and pieces. Most of us don't have a clue just how many hours go into making this event a success.

Thanks go out to Diane Marks for her Design of the new Something Red “look” helped inspire us all. She designed the posters, postcards and the map cards that you can pick up here and at each business. She worked with Lisa and did the artwork for all of the advertising for Something Red.
She also worked closely with Suzi Bicknell of GoDowntown Salem to design some of their advertising. Also helped keep Lisa sane during all of this!

Thanks to Miriam Selby for her advice was invaluable in getting Something Red 2010 o to good start and to keeping it organized.

A huge thanks to our Jurors! What a great lineup!
Our Jurors:
Catherine Alexander, Galleries Curator and Galleries Director of the Salem Art Association.
Paula Booth, MFA, Gallery Director and Assistant Professor of Art at Western Oregon University
Our Guest Jurors:
Mayor Janet Taylor
Bill Church, Executive Editor of the Statesman Journal
Suzi Bicknell, Director of GoDowntown Salem

Catherine, Mayor Taylor, Bill and Suzi all showed up at the Awards Reception and Ceremony at the Reed and presented awards to artist! I think this was a first!

Special "Thank yous" to Roger Yost and Rebecca Maitland for allowing us to use Trinity Ballroom for our Intake and Judging. Also for allowing us to use “Gallery 205” for the month of December. (Those artworks are currently hanging in the Reception area for tonight only and will be back in Gallery 205 on December 2nd.) And for their continued support of the arts in Salem and to Artists in Action in particular. We appreciate everything that they have done for us in getting “Something Red 2010” o the ground.

Another "Special Thanks" to GoDowntown Salem Director Suzi Bicknell. Our partnership with GoDowntown Salem helps provide AiA with a huge amount of publicity that we couldn't otherwise afford. I am convinced that this partnership really helped make this year's Something Red so successful.

I want to thank all the The businesses that continue to support the Arts here in Salem and participate in “Something Red 2010” :

Reed Opera House
Allesandro’s Restaurant
Art Department
Cascade Bakery
Calusa Studio
Dave Wilson Designer-Goldsmith
The French Unicorn
Greenbaum’s Quilted Forest
Jonathan’s Restaurant
Rountree Gallery
Roy John Designer Goldsmith
Umpqua Bank
Wild Pear Restaurant

And last but certainly not least, all of the volunteers that helped with the intake of more then 100 pieces of art and those that helped get the artwork distributed to the participating businesses over the 2 weekends! On both days art was distributed we had at least 15 volunteers show up to make light work of the process. I think on both days we scheduled 5 hours to distribute the art but on both days it only took 2 hours to complete the tasks!
Thank you all so very much!!

MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK - SOMETHING RED

Just a quick note to thank all the folks that showed up Saturday, November 20th to help choose art for this year's Something Red business locations. I think about 15 people showed up to help.

Art was distributed to several business locations and the balance was moved from the Ball Room on the 3rd floor of the Reed Opera house to room 205 of the Reed.

The weather cooperated and we did not have any rain.

We stared around 11 am and were all done by 1 pm, two hours ahead of schedule!

But the need for volunteers to help distribute art for this year's Something Red is NOT over. We will need volunteers to help distribute the rest of the art on Monday November 29th. We will meet at 11 am in room 205 to distribute the remaining art.

I will be sending out a "call for volunteers" soon and hopefully we can get at least as many folks to help out as we did on Saturday.

ARTISTS IN ACTION MEMBER DATABASE PROJECT

For over a year the AiA Board has been creating specifications for a new AiA Member Database System. The cost of this project is in part being offset by recent grant AiA received from the Oregon Arts Commission. Below is an abbreviated description of the project for those who have any interest in the "nuts & bolts" of the AiA Member Database Project. This project is being implemented by Design Dance and is only possible by the generous pricing structure that Design Dance offers non-profit organizations such as AiA. Thank You Design Dance!

The really GREAT part of having all the AiA member information in a database is that it only gets inputted ONCE which greatly reduces the chances of "key punch" errors as well as GREATLY reducing the labor and time to make AiA email lists and "Our Members" web page current. I think having this database will greatly increase the possibility of recruiting board members and officers in the future since they will not have to know any specific applications.

Project Description:

Create an member management system to perform the following tasks:

Basic online member management system includes:

Secure admin login

Member management page to add/edit edit members.

Automatically update the member mailing system with current e-mails.

Automatically send a welcome message for new members.

Our Members page will automatically display member information from the new system.

Admin Report to display member information.


New Member Sign-Up Screen includes:

Sign-up screen for new users to enter their information and pay their 1st membership dues online.


Automatically process member payments option includes:

Automatically send an e-mail with a payment link to any upcoming renewals.

Also ability to send an individual renewal message.
Online payments will be processed through PayPal (www.paypal.com).

ARTISTS IN ACTION'S FIRST GRANT!

Artists in Action is the recipient of a Oregon Arts Commission Arts Recognition grant award! October 2010 - September 30, 2011. This grant is for the support of Artists in Action to increase marketing and development, to increase recognition of Artists in Action.

This grant is given by the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Thank you Oregon Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts!

SUMMER IN THE CITY 2010 -- A FEW OF DEGREES OF SEPERATION

AiA Members Linda Lowery, Kathy Lull and Marilyn Krug with "Country Joe McDonald".

Despite the searing temperatures on Saturday and Sunday, I think most of the AiA Members that participated in this year's Summer in the City event had a great time. Sales were low but the energy between AiA Members and artists and event goers was very high. Saturday night had almost a "full house" when "Cherry Poppin' Daddies" hit the stage.

Sunday brought special memories for some of us when Joe McDonald showed up to have a bite to eat and talk to several AiA members. For those that don't remember, Joe McDonald is the legendary Country Joe McDonald of Woodstock fame and is best remembered by some of us for his performance of The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag. "Give me an "F"... ;-)

Joe McDonald also played a tribute to John Fahey. AiA member Melody Fahey can fill you in about the life and times of John Fahey if you are interested.

Special thanks to Suzi Bicknell and Mike Patton for bringing this year's Summer in the City event together. Also a huge "Tip of the Hat" to all the High School kids that showed up very early Saturday morning to help us setup some of the AiA Artist's booths.

Phil Krug
2010 AiA President

Summer in the City AiA booths


Bud & Lorraine Dye "enjoying the heat"


Homer "taking it easy"

Suzi Bicknell & Ron Wolf

"Outside the Box" 2010 --

There are a couple of things that really stand out from this year's "Outside The Box" event and I wanted to take some time to acknowledge them.

First off, according to our preliminary calculations we have FAR exceeded previous years in terms of the total dollars we raised through this event. On Sunday we added up all the top bids and came up with a total of about $1,250 gross! We think previous years netted no more then $800. Of course we still have some expenses to deduct but it looks like 2010 will be a banner year for our "Outside the Box" event.

I do want to thank all the AiA members that contributed their time and talent to make this year's event a smashing success.

I want to take a moment to also thank one contributing artist in particular, Layne Young. Layne is NOT a member of AiA but when I told her about AiA's "Outside the Box" event she immediately wanted to donate one of her pieces to the event. Layne is one of the Studio Artists at Project Space 2010 and I would invite all of you to stop by Project Space 2010 to check out Layne's art in the Studio Artist Gallery.

Once again, Thank you one and all for making this year's Outside the Box event the event to remember...

Phil Krug
2010 AiA President

PROJECT SPACE UPDATE

Main Gallery Space

Studio Artist Gallery Space

I would like to invite everyone to visit the Salem Art Association's Project Space 2010 event as it enters its second month.

Project Space 2010 is an outstanding venue for seeing some very creative and cutting edge art. Project Space 2010 has over 20 local and regional artists contributing to this event.

Michael Boonstra is the Gallery Artist for July.

Jennifer Gimzewski, Layne Young and Marilyn Krug are the featured Studio Artists and have their gallery setup in the back on the first floor for the entire month of July.

Some background information about my role at Project Space 2010:

My role at Project Space 2010 is to document the entire 3 months of this event and create a book of this time period. Additionally I will be creating a second book related to Project Space 2009.

These "books" will document these events through images and text and be given to key participants of the events. Additional copies will be available to the general pubic for the cost of publication.

I have also become the chief facilities person, providing lighting and such for the exhibits. By default I am also doing all the design, hosting and administration for the Project Space 2010 web site.

Project Space 2010 is located at 150 Liberty St, NE, Salem Oregon. Open Tuesdays - Thrusdays 11 am till 6 pm & Fridays - Saturdays noon till 7 pm. Closed Sundays - Mondays

For MUCH more information please visit the Project Space 2010 web site.

Hello Everyone!

I just want to take a minute to thank you ALL for making our May Member Meeting a HUGE success. I especially want to thank all the folks that help "toast" Roger Yost at last night event. Rebecca Maitland for getting Roger to our meeting, Nancy Gorrell for the outstanding lettering on the very large champagne glass we presented Roger, Diane Forsberg for risking her life opening the many champagne bottles, Joel Zak for his talents in photographing this event, Lorraine Dye and Brigitte Cobb for all their help and to Marilyn Krug for doing a wonderful job introducing Roger and sharing all the background information about Roger and all the wonderful things he does for the arts in Salem.

You can see Joel's photos on the AiA flickr site HERE.

I also want to acknowledge and thank our speakers at last night's meeting.

Dan Zeitman from the Oregon Peace Works and his presentation about the MyPeace Project.

April Waters for her outstanding presentation about her "Contemporary Women Leaders for Peace and the Environment" project. It was wonderful to hear what went into this project and what inspired her to create this beautiful and meaningful body of work.

Thanks again for a great Member Meeting,
Cheers,
Phil Krug
2010 AiA President

SALEM ART ASSOCIATION'S PROJECT SPACE 2010

Wednesday, June 2 - Exhibit Opening Reception at Project Space!

This summer, the Salem Art Association will once again present Project Space, an experimental, evolving venue for contemporary art exhibits, lectures, and events. Project Space 2010 will take place at the Metropolitan, located at 150 Liberty Street in downtown Salem. An opening reception for the first of three exhibitions is slated for June 2 from 5:00-7:00 pm.

Open Mondays - Thursdays 11 am till 6 pm & Fridays - Saturdays noon till 7 pm Closed Sundays

Project Space 2010 runs through August 2010

I have been asked to photo document this year's Project Space event and will create a book of photos and details about the artists and their works.

The Metropolitan location is over 9,000 square feet of space and offers some unique opportunities to participating artists.

Please check out more about Project Space 2010 HERE.

Hope to see some of you on June's First Wednesday (June 2, 2010) at Project Space 2010!

Mike Nord and Makoto Matsushima will be performing on June 2,2010 at 7:30 pm.
Please plan on coming a bit early since no one will be seated once the performance has started.

Cheers,
Phil Krug

ART SPEAKS: Are you Listening? --- enters the "BLOGESPHERE"

The AiA "Art Speaks "Are You Listening" event is really gaining a LOT of attention!

Barbara Curtin from the Statesman Journal has just posted a very nice piece on the Stateman Journal's "Mid-Valley Arts Notes" blog.

Additionally AiA is very excited about the upcoming First Wednesday event on May 5th where AiA's "Art Speaks "Are You Listening" event will be partnering with the folks putting on the National Historic Preservation Month.

Downtown celebrates National Preservation Month with the introduction of the new historic walking tour brochure, a component of the Preserve America Grant. The brochure compliments the historic plaques that are now on display in 32 locations, most within the downtown core. Join City leaders and period costumed characters who will introduce you to a self guided tour of the Downtown Historic District. Inspired, cultural singing by Rich McCloud starting at 6pm.

ART SPEAKS: Are You Listening Event Goes International!

AiA member Mitch Clason sold one of his pieces from the "ART SPEAKS: Are You Listening" event to Rachel Price-Kreitz, Professor of American History at the University of Strasbourg, Alsace, France.

Rachel is "collecting" art from Oregon Artists and the AiA "ART SPEAKS: Are You Listening" event was the perfect opportunity for her to see and purchase art. After talking with Rachel I know she would have bought a lot more art from AiA artists if she could have figure out how to fit it all in her "carry on" bag.

Congratulation to Mitch for making his first "international" sale and a big "thank you" to Rachel for dropping by the AiA "ART SPEAKS: Are You Listening Event".

Rachel is here on a sabbatical while her husband, Ludwig Kreitz, who is at Willamette University on a "teaching sabbatical" teaching courses on the History of European politics as part of a faculty exchange program with the University of Strasbourg.

As part of the faculty exchange program, Willamette University President Lee Pelton is taking a sabbatical for the Spring of 2010, during which he will be in residence at the University of Strasbourg. President Pelton's area of academic focus is 19^th century British prose and poetry, and his duties at the renowned French school may include teaching but are likely to focus primarily on research.

Cheers,
Phil Krug
2010 AiA President

"ART SPEAKS: ARE YOU LISTENING?"

Last night's "Art Speaks: Are You Listening?" reception and kickoff was a HUGE success. We are guessing at least 200 people came to the reception.

I want to personally thank Roger Yost for providing the space for the event! I also want to thank Suzi Bicknell of Go Downtown and Maitland for being the catalyst for this event and working with AiA Board Member Marilyn Krug to make this event happen.

Also on my list to thank for their help with the reception is Randy Flook who provided the wonderful music and Jon from the Wild Pear for providing a wonderful assortment of food and drink.

I want to thank AiA members Marilyn Krug, Mitch Clason, Lorraine Dye and Joel Zak for the MANY hours of VERY HARD work to put the "Art Speaks: Are You Listening?" event all together AND for their continued support in helping provide access to the general public through May 8, 2010.

These folks came together to not only do all the hard work of taking art in on Saturday April 3rd but they also did all the work associated with "staging" the art and producing a very professional exhibit. I was very impress with how the upper level turn out and how may people at the reception "found" their way upstairs to enjoy both the art and to discuss the art with the artists and other folks attending the reception.

Special "THANKS" to Diane Trevett for updating the AiA "sandwich" boards!

I want to thank ALL the AiA members that are participating in "Art Speaks: Are You Listening?" exhibit. I think there are about 140 pieces of art being displayed! You all deserve a huge thanks from the community for your efforts. Several times I overheard "visitors" stating how professional the art was and how well it was presented.

Thank you again, one and all for making AiA the best artist group I can imagine. I am very proud to be a member of AiA and look forward to many more outstanding AiA events in 2010.

Additional photos from the Art Speaks Reception are HERE.

Phil Krug
President AiA 2010

OREGON CULTURAL TRUST!

I wanted to let folks know that there is something out there that should be of interest to all artists and art patrons that not only makes sense but in this case is a true "no brainier".

Its the Oregon Cultural Trust Oregon Tax Credit Program....

Typically when we make contributions to "cultural" non-profit organizations we are able to deduct those contributions from our federal and state taxes. This is always nice but there is a way to contribute a LOT more and won't cost you a penny!

The Oregon Cultural Trust has a program that allows you to "match" your contributions to your favorite cultural non-profit organization(s) to the Oregon Cultural Trust. The Oregon Cultural Trust has a list of 1,200 Oregon cultural non-profit organizations which are qualified for this program and Artists in Action is one of those organizations.

You can read all about this program HERE.

I encourage you all to take a look at this program and seriously consider sending a matching contribution to the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Cheers,
Phil Krug
President Artists in Action

CALL TO ARTISTS: “Art Speaks: Are You Listening?”

Thought I would let folks who follow this blog know about another GREAT AiA event coming up in April 2010.

This is a RARE and SPECIAL opportunity!

An Exhibit at the Capital Center in April 2010 invites the public to encounter “ART SPEAKS: ARE YOU LISTENING?”

Location: Capital Center Tower, 388 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301

Original Art Due: Saturday, April 3, noon-3 p.m.
Setup Dates: Monday-Tuesday, April 5-6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Exhibit Dates: April 7 – 23, 2010
First Wednesday Reception, April 7, 5-8 p.m.
Pick up Date: April 24, 2010, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Please look HERE for complete details.....

All this information will be sent out to AiA Members very soon and it is also available on the AiA Bulletin Board under the "Opportunities" category.