President’s Letter

Greetings!

The Guild has begun another busy season with our Art Attack exhibit at the Naples Art Association! The exhibit is a great success,

and will continue through October 26! Congratulations to our winners, Angela Aradia, Tania Begg, Jim Sobel, Jay Lana, Pamela Jones,

Kathy Erickson, and Diane Port, and to Dee Cooper, Sue Archer, and Francine Gerson, who sold pieces the night of the reception!

Many thanks to all of the Guild members who participated, and special thanks go out to our talented installation team on another job

well done in a very challenging space. Removal is Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 11 AM – 1 PM.

The first business meeting of the season at the Alliance for the Arts in Ft. Myers was also a great success. The space is large enough to accommodate our growing membership, and everyone enjoyed the farmers’ market as well. Our October meeting will be held at the Alliance on Saturday, October 24, with refreshments beginning at 10:00 AM. The meeting will begin at 10:30. Toni Ory will conduct a presentation on framing your art as the program for the meeting. Two events at the Alliance are coming up in October. On Saturday, October 17 the Alliance holds its annual Fall for the Arts event from 10 AM – 3 PM. The Guild will have an information table there, and we will be promoting the Guild and recruiting new members. Please stop by for an extremely enjoyable day. On Saturday October 31, the Guild will be conducting the first of two Artists@Work demo days at the Alliance. Guild members will be demonstrating their art from 10 AM – 1 PM, again in conjunction with the Green Market Farmers Market. This is another enjoyable event, so please come out and support the Guild and celebrate Halloween! Warm Wishes, Lorraine

Southwest Florida Fine Craft Guild Business Meeting

September 19, 2015

President Lorraine Capps called the meeting to order at 10:30am. She welcomed us to our new meeting place at the Alliance

for the Arts and also welcomed new members and guests. The minutes of the previous meeting (April 18, 2015) were

approved unanimously.

Dee Cooper reported on the treasury. We have $3053.09 currently. There was an explanation of the $175 fee for meeting at

the Alliance. But they waived the fee for our Guild membership which was $150 so we actually are paying only $25 for the

year.

Membership: Kathy Erickson gave the Membership report. We have 114 members, 103 paid. Last year we had an average of

39 members at our meetings.

We are always looking for sponsors and advertisers and need one for our last show of the year. It would be $1500 and they

would get lots of exposure from us plastering their names around in conjunction with the Guild.

Thanks to the Hospitality Committee for organizing the food today. We are short on drinks today, so that’s an easy thing to

bring to meetings. Be sure to put your chairs away, clean up the food that you’ve brought, and take any dishes or bowls you

brought. Also, from now on we will be recycling the plastic utensils, so please do not throw them away. You may leave them on

the counter instead.

Art Council Update: The regular schedule for the Co-op Gallery at Coconut Point Mall will start up again. The next receiving

day will be October 5th. They’ve sold well this summer and the Guild continues to sell the most of any group.

Art Attack winners: First Place: Angela Aradia, Variegated Amber, Porcelain Crystal; Second Place: Tania Begg, The Bachelor,

Sculpture; Third Place: Jim Sobel, Picking The Cluster of Bosc Pears, Florida Mahogany; Merit Award: Jay Lana, It's a Bug's

Life, Sculpture; Honorable Mention: Pamela Jones, Shelliquary Statue, Mixed Media; The Judge requested two Judge's Choice

Awards: Kathryn Erickson, Dur et Mou (Hard and Soft), Grass, Pine Needles, Agate, Roving Palm Inflorescence; and Diane

Port, Viking Knit Necklace, Sterling Silver and 14K Gold Filled. Francine Gerson, Dee Cooper and Sue Archer all sold pieces on

the night of the reception.

Fun and Funktional People’s Choice Awards: First place winners are Carolyn Gora for Reversible Fun Fan; Kelly Flaherty

for Chess set; Jay Lana for It’s all fun and games; Lorraine Capps for Sea Spray Luminary. Second place winners are: Dale

Weber for Cosmic Clock and Martha Grattan for License Plate Magazine Rack.

Sip and Send Holiday for Heroes: The deadline for Holiday for Heroes donations at Sip and Send is Friday, September 25th.

They are one of our advertisers and we want to support them and our troops. Despite the late September deadline members

can still support this great cause by donating money. Lorraine will also check to see if they are willing to give members a

second, later deadline.

Members were reminded that the Guild will always collect non-perishable food at every business meeting for the CCMI Food

Bank. Pam Richardson volunteered to deliver the Guild’s donations to CCMI.

Volunteers are always needed. The most critical position that will need to be filled is the Treasurer position as Dee will not be

able to continue in that capacity. Because there are laws about this, the Treasurer must be a full-time Florida resident. The

nominating committee will start looking soon but Lorraine asked members to consider asking a spouse or family member to

step up. Dee said it takes, at maximum, a couple hours a week and she does much work online, like receiving and paying bills.

There are other key positions that also need to be filled which were discussed.

Vote on new logo: The point was made that we should think about how the logo is going to be used and how it would look on

a t-shirt, flyer, etc. Stan felt we didn’t have enough choices, others felt we should go back to the drawing board. There was one

vote for the first choice, 21 for the second, and 16 for the third choice. We also voted if we should go back to the drawing

board. Then voted between choice number two and starting over. Number 2 won.

New Business and Announcements

Next meeting: Saturday October 24, 2015, refreshments start at 10am

Fall for the Arts, Alliance for the Arts, Saturday, October 17, 10am – 3pm

Dog Days, Members’ Exhibit, Alliance for the Arts, removal is Monday, September 21, 9am – 5pm

Aquarium show: removal from CCAS is Friday, September 25, 9am to 3pm

Dale reminded everyone that the Alliance is doing a recycle show and a recruitment drive.

Lydia Black stopped by to welcome us and encourage Guild members to join the Alliance.

Martha announced she would be teaching a parent/child clay class on Saturdays at CCAS.

Pam announced several fiber art shows.

Meeting adjourned at 11:18pm.

The meeting was followed by an informational presentation about the upcoming Fine Craft Expo.

The Guild is in need of a treasurer for next season in order to stay solvent as an organization. This is Dee Cooper's description of the job:

Description of Treasurer Position: Each month for the Guild Board meeting, prepare a report of the incoming and outgoing money that has been received and or paid out. Balance the Guild checkbook. Pay any bills that appear. Largely the bills we incur are advertising for exhibits and our annual expenses for insurance, state and federal reports, printing of membership directories. These can be handled for the most part on line. Our Publicity Director has our advertising people email the invoices to us and our insurance company does the same thing. I have been available for our exhibit's receiving, but someone else could handle the member entrance fees at receiving if the treasurer is not available. (If I am available for a receiving, I could volunteer to help with this.) The annual reports for both the state and federal are done online and are very simple to complete. The state is essentially looking for address changes and changes in our board. The federal report is essentially the same but shorter and we don't have to file a tax report as long as we are not handling more than $50,000 a year. It does not require a great deal of time, a few minutes here and there for the bills. Balancing the checkbook does not take long as we don't write a lot of checks. The busiest time for checks is during the spring for the scholarships we give. I have attended the exhibitions that these awards are given out at, but that is not imperative, as long as the President has checks for the awards. It takes about an hour to organize the monies in and out for the month and print the report.

NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION: Beginning with the upcoming season, the newsletter will no longer be printed and mailed to those who do not have internet access and/or printers. The costs are too high, and there are conservation issues to consider as well. Those who are affected can have a family member or friend receive the newsletter via email. They should contact Sherry Moesch to be added to her email list: shergale1@gmail.com. Also, the newsletters can be accessed by going to either our Facebook page (Southwest Florida Fine Craft Guild) or our web site: (www.swflfinecraftguild.org).

If you'd like someone added to the general Guild email list, so they will receive all Guild emails, contact Lorraine Capps as well as Sherry: lorrainecapps@embarqmail.com.

2015-2016 SWFFCG Business Meeting Dates:

All meetings will be held at 10:00 AM

At the Alliance for the Arts: 10091 McGregor Blvd.

Ft. Myers, FL 33919

Saturday, September 19, 2015 Saturday, October 24, 2015

Saturday, November 21, 2015 Saturday, December 19, 2015 Saturday, January 30, 2016

NO MEETING IN FEBRUARY DUE TO THE FINE CRAFT EXPO AT CCAS ON 2/13/16

Saturday, March 19, 2016 Saturday, April 16, 2016

OCTOBER 2015

1 2 3

4

5 Receiving at Co-op Gallery 10AM-1PM

6

7

8 Co-op Gallery Reception-4PM-6PM

9

Color: Bold, Bright and Beautiful-VAC receiving 9AM-12NOON

10

SWFFCG Board Meeting-CCAS-10:30AM

11 12 13 14 15 16

17 Fall for the Arts-Alliance for the Arts-10AM-3PM

18 19 20 21 22 23

24 SWFFCG Business Meeting-@Alliance for the Arts- 10:00-12:30pm Toni Ory-Framing Your Art

25 26 27 Art Attack, NAA at the von Liebig Art Center-Removal-10AM-1PM

28 29 30 Set-up for Artists@Work Alliance-3-5PM Art in 3D-Big Arts reception-5:30-7:30PM

31 Artists@Work-Alliance for the Arts-9AM-1PM

NOVEMBER 2015

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 Receiving at Co-op Gallery 10AM-1PM Drop off at Alliance-200 under $200 and Holiday Wreath

3 4 5 Reception at Co-opGallery-4-6PM

6 7

8 9

10 ACSWF-Gen’l Mtg. – 9:30AM-1PM hosted by Pine Island Art Association

11 12

13 14 SWFFCG-Board Meeting-CCAS 10:30AM

15 16 17

18 19 20 21 SWFFCG Business Meeting@Alliance for the Arts-10:AM

22 23 24 25 26

27 28

29 30

Congratulations to our Art Attack winners, Angela Aradia, Tania Begg, Jim Sobel, Jay Lana, Pamela Jones, Kathy Erickson, and Diane Port. Congratulations to Renee Farr on the birth of her new grandbaby, Ripley Joseph Flusche. Sandra Johnston will be teaching a knitting workshop at the Alliance for the Arts November 7, from 9:30-4PM. For more information contact: www.artinlee.org. Lynn Ondercin and Trudy Sampson will each have two pieces in the Big Arts Sculpture Exhibit October 14-November 27. Reception Friday October 30 from 5:30-7 PM. Jay Lana will be participating in the following shows: Dark Art 9: The Dark Wave - Sidney & Berne Davis Center- Mechanical Juried Exhibit at Alliance for the Arts, and Art in 3D: Juried Sculpture Show at Big Arts-Oct. 14–Nov. 27 - Artists Reception: Friday, October 30 at 5:30pm. Sherry Moesch has a ribbon cutting creemony by the White County Chamber of Commerce and open house at her new studio and gift shop in Cleveland, Georgia Oct. 8th and will be teaching a class in Viking Knit Jewelry at the Alliance for the Arts on Nov. 21, 2015. If you are interested contact the Alliance for the Arts at: www.artinlee.org to register. Dale Weber’s Mechanism of Rebirth took Third Place in the Mechanical Juried Exhibit at the Alliance for the Arts! He also has a piece in the Art in 3D Exhibit at Big Arts. Rose Young will be participating in Art Quilters Unlimited "Cityscapes - A Slice of Ft Myers" Traveling Art Quit show at the Harborside Event Center - until Nov. 13, 2015 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: Teri Chan, (Clay), wife of Alex Chung, has joined us. Her contact is: CCTChan@yahoo.com, 166 SE 20th Street, Cape Coral, FL 33909, (518) 527-6215. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE: There are 115 members. 41 members attended the first meeting at

our new location and also took advantage of the Farmers'

Market. The new Yearbook is available so come next meeting and

be sure to pick up the book with your name printed on the back

cover. Since there is NO storage for us it means Kathy has to

carry your book around until YOU pick it up! If you can deliver a

book to another member, it would be greatly appreciated. Help

our Guild grow by signing up new members. Our next event is

Fall for the Arts, October 17, where we can introduce the public to

our Art Expo or artists to our memberships. Come join our table

and talk about the Guild.

CO-OP ART GALLERY UPDATE:

The Gallery enjoyed a successful summer with above-average sales. Guild members sold very well as usual!

October Receiving is Monday, October 5, from 10 AM – 1 PM. The Receiving process must be completed by 1 PM. Participating artists are allowed a total of eight pieces in October, with four of them being wall pieces. Gallery hours will return to the regular schedule: Tuesday through Sunday, and the hours will be 12 Noon – 6 PM every day the Gallery is open. Receptions will resume as well for the season. The October reception will be held on Thursday, October 8 from 4-6 PM. Participating artists are encouraged to help advertise the receptions and invite friends and family. Receivings are the first Monday of the month, from 10 AM – 1 PM. It is essential that you arrive at the Gallery for Receiving in time to be completely finished by 1 PM. In order not to be rushed, please arrive at least by noon. The gallery sitting schedule can be found on the Art Council’s web site. If you must change your sitting date, it is your responsibility to find a replacement AND you must email Ginny Whiteman at ginny@whiteman.net AFTER you have found a replacement. Ginny must have updated information regarding the sitting schedule. There is a list of people at the front desk who are willing to sit for a price of $50. For the latest information on the Gallery, you may consult the Gallery Prospectus and Art Council newsletters for details. Both can be downloaded from their web site: www.acswf.org.

CCAS GUILD CASE: The Guild’s display case is located in Building 2 of CCAS. CCAS retains 30% of the sales, so work should be priced accordingly. New members and members who have never shown in the case before should take advantage of this opportunity. Contact Alex Chung at alexchung 20032003@yahoo.com to reserve your spot. October 2015: Edie Limbright November 2015: Analilia & Randy Clay December 2015: Zdenka Fiala January 2016: Fine Craft Expo February 2016: Fine Craft Expo March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016

ALLIANCE FOR THE ARTS: Many opportunities exist at the Alliance for both members and non-members. Check their web site for further information: www.artinlee.org, or call 239-939-2787.

1. 200 Under $200 Alliance Member Exhibit – Alliance for the

Arts invites 100 members to submit original 2D or 3D

artworks for an exhibit in the Main Gallery. All works

must be for sale. Drop Off: November 2.

2. Recycled Holiday Wreath Roundup: Members Exhibit

at the Alliance for the Arts – Create a holiday wreath for

this special exhibit in the Theatre Lobby. Wreaths will

be sold to patrons. Drop off: November 2 3. Color: Bold, Bright & Beautiful, VAC, Receiving Friday,

October 9, 9 AM - 12 Noon. www.visualartcenter.org

SALVATION ARMY OF LAKE WORTH, FL:

Arts Fair and Bonanza 2015 seeking artists for Nov. 14, 9-4PM show. Contact: Suzette Newcomer at 561-319-4486 or Michelle Kay at 561-294-0547 if interested.

CALOOSAHATCHEE CHAPTER OF THE DAR:

Calling all Veteran artists to join their second annual art show

from Nov.7-21 at the SW Florida Military Museum at the Cape

Coral Library. For more information contact Sonia Lomano at:

sonialomano @gmail.com.

Since the Guild is a small, all volunteer organization, it is vital that all members volunteer in some way. We are extremely flexible and will work with you to ensure that we consider your schedule and other needs. You must volunteer in order to participate in Guild art exhibits. If you volunteer for a one-day event, such as Receiving at an exhibit, or Artists@Work, you will be able to participate in one exhibit. If you volunteer for two one-day events, you will be able to participate in two exhibits, and so forth. If, however, you volunteer for an on-going position or job such as officer, director, committee chair, committee member, etc., you will be able to enter all Guild exhibits during your tenure. Advertising Committee: We are in need of a Chair and committee members. This is more important now than ever since our Treasury is in need of replenishment after a busy Scholarship season! We can all help by trying to secure advertisers and sponsors for our exhibits. Our sponsorship application can be found on our web site: www.swflfinecraftguild.org. Click on the Meet our Sponsors button in the upper left-hand corner to download a copy. They can also be available at meetings. The application details the costs of advertising. If you know a company or individual who is interested in sponsoring an exhibit, please contact Lorraine regarding the cost involved as it varies by exhibit. Art Council Delegate: The Art Council Delegate goes to most Art Council meetings (November through April), and reports to the membership all Art Council and Co-op Gallery news and developments. The Delegate also collects information for the Art Council’s biennial Winners Circle Exhibit, presents it to the Board for approval, and provides that information to the Art Council. Art Council Meeting: The Guild and CCAS are co-hosting the Art Council meeting on December 8, 2015. The meeting will start at 9:30 AM. We will need hosts and we will need to provide a light breakfast and coffee.

Artists@Work: This day of demos is typically held twice a season at the Alliance for the Arts. We still need a few volunteers for our second event on Saturday, March 5, 2016 from 9 AM – 1 PM during the Alliance’s Green Market Farmers’ Market. Guild members demo and sell their work. The Alliance does not take a percentage of sales. Please contact Lorraine Capps if you are interested in participating. Buddy System: We need to pay more attention to our Buddy System. We’ve had many new members join over the summer, some of whom have asked for help that this system can provide. When Dave Sampson returns in October, we will be working more to insure that everyone who needs help has it. Established members who are active in the Guild are assigned to a new member and make themselves available to explain all facets of Guild activities, answer all questions and concerns, sit with new members during meetings, and generally help them become informed and feel comfortable as quickly as possible. Please contact Dave in October if you’re interested in being a mentor. Fine Craft Expo: Newly named for 2016, this is our annual fundraiser for CCAS where we conduct workshops throughout the day. We have all of our workshops and teachers lined up! We will have 15 workshops this season! This event will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2016, and will replace our monthly business meeting. Participation in this event will earn you credit for attending the February meeting. We are still in need of volunteers for this even though we had many people sign up at the Sept. Guild meeting. We will also need donations of art work for our raffle, which will benefit our scholarship fund. If you would like to help out, please contact Lorraine Capps. Peoples’ Choice Awards: This job involves printing the paperwork for the awards, as well as tallying the ballots after each exhibit. There are copies available of all paperwork from previous awards to make updating easy. Recruiting Committee: We are in need of a Chair and committee members. This too is more important than ever because we have a new meeting place at the Alliance for the Arts which will allow us the space to continue to grow our membership. Treasurer: the 2015-2016 season will be Dee Cooper’s last season as Treasurer. We must have another Treasurer lined up in order to continue as an organization. The sooner we fine one, the better, since the new Treasurer would be able to shadow Dee this coming season. Dee estimates that this will take about 2 hours per week. Please contact Dave Sampson at davesamp@comcast.net to

discuss volunteer needs and assignments.

UPCOMING GUILD EXHIBIT: Elemental Art: Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water, CCAS: Run of the exhibit: February 5-25/16 Receiving: Monday, February 1, 2016, 9-12 Reception: Friday, February 12, 2016, 5-7 (Joint Reception with Fine Craft Expo) Removal: Friday, February 26, 2016, 9-3

HARBOUR VIEW GALLERY: Harbour View Gallery seeks monthly Featured Artists. They currently have openings for 3-D. This program offers artists a

place to show and sell their designs to the public for a one month period. During the month, the gallery features these two artists on the website, in local magazine publications, and hosts a wine reception in their honor. Serious applicants can obtain more information about the benefits and requirements of Monthly Featured Artist by contacting the gallery at: art@harbourviewgallery.com. Please use “Artist Opening” as the subject of the email to ensure your message gets prompt attention. An application can be obtained on their website: www.harbourviewgallery.com.

TRACK YOUR ARTWORK!

It's challenging to keep track of what pieces we've put in

which shows. Now there's an app for that! Go to your app

store and search for Artwork Tracker and Artwork Tracker

Lite. They also have a Facebook page

SPONSORS NEEDED!

We've had a very successful summer season of giving to kids' arts camps at the Alliance, CCAS, and BIG Arts, however, it has left our Treasury depleted.

We all need work to find advertisers and sponsors for the Guild so that we can

fund our scholarship program for the upcoming season. One way that would

help is to find sponsors for our exhibits. We have another exhibit right around the corner in Naples, so we need to focus on that area. We could start

promoting it and our sponsor(s) now if we had them. Costs for our exhibits

vary with the venue, and the cost for our Naples exhibit will be $1,500. We will heavily promote our sponsor(s) on our web site, in our newsletters, on social

media, as well as in print in our publications and publicity. We are a 501(c) (3)

charitable organization, so the sponsorship would be tax deductible. Proceeds will be used to fund our scholarship program with art awards at FSW, FGCU,

and Cypress Lake High School, as well as summer art camps for kids at CCAS,

the Alliance, and BIG Arts. Sponsorship brochures are available for download

on our web site: www.swflfinecraftguild.org. Please approach any businesses in Naples that you are familiar with and ask for their sponsorship.