Meeting Minutes 5/12/08

Sparkplug minutes

5/12/2008



prepared by Jenny 5/19/08



First…an update:



Deborah and Josh welcomed little Zoë into the world on the Wednesday, the 14th. Everyone is doing well. She weighed 6lbs 3 oz and was 19.5 inches long.



Now down to business…



Members present: Karen, Lisa, Mike, Mark, Jenny, Kathryn and Peter. New people Christian Benefiel and Eva Hennessa.



Discussion:



Membership – It was discussed how to move forward with projects and still get the maximum enthusiasm and strength to continue in each project. The question of how large is too large was brought up and also if there should be criteria for membership. Several characteristics were discussed of fellow artists that we would hope to look for in someone entering the group. Development of a body of work, accomplishment, seriousness and commitment to working practice of art were all qualities and criteria we would like to look for. Further discussion will happen at the June meeting.


Blog – it is now public. The question of how it can benefit the community as a whole was discussed, as our findings from Learnapalooza were that there were some people that were really enthusiastic about creating, but may never actually want to join Sparkplug. Our question is how do we continue to reach out to those individuals?


E32 presentation draft: Lisa and Lea-Ann have done a great job in getting the draft of the presentation together. Lisa compiled all the images curated by Lea-Ann and put them together in a running slide presentation; each artist has 4-5 images. We did a couple run throughs of the presentation and made any necessary change notes. It was discussed that the show may run in June or September in New York. The general consensus was we would rather have it run in September to allow everyone to possibly get the time off to go see it. Lisa needs all info ASAP to complete the presentation. The presentation will be in it final format for the next meeting.


Cuisine des Artistes presented by Karen: DCAC’s biannual fundraiser is coming up on Wednesday May 28th. Sparkplug members are highly encouraged to participate in some way. Please contact Karen as soon as possible if you are interested in participating. If you are contributing food/art, Blair needs a paragraph bio and the “title” of your piece for the event by TODAY.


Arlington Arts Center proposal presented by Peter: We will be putting together a proposal for the Arlington Arts Center Community Gallery. The space is 13’ x 35’. Jeffrey Cudlin, director of exhibitions would like us in there in early 2009. Some issues to address in the proposal are: site specific to Arlington, how is Sparkplug’s mission different from DCAC’s, What is our idea of a collective. Several of these will necessitate a meeting with Mr. Cudlin to clarify. The idea of a sub-committee to take care of the initial dealings and proposal was brought up to make sure we submit a clear and concise proposal.


Eve Hennessa presented her work.


Next meeting Sunday, June 8th at 3pm at Jenny’s house in Kensington; poolside with potluck BBQ to follow. The meeting will happen from 3pm to 4:30pm then let the potluck begin! I will be inviting other artists to the potluck as a social art gathering. The pool should be open by then so bring your suits if you are interested in swimming. Please RSVP to jenny.walton@gmail.com this meeting and I will forward directions.


AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
i. Continue discussions of membership
ii. View final presentation of E32 submission
iii. Arlington Arts Center proposal
iv. artist presentations (if any)
v. exhibition exchange with San Francisco collective Agent Peach

The Associated Press: Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg dies in Fla. at 82

The Associated Press: Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg dies in Fla. at 82

This is such a huge loss to the art world.

pricing artists DVD's for sale

This information came to me thru Lea-Ann while hanging the Sparkplug show - and I realized what a great resource it was - hard to find discussion of it anywhere out side the gallery system. It gives good reason to burn & complete these things before you exhibit them. This all made more sense when it was in someone elses words. Thanks!

pricing artists DVD's for sale
AP (Artist Proof) would be priced the highest. For future knowledge, the number of APs in an edition is contingent upon how many copies make up the edition. There should only be one AP for every third of the edition. If there is an edition of three so that means 1 AP. If there is an edition of 10--you would have 3 APs.

SPARKPLUG at Learnapalooza 2008 Saturday, May 10th

Hope you're planning to join us this Saturday for Learnapalooza DC
2008! Check out this awesome selection of workshops at DCAC:

http://www.dcartscenter.org/sparkplug.htm


SPARKPLUG at Learnapalooza 2008


Artist Materials 101: 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM taught by artist, Jenny
Walton
This short demonstration will take you through materials that artists
have traditionally used up to today's vast variety of widely available
media. We will explore the transition from dirt to paint and
everything in between, focusing on the genres of drawing and painting.


*Black and white
Graphite & Charcoal, Differences between each, how are they made
Inks: Sumi and India
Commercial – traditional vs. modern (natural and synthetic)


*Color pigment – what is it and where does it come from?
Natural vs. synthetic
How does it get mixed to create different mediums
Watercolor, Gouache, Oils, Acrylics, Pastels


*Paper - Small history lesson on papermaking
Examples today’s vast variety
Usage
Eastern vs. western methods


*Painting Grounds
Canvas vs. linen painting


Stretching Your Own Canvas: 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM taught by artist, Peter
Gordon
This demonstration (with a handout) will give people the knowledge to
stretch their own painting canvases in order to save them money and
increase their sense of ownership using a three step demonstration so
people can see the process first hand before attempting in their own
studios.


Demonstration supplies:
• Unprimed canvas (3 pieces, roughly 14-17 inches each)
• Stretcher bars (six 11 inch/ six 14 inch length bars)
• Canvas pliers (1)
• Staple gun (1)
• staples (plenty!!!).


Framing Tips: 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM taught by artist and museum
preparator, Mark Planisek
In this demonstration the canvas that was stretched in the earlier
class is placed in a widely available standard size commercial frame.
Students will get pointers on the different fasteners that can be used
to hold the canvas in the frame, how to wrap a professional picture
wire, when to use D-rings and what kind of hanging nail to use with
each hanging mechanism.


Plus 60 more, learn Mandarin, Improv, Meditation, Juggling, Yoga,
Capoeira, Photoshop, Photography, Pool, and dozens of other things...
all for free.
. l
http://learnapaloozadc.com/workshops/list


AND... AFTER THE WORKSHOPS, LET'S MEET UP FOR DRINKS!


Learnapalooza After-Party
7-10 PM, Saturday May 10th
Local 16 (1602 U St NW)
$4 Learnapalooza drink specials


See you there!


P.S. If you want to help out, email i...@learnapaloozadc.com. We need
volunteers Friday evening 6-8PM and Saturday all day.

Next meeting is planned for Monday May 12, 730 PM

Hello - Next meeting is planned for Monday May 12, 730 PM at DCAC,
definitely in the gallery - we need to de-install. For the 7 that
were in the show - if you can’t make this meeting you need to let me
know ASAP so I can arrange to get you in to pick up your stuff on
Sunday nite.
Agenda items for next meeting

1- deinstall - post-mort show & learn-a-palooza and document what was
great and what we need to do better


2- presentations
Kofi Dofour cannot make the meeting on Monday so will have to present
later.
I have had inquiries from five or so new people. If you are one of
those new people and would like to present some slides let me know
ASAP. Bring a CD of only five or so jpgs representing your most
current work and plan to talk for 5-10.
3- Working on getting a draft of the E32 project to screen - but not
sure that is going to come through in time for Monday - if it does
we’ll show it


4- Talk about Cuisine des Artistes - DCAC really needs everyone to
help with this. I am glad many of you have mentioned ideas to me, but
you really, really need to email bstan...@dcartscenter.org so he knows
you are confirmed and can put you in touch with the coordinator for
the event. We can brainstorm more ideas at the meeting as it would be
fantastic if everyone that was just in the exhibition could do
appetizers and talk about your experience so far with Sparkplug to the
guests (those that can ‘show us the money’) at this event


5- Talk about my draft for the new Sparkplug web page on
dcartscenter.org as well as possibility of documenting the 1st show
with an online publication


6- plan a June meeting some where other than DCAC (the show that comes
in after us will be de-installing both Sunday and Monday) - options
could be another party or meet at a museum or someone’s studio,


7- decide what you want to do about meetings for July & August so I
can let B & DCAC know


8- ~ALWAYS ALWAYS feel free to email me anything else you want to talk
about or think needs to be added to the next meetings agenda-AND
ANYTHING I MAY HAVE FORGOT!

Photos of some of the Sparkplug installation at DCAC that ran from May 2 -11, 2008.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone that helped make this show a reality. Can I just tell all of you how impressed I am with everyone's contributions and thankful I am that you have welcomed me in participating in this experience. The learning and resources shared by this "gang of nine" in the past 4 weeks has surpassed what I had ever imagined and is only the beginning.