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