Lone Star Art Guild Meeting (LSAG)

Saturday, LSAG held its first planning meeting for the 2010 convention. We met at the The DaVinci Artists Gallerywhich is an artist owned gallery located in the heart of downtown Tomball, TX.  BEAUTIFUL!  The three host leagues for next year’s convention are: Woodlands Art League (WAL), Tomball Art League (TAL), and North West Art League (NWAL). We voted to

 

Woodlands Art League Mail Call

In order to promote ourselves, encourage more member participation, and communicate with those not yet members of our group, we have decided to mail a postcard out to all current and past members on a quarterly basis.

1st Quarter Postcard

Beginning January 5th, I will take a handful of postcards to the local libraries, Woodlands Welcome Center and other public places. This is just the first step taken to increase WAL’s visibility in the community and to remind others and ourselves of our mission, which is: “…to further the cause and interest in the visual arts through teaching, programs, demonstrations, exhibitions, and community involvement.

WAL is organized exclusively for educational purposes and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

 

It’s that time again

It has been awhile since I last posted to this blog and since the very successful work done with the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival (WWAF) in April of 2008. The Woodlands Art League (WAL) was awarded a check in the amount of $5,000 having clocked 360 volunteer hours working in the Artopoly booth and at various other jobs. We are gearing up once again to be a part of this wonderful event and are very excited and hopeful we will see the same type of commitment in hours worked for the festival coming up in April 2009.

 

Some pictures of our groups

This one is of Vida and me. We were co-chairmen of the Float committee for The Woodlands Art League. 

Here we have the “Sunday” crew that helped on the “Flora and Fauna a Child’s View” scratchboard project. We had 16 sections of a mural that approx. 200 children at the festival helped us create. All of the pieces will be matted, framed, and installed in the Montgomery County Women’s Center. The children’s names, ages and hometown will be displayed as well. Thank you to all of the children who lent a hand in producing this art piece and to the hard-working crew, led by Elissa Fletcher, who put it all together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is just a sampling of the more than 50 volunteers who made WAL’s projects happen during The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. The weekend was a huge SUCCESS for our group and the community.

Thank you Abilu Studios for these great pictures and for the Face Painting/Picture Booth at the festival.  Please check out their website: Abilu Studios Abby and Luis Salazar.

 

Woodlands Art League @ Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival on Sunday

 

WE WON!

What a surprise! We won “Best of Show” for our float.

The trophy was designed by artist: Robert Rynearson. Thank you Robert, for such a beautiful piece of glass!

 

Woodlands Art League at the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival-Saturday

What an absolutely wonderful day! We had so much going on, it was hard to take pictures of everything but I will get more shots on Sunday.

 If you want to download any of the pictures for yourself, here are the steps to take:

1.       In the lower right-hand corner of the slide show you will see View All Images. Click on it and you will be taken to a new window.

2.       As the images scroll by and you see one you like, Click on it and you will be taken to a new window.

3.       Below the picture and on the left-hand side you will see View Full Size. Click on it.

4.       The picture will open in the same window. Click on the picture again to make it as large as possible. Now, Right click on it, choose Save Picture As and save it to your computer.

 

 

The Octopus has EMERGED!

Name of the Float:  Art Reaches Out

Brief Statement about the theme:

An octopus has many arms that reach out much like the many creative arms of the members of The Woodlands Art League who further the cause and interest in the visual arts through teaching, programs, demonstrations, exhibitions, and community involvement.

Many artist were involved in the design of this float and contributed their own special vision of WAL and its members. The float is made completely of wood, except for the three plastic barrels we used for flotation.

Names of people on the team and contributing artists:

Committee Co-Chairmen: Theresa Thornhill and Vida Tuminas. Committe members: Linda Henderson, Scott Burke, Kelli Varner, Kim Abbati (and her daughter’s Girl Scout Troop), Terri Harris, Fred Hulser, Dee Meredith, Doris Provost, Mary A. Crabe, Allan Boase, Elissa Fletcher, Martha Barr, and Betty-Ann Brose.

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited we ALL are with the completion of this float behind us and the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival’s water parade in front of us! There were a few “re-thinks” while we were assembling the float but everything worked out great in the end!

 

Octopus Sushi…sort of

I spent a good part of the day yesterday, cutting octopus tentacles, a head and ocean waves out of 1/4″ plywood for the Woodland’s Art League’s float entry in the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. Today I delivered the pieces to several different people so they could paint them in any way they wanted. All of them should be done within 2 weeks and then the float assembly will begin! I can not even begin to explain the tremendous weight that was lifted from my shoulders when the last piece of the octopus was handed out! Pictures will be posted as soon as the octopus makes its way back into my possession.

 

Old posts moved from Blogger

2/29/08 

wal-float.pdf

WAL Float Material List and Specs

  

2/22/08

Hello all!I just wanted to get everyone caught up on our project.Vida Tuminas is working on a preliminary sketch of an Octopus for our float to be presented at our meeting on 2/28. We want to represent WAL and include as many members’ talents as possible so……… the octopus will have a couple of arms sculpting, a couple of arms painting, 2-3 arms will be trailing the float or providing support to the structure, and the remaining arms will be representing other forms of art our league members produce like ceramics and photography. In order to include jewelry makers and glass fusing artists, the octopus will be wearing jewelry/beads etc.These are the things I will be requesting from league members at the meeting on the 28th. (Whatever is not offered/loaned/donated will have to be purchased.)1. A place to actually build and store the float until launch on 4/12
2. Floatation material ie., air mattresses, inner tubes (Terri, I will get with you and Dee about a time to meet and test Dee’s inner tubes)
3. Building material ie. tubing, flexible hose, pvc pipe
4. Shimmering fabric or plastic tablecloths…maybe both
5. More will come to me between now and Thursday

Deadline for our application to participate is 3/14. We will need a $100 entry fee and a sketch/diagram of our float. WWAF will let us know something within 5 days of turning in the application concerning acceptance of our idea.

I know there are several of you who will not be available after mid-March, I will speak to as many of you as I can at the meeting on the 28th to find out what sorts of things you can get done ahead that the rest of us can assemble later.

Thank you all for your participation.

See you on Thursday!

2/12/08

Have you seen the article in The Villager covering WAL’s exhibit at the library?http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19284857&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=636248&rfi=6

2/12/08

We have guidelines and a theme for the float!!! I just checked WWAF’s website and found this:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
For the first time, we are kicking off the festival with a parade of floats down theWaterway. Your float handlers will guide your float down the Waterway Saturday morning.After judging and awarding of TheWoodlandsWaterway Cup, the floats will be anchored anddisplayed throughout the festival weekend.
How to Participate:
Interested participants are invited to submit an application along with a rendering and briefdescription of their entry. For detailed information, requirements and application click here.
THEME: WATER CREATURES

DEADLINE: March 14, 2008Notification of acceptance within 5 working days of application deadline.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________Direct link is here: http://www.woodlandsartsfestival.com/floating-art-parade.htmlI want you all to put on your thinking caps! Our board will need to approve the $100 entry fee and material costs. The Board of Directors’ meeting is Monday 2/18. Do you think we can come up with some sort of Water Creature float idea and an approximate cost by then? Is anyone up for a brainstorming meeting? How many of you would be available one evening (before the 18th) to meet around 7pm at the South Branch Library (where we have our art display this month)?Please read through the guidelines attached. The canoe that Terri was going to let us use is too long based on the specifications. Any ideas?I am meeting with Donna Montez (WAL’s webmistress) tomorrow and will ask that she send an email to ALL members to see if there is anyone with a boat less than 10 ft, a Styrofoam floating device or an inflatable raft. That would cut costs considerably if we could borrow one from someone.

Pump, pump, pump those creative juices! And, let me hear from you!

2/10/08

We still have no specifications from WWAF concering float guidlines. I’m hoping it will be soon!

I took a few pictures of the waterway over the weekend. I’m guessing we have a clearance of 15 feet from the waterline to the bottom of the bridge and probably 20 feet from side to side. The other picture shows where I think the float entries will be tied up during the festival.

Elissa offered this idea in an email she sent to me last week:

“One thought I had was for something that represents The Woodlands…..and it’s connection to Nature. If we created some kind of large diorama with pieces that seemed to be disconnected [ but were actually anchored]….like if we had our Bald Eagles “flying over the main element and maybe some Big Bass “jumping” out of water along side ….things like that .Any way …one thought.
One troubleshooting thing to address is that what ever materials we use should be weather proof.
Also , we can get a certain amt of latex paint for free from the recycled paint product at Montgomery Ct. recycling facility.[ Colors are limited ]“

That’s all for now. I’ll be in touch when I know something further, but please be thinking about what we can do. If we come up with a solid idea for our float now, we will be ahead of the game when we do get the guidlines from WWAF !!!!

Previous emails I have sent out including links to pictures of art car entries are below.

Thanks to all!

2/6/08

Over the next couple of days I will work on a way to post the progress of the Woodlands Art League Gallery Search Committe. I hope to include prospective gallery site notes, history and leads, guidlines for running the gallery (as they evolve) and anything else we need to share with committe members and other interested league members.Check back often. We are in the middle of something exciting!

2/6/08

Hello!So far we have an offer of a very sturdy fiberglass canoe for use as the base of our float. Thank you Terri!
Suzie is available one evening during the week if we want to have a brainstorming session….place, date and time to be determined when I hear from more people….
Anyone else out there with ideas or suggestions on how to proceed?

2/6/08

Hello, all!My name is Theresa Thornhill and I am heading up the Floating Art Parade group for WAL. I’ve contacted you because you signed up to be an artistic maverick! A trend-setter! A trail-blazer! Ok…ok..a little over the top? At any rate, we are members that have agreed to put our best “fins” (because it is a FLOATING art parade..hehe) forward to come up with an entry for the Woodlands Waterway Art Festival’s (WWAF) Floating Art Parade.We still haven’t heard anything from the folks at WWAF regarding submission guidelines but we can do some virtual brainstorming ahead of time! What we do know is: the free-floating entry must fit inside of the waterway walls and underneath the bridges (I will make a trip to the waterway and take some eyeball measurements and get back with you), it will not be motorized but instead it will be pulled along the parade route, and best of all…..winners will be selected!!! I am ASSUMING (you know what that stands for…right?) that we can use a row boat, canoe or other stable foundation and build up from there. Does anyone have a boat they wouldn’t mind loaning to us? We will bring it back looking GREAT! Just kidding….I have posted some pictures on my website of Art Car entries and some links to other websites so you can whittle away a portion of your day planning what our best entry will look like! http://digitalaccents.com/currentprojects.aspxNow for a plan….please send me your ideas no matter what the critic inside of you says and I will compile a list and/or drawings to post and then resend out to everyone. Sound good? We have several people who will not be available the end of March or the beginning of April so the sooner we get something together the better. Let’s try to have some sort of solid plan by the 18th so I can approach the board about funding…if needed.

Thank you all and have a great week! I look forward to hearing from you and being a part of our collective creativity!

2/6/08

In the beginning…. GOD SAID… Sorry, it just popped into my head. Back to reality. In the beginning, or at least until I get the hang of blogging, I will primarily use this as a way to communicate with my fellow Woodlands Art League members who have graciously volunteered to help design and build a float for the Woodlands Waterway Art Festival.Stay tuned! We are going live…………….. now……no, now!………………..ok….NOW!!!!

2/6/08 

I’m sure anyone reading this will quickly come to the astute conclusion that this is my first blog. Ta Da!!!!My best guess is it will be like everything else in my life that is computer related…..copious amounts of time will be invested….endless web and blog searches explored to find links to those people or companies out there in the world that in some small way illustrate who I am and finally…..drum-roll please………a soon to be released minor software update will obliterate (or at the very least confound) all of the work thus far. Ahhhh, life is good!!! And, here I go!