Flourishes

Kaye's Korner

Hello Everyone,

I hope you gave and received lots of Valentines! We had fun making some for the Women's Shelter and exchanging at our February meeting. Calligrapher's love St. Valentine's Day!

We look forward to our Saturday Special with Bill Bristow on March 4. All the places are taken but if you are interested please call Betty Lou Jordan and get on the waiting list. It is $20 and includes a tour of the McNay Art Museum conducted by very knowledgeable Bill, a Dutch lunch at LaFonda Restaurant and a tour of Bill's home studio. We are so fortunate to have Bill and Wilanna as guild members.

If you have a framed letter of the Alphabet that was made for the poster a few years ago please bring it to the next meeting. The 26 Letters will hang in our Spring Exhibit opening April 2 at Los Patios Restaurant. I hope you are designing something wonderful to hang in the show. Pauline Sager had good ideas for framing in the February newsletter.

Our program on the Lindisfarne Gospels given by Dolores Schultz was just wonderful. The slides and the video were so helpful to follow the history of the 1300 year old book. Thank you Dolores.

B.J. Grant reports that the South West Calligraphy Conference in Waco Jan 27 and 28 was very much fun and very educational. It is so wonderful to see what the other guilds in Oklahoma and Texas are doing, and the exchange of ideas is so helpful. I appreciate B.J. representing our guild and as a bonus her sister was representing Houston so they had a great visit. Thank you B.J. The reports will be handed to the new slate of officers as they prepare this summer for our next year.

You will not want to miss our March meeting on Preparing Paper Surfaces for Calligraphy given by Claire Stevenson. Claire is very knowledgeable on different types of paper as well as handmade paper. We look forward to it. The Mini Workshop will have Lynn Rothe and Nancy Meier showing us how to customize our portfolios and closures for our artwork and for gifts!

We have had 5 new members join our guild in the last two months. We welcome them and their names and addresses will be listed in this newsletter. Seek them out at the next meeting and make them feel welcome. They are Silvia Enrigoez, Karen Evans, Ginger Evans, Melissa Valdez and Nicole Lozano. We all remember how it was when we were new and did not know anyone.

It is that time of year again to sign up for Secret Pal. Chairman Karen Veni reports that the wheels are turning - and there are 2 new members, Camille Storment and Cheri Wolf on the committee. The September Art Expo featuring the handmade items sent secretly during the summer to the pals is a highlight of our year!! At least 3 handmade items is the only requirement and this is such a good summer stretch for our minds!

Sign-up began at our February meeting for the Lisa Englebrecht 5-day workshop in June. Jill Adams is accepting checks now. The class is limited to 20. If it fills up and you are interested be sure and get on the waiting list. It was a favorite at conference and we are truly delighted to have her come and teach us here in San Antonio.

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Cheers,
Kaye

bulletin board

Congratulations once again to our Door Prize Winners. February’s lucky recipients were Edith Asher, Keith Cheshire, Loni Carlson, Mary Bowman, and Shawn Behrens. Their prizes were donated by Bill Waddington, Nancy McHugh, Becky Hughes, Nancy Meier, Danee Crouch, Eleanor Russell, and the late Bill Gifford.

As you know, our 30th Anniversary meeting is coming up in April and many committees are trying to do something special to celebrate. Sylvia Stanley and Nancy Palermo inform us that the Door Prize Committee is collecting special door prizes for that meeting. The goal is to accumulate enough donations for everyone in attendance to receive a prize. This will only be successful if we all assist with contributions. Some suggestions from the committee are: Gift Certificates; Books and Supplies, including paper, fabric scraps, ribbon, buttons, and embellishments of all kinds; Old Calendars—SACG calendars from 1978 on, Calligraphy Engagement Calendars (remember that 2004 is the latest and the last of these), and any art calendars (out-of-date calendars are great for reference materials and ideas); Handmade or decorated items; Any Fun Stuff, including jewelry and knickknacks. Please bring your contributions to the March meeting.

SPRING IS ON THE WAY…

By now hopefully you have your ideas for the work you will contribute to the Spring Exhibit. The opening will take place on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at Los Patios, from 4—6 PM. It will be part of our 30th Anniversary Celebration and we’re hoping for a large number of members to participate. Helen Rasplicka has completed the artwork for an advertising poster and for the invitations. Artwork must be turned in by 12 noon on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 (no sooner than this, please). Entry fee for artwork in the exhibit is $10 for the 1st piece, $5 for the 2nd (and 3rd if there is room for a 3rd). Please keep in mind that we need large pieces. Entry forms are enclosed with this newsletter.

Other plans for the Anniversary celebration include a program hosted by Bill Waddington, who is collecting reminiscences and anecdotes to be shared with guild members. Betty Lou Jordan and Lenora Jordan are keeping track of how many years each of us has been a member and would like your assistance with that. Our Historian, Camille Storment, will bring all of our scrapbooks to the April meeting. And each of us will hopefully receive a door prize. The Paul Freeman Award Winners scroll and the guild banner will also be displayed.

Thank you very much to Linda Behrens, Shawn Behrens, Bonnie Houser, Sally Hoffman, and Lynn Rothe for our February refreshments.

Don’t forget the Lisa Engelbrecht Fabric-ganza workshop in June. It is a full 5 day class and you must take all 5 days. Cost is $200. Contact Jill Adams for further information.

Congratulations to our fellow guild members in St. Louis. They are celebrating their 25th Anniversary with an exhibit at the Creative Gallery, 3232 Ivanhoe, St. Louis, Mo 63139. The exhibit features 20 world renowned calligraphers. So if you happen to be headed that way, stop in and enjoy the show with them.

Thank you ever so much to BJ Grant for representing our guild at the Southwest Calligraphy Conference in Waco this year. BJ reports that some very exciting things are going on in the Texas and Oklahoma guilds. And she reminds us that the guilds offer reciprocity and we can take workshops in any of these guilds at the member fee. We will all make an effort to advertise each other’s workshops in the future when appropriate.Jill Adams is accepting checks now. The class is limited to 20. If it fills up and you are interested be sure and get on the waiting list. It was a favorite at conference and we are truly delighted to have her come and teach us here in San Antonio.

March Activities

Early Bird

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 6:30-7 PM

Which Paper Do I Use and How Do I Make It Behave?
Leslie Winakur

Have you ever fallen in love with a paper and decided to use it for your project, only to find that you just can’t write nicely on it? Or have you ever been given a paper that a client loves and you hate, also because you can’t write on it well? I will bring paper samples and some simple tricks to help make the more interesting papers behave better for calligraphers.

Program - Thursday, March 2, 2006, 8 PM
Paper
Claire Stevenson

Paper is special to calligraphers. And there’s nothing more pleasing than a piece of handmade paper. We like to touch it, collect it, pile it under our beds, make books out of it, and, of course, we love write on it. So it’s natural that we also want to know how people make it. Claire Stevenson is a paper maker in San Antonio. At this program, she will teach us about how paper is made and how the various methods of paper making affect the paper’s properties. This will make us better able to understand the papers we use and better able to utilize the papers in our projects.

Mini Workshop - Thursday, March 16, 2006, 7-9 PM
Customized Portfolios and Closures
Lynn Rothe and Nancy Meier

We will create several different portfolios, holders, containers, with custom closures. These can later be modified to fit different size paper goods.

Supply list:
2 full sheets Canson Mi Tientes or 2 sheets of paste paper or w sheets of middle weight decorative paper. The paper must hold a crease well and be the size of the Canson.
1 yard of ⅛" ribbon, without wire
X-acto™ knife and blade
Cutting mat
Pencil
Scissors
Bone folder
Ruler, metal, at least 12" long

SECRET PAL ART EXPO

It’s Secret Pal time again and the Secret Pal Committee, chaired by Karen Veni, and staffed by Beverly Carter, Francene Smith, Camille Storment, Cheri Wolf, and BJ Nichol, has provided us with the following information.

When you sign up to be someone’s Secret Pal, you’re making a commitment. You’re promising to send your pal at least three handmade things between the May meeting, when you get the information for your pal, and the September meeting, when you exhibit the things you’ve received.

That’s four months to practice a skill, play with design, and or learn a technique. It’s time to have a play day with friends or other guild members and learn from each other. The idea is personal growth, generosity, and the opportunity to exhibit your work at the most well-attended meeting of the year.

It’s also a chance to make a new friend. Our 126 member-strong guild is an amazing reservoir of friendly artistic talent.

Here’s how to be a Secret Pal:

1. Sign up at the February meeting or call Karen Veni, Beverly Carter, BH Nichol, Francene Smith, Camille Storment, or Cheri Wolf before the March meeting.
2. Pick up your cool questionnaire at the March meeting.
3. Fill it out and return it by the April meeting.
4. Receive your pal’s cool questionnaire at the May meeting.
5. Make and send at least three wonderful HANDMADE things this summer.
6. Bring the goodies you’ve received, along with a thank you card for your pal, to the September meeting’s Art Expo, where your pal will be revealed.

A REMINDER

In preparing for our annual Spring Show which will open April 2, 2006, at Los Patios, we are collecting our 26 individual framed letters for hanging in the exhibit. If you have one please bring it to the March Meeting.

If yours is one that was stolen and you were reimbursed from the insurance claim, please bring a completed letter to the March Meeting and hand it to Leslie or Maggie and they will see that they are framed and ready to hang at the show.

Paul Freeman Award
Nominations

The following people have been nominated by their fellow guild members for the Paul Freeman Award, the guild’s annual award given to members who have served in an outstanding way throughout the current year.

~ ~ ~

Beverly Carter: Beverly has been a long-time member of the guild who has always been here for members. She does origami for our pot luck dinners, she maintains the Newsletter Library, she takes care of our mail and our PO Box, and she is always available to do anything we ask. Beverly chaired the latest Secret Pal Committee, and she made all of the canvas supply holders that we decorated.

Becky Hughes: Becky stepped forward and assumed responsibility for the Directory late last spring. She did a wonderful job of coordinating all of the myriad tasks related to that job this year. She has also served as assistant to the membership chair, and she has been a regular participant on the Hospitality Committee.

Nancy Meier: In the short time that Nancy has been a member of the guild, she has made some wonder how we ever did without her. She is active in every event the guild sponsors, including mini and major workshops. It is a pleasure to see her pleasant smile at every meeting and event. This year she is an active member of the board, serving as Mini Workshop Chair. She sees what needs to be done and is quick to jump up and lend a hand, whether it is helping to set things up, passing things out, or helping to pack the teacher up and get her to the car. She also spends time practicing her letters and is becoming a calligrapher we will all be proud to have represent our guild.

Helen Rasplicka: As a charter member of SACG and a master teacher in the art of calligraphy, Helen has inspired many new learners to make the leap and to get serious about the art by joining the guild. This year, which marks the guild’s 30th anniversary, Helen stepped up to create the poster and invitations to advertise the event. A previous recipient of the Paul Freeman award, in 1988, Helen continues to motivate newcomers to our art with her support, imagination, and creativity.

Lynn Rothe: Lynn has been an energetic guild member this year and has energized others as well. Besides serving as secretary, she coordinated Hospitality, she taught a Saturday Special, and co-taught a Mini Workshop. She hauled all of our donations to the Women’s Shelter for us, and, to top all that, she was always available for any other odd job that needed to be done, and she has done it all with a smile on her face.

Pam Thomas: Pam has served the guild in almost every capacity ever since she joined, and she always serves us with a smile on her face and in her heart. She has been Vice President for the past two years, and during that same time she has assisted with the Scholarship Committee and the Early Bird Committee, and she has chaired the Awards and Memorials Committee and the Planning Committee. Pam cheerfully volunteers to help out wherever she is needed. She takes the jobs that are never for the faint of heart, and this past year she even volunteered to sell calendars. Our guild is better for having her as a member, since she is a vital part of everything we do. Just about the only thing she has not done in this guild is to receive the Paul Freeman Award! And we have no more deserving member.

Karen Veni: Karen exhibits both her left and right brain abilities as she serves both as Treasurer for the past two years, and as a creative and inspiring mini workshop instructor and Secret Pal Committee member. Her originality brings stimulating ideas for new creative directions to all of us. She has a willing and happy nature and is always ready to help those who need it.

March 2006 Flourishes' Web Page is proudly sponsored by
www.renshirts.com in Seguin, TX USA

March Birthdays01 Linda Behrens