Flourishes

Dear Fellow Calligraphers,

March began with a very enlightening program about the Harry Ransom Center, on the UT Austin Campus, given by Olivia Primanis. A special thanks to Charlie Schultz (Dolores’ husband) and Leslie Winakur who got the computer and the projector to operate. Olivia’s slides were wonderful and caused many in the room to think that a road trip to Austin might be in the near future. Thanks again to BJ Grant and Dolores Schultz for arranging for this program and to Olivia for her presentation.

The Saturday Special with Bonnie Houser and Karen Veni on Brush Lettering was also a day not to be missed. I know some of the skills learned will be shown on envelopes arriving in the mail in the near future. Thanks to Betty Lou Jordan for arranging for the day and to Lenora Jordan for following up with all of the details.

Don’t forget, Jill Adams is now taking sign ups for Peter Thornton’s major workshop in May. Contact her for details and available slots.

April 1st is the opening of our Spring Exhibit at Los Patios. Look for details elsewhere in this newsletter or contact any of our exhibit chairs, Jill Adams, BJ Grant and Helen Rasplicka. Thanks to all three of these ladies as well as to Maggie Gillikin and her hanging committee for a wonderful show. The creative invitations featured marks by Maggie and design by Leslie Winakur. Thanks to all of our guild members who entered a piece in the exhibit. This show is indeed a collaborative effort.

Thanks to Cheri Wolf and her committee who are set to launch another season of Secret Pals. Be sure to bring your informational “packet” to the April meeting so that Cheri can pair you up.

Thanks to the nominating committee and to all of the officers who have agreed to serve the guild for another year. The slate will be presented at the May meeting to be accepted by the membership.

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful spring weather and the wildflowers that flourish in March and April here in SW Texas.

Pam Thomas
President, SACG

EARLY BIRD
Thursday, April 5, 2007, 7-9 PM

Dolores Schultz - A Retrospective

As many of our members already know, Dolores Schultz recently moved to the San Antonio area from Houston, and we are all thrilled to have her here. We are especially fortunate that Dolores has taken an active role in our guild since her move. She is currently our Program Co-chair, and she is involved in many guild activities.

Dolores is one of those rare individuals who has been a successful professional calligrapher for many years. She is trained in art as well as in calligraphy, and that is apparent in the beautiful work she does, as one can see on our current newsletter cover.

Dolores attended the very first International Calligraphy Conference at St. John’s in Minnesota, and has been a regular attendee ever since. She was the Faculty Chair for Legacies, the International Conference held in Dallas in 2005. And to top that, the Southwest Calligraphy Conference was her fabulous idea. She began the SWCC at her home after she attended the first International Conference, and it has been going strong ever since, providing support and camaraderie to all of the member guilds in Texas and Oklahoma.

Tonight’s Early Bird and Program will be a special treat as we view a retrospective of the work of Dolores Schultz.

GENERAL MEETING AND PROGRAM
Thursday, April 5, 2007, 7-9 PM Dolores Schultz - A Retrospective

Mini Workshop
Mini Workshop
Thursday, April 19, 2007, 7-9 PM, usual meeting room
Kreating Kalligrams

Bill Bristow

Bill Bristow is our resident retired art professor and a wonderful, encouraging teacher. He says that this class will emphasize creative thinking and drawing our feelings. We all have feelings and it takes no more moves than writing our names to draw. So, bring an open mind and a willing heart, as well as the following:

#2 lead pencil
Copy paper, sketch pad, or other paper
Markers, thin and thick, several colors. We can share.
Colored pencils - Prismacolor, etc.
If you have them, transparent watercolors, your favorite small brushes
(# 0,1,2,3)
Water jar, tin, palette

NOTE: watercolors are OPTIONAL

Mi n i w o r k s h o p r e v i e w
Nancy Meier
For our February Mini Workshop Fritzi Harry, one of our Guild members from Houston, treated us to an evening of decorating envelopes. There were more ideas flying around that room than leaves in a March wind. Why, she couldn't move from one table to the next fast enough. Whether it was her enthusiasm or the excitement of her students was hard to tell.

Fritzi brought so many wonderful things. There were enlarged examples of envelope ideas that were hung all around the room. You've heard of surround sound? Well this was surround inspiration. She had hundreds of envelopes she'd received on a continuously changing display near the front door. The handouts were exquisite, detailed, and showed the numerous hours of loving care it took to assemble.

The evening started with some general, helpful hints on design, color, and postal requirements for mailing. We learned how to adhere fabric and napkins to paper to make into envelopes. Fritzi had paper bags that could be cut to form a mailable envelope complete with enclosed message. We designed with markers, stick-on sequins and gems, and glittery nail polish. Then there were those lovely pastels and Roman cut out letters.

But she saved the best ‘til last. We learned the beautiful, colorful, dancing, happy letters of
Judith Hovde, of Minot, ND. And last but by far not least, some absolutely lovely stained glass-looking decorated letters done with markers and colored pencils.

Fritzi was so generous with handouts. All participants received two lovely posters among the other treasures of the evening.

Not many folks wanted to pack up and leave to go home at 9:00 P.M. Thanks so much to Fritzi for all her very hard work for such a successful evening.

SPRING EXHIBIT TURN-IN

Our Annual Spring Exhibit is just around the corner. The date for turn-in of our pieces is WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2007. The turn-in time is from10 AM until 12 noon. So, start working if you haven't begun yet, and keep at it if you have. We have a large room to fill at Los Patios, and once again, there will be no commission fee charged. Entry forms are enclosed with this newsletter. Be sure to complete the full page (all info written twice) for each piece.

Exhibit guidelines are on page 50 in your Directory.

Please remember that pieces in this exhibit must not have hung in our guild’s show in the past.

Exhibit fee is $10 for the first piece, $5 for each piece after that, and the number of extras you may display will depend on the available space. The opening is on Sunday, April 1, 2007, 4-6 PM.

Thank you to Carol Keith, Mary Bumstead, Nicole Garza, Joan Cornell, and Sylvia Stanley for their “eating of the green” at the March meeting. We didn’t know so many green things could taste so good.

Class News

BJ Grant is teaching Basic Italic at Scrapbook 911 on West Blanco Road, (W. Blanco is between Nadlers and Pizza Hut, 1/2 mile inside Loop 1604) on Tuesdays at 6:15. Classes began on March 6 and continue through April 10, 2007. Fee is $40 for 6 classes. Scrapbook 911 is one of our Directory sponsors. Call BJ or the store for further information.

Paul Freeman Awards

The Nominees for the Paul Freeman Awards are: Jill Adams, Lenora Jordan, Carol Keith, Becky Hughes, Lynn Rothe, Dolores Schultz, Pam Thomas, and Leslie Winakur. The bios for these nominees are in the March issue of Flourishes, and on the web site. Voting will be by confidential ballot at the April meeting. The awards will be presented at the May meeting.
If you currently possess a Paul Freeman Award, please bring it to the April meeting and give it to Lynn Rothe. Thank you.

The Nominating Committee, composed of Jill Adams, Maggie Gillikin, and Leslie Winakur, is pleased to present the following slate of officers for 2007-2008.

President: Pam Thomas
Vice President: Lynn Rothe
Secretary: Becky Hughes
Treasurer: Jill Adams
Members at Large: Beverly Carter, Lenora Jordan, Carol Keith, Nancy Meier, and Leslie Winakur

Thank you to Rudy Gonzalez, Nancy Meier, Rosemary Rodriguez, Pauline Sager, Bill Waddington, and Leslie Winakur for the March Door Prizes. The lucky winners were: Carol Keith, Jennifer Lavin, Sally Hoffman, Pam Thomas, Angie Chaos-Peters, Priscilla Earl, and Janie Coy.

Because SACG members have been very generous in donating door prizes, we can again try to give them to every member. Those who haven’t received one in this program year - September 2006 to present - sign up at the April or May meeting if you haven't already done so.

Membership dues are due!!!!

Your check for $24 payable to SACG is due April 1. Give or send your check to Angie Chaos-Peters (401 Holland, #132, SAT, 78212). The green form enclosed with this newsletter must be completed, even if your info has not changed. Thanks.

The Secret Pal Committee handed out awesome little “007” information booklets for us to complete at the March meeting. Be sure to get yours back to them by the April meeting.

Lynn Rothe is our temporary Library Chair and she is still in need of a few volunteers to house Library boxes. If you are new to the guild, you should know that the Library is divided by subject into 10 boxes of books, each housed by a different member. The member who is lucky enough to house a box gets to peruse all those books for months on end. And, as Lynn pointed out at the last meeting, that member also gets a box which will hold a few other various items that one brings to meetings!

So, if you are interested in housing a box and are committed to being present at all the meetings, please contact Lynn.

A Reggie Ezell Master Class

The “Reggie Study Group”, which is made up of those members who took the year long class with Reggie in 2001, has arranged for Reggie to come back to San Antonio in 2008 for a Master Class. The Master Class will also be a year long class, but will meet every other month, starting in January. The class material will include modern black letter, stone carving, and sand blasting.

Reggie requires that all participants have already taken his basic year long class prior to enrolling in this class. Enrollment has been available to all who took the basic class in San Antonio, and we have quite a few signed up already. But there is some space in the class, and we are happy to announce that as of April 1, 2007, we can open sign-up to all qualified members of the Southwest Calligraphy Conference who might be interested. Estimated cost of the class is $1250. for the year, not including tools and supplies. A $100 deposit will hold your space. If you are interested, please contact Leslie Winakur or Lynn Rothe for further information.

The Graceful Envelope Contest was created in 1995 by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, which administered it until delegating responsibility to the Washington Calligraphers’ Guild in 2001. Beginning in 2003 the National Association of Letter Carriers agreed to partner with the Washington Calligraphers’ Guild to sponsor the contest and exhibit the winners.

Calligraphers and artists from around the world are invited to participate in the 13th Annual Graceful Envelope Contest. This year’s theme is A Mailable Feast. Nurture your creativity by designing an envelope with a culinary theme. Your epicurean epistle could feature an individual edible or an entire banquet of food, glorious food! So cook up an artistic recipe that will turn a piece of mail into a feast for the eyes, and address it artistically to:
The Graceful Envelope Contest
Washington Calligraphers’ Guild
PO Box 3688
Merrifield, VA 22116
Envelopes must be postmarked by Monday, April 30, 2007.

For further information and contest rules, contact the WCG at the above address or at
http://calligraphersguild.org/envelope.html

The guild would like to thank Charlie Schultz for making the March program a success by saving the day with his emergency trip from Bulverde with a laptop computer for us to use. And we would, of course, also like to thank Olivia Primanis for another enlightening presentation on the treasures of the Harry Ransom Center on the UT campus in Austin. We all need to remember to take advantage of the wonderful manuscript collection that the HRC has to offer. We can call ahead and they will have our selections ready for us when we arrive. No special qualifications are necessary, though it is required that all who touch the books must watch a 10 minute video on proper procedures for handling the rare book collections.

April 2007 Flourishes' Web Page is proudly sponsored by
www.Renshirts.com in Seguin, TX USA

Birthdays April 07

Birthdays
April 07