Art Teacher Meeting

Met with the art teachers yesterday to give them submission forms and to talk about the show. Here are the highlights of this year's show...

This year the art show will take place Thursday, June 17th from 6-8pm. Voting will again be from 6-7:30pm. Submissions are due the last day of school, June 9th unless other arrangements are made. I am working with our tech person to come up with a more efficient way to count ballots.

The Friends of the Independence Township Library are again sponsoring the event in the amount of $700. I am looking for additional contributions and donations in the way of prizes etc. Last year Target donates $20 in gift cards. I am hoping to ask for more this year and also to get Caribou Coffee to serve coffee during the show. If you have an suggestions for other places I might seek support please let me know.

I will once again need to borrow display boards and will contact _____in late May early June to set this up.

You may notice the logo this year is the same, we just added 2010 to it. This is an attempt to brand the art show so it becomes recognizable in the community and something people expect to see every year. It was suggested last year that perhaps there could be a contest where students designed logos. I like the idea and think it would be a great way for us to collaborate once the show is firmly established.

Some things on the submission form have changed this year. Please encourage students to read the guidelines and retain that page for their own information as well as to fill out the form completely with a valid phone number. Last year, may students and parents also did not know it was a public show. I will be sending postcards this year to those who submit pieces to remind them, but if you could stress it as well that would be great. Some of the changes on the form include:

• A pick-up deadline of January 1st 2011. I still have pieces in my office from last year’s show and in an attempt to get them picked up or at least be able to do something with unclaimed pieces eventually without being later found at fault, this note was added. I feel this is a reasonable amount of time especially considering how frequently I call and remind them to pick up their pieces.
• There is still a note asking permission to display the item through the summer. It was great last year to have the pieces in our library for patrons and staff to enjoy.
• A third page has been added to the submission form this year. Last year, a release was included in the second page of the form asking permission to take pictures of the art work. Later our Friends of the Library wanted to use pictures of the art work on a bookmark and it was decided that release was not extensive enough. In an attempt to have a more valid release form the third page was created. Have students contact me if they have questions and reassure them that the use of images of their work is only for support of the library and that those images will not be sold or used for profit. Support of the library includes use of images on bookmarks, in the newsletter, on our website, on the scrolling kiosk at the circulation desk, etc. I can provide you all with more copies of the bookmark if you need more to show as an example of what those images may be used for.
• I forgot to mention it at the actual meeting, but copies of this year’s posters will probably be available next month and I will drop of copies to all of you.

Its that time again!

It is not even the end of January and I am getting started preparing for this year's summer art show. First on my agenda is revamping the old submission form and creating a better release form so that we can more easily use images of student art work for newsletters and bookmarks. Two of the 2009 winners have pictures of their art work displayed on the Friends of the Independence Township Library bookmarks. It is my hope that a new release form will be a little more self explanatory than last year.

Some difficulties that I had last year that may be helped by revamping the submission form include:

-the pick up of art work. I still have student art work six months later.
-the time of the event
-students not keeping the informational section of the form for reference
-parents having no idea what is going on.

There is much more to do, but that feels like a lot to start with for the day. There will be a lot to do before June 17th!

Art Show 2009

The art show is offically over...well has been for some time.

In the end there were 70 pieces of art work, 189 ballots cast, and the door count was at 385 people. In all the event was a success and pieces of the art work from the show are now displayed throughtout the library...though the use of spray adhesive means I have to keep rehanging some of the pieces.

Hopefully this post will jog my memory and help me think of improvements for next year so I can talk to the Friends about the event and the possibility of doing it again in the future at the meeting on Tuesday.

In other news, if you ever have to cut slits in plastic twist-off pop bottle tops, the dremel is the only way to go.

Entries!

We have recieved some beautiful entries for the show. In fact, we are up to about 37 entries! Clarkston High School has also delivered the display boards for us and things are looking great!

Jan and I will be going shopping on Thursday and I will also be picking up more entries at that time...or I might need someone else to make a run to the Junior High for me if I am still out shopping.

Speaking of help...I will definitely need some extra hands on the day of the art show. Help includes...helping set up display boards, hanging art and making sure labels match, being at the event to make sure hands don't touch what they shouldn't and maybe helping with last minute details. Also, possibly picking up food from Costco or Kroger. If you are interested in helping, please let me know.

Thanks!

Getting Entries!

All 64 invitations that need mailing have been mailed! The next newspaper ad has also been submitted and that should appear in the paper Wednesday, June 10th so keep a look out for it. I did pick up some entries from the High School and they are lovely! More should be ready for me on Monday. The display panels will be here early next week. Jan and I will also be going shopping on the 11th.

Everything is coming together for the art show but there is still much to do and the day of the show and the day after will be very busy. I will be sending out a staff email soon asking for helpers. I need to sit down and figure out exactly what I need help with, but it will probably include help with hanging the art, helping at the actual event, cleaning up that night and the day after and finally, hanging up the art work in the main part of the library for the summer. I also might need help picking up food the day of, or if anyone wants to bake cookies for the event. If you are available, I would greatly appreciate everyone's time in helping me. Let me know if you are interested.

In other news: you can make your own sidewalk paint by mixing equal parts cornstarch and water with a little food coloring.

Donations & Submissions

I heard back from Target today and they will be donating 4 $5 gift cards to the art show as soon as I drop off a letter on letter head detailing the event. YAY! We may still need one more gift card, but we will deal with that when the time comes.

I also received half a submission. Someone turned in a submission form with a note saying that their teacher still had the art work. Hopefully this means that more submissions are coming and soon!

I gave the invitation list to Lydia today and the list includes 62 people. Those should be mailed out next week. I also need to drop a poster off to the Senior Center for the event and see if I can find other businesses to display a poster.

In other news, Palmer Paint no longer makes sidewalk paint in individual colors (only in buckets of 4 colors) so I will have to find a good recipe online for sidewalk paint to make red and purple and hope it doesn't permanently dye anything. I will try and do a test batch next week.

The art show is coming!

Its still May but I can feel the art show creeping up on me and there is still so much to do!

I called Target yesterday to request a donation and the woman I spoke with was very friendly. With any luck she will get back to me and we will have runner-up prizes for the art show too! I did look into a couple other options for donations, but many of them require as much as two months notice so for this year I will just be happy to get some Target gift cards.

I have just about finalized the invitation list. I did have to buy more note cards for invitations and those should be here soon. Lydia had designed lovely invitations and after some coaching from her I managed to make mailing labels that will not disgrace us all. Lydia and I also decided to include in the invitation a small business size card asking the recipient to share the invitation with family, friends and coworkers. With any luck, the turnout for the show should be good. Now, if only I could start getting more art show submissions...

I ordered black table cover from oriental trading, which is a little more expensive than I originally allowed in my budget, but not knowing how many tables will need to be covered, I figured that this might actually end up being the easier and cheaper option. I am also making plans with Jan to go shopping for some nonperishable items for the show. Thanks Jan!

With any luck invitations will go out next week and the second ad will appear in the paper shortly after that. Time is flying by!

First Entry!

I have finally received the first entry for the art show! A girl in my knitting group came by with an entry earlier this week. I think I will personally buy her a small gift for being the first entry.

I am almost finished with the invitation list for the art show. At the moment the list is 48 people long. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

I am also working on pinpointing businesses to ask if they will display our poster. I already emailed The Artful Framer before I realized they no longer had a store front. The owner was very nice though and offered any help with anything we needed. I am also thinking of who else I can contact to ask for donations. I am thinking that it would be great to have a runner up prize so if I can get a few five dollar gift cards that would be fabulous!

In other news, I am collecting old playing cards and twist off pop bottle tops for a summer craft. Contributions are greatly appreciated :-)

Making Lists!

I am once again making lists! This time list of people to send invitations to for the event. So far this list includes inviting members of various township entities like the township board, the planning commission, and the zoning board of appeals. I am also inviting members of the local school district like the superintendent, principles and vice principles of appropriate schools, and the board of education. The Senior Center will also get an invitation. Eventually I will get around to deciding what businesses I will send invitations to.

In past weeks I have been trying to find new ways to reach teens in the community. So far I have tried to reach them through art classes in public schools, private schools, and by sending information to church youth ministries. Today I was helping a woman who homeschools her children and I asked her what sort of local organizations exist for homeschool mom's. She was able to give me the names of some yahoogroups for home schooling parents. I sent out two emails and I have already recieved a reply from the owner of one of the groups saying she will share the information with her group members. Hopefully the other group will be as welcoming.


Signing off...

First ad in the paper!

The first ad for the art show appeared in the paper this past Wednesday. A copy of it is posted on the staff room door at the library. This ad was just a call for entries, though unfortunatly it ended up on the obituary page. I'm sure there is a joke there somewhere. A second ad will be run in the paper a week before the event asking the community to attend.

Next on the list: sort out my three lists and make yet another list of people to send invitations to.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of my battle with Blick Art over our tax exempt status.