President Rodger Heglar will be leaving the Board at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting on May 31. He gave the Board his views on future priorities for LJAA. Vice President Pierce Harrah will run subsequent Board meetings until the Board elects a new President.
Membership Director John Valois will also leave the Board at that time. Fujiko Isomura was appointed to the Board as Membership Director–in–waiting and will run for a Directorship at the Annual Meeting, along with Board–appointed Exhibitions Director Tony Cuban.
Members responded to a survey sent out by John Valois to learn where the membership stands on such issues as maintaining a gallery, relocating out of La Jolla, expectations for the future, etc. John will report the results on the website and at the Annual Meeting.
The Board will pursue a proposed LJAA public art project in downtown La Jolla. Details will be announced at the Annual Meeting if they can be successfully worked out.
Advertising will be stepped up for the summer months, when tourists abound. Marketing needs to come to the fore, and several exciting ideas were proposed.
The next Board of Directors meeting will be June 16 (changed because of the Annual Meeting).
Mary Heglar, Acting Secretary for May 5 meeting
The current membership is 99 members. Of these, 28 are Life, 68 Exhibiting, and 3 Associate Members. Last year’s total membership at this time was 123. Barring death or resignation, Life membership totals always remain the same. The most significant loss was in the Exhibiting Membership where 21 members (24%) did not renew. While a detailed study of the non–renewals is not available, at least four occurred because the individuals left the area. Other anecdotal evidence indicates that the move to the smaller gallery, commitments to other galleries, other professional commitments, and dissatisfactions with LJAA future directions played a role. Though membership loss is always a concern, it is nevertheless gratifying that 68 out of 89 (76%) of the Exhibiting Members had sufficient confidence in the future of LJAA to renew their membership.
The recent survey of the membership also produced some interesting results. Our membership is primarily female (66%) and, with an average age of 61.8, can be considered “mature.” A majority of the members (83%) consider the gallery to be an essential part of LJAA, though there is disagreement as to whether it should remain in the Village of La Jolla. Seventy–three percent of the members showed their works at the gallery at least once during 2007.
In terms of future directions, it seemed clear that many members (64%) would not only like to see more social interaction among members but would favor an expansion of LJAA outreach activities. Given today’s economic realities and the high cost of space, it was not surprising to find that 54% favored exploring the possibilities of joining other art groups to form a Consortium. Eighty–eight percent of the members also favored the formation of a committee to develop a business plan with creative solutions for our future.
Many thoughtful and practical suggestions for improving LJAA were made by the members and all these and other details may be found in the “Report On the 2008 Membership Survey” which was e–mailed to all members. If you did not receive a copy, by all means e–mail me at valoisjohn@gmail.com and I will send you copy.
John Valois
Membership Director
Since your editor is going to be on a train to Kyrgyzstan when he should be putting the July newsletter together, the next issue will be in August.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to take over that issue should contact Jeff at brosbe@cox.net ASAP (he leaves June 16th ).
University Heights Arts Open, Sept. 6 and 7, noon to 6pm
Entry: $25 plus 10% of sales, deadline June 20
Contact: www.uharts.org or 619–508–4075
Wouldn’t it be great if once a month one of us opened his or her studio (and home) for a chance to let us see how the magic happens & meet each other and mix (so to speak) for a couple of hours? May be on Sunday afternoon (or Saturday during football season)? If you think so too AND would be willing to be one of us to open your studio for such an event, please let me know in an email to me at brosbe@cox.net .
John Valois participated in the North Park Festival of the Arts on May 18.
Valli Thayer McDougle’s painting Techno Jazz: Opus #7 was juried into the Colorado Watercolor Society’s New Trends in Watermedia Exhibition, showing at the Curtis Arts & Humanities Center in Greenwood Village, CO, from May 3 to June 2, 2008.
Judi Sim has two paintings in Studio 21, at Spanish Village, Balboa Park 5⁄28–6⁄9. She also has paintings for sale in the St. Clair Gallery inside the East County Business Center, 270 East Douglas, El Cajon,Ca. 5⁄20–6⁄30, and will have paintings in the San Diego County Fair for sale from 6⁄14–7⁄4, Fine Arts Building, Reception: 6⁄13.
Karen Howard’s painting Lemons took home the 1st place award at the 23rd Annual Pastel Society Juried Show at Gallery 21.
Jerome Lipetzky’s painting Red Eucalyptus has been selected by the California Art Club for the upcoming exhibition, Natural Beauty, at the historic Pasadena Women’s City Club of Pasadena. The painting also was selected by the jury for special recognition. The show runs from June 28–Nov. 26.
Marion Mettler has 10 pieces of her mixed media nonobjective series Ancestral Palimpsests on view in the lobby of the Cygnet theatre during the run of the play A Number, which will conclude June 29, 2008. Cygnet is at 6663 El Cajon Blvd, #N, San Diego 92115; 619–337–1525.
Catherine Grawin will be part of a group plein air show called Plain Air XIII, Getting’ Out There, The Annual Plein Air Landscape Exhibit, at the Santa Isabel Art Galley from June 21 – August 10, 2008. Reception for the artists is Saturday, June 21, 4–8 PM. In conjunction with the exhibition, a new DVD called Plein Air Artists of Santa Ysabel, California, A Documentary by Peter Maxwell, will also debut at special screening party at the gallery on Sunday, June 29, at 2 PM. Several of the Santa Ysabel artists, including Grawin, are featured in a 30–minute film on the tradition of painting in plein air around San Diego County.
Sunny Cove will be one of her watercolors featured in Les Quartes An Exhibition of Painting, Digital Art and Photography that opens in the La Jolla Art Association Gallery June 14 – June 29th. along with Carole Duebbert, Gwen Nobil and John Valois. A reception for the artists will be held June 21, 6 – 8 PM.
Juli Ricksecker has 3 pieces in the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Art, an etching, a monotype and a pastel.
Kris deYoung has had two paintings, Natives 16: Black Sage and Natives 13: Arroyo Willow accepted at the San Diego County Fair in the mixed media division. In these two oils she has incorporated photographic images of the plants.
Fujiko Isomura’s image which is being used on the announcement for her current solo show at Gallery La Mesa located at Rick’s Custom Framing, 8808 La Mesa Boulevard, 91941 (from 5⁄23 to 7/03) has appeared on the front page of On San Diego Weekend Best Bets section in the Union Tribune on May 22nd. Her reception was a great success. The show continues until July 3rd. More information is available at www.FujikpArt.com She also has two works at the Spanish Village Gallery 21 LJAA group show (May 28–June 9).
Salli Sachse will be demonstrating floral painting techniques at the San Diego Museum of Art’s Family Art Festival as they celebrate Great Women Artists. The museum school’s community program takes place on Sunday, June 8th , from noon until 4 p.m. in the parking lot in front of the museum in Balboa Park.
Member artist Pierce Harrah’s acrylic painting, Dreaming of Yesteryear, was juried into the 2008 San Diego County Fair’s Exhibition of Art. We would hope LJAA members will stop by and see the exhibit, since LJAA is always well represented in this show.