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INTERNATIONAL ENCAUSTIC ARTISTS NEWSLETTER
President's Message for October
by Gail Steinberg
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London Report
I was in London last week to help my husband with a show he was participating in, lucky me. My personal goal was to find a
gallery to host a show for IEA but figured it would be a shot in the dark. I was skeptical about how excited the London art
world would be about hosting an IEA show but just home from that magical trip, complete with good weather, great art viewing
and amazing people, I’m pretty sure we will be able to close the deal on our first IEA show in Europe soon. None of the
possibilities that are developing could have opened without the magic of networking, the thing IEA is all about. I got a
reinforcing lesson in why you might want to talk about your goals when I casually mentioned to a fellow artist before I left
that I would follow up on a project with him when I got home from London where I was hoping to find a gallery to host a show
for IEA. “London,” he said, than you’ll have to meet my friend there, a brilliant artist who’ll show you the London you’ll
never discover on your own.” And she did and there was firm interest. Stay tuned. We’re talking about a show sometime in 2009.
I’ll send you progress reports as things move forward.
MarinMOCA show
IEA makes great shows. At least that's what the folks who came to the MarinMOCA opening said . Beyond an orgy of wax
inventions, the amazing growth in depth and meaning versus pure decoration is stunning. Yay for us. We do great work. More and
more of our members are working in that rare space that combines painting and sculpture at once. I was particularly moved by
Tina Vietmeier’s majestic use of space, Cari Hernandez’s break-through minimalism, Carol Paxton Juliano’s color story, Mary
Farmer’s complex composition… I could praise on indefinitely but I won’t. Suffice it to say that if you didn’t enter the
MarinMOCA show, think twice about not submitting to the next possibility. IEA is a great group to hang with. A HUGE thank you
to Judith Williams for all her hard work in directing the MarinMOCA show and to her great team of volunteers. The show looked
beautiful and the reception was delicious. It couldn’t have been nicer. By the way, MM Galleries wants to book another show
with us for 2008, sales were that good.
Wax On, Wax Off and other news
Look! Look! It's a newsletter that's actually a learning tool! Gee, that's never been requested before. But I had no idea what
a terrific read Lissa Rankin (editor) and Nikki D. May (designer) would create in the new (and really great if I do say so
myself) Wax On, Wax Off IEA newsletter. Not only is it filled with what Jimmie Beardsley calls “just the clear, informative,
thoughtful sort of material I’ve been yearning for” it’s also a terrific model for collaboration beyond geography. Lissa did
her share of the work in Monterey, California and Nikki did hers in Paducah, Kentucky. Just one of many new opportunities that
are coming up for IEA members to participate no matter where they live. The survey showed that members who live outside of
California are eager to receive opportunities to participate fully. Wax On, Wax Off is the first of many such. We are in
transition toward making many of your wants and suggestions tangible and accessible. The litmus test for all projects for this
year is “will it include all members?” which is where the idea of Project Connectivity came from. Yes dears, most things you
provide the time and energy for can and will become available. While I’m thinking about it, warm welcome to new members Gwen
Plunkett (who hopes to start a chapter in Houston, Texas), Elisabeth Manyan. Tanya Kirouac, Pavlos Mayakis, Deborah Kruger and
Gary Thomson, our first member in Scotland.
3rd Annual Retreat
You know you've become personally transparent and molten when you suffer edge-of-seat anticipation for the next IEA retreat.
It’s coming-It’s coming-It’s coming-It’s coming. Wendy Aiken and Judy Stable will be working with Cari Hernandez to plan and
execute this year’s event and I know that you will be receiving full information soon but there are a couple of developments
I’ve been involved in that are exciting enough, I want to give you a head’s up now. It's almost impossible to remember, given
what's happened between now and then, but the top priorities that came out in the survey were more opportunities to show our
work, more learning tools, and more opportunities to develop meaningful relationships with other artists who share our goals
and experiences. I still think it we should call it our annual advance rather than retreat but without question, taking part
in IEA’s annual learning fest has gone a long way to meet both of those goals for members who participated in 2006 and 2007.
You’ve got to be there in 2008. What I’m so excited about is that Kathan Brown, founder and President of Crown Point Press,
www.magicalsecrets.com (one of the highest quality art presses in the world that prints for Robert Bechtle, Ed Ruscha, Pat
Stier, Nathan Oliveira, Richard Diebenkorn, Willaim T.Wiley, isn’t that enough? -there are many many more) has accepted our
invitation to present a workshop at the retreat. Also, J.D. Savelli and Marco Zecchin, Co-Founders of Marketing for Artists
http://www.marketing4artists.net, have agreed to provide a workshop. They have a unique approach to marketing that I’m very
intrigued by. I think it will be tremendously helpful. I know other guest speakers are being invited and that this will be an
in depth approach to moving our work forward. To make sure as many members as possible can participate, the board has voted to
underwrite half of the cost of the retreat which will enable the registration fees to be dropped substantially. The only
acceptable reasons not to be there will be those too grave to mention.
As Zig Ziglar said, “An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tarter sauce with him” Me,
I agree with Sir Winston Churchill when he said “I am an optimist. It doesn’t seem too much use being anything else.”
Gail
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