Visual Art League of Lewisville

July 28, 2006

12:11 am

We have a new Chair for the Member Show/Gallery Coordinator position — Pat Leggett. Thank you, Pat for volunteering for this vital job! She can be reached by emailing patricialeggett@comcast.net, or calling 972-436-0911 if you would like to help out with this committee, or have questions.

The next regular member show is themed “Light and Shadow”. These shows are open to all members who are willing to volunteer time to sit the gallery, have no entry fee, are judged for one $50 prize, and usually run for about 6 weeks in the back “Member’s Gallery”. All media are accepted. This show will be handled a little differently, to accommodate John Chen’s exhibit- it will run from Thursday, August 17th through Saturday, September 2nd, and will fill all three rooms- so we will need a lot of entries!

Artworks can be dropped off Saturday August 12th at the gallery, time will be announced later. The last member show for 2006 will be titled “The Eyes of Texas”, and is scheduled for Thursday, October 5th through Saturday, November 11th in the Member’s Gallery. It will run concurrently with Tom Sale’s exhibit, “Texas Reliquaries”, in the front and side galleries. Please be thinking of how to express your impressions of the Lone Star State- whatever that means to you!

Danette Dufilho will be the featured speaker at the next general meeting on August 1, in the VAL Gallery at 7:00 pm. A resident of Dallas, Danette began her current position as Assistant Director of Conduit Gallery in 1999. In 2002 she took the reins as the curator of the gallery’s Project Room, a small exhibition space dedicated to showing the work of unrepresented and emerging artists. Installations in the Project Room have included the work of Bradly Brown, Michael Velliquette, Ellen George and Portuguese video artist Vasco Arauj, as well as Marina Pavlutskaya, Coleman Miller- and opening July 28- David van Ness. In 2005 she curated a group show of Texas and California artists, Coming Together, at the Michael Martin Gallery in San Francisco, California. We were honored to have Danette serve as the juror for Fresh Ideas 2006, and are looking forward to her insights in August.

Juror’s Statement

Since 1978 the Visual Art League has championed a thriving art community in Lewisville of and for artists, collectors, supporters and students. Large scale exhibitions such as the Fresh Ideas juried competition can be most telling of the talent and diverse range of artistic practice benefiting from a community art center as engaged and thriving as the Visual Art League.

Initially, what I found very exciting is that this would not be an exhibition juried from slides. Walking into the exhibition spaces to jury the competition, I knew I would be able to make the most informed decisions possible with out question as to the intent or representation of each work of art.

As to how or why I was interested in certain works and not others, I will say that what first struck me was the high level of execution of the works and their presentation. This, I assume, became in the process of looking, a measuring stick by which the works were judged, not by my own set of aesthetic criteria but by one another.

The range of what was chosen was as rich as the range that was entered. My intent was not to choose a work to fill a quota for genre or style but to showcase works that surprised me in some way through subject or composition. To this end, you will notice a show of many colors, moods and proficiency levels.

The award winning works stood out as complete thoughts that represented the collectiveness of proficiency in the media, thought to composition and my own emotional response as the viewer. It has been an honor and a fantastic learning experience for me to be involved with the Fresh Ideas Juried Exhibition for 2006. Thank you to Meg Smith and the entire staff for the opportunity to enter this rich community of artists and art supporters.

Danette Dufilho, Assistant Director at Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas.

This year’s Fresh Ideas juried competition and exhibit is amazing in it’s diversity and demonstration of the depth of talent and creativity among our members. We had 73 pieces accepted, from 32 artists, including 14 new members! I would like to thank all who participated by entering, and all those who helped out in so many ways. It was truly a team effort to be proud of.

Kudos to committee members JoAnn Vincent, Pat Leggett, Ken Adair, Tom Smith, Meg Smith, Bruce Schiefelbein and David Mask, and to our chair—Tom Norris, who was called away to a family emergency, and unfortunately missed a lot of the fun. The elegant reception was arranged by Wanda Grice, our hostess extraordinaire— and much appreciated by all who attended.

Stay tuned for announcements about Connie Nicholson’s solo show next spring- a big part of the winner’s prize! The show will come down Saturday Aug 5 at 4pm, and pieces can be picked up between 4-6pm, or Sunday Aug 6 from 1-3pm, or contact Meg Smith to arrange a time. Please make sure that your pieces get signed out as you collect them.

• First Place: Connie Nicholson “Magpie at Thompson Glacier, Alaska”
• Second Place: Dan Lattimore “Singapore Bungalow”
• Third Place: Melinda Marino “Poet”
• Honorable Mention: Linda Shackelford “Destruction Process”
• People’s Choice:
  Final votes counted, and winner announced at ArtTalk on August 1, 2006.

March 15, 2006

12:34 am

The question:

Do you want to participate in 2006 VAL Benefit Sale or Artisan Sale?

Artisan Sale: In the past, VAL has held an Artisan Sale in the gallery during the holiday season, as a venue for members to sell their artwork, cards, jewelry, etc to the public. All artists are responsible for handling their own sales, and they keep the proceeds.

Benefit Sale: In 2005, VAL held our first Holiday Benefit Sale, to raise $$ for hurricane relief efforts in the Lewisville area. We collected small works of art from members and other local artists, and offered them for sale for $50 or less, over the course of one weekend in December, and the proceeds ($800) went to Christian Community Action in Lewisville.

It is important for the VAL Board to get input from members, so that events can be planned that will accomodate the wishes and interests of the members. Please let us know what you want from YOUR art league, and how YOU will support it, so that these events will be successful.

Click here to vote on the poll.

The question:

Do you want to participate in 2006 VAL Benefit Sale or Artisan Sale?

Artisan Sale: In the past, VAL has held an Artisan Sale in the gallery during the holiday season, as a venue for members to sell their artwork, cards, jewelry, etc to the public. All artists are responsible for handling their own sales, and they keep the proceeds.

Benefit Sale: In 2005, VAL held our first Holiday Benefit Sale, to raise $$ for hurricane relief efforts in the Lewisville area. We collected small works of art from members and other local artists, and offered them for sale for $50 or less, over the course of one weekend in December, and the proceeds ($800) went to Christian Community Action in Lewisville.

It is important for the VAL Board to get input from members, so that events can be planned that will accomodate the wishes and interests of the members. Please let us know what you want from YOUR art league, and how YOU will support it, so that these events will be successful.

Click here to vote on the poll.