TACA: Tennessee Association of Craft Artists
Highland Rim Chapter
Newsletter

TACA Highland Rim Chapter February 2006 Newsletter & Minutes

Highland Rim Officers for 2006:
President: Tim Hintz
Vice-President: John Lucas
Treasurer: Noreen Grisolano
Secretary: Carol Ventura
Board Reps: Jeanne Brady and Tim Hintz.

February 25th, 2006 Meeting Minutes:

The Chapter met at Tim and Jeanne’s house a week late, due to snow. In attendance were: Anderson Bailey, Jeanne Brady, Andrzej Gutek, Derreld Hallenbeck, Tim Hintz, Merritt Ireland, Breanna Kincaid, Arlene Knaak, Bill and Molly Meharg, Adele Seitzinger, Anastasia Trainer, Carol Ventura, Timothy Weber, and Mike Whiteman.

Jeanne, Adele, and Tim told us what happened at the Board Retreat. Since Alice is retiring, the meeting focused on defining who TACA is and where the organization wants to go. It will be very difficult to fill Alice’s shoes. The Chattanooga Fair was cancelled because it is too expensive and the Biennial was put on hold because it is too much work. There will be a live auction at Alice’s retirement party during May Fair.

Breanna Kincaid (931 858-6676 / 931 284-8578, brkincaid21@tntech.edu) is organizing the HR Group Booth for May Fair . Everyone who is interested in participating must attend a meeting on either Saturday, March 25th or April 15th, to discuss booth display, the work schedule, and money handling. She needs your $25 participation check before April 1 st . Info is at http://www.finecrafts.org/Spring/Fair.htm .

Treasurer's Report: The balance is now $1,032.17.

The Shoe Fly Pie Band will play at the Highland Rim Party on March 18, 2006, 6:00 pm-9:00 pm. Over 50 tickets have been sold and the chapter agreed to donate 10 tickets. Tickets are available ($10 now or $15 at the door) from Tim (615 597-8770). Come dance and have fun! Non-members are welcome, too! Bring your own beer and wine. Contact Tim if you would like to help. All the profits will go to CERF.

Rob Harvey, Tim Hintz, and Claudia Lee are sponsoring a “hands-on” and selling of bowls for Empty Bowls on Memorial Day morning in Smithville.

Mike Whiteman will let the group know what it will cost to replace the stolen Highland Rim trailer.

Susan DeMay organized a Chapter Exhibition in November and December at Cumberland University. Rob Harvey is lining up an exhibit for us at St. Andrews in Sewanee. Rob needs people to teach workshops to high school students during the show. He is also looking for a title for the exhibit. Send your slides, bio, resume, artist statement, and ideas to Rob (at the Craft Center) and Susan if you would like to participate in either or both shows.

Anastasia Trainer gave a very informative presentation about artist web pages and how she presents herself and sells her jewelry and fiber art on the internet at www.forgedfiber.net . Important things to consider about a web page are, “Who is your audience?” and “Is it promotional or educational?”

Tim Hintz told us that Virginia sells 95% of her flame-worked beads on the Ebay Store and gets paid through PayPal. Info on Ebay's AboutMe promotes her web site at http://www.fireimplampworkbeads.com.

Tim said that Marilee Hall uses a web page as a catalog to sell her work. She updates it to encourage traffic and personalizes the page with her thoughts http://www.marileehallceramics.com/index.php.

Tim shared tips from the Guerilla Marketing book – including that the web site must load quickly, change often, have personality, be organized, and that the artist should respond immediately to the customer. Tim also told us about his great experience with the Service Corp of Retired Executives in Nashville.

Timothy Weber told us about http://Guild.com, a site in competition with galleries that successfully sells juried work. He passed around several of their catalogs.

Members can purchase a web page through TACA and Highland Rim chapter members can get a free web page linked to www.finecrafts.org by sending info, negatives, slides, photos, and text to Andrzej Gutek ( agutek@tntech.edu ). Digital images are best, but he can scan others. Send him updates, too.

The Fall Fun Fest will be Friday night (optional) and all day Saturday, September 9th. For information and an application, contact Mike Whiteman or go to http://www.finecrafts.org/Fun%20Fest/FunFest.htm.

Sign up now to be on the new Highland Rim email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HighlandRim that replaces the previous one. You need a unique username, so if your preferred name is not available, choose another one. You may read the emails by going to the page without signing up, but to receive them, you must register.

Assistantship applications for the Furniture Society Conference (June 8-10 in Indianapolis, IN) are due March 15. Assistants get a free conference pass.

For info about obtaining a craft booth at Mardi Gras in May to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Clarksville, call Wendy Plunkett at 931 647-1418.

Next Highland Rim Chapter Meetings:
Wednesday, May 10th, 5:30 pm; Sharon and William Kooiengas in Dowelltown (615 936-5567). Marcia Reel of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center will be the featured speaker.
Wednesday, September 13th, 5:30 pm; Claudia Lee's
Saturday, December 2nd, 11:00 am; Carol and Andrzej's

Highland Rim Members in the News:

Merritt Ireland and Marilee Hall 's work was included in Art & Frame Outlet, Inc and Explore Monthly's 1st Fine Art and Folk Art Show in February that was sponsored by http://www.artstorecafe.com.

Kim Winkle won a Niche Award in the painted wood category and another Niche Award in the fashion jewelry category. Her work will be in the Crafts National Exhibition in Lancaster, PA, and a new piece will be in the Spring Guild.com catalog. Kim will be teaching bandsaw box workshops at Turning Point Studios in Atlanta March 3-5 and at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg Oct. 20-22.

Carol Ventura published: Ambassador of Tapestry Crochet Visits Portugal, in the March 2006 CHAIN LINK and Blacksmithing in Andalucia in the Winter 2006 ANVILS RING.

Please post your news on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HighlandRim or send it to the Highland Rim secretary so that we can keep up with what you are doing!

Last updated on   September 16, 2007 . Comments? E-mail the webmaster. Maintained by Andrzej Gutek.