Board of Directors – Huron River Art Collective Blog

Happy New Year! 2022 Email from the President

Published on January 5, 2022 by huronriverartcollectiveLeave a comment

This post was first shared with our membership by email on January 4, 2022 from Lizzy Wilson, Huron River Art Collective President.

Happy New Year!

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
– Friedrich Nietzsche

I want to express my deep gratitude for you as a member of Huron River Art Collective. I thank you for participating in the decision-making and being patient as we continue to work through major changes during this time of Covid and much transition as an organization. You are the heart of this organization and key to building a supportive community for artists and the arts.

Especially, I want to thank our volunteer board of directors and committee members who have gone above and beyond, yet again, this past year. They have put so much time and energy, working in the background on infrastructure needs and adapting to overcome the obstacles of Covid this past year while continuing to provide and even expand educational, exhibition, and member social and networking opportunities. This year we have worked on improving our use of technologies, along with training volunteers, members, and guests to engage virtually so we could continue our Speaker Series, Empowering Women Artists program, ArtShare events, Critiques, as well as our board meetings.

We also have taken a serious look at our sustainability as an organization and what is needed to assure the Collective continues to meet with its mission to support artists into the future. One outcome of this work is that we terminated the lease in our current space and are preparing to sign a contract to lease Trust Arts gallery space just down the road from our previous space. The lease is to begin February 1, 2022. January and February will be busy with the move. Our expectation is that by April we will be hosting events in our new space.

All of these changes we have seen in the past year are being driven by membership interest and guided by our mission and values. This coming year, if you have not yet done so, I hope you will jump in and get involved to help to make the Collective even better in 2022!

Sincerely,
Lizzy Wilson
Huron River Art Collective President

Our Values

Personal honesty, integrity and respect in our work as a board, membership, and community members

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership, membership, and community engagement

Passion for teaching, learning, creativity, innovation, and sharing

Collaborative community approach connecting members and collaborating

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Mission

Our mission is to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for a diverse community of artists to share knowledge and opportunities that promote individual excellence, collaboration, inspire new creative perspectives, and offer engagement with the public to foster participation, appreciation, and support of the arts.

It takes two to tango!

Published on December 14, 2020January 3, 2021 by sophiea2Leave a comment

Artists! Our new Huron River Art Collective website is at this very moment under construction! But, without you, it’s nothing (sheds tear).

But seriously, we do need pictures of you all doing all the cool stuff you do, so please send us some. Had a laugh at a Fall mixer or Holiday party in the past two or three years? Snapped a fellow artist working on a plein air? Did you take a pic of visitors at your Open Studio? Did a student immortalize you teaching an art class? Has a spouse or offspring captured you in a moment of creation? How about at a show Opening, or your Art Fair booth? Screenshot of Zoom Book Group (cheers!)? Don’t let those pixels just loiter aimlessly in the Cloud!

One reason for the new website is to attract new members, and to make our organization more open and diverse in every way. So if you feel like there aren’t yet very many members like you – then all the more reason to send us your photos.

Bearing in mind that not every photographic record is bright, color-balanced and beautifully cropped – do we have a photographer out there who will step up and do a few basic edits to make them website-ready? Reward is huge appreciation and air kisses from the Board member of your choice (disclaimer blah, blah).

Studio Visitors during Westside Art Hop – They were asked if it was ok to share this photo.

Click HERE to view photo upload form, and upload your pictures. Please note, you will need to give permission for the use of the photos, including checking with anyone in them that they’re ok with Huron River Art Collective using their image.

Thank you!

— Sophie Grillet, Communications Chair

Solstice soon: Approaching A Turning Point

Published on December 9, 2020January 3, 2021 by sophiea21 Comment

You know how it is when you try to move a large rug while you’re still standing on it? You know it would work much better rearranged, but doing it is really awkward! That’s kind of how it is moving to Huron River Art Collective from Ann Arbor Women Artists.

Everything has to change, and everything has to have some continuity. We don’t want to lose any of the practical things which serve our membership, and we don’t want to ditch historical records or scrap our artists’ past achievements, but we do want the new website to function as perfectly as possible as soon as possible, and we do want to be poised to grow into the new character of the Collective.

We are delighted to have found a small but experienced professional company to help us with the changeover. And, we are extremely grateful to Dee Overly and Mary Murphy for the Herculean amount of work they have both put in to keep our website running up until now. We’re finally allowing them to retire from the volunteer job!

We always welcome thoughts and ideas from our artists – if you’d like to write some notes about what it’s been like being an artist in 2020, or share what your hopes are for the future, let us know! What has inspired you? What are you determined to change? We’d like to build blog posts around your interests, concerns, plans and dreams.

And as ever, don’t forget to keep in touch through our social events as well as sharing your work on Facebook and Instagram, and having conversations in our members’ only Facebook Group. If you meet any artists who haven’t joined or who don’t know about our new name and more overtly inclusive mission, we want to grow and develop – please invite them to join!

— Got an hour or two? Volunteer opportunities available in many sizes! —

To offer to help, message us through our Facebook page or Group, or email SophieGrillet at gmail.

“Our mission is to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for a diverse community of artists to share knowledge and opportunities that promote individual excellence, collaboration, inspire new creative perspectives, and offer engagement with the public to foster participation, appreciation, and support of the arts.“