APRIL 2025  ARDEN ARTISAN COLLECTIVE Newsletter

In This Issue:

• 📌 Zoom Meeting Recap

• 📌 First Call for Submissions – Baby Grand Art Show

• 📌 April 22: Our Next Artisan Social

• 📌 Call for Artists – Spring Studio Art Tour (June 7)

• 📌 Public Art Update

• 📌 2025 Small Art Show/Fair Booth
  📌 May Newsletter Deadline.

Zoom Meeting Recap

On March 27, 14 members, including six from the Steering Committee, met via Zoom. The discussion covered key initiatives, and breakout groups provided space for engaging conversations. We stuck to our agenda and made significant progress on various topics. Thank you to all who participated!

For those who couldn’t attend, meeting notes are available in the Members section of the AAC website. Some topics typically covered in this newsletter are included in the minutes, so be sure to check them out. We hope to schedule another member-wide Zoom meeting in June.

First Call for Submissions – 2D Art Show

A Living Legacy: 125 Years of Art and Craft in the Ardens

This exhibit is a unique opportunity for contemporary Arden Artisans to exhibit with artists from Ardens' past, thus demonstrating to the larger outside community the rich legacy we are preserving and continuing here in the Ardens. 

Submissions are now open for the 2D and relief art show at the Baby Grand, scheduled for October. To ensure high-quality images for publicity, we are conducting a first round of submissions, due May 1, with a second round due July 1.

Submit your work here: Submission Form
For assistance, contact Megan King at meganmurphyking@gmail.com.

Arden Artisans Collective Spring Social

📅 Tuesday, April 22, 7:00–9:00 PM
📍 Buzz Ware Village Center

New Format! As requested by members, we are introducing a new format, One lead presenter, with a sign-up sheet at the event for others who wish to share new or in-process art.

🎤 Featured Presenter: Jennifer Borders
Jennifer will discuss her artistic journey, covering themes of environmental issues, politics, and personal expression. Using drawing, installation, sculpture, and unconventional materials, she explores ways to engage viewers conceptually and emotionally.

🍰 Light refreshments & social time – Enjoy cake and mingle! Feel free to bring a treat to share.
🔄 Trading table – Bring artwork, books, materials, or tools to share or trade.
🎨 Open to all – Whether you create art or simply appreciate it, join us! No charge, but donations to the Buzz are appreciated.

Contact: Shay Seaborne CPTSD at ShaySails@gmail.com

Call for Artists – 2025 Arden Studio Tour

📅 Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Although not an official AAC event, we encourage members to participate. Last year, the tour attracted over 80 visitors, and we aim to grow that number this year!

🎨 Artists without studio space may be able to share locations with others.
📣 Promotional efforts begin in May, with personal promotions encouraged one to two weeks before the tour.

To participate, email David Burslem at studiotour2024@gmail.com with:

1. Your email or website

2. Exhibit location

3. A short blurb about your work

A promotional invite design is available for use. More details to come!

Public Art Update – Grant Pending

Ardentown has applied for AARP funding to paint 11 electrical boxes in the Ardens. If approved (announcement expected in May), boxes will be professionally prepped, artists will be paid, materials provided, and work will need to be completed by year’s end. Stay tuned for updates on project meetings and  how to apply!

Small Art Show 2025 – Seeking New Direction

Following the March Zoom meeting, we’ve decided not to hold the Small Art Show at the Buzz next year due to low sales and limited outside engagement. Alternative options include:

1. A double AAC tent at the Arden Fair – featuring a smaller-format art show (10–12” pieces) to attract fairgoers.

2. A holiday show at the Arden Club’s Back Gallery – possibly under the Arts & Crafts Guild during the Holiday Shop event.

We need leadership to move forward. Past resources are available, and support will be provided. If interested, email ardenartisans@gmail.com. This is an initiative that needs to be decided on in the next weeks or we risk losing placement at the Arden Fair.

Newsletter Submissions Reminder

As more members take initiative, the newsletter is shifting from being written by one person to a collaborative effort. If you're organizing an event, please write and submit your blurb.

📝 Deadline for the May newsletter: April 25
📧 Submit to: ardenartisans@gmail.com

Thank You & Looking Ahead

We’re grateful for everyone’s contributions and enthusiasm. Whether you’re submitting work, volunteering, or simply showing up, your involvement keeps our artistic community thriving. Let’s keep creating, collaborating, and celebrating art together!

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." – Thomas Merton

📢 Stay connected & engaged!
On behalf of the 2025 Steering Committee: Jill Althouse-Wood, Linda Toman, Shay Seaborne, Megan King, Annette Hearing, Cookie Ohlson, Betty O’Regan, and Treasurer Jeanne Orr.
Based on the feedback from our January meeting, we’re shaking things up a bit:

🎤 Featured Artist Presentation – We’ll start the evening with one artist presenting their work formally. This spring we are excited to announce that artist is Jen Borders.
 🎭 Open Mic-Style Show & Tell – After that, members can bring individual pieces—new work, work in progress, anything they’d like to share. Think of it like an art coffeehouse! A reminder that this is not a critique. All work is shared in supportive, safe space.
 🔄 Trading Tables – Bring supplies, books, tools, or even artwork to swap.

And 🧁!

Our socials always prove to be a fun, casual, and inspiring evening, so mark your calendars!

**Seeking Team Members for Our 2025 Exhibit Initiatives**  

We’re looking for volunteers to join the leadership teams for two special exhibitions celebrating *Arden: 125 Years of a Living Arts & Crafts Community.* Each team will include 3-4 members to help organize these curated shows, which will showcase contemporary Arden artists alongside works from the past, highlighting the community’s rich artistic heritage and ongoing legacy.  

To bring this vision to life, we’ll invite contributions from personal collections of past Arden artists. Each piece will be accompanied by stories and historical context, illustrating Arden’s long-standing Arts & Crafts tradition and its continued influence today. While Arden-themed artwork is welcome, it is not required.  

The first exhibition, featuring 2D art, will be held at the Baby Grand in October. The second will be a long-awaited showcase for our 3D artists at the Blue Ball barn in November. 

Once the leadership teams are in place, we’ll release a formal call for art. We hope to start organizing soon to allow time for media outreach, including magazine features, podcasts, and newspaper coverage.  

Additionally, I (Jill) have volunteered to create a commemorative photo album to document both exhibits. This album will be donated to the Arden Craft Shop Museum and made available for purchase.  

If you’d like to help bring these exhibitions to life, please reach out to a member of the Steering Committee by March 10th, ahead of our March 11th meeting. Let’s celebrate Arden’s artistic legacy together!  

*NEW* AAC Member Listserv

            In the next few days AAC members will be receiving an email from our new Listserv. For those of you who don’t know, a Listserv is an email list where a single message is sent to a group. It allows members of a group to receive and reply to messages that go out to the whole group. Emails sent on the Listserv will hopefully be limited to AAC-related issues or information that members think other members would like to hear.

If, by some unintended oversight or error, you do not receive this introductory Listserv email by March 10, please check your spam. If you did not receive it at all, please email  Micah know and she will add you to the list.

PUBLIC ART INTEREST GROUP

An interest group is forming with the intention of creating public art. Presently the discussion centers on applying for grants to pay artists to paint utility boxes around Arden—there are 11 (See yellow smiley face dots on map for locations of 10 of them.)

If you want to be the artists who are in on these early discussions or are an artist who potentially wants to get the job to paint one of these boxes, please email  Bethany Rees. 

NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS

It is happening! Members are taking ownership of the AAC, championing events, and bringing fresh ideas to the table. Because of this, I am going to be transitioning from newsletter writer to newsletter editor. I will, of course, still write blurbs for things I am involved in, but I am asking others to write the blurbs for the items that you are in charge of. To keep things easy, I am going to make the deadline the same as that for the Arden Page—that way you can submit to both at the same time, if needed. We will aim to also have 11 issues, like the Arden page, though possibly we will drop that number to 10 and just have a Summer issue (when things are a bit quiet). You have been notified. Please email newsletter submissions for the April newsletter to ardenartisans@gmail.com  by Friday, March 28th. 

"Until next time, keep creating, embracing new beginnings, and celebrating the vibrant artistry that blooms in our community. 🌸🎨✨"
 
 Jill Althouse-Wood on behalf of our 2025 Steering Committee which also includes  Linda Toman, Shay Seaborne, Megan King, Annette Hearing, Cookie Ohlson, Betty O'Regan (With Treasurer Jeanne Orr) 

"To create one's own world takes courage." — Georgia O’Keeffe