In This Issue:

📌 Calling all artisans and art lovers! Events you won’t want to miss
📌 Meeting Recap & What’s Next – Zoom gatherings & future plans
📌 Membership Musings – Who are we, and where do we go from here?
📌 Book Discussion Wrap-Up – Thoughts from Coaching the Artist Within
📌 Save the Date! – Our next Artisan Social
📌 October Exhibit at Baby Grand! – Exciting news and call for leadership

🎨 Feb. 7 | 5:30–7:30 PM – The 2nd Annual Young Artisans Show

Arden has always been a place where creativity is nurtured, and that includes our youngest artists! The 2nd Annual Young Artisans Show is coming up, showcasing artists ages 5 to 19 working in all sorts of media—ceramics, photography, pen & ink, textiles, and more.

This is our chance to cheer on the next generation of Arden artists and show them that their creativity is valued. Stop by, admire their work, and enjoy some refreshments while you’re at it.

📍 Location: BUZZ WARE VILLAGE CENTER
📢 Find us on Facebook: Art Loop at Arden

🎭 Feb. 19 | 7:00–9:00 PM KICKOFF of ARTS & CRAFTS GILD

While we are not going to be advertising the events of the Arts & Crafts Gild here on a regular basis, we did want to help make the initiative--whose origins can be traced back to the AAC-- a success. We hope that our members will attend, celebrate what we have helped to achieve, and give the new addition to our cultrual landscape a push in the right direction. Join us as we brainstorm ideas for programming, explore how
the gild can serve the community, and discuss how you can get involved. The event is open and appropriate  to all ages, though children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Invite your friends who live outside the Ardens. The Arts & Crafts Gild is being led by Megan King, Jeanne Orr and Jill Althouse-Wood, and we are looking for others to join the leadership team. If you’re interested in helping shape this exciting
new chapter for the Arden Club, we’d love to hear from you! For an expanded description of the event, please check out the February Arden Club Calendar or The February Arden Page.

📍 Location: ARDEN GILD HALL

🎭 Feb. 19 – March 9 | “Life Lessons” Invitational Exhibit

What can art teach us about mentorship, growth, and the human spirit? That’s the question behind “Life Lessons,” an invitational art exhibit inspired by the Delaware Theatre Company’s production of Tuesdays with Morrie.

Curated by Sadie Somerville and Alida Fish, this show brings together work from four of our talented collective artists:
✨ Steve Tanis
✨ Linda Celestian
✨ Lon Sullivan
✨ Megan Murphy King

📍 Exhibit Location: Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington
🎭 Artist Reception: March 7 | 5:30–7:30 PM

Make an evening of it! The Delaware Theatre Company is just down the street from The Delaware Contemporary, making this a perfect stop on Wilmington’s March Art Loop.

Looking Back: January Meeting & What’s Ahead

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who showed up for our January gathering. It was a lively, engaged group, and our small group breakouts sparked some great conversations about where we’re headed.

Here’s what’s next:
📌 Meeting Notes – Available in the members’ section of the Arden Artisan website.
📌 More frequent member-at-large meetings! The consensus was clear—we want to connect more often.
📌 Moving to Zoom. Without a free physical space, we’re going virtual.

Next Zoom Meeting:

📅 Thursday, March 27 | 7–9 PM
🔗 The link will be in the March newsletter.
📜 Agenda: I’ll send it out ahead of time (but not in time for the March newsletter—so watch for it separately).

Membership Musings: Who Are We?

We’ve had a few folks ask—how many members do we actually have? That’s a great question, and we’re working on formalizing our membership list.

One idea that came up was an annual membership fee—something small and manageable that helps us keep track of members and maybe fund a few things here and there. People seem to be on board, but we don’t yet have a system to handle it.

💡 Have thoughts? Ideas? A knack for spreadsheets? Let us know!

📚 Book Discussion Wrap-Up: Coaching the Artist Within

In January, we gathered for a discussion of Eric Maisel’s Coaching the Artist Within. About ten of us—writers, musicians, visual artists—sat together and had one of those honest, soul-nourishing conversations that remind us why this community is so special.

Some of us had read the book, some of us hadn’t—but it didn’t really matter. The themes struck a chord: how to overcome creative blocks, how to self-support our work, and how important it is to have a community that “gets it.”

We don’t have another book discussion planned yet, but if anyone wants to lead one, bring your ideas to the March Zoom meeting!

Save the Date: April Artisan Social

📅 Tentative Date: Tuesday, April 22 (pending Buzz Ware Village Center approval)

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.
🎭 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!
🔄 Trading Tables – Bring supplies, books, tools, or even artwork to swap.

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

October Art Exhibit at the Baby Grand: EXCITING NEWS!

We are seeking volunteers to join the leadership team (minimum of four members) to help organize a curated exhibition celebrating Arden: 125 Years of a Living Arts & Crafts Community. This exhibit will highlight works by contemporary Arden artists alongside pieces by artists from Arden’s past, illustrating the community’s rich artistic heritage and its ongoing legacy.

To achieve this, we will invite contributions from personal collections of past Arden artists. Each piece will be accompanied by blurbs and stories that share the history of Arden as an Arts & Crafts community and demonstrate how the tradition continues today. While artwork can be Arden-themed, it is not required.

Once the full leadership team is in place, we will release a formal call for art. We aim to begin organizing soon to allow ample time for media outreach, including magazine features, podcasts, and newspaper coverage.

Additionally, I (Jill) have volunteered to create a commemorative photo album (via Shutterfly, Vistaprint, Mixbook, etc.) to document the exhibit. This album will be donated to the Arden Craft Shop Museum and made available for purchase.

The Baby Grand can only accommodate wall-hung pieces. We would love to organize a separate exhibition for our 3D artists—potentially in November—but we need leadership and a venue for that initiative.

If you’re interested in helping make this exhibition a reality, please reach out to someone on the Steering Committee. Let’s celebrate Arden’s artistic legacy together!

That’s it for this month—lots happening, and lots more to come. If you have announcements, ideas, or something to share in next month’s newsletter, let us know.

Until next time, keep making art, supporting each other, and celebrating this creative community we’re lucky to call home. 🎨✨

Jill Althouse-Wood on behalf of our 2025 Steering Committee which also includes  Linda Toman, Shay Seaborne, Megan King, Cookie Ohlson, Betty O'Regan (With Treasurer Jeanne Orr) Thanks for stepping up!

“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard