Grace Delanoy – Brevard Watercolor Society

So much has been happening, it is difficult to know where to start!

Our new board members are settling in and adding their talents to leadership. I’m grateful to have such a great team. Good things are happening! As we start gaining traction, please let us know how we’re doing! Thanks again to all of your for your support last year of the previous board and myself. You truly keep me going!

I did a review of our website and had our webmaster, Grace Delanoy, update a lot of information. One last task that I’ll be tackling this week is getting the New Members’ letter updated. Please take a moment to look around the site and offer any suggestions you might have to make it more useful to you.

We had the opening reception for the Florida Flora and Fauna Art Show on Sunday, October 1. The show continues through November 29: 11am-4pm, Monday-Saturday, Highland Art Studios & Gallery at 1425 Highland Ave, Melbourne, FL. You can also visit during the First Friday Eau Gallie Art Walk. Many thanks to Therese Ferguson and the Highland Studio artists for hosting this show!

Watch your emails for opportunities to help with Splash! This being our biggest show of the year, requires a lot of help. The nice thing about Splash is the commitment can be small or large – there are so many options and opportunities.

The Eau Gallie Library is hosting a Community Art (Supply) Swap on November 4, 2-4pm, 1521 Pineapple Ave, Melbourne, FL 32935. I emailed the flyer to members on October 12 with details about take-in and the event. This is a fun opportunity to pick up some supplies to try a new technique or clear out one or two of your less favorite items. If you missed the email or want a copy of the flyer, please email me at BWSPresident@outlook.com.

I’m starting reminders now about 2024 Membership since the end of the year is nigh. BWS Memberships for the coming year are due January 1 and are definitely due no later than your Splash entry the first week of February. They are tax deductible and are for January-December time period. You can renew here on the website by clicking the button below, or by sending a check to Membership 2024, Brevard Watercolor Society, Inc., PO Box 361076, Melbourne, FL 32936-1076. Dues are $50 for Individual Memberships, $60 for a Family Membership. An added incentive for membership is that our non-member workshop fee is increasing to $25 in January.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION & RENEWAL

And last but not least, a reminder to those who signed up for Dorothy Koliba’s “White isn’t Always White” workshop coming up on October 28, 10am-4pm (we cannot enter before 9:45) at the Wickham Community Center. If you find you can’t attend, please email me: BWSPresident@outlook.com. We have several people on a waitlist who would like to attend if you aren’t able to.

Dorothy’s workshop will wrap up 2023’s workshops. I heartily thank all the artists who participated. I learned so much and the feedback has been fantastic. Gina Olsen will be starting to promote 2024’s events shortly. The ones which have artists scheduled are on the website. We still need a few more artists to fill 2024 – would you consider sharing your talents with us? Contact Gina at georginaeolsen@gmail.com.

Enjoy our unique Autumn, and keep those brushes wet!

(My first water color, not that long ago…)

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” – Alberto Giacometti

– Teri

Teri Mahnken
President, Brevard Watercolor Society

Through the years, I have always felt blessed to see people in various organizations volunteer to work together for the common good. Last week at the September 14th BWS general meeting, I experienced that same cohesive feeling of camaraderie when I saw my fellow artists step forward and volunteer to fill vacant offices, chair a committee or join a committee that needed help. The board put out a call for help and the membership said YES. Isn’t it just wonderful when everything falls naturally into place?

We are proud to announce the new BWS elected officers:

Our 1^st Vice President (workshops) is Karen Krosnick,
Our 2^nd Vice President (Membership) is Barbara Rios,
and our Secretary is Mary Warnick.

I also wish to thank Cathy Robinson for volunteering to be our new greeter, and Pat Bowlds and Grace Delanoy for all their hard work in creating our lovely new website.

Special thanks to Frank Spino for the wonderful demo immediately following our meeting. We all appreciate the opportunity to learn from such a talented artist, and are fortunate to have him as an active member.

After the Saturday meeting, I received an email from Phyllis Marple offering to chair a committee of BWS members to run Splash 2020. The committee is composed of Debbie Whalen, Cindy McKee, Lolly Walton and of course, Phyllis Marple. What a pleasant surprise it was to discover that they were willing to take on this monumental job for us. Many of these ladies have worked Splash shows in the past, and are very experienced with Splash operations.

My thanks go out to all of you who have volunteered to sacrifice their time and energy for BWS. We still have a few positions open. Currently, we need chairs for Publicity (other than Splash), Plein-air, a webmaster apprentice, and more teachers willing to do mini workshops. If you are interested in any of these positions, let any board member or committee chair know.

Donah Miller
BWS President