Frog Notes Spring 2015
Issue No. 6
Cover Photo The image appearing on the cover of this issue is of Frog Hollow glass artist Robert Burch's “Grotto� glass paperweight.
March Trapping Boats Of Lake Champlain exhibit in front of Gallery
CONTENTS 2 3 6
From the President
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Non-Profit
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Annual Meeting Minutes
Director's Notes
Community Unites Against Theft
Spring 2015
Jury
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2015 Artists to Look for in the Gallery
Gallery
A Fresh Start to 2015
Partner Spotlight What Happened to the CSWD Creative ReUse Showcase?!?!
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Photo Essay
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Opportunities
Terry Zigmund
Upcoming events, artist opportunities, call to artists and more...
From The President As I take over the Presidency of the Non-profit Board from Brad Rabinowitz, I would like to thank Brad for the leadership he has extended on our behalf for the past five years. In that time we created a strategic plan, redesigned the gallery, created a new board for the "for profit" which has allowed the non-profit to move forward on our educational endeavors. I am a printmaker and have been exhibiting my work in Frog Hollow since 2003. My association with Frog Hollow has meant a lot to me both personally and professionally. I have witnessed the ups and downs of our galleries and organization through the years. The work that we have been doing on the board in the past seven years, has put us on a solid footing. My intention, as President, is to continue creating community through our film series, artist dinners, exhibitions and membership. Expand the outreach of all of our resources - such as the Artist Video series. Increase our visibility throughout the state through traveling exhibitions and partnerships with other organizations. Engage the board in Strategic Planning as we look into the future and strengthen our economic base. To the artists of Frog Hollow, I would like to remind all of us that our work is important and a gift to the world. That we are creating and challenging ourselves with our work, that we spend time making things with our own hands, makes a difference. When I look at the world around us and all of the challenges we are facing, I think about how much worse it would be if the artisans stopped creating, the musicians stopped making music, the writers lay down their pens‌ To our members and all of you who come to buy gifts or treasures for yourselves and others - thank you. You make a huge difference in our ability to keep looking for new ways to bring art and craft into the community. As in the localvore movement, living with art and handmade objects enhances our lives immeasurably and supports the creative economy which is vitally important to all of us. Carol MacDonald Non-Profit Board President Frog Hollow Craft Association Inc. 2
Publisher Frog Hollow Craft Association Inc Contact Us 85 Church St. Burlington Vermont 05401 802.863.6458 info@froghollow.org Frog Notes is published quarterly and distributed digitally to Frog Hollow artists, artisans and members. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher and/or the contributing artists. Š2014. All rights reserved. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and oversights. If you notice an error, please accept our apologies and notify us of your finding. Thank you.
Non-Profit
Annual Meeting Minutes By Rachel Morton
The Frog Hollow 2015 Annual Meeting was held at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center Board Room at 60 Lake Street in Burlington, Vermont. Photo: Megan Humphrey
The following are the unapproved minutes from our 2015 Frog Hollow Annual Meeting. All documents referenced in the following minutes are available by request for all current members. ANNUAL MEETING, March 16, 2015 Main Street Landing, 12 – 3:00 25 people present
DIRECTOR’S REPORT (ROB) Recent and Upcoming Initiatives
WELCOME (Brad) Explained again the reasons for separating the Board into two, Gallery and Nonprofit. Introduced Liz.
* Green Mt Artisan series —12K anonymous donation to support this film series with Natalie Stultz, filmmaker, that focuses on 4 different artists. Kate Pond, Michael Egan Al Stirt, Ivy Long. Videos will be used for educational purposes.
INTRODUCTIONS AND OVERVIEW (LIZ ) Congratulated gallery staff on sales increase (gross profits increased 7 percent in spite of decreased ad expenditures) thanked Brad Rabinowitz for his service to the Board, welcomed new Gallery staff and thanked Ruby. Announced two individuals interested in becoming new Gallery board members; Mark Waskow and Cody McGibben. Kim Datchuk reported on Gallery —repainted and rehung in February. New marketing promotions, like highlighting gifts under $50.
* Mobile Gallery project — still in development. Gallery on wheels we can take to schools and libraries around the state. * ONE Burlington — Kim has proposed a photographic project documenting Old North End residents (native Vermonters and immigrants) with photos and quotes. Sam Simon would take portraits. Photos to be hung in FH Gallery.
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* Films monthly at Feldman’s. Third Wednesday of every month. Done two, next Wednesday, 3/18/15. First had a good sized audience; second had very few people. Board working on getting word out about the next film.
BYLAW CHANGES EXPLAINED AND APPROVED 2.1 Wording change in Mission Statement
* New Initiative: Americorps project — students and studios. Interns would spend afternoon with artist and then write a blog post for FH blog about artist and process.
3.2 Dues: Slightly changed nonartist members levels.
* Gallery has new signage designed by board member Kevin Ruelle. Brings us into compliance with new rules for State Craft Centers. We had to remove “Vermont State Craft Center” from our name. FUND RAISING AND MEMBERSHIP (CAROL) * Seven years ago we were in desperate financial shape. Things much improved now as we have maintained a fairly healthy membership and looking to keep growing that. Daphne does processing, just got a check last week of $1,000. Rob and Board have been sending out membership reminders with good response. During holiday had employee incentive program, employees who gets most memberships, received a gift. Since beginning of December gotten 50 renewals and new members.
2.23 Goals: wording changed. structure
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3.6 Notice of meetings quorum. Making it 20 as opposed to 25. 3.8.2 Artists can put membership on hold for a year without having to resubmit work. 4.4.3 changed language so nonprofit is in charge of oversight of artisan membership and provides list to gallery for exhibitors. 4.15 Voting by proxy [A Motion by Brad that we allow people to attend meeting through electronic media was TABLED.] 5.3 Officers. Language added to give oversight to executive director in creating budget.
* Artist dinner —did it last year at Bob Compton’s studio. Guests received a studio tour, then enjoyed dinner prepared by board members. 12 guests paid $100 each to come. It’s fund raising AND community building. Photo: Megan Humphrey
* Artist Dinner at Carol’s house, planned for March 29th , has been canceled. Next Artist Dinner June 14 at Susan Raber’s. * Raised about $10,000 this year. Looking for other ways to get sponsorships, raise money. * Voting on officers was unanimous: Carol is the new president Lynne is the new vice president Rachel is the new secretary Roy continues on as treasurer BUDGET (ROB) 4
EXPLAINED
AND
APPROVED
Frog Hollow Board Members in attendance included outgoing President Brad Rabinowitz, incoming president Carol MacDonald, Secretary Rachel Morton, outgoing VP Susan Raber Bray, incoming VP Lynne Bond, Gallery Board president Liz Lawrence and ED Rob Hunter
6.2 – development changed.
committee,
wording
6.2.3 finance committee removed. 6.2.3 education committee, wording changed. 8.3 other reports. New section added. Reports provided by gallery board to nonprofit board. Part of checks and balances. STRATEGIC PLAN Discussed the plan we created some years ago, which Roy succinctly summarized in a document for the meeting. Rob explained in what areas we have succeeded with this plan, and where we fell short. Although the Leap Frog initiative held promise, the state's economic situation in 2013 did not produce a conducive environment for its success. Fund raising had mixed success. That recent $10,000 grant for the video project was notable success, as were grants from VT Arts Council and community foundation . Constant growth in website; constantly adding content. New student blog planned for coming months. Site not optimized for iPhone devices so we have to do some technical work on it. Working with Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and Google plus. Online sales increased. Google grant for the website gives us $10,000/month in SEO ads . Can’t spend it all. Saw 400% increase in sales as a result of SEO grant.
A quick update from gallery Operations By Daphne Zencey
On January 21st we conducted our annual physical inventory counts. This is a crucial step in getting organized and prepared for the upcoming year. For three days, the staff counts every single object we have on hand. In order to do this accurately, we close the gallery doors for a day to count the items on the floor, uninterrupted. The tally sheets are given to me, I take into account all sales from the 21 st through to the 31st, and then send out the results to our represented artists. For accurate record keeping, this puts us at a fresh start for the year, and hopefully it helps to alleviate any issues with inventory and missing items down the road. On a separate note: our membership database has been steadily increasing! Between early December 2014 and March of this year, we've received a combination of fifty renewed and new memberships, including a handful of $500 and $1000 donations. This increase was due in part to two factors. In December we ran an incentive program, rewarding the Gallery Assistant acquiring the most memberships with a blown glass vase by Gabriel Cole. There was also a large mail campaign to reach out to our expired members, and the results continue to trickle in. Thank you to all who have become members or given donations, your continued support is very much appreciated!
Photo: Megan Humphrey
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Director's Notes
Loss Prevention By Rob Hunter
The shot that IDed him
In our Summer 2014 issue we addressed the problem of theft in the gallery. I think it may be worth revisiting as several new issues have arisen in recent months. In the past issue, we talked about staff training as a deterrent, but as you will see in a moment, this alone is not enough. In August we saw that several pieces had gone missing, totaling roughly $700 in missing inventory. They were glass paperweight items. We could pinpoint the period that they went missing but not the individual that took them. As a follow up to this incident we filed a report with the Burlington Police department and then asked that they send an officer to the gallery for one of our staff educational potluck meals (as described in our Spring 2014 Frog Notes). During our discussion with the officer, he went over strategies that we could implement and risks that we should not take when we suspect an individual of stealing. He answered our questions and gave us an insightful view into his work and the problems our town is faced 6
with. Most importantly he stressed the value of a good video surveillance system. To date we had used dummy cameras throughout the gallery as an affordable deterrent. The officer explained that thieves are becoming more and more knowledgeable about such things and more complex in how they operate. He also pointed out that it is usually the same group of individuals working an area and if an image can be captured of the theft in progress then it is that much easier to arrest the culprit. In short he said that the only real way to catch a repeat offender (which they almost all are) is to film them. Looking at security camera systems we found that the prices had dropped considerably, and if we could prevent just one loss like the glass paperweights from August it would almost totally pay for itself. Prior to the holiday season, we went ahead, purchased the eight camera system and installed it ourselves one night. It may be a luck or coincidence but throughout the holiday season and most of the winter we did not have any noticeable losses (with one exception that took place, ironically, in
one of two camera blind spots in the gallery... we have just installed two more cameras to cover this problem). In looking at our inventory discrepancies we saw what appears to be an all time low in missing or lost items (which can also be attributed to five years of increasing improvements in our record keeping thanks to a string of remarkable Operations Managers). All of this was about to change however. In early March one of our staff members noticed several glass pieces had gone missing in the course of a day; fortunately, this time we had video. A review of the video showed us instantly who the thief was, and although we did not get a good image of his face our staff member interacted with him (after which he immediately left) and could identify him. We lodged a report with the police and gave them a copy of the video. We also called out to our Church Street community. What happened next was quite remarkable. We were instantly contacted by shop owners and employees throughout Church Street who had created a network to identify individuals who were stealing from the downtown area. We were asked to join a facebook page that circulates images of known thieves in real time explaining how they operated and what they had taken. The following day the thief returned to our gallery. The camera caught him taking one more glass piece (from a different artist since the previous artists work had been put into a case) before our gallery assistant noticed him from the earlier video and previous description. She engaged him in stern conversation and he quickly left...but not before we got a good face shot of him with our cameras. We made a follow up report to the police and instantly put the images out to the downtown network. Within an hour we had two mug shots provided by an area business of who it might be. Within fifteen minutes from then our staff had positively ID'd the man who had stolen our artist work. When the police stopped by to check in with us we were able to hand them the thief's photo and name (pictured to the right). He was brought in later that week, issued a notice of trespass from Frog Hollow for one year and it looks like some of the items may even be recovered.
The sad news is that he is a known repeat offender with a long history of this type of behavior. The good news is we know who he is. What is more incredible about this is the unique network within our community that has evolved in response to this epidemic of theft that we are seeing statewide. Acting within the law, utilizing technology and communication we have been able stay our frustrations, help the police and better protect our artisans work. There are a lot of factors that came together in the stopping of this individual. High among them are a great, well trained staff and a community that cares enough to help each other.
Above: Our thief would pick up a piece and hold it under the paper in his hand, then move to the back of the gallery and transfer the piece to his pocket. Our cameras were able to follow him the whole time. Below: The photo that was sent to us by one of our neighbors that helped us clearly ID him for the police.
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Jury
Spring 2015 Brings New Batch of Artists Applying to Frog Hollow! By Kristin Ballif
During the month of March, Deborah Shell exhibited her leaves and lace impressed pottery. Deb combines wheel thrown and slab stoneware to create one of a kind teapots, mugs, syrup pitchers and many other types of pieces. She then impresses her pottery using vintage lace and leaf motifs. During the month of April we have three artists jurying in who all use wood as either a building material or a substrate to showcase their work. Michael Glod has a “deep appreciation for the furniture and furnishings of the 20 th century and the simple yet sophisticated forms of the Shakers.” His exhibit displays his unique wooden vases where he likes to “highlight natural color variations in wood or use dyes in ways that call attention to unusual grain patterns.”
Jess Polanshek
Nicole Colella uses wood and paper as a substrate for her detailed colored drawings of insects. She explains that she “recently began exploring the concept of carving and etching to add dimension and life to works on wood. This idea is drawn from the way an insect would bore through its surroundings.” Using the natural wood form for her substrate adds to the realistic quality of the insects themselves; as though they’re coming right out of their wooden background. The last woodworker for our April jury exhibit is James Becker who builds one-of-a-kind birdhouses out of pine wood and found materials. Each house has a unique addition; from an old weather thermometer, a light installation, or old door knobs that function as a perch. Mr. Becker hand makes each structure and then adds his own creative vision for its completion.
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Deborah Shell
Nicole Colella
Michael Glod
Matlak Mayforth
In May Frog Hollow will present two jurying artists; Jess Polanshek, an illustrator, and Matlak Mayforth, a potter. Ms. Polanshek does detailed illustrations of flora and fauna as well as a creative twist of textiles mixed in with her animals. Her use of detail, color and design is mixed with a whimsy and old world sensibility. Ms. Polanshek states that her “illustrations are an escape into the world of an imagined forest,” and that her art gives her “a sense of wonder and a deep appreciation for the natural world.” Matlak Mayforth’s pottery is formed on the wheel with stoneware clay. Ms. Mayforth is a self-taught artist and her pottery designs are influenced and inspired by her life and travels. Her designs are all original. She says that “often the shape of each individual pot dictates the design which is carved on the form.” We encourage everyone to stop by Frog Hollow and see our artisan's work.
James Becker 9
Gallery
A Fresh Start to 2015
By Kimberly Musial Datchuk PhD The start of a new year signals the opportunity to reflect on the past and dream about the wonderful things to come. That has certainly been true for me as I stepped fully into my new role of gallery manager at Frog Hollow. After working in the gallery for over a year as a gallery assistant and training under my predecessor Ruby Houston during the holiday season, I was ready to embrace change.
Above: Spotlight marker on a staff pick for Valentines Day. Below: Theresa Somerset talks with visitors at a recent artist demonstration in the gallery.
Gallery Premiere of “The Artists of Frog Hollow” videos
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Beginning after Thanksgiving, I initiated a new marketing plan in the gallery to highlight gift ideas. For the holiday season, a variety of pieces priced $50 or less received new signs featuring our signature ivory paper with an added red border. Works selected included Country Glass’s cheese plates, Michael Egan’s small glass fish, George Gonzalez’s mugs, and Mark Eliot Schwabe’s key chains The goal was to demonstrate that Frog Hollow offers beautifully crafted, hand-made gifts at any price point. For Valentine’s Day, we continued to spotlight unique and local gift ideas. I drew my inspiration for the signage from conversation hearts, ubiquitous at this time of the year. I asked staff members to pick a few of the works that they would love to give or receive for the holiday. Again, a wide-range of media and prices was represented such as Eleanora Eden mugs, a Marilyn Ruseckas pastel, a John Brickels barn, and an Ori Goldberg necklace. We wanted to help customers think beyond jewelry to find something their loved ones would cherish. In the spring, we continue to aid customers in their search to find the perfect gifts for Mother’s Day and upcoming weddings with thoughtful staff suggestions.
As excited as we are to help customers find hidden gems in the gallery, we are even more thrilled about the gallery itself. During the last two weeks of February, the staff banded together to paint and rehang the entire gallery. It was quite the undertaking! Over the course of four full days of painting, the walls transformed from dingy to luminous. The space looks so much brighter and fresher! I hope that if you haven’t had a chance to see the revamped gallery you will stop in soon to see the change and congratulate the staff on their achievement. The metamorphosis of the gallery continued in March as we swapped out winter scenes for spring ones. The staff and customers are gravitating toward objects featuring sunshine, green grass, and blooming flowers. As we work to convert the pieces in the gallery from winter to spring, we are itching for the weather to follow suit! Of course, we continue to carry winter scenes from Bruce Peck, Jon Olsen, and others throughout the year for those who cannot get enough snow.
With the arrival of spring flowers, our artists are returning to the gallery to demonstrate their process and interact with customers. In March, Theresa Somerset, who designs and dyes Ukrainian eggs, provided two demonstrations of her colorful and detailed work. And coming up in May, dug Nap will be signing his work. His prints make the perfect gifts for moms and graduates. We are lucky to work with artists that are so generous with their time. As we prepare to move into the busy summer season, I am grateful to my co-workers, Rob Hunter (executive director), and the board. They have offered their support and encouragement for my ideas, no matter how ambitious or crazy they may have sounded. I would not have been able to accomplish this much without them. My first three months at the helm of the gallery have been wonderful, challenging, and surprising; and I look forward to the adventures ahead.
Recently repainted, re- hung and re-organized gallery!
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Partner Spotlight
CSWD's Creative ReUse Showcase is Getting a Makeover By Michele Morris
CSWD Business Outreach Coordinator
Michele Morris and John Powell of CSWD present student with award at the 2014 CSWD Creative ReUse Showcase awards ceremony in the Frog Hollow Gallery on Church Street in Burlington, VT
For the past 17 years, shoppers on Burlington's Church Street have come to expect distinctive and unusual harbingers of spring in Frog Hollow's big front windows when Chittenden Solid Waste District's Creative ReUse Showcase comes to town in March. After all that time, we think it's time to shake things up a bit. To make sure we do it right, we're going to take a break from the show in 2015 to give us all a chance to rejuvenate our creative juices. Instead of running the showcase this spring, we're going to invite the creative community (and if you're reading this, that means YOU!) to help us reimagine the event and to bring the competition its roots, celebrating all the Gallery Premiere ofback “Theto Artists of Frog Hollow” videos 12
ways that we, as a community, can reduce, reuse, or recycle our concept of "waste." Here's where you come in: If you're interested in helping us reimagine the Showcase as an even bigger, more engaging event, let us know by doing any one of the following: ●Sign up to be notified about the kickoff meeting on the Reimagine Community http://cswd.net/reimagine-community/ page. ●Email CSWD's Michele Morris at mmorris@cswd.net ●Call Michele at 802-872-8100 x237. Not sure what you have to offer? We're looking for inspiration from a wide range of skills, interests, and perspectives. We want this event
The CSWD Creative ReUse Showcase always highlighted a stunning range of student work from many of the Chittenden County High Schools.
to be about much more than just art, so here’s a sampling of ideas to get the ideas flowing. See if any of these folks sound like you -- or someone you know: ●Repurposing wizards: You made an automatic cat waterer out of a burned-out humidifier or a house from spent tires. For you, anything can have nine (or more) lives. ●Repair gurus: You're an inveterate tinkerer, a fixture on "ifixit," and you haven't met an appliance, gadget, tool or toy that can't be patched, repaired, or refurbished. ●Creatively re-purposing cooks: You’ve honed shopping to a zero-waste art and revel in creating new, deliciously creative “reuse recipes.” ●Re-imagineering inventors: Your imagination thrives on cranking out new machines and systems to solve old problems. ●Reuse artisans and artists: You see useful or simply artistic potential in everyday discards -zippers and license plates become hair clasps, jewelry and light switch plates. Old climbing rope is a colorful new doormat. Discarded objects become enduring, original expressions of beauty. ●Hoopla specialists: You know who you are: You know the ins and outs of creating fabulous, cool events and connecting with just the right people and resources to create buzz and inspire participation. ●Students, parents, teachers, business owners, community members: Have you participated in any way in a Creative ReUse Showcase, or similar event elsewhere? Run one, participated, mentored, attended, coached, ogled ... you get the picture. You're engaged and have ideas and energy to share. This is just the beginning! If you believe that "waste" is a verb, not a noun, we want your ideas. Let us know that you want to be part of the solution, and we'll take it from there. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Photo
Making a Stained Glass
Text and Photos
1: Several designs are drawn out and the favorite is selected.
9: The metal is then fluxed and soldered into place.
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2: The selected design is then drawn to scale.
3: Glass colors and textures are chosen for the different sections of the window.
10:On larger pieces a reinforcing bar is soldered onto the back of the window for added strength and stability.
4: The design is copied onto the respective glass pieces.
11: The metal and glass joints are then grouted to seal the piece.
To see other artisan photo essays, videos and more please visit www.froghollow.org and click on the Artisan tab where you can see many of our artisan biographies and educational resources.
Essay
Window with Terry Zigmund by Rob Hunter
5: The glass pieces are then cut out.
12: Whiting is next applied to the entire window and buffed off to dry the grout and polish the glass.
6: The edges of the cut glass are ground down to fit evenly.
7: Lead channel is cut to fit each piece of glass.
13: A final cleaning and polish is done to bring the window to its full luster.
8: Like a puzzle, the glass is fitted together.
14: The finished piece.
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Opportunities and Events
A Listing of Upcoming Events Open to our Artisans and Members
The Living/Learning Center is hiring for the position of: L/L Pottery Studio Coordinator. The Center is especially interested in skilled candidates who can contribute to the overall diversity and excellence of the institution. Applicants are required to include in their cover letter information about how they will further this goal. For more information or to apply please navigate to UVM Jobs at: https://www.uvmjobs.com/hr/postings/14849/
Frog Hollow is getting more and more social! Remember to “like� us, friend us, follow us and tweet us on Facebook,Twitter, Pintrest and Google Plus to get more information regarding events and new arrivals in the gallery!
Frog Hollow Needs You!: After last years restructuring of our organization Frog Hollow now has two boards with vacancies. Both our Non-Profit and Gallery components are governed by their own separate board of directors. Are you happy with the way things are at Frog Hollow? Frustrated? Become an active voice in setting policy and over-site while helping establish the long term vision of the organization! If interested please contact Rob.
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My first three months at the helm of the gallery have been wonderful, challenging, and surprising; and I look forward to the adventures ahead. – Kim Frog Hollow Gallery Manager
Upcoming Shows at Frog Hollow... May Group Show Finished
A woodworking exhibition; graduates of the Vermont Woodworking School.
June Nick Neddo The Organic Artist An exhibit where everything is made by the artist ‌ paints, brushes, paper...
July Victoria Blewer Cuba Today
Victoria Blewer experiments with digital photography while exploring the time capsule that is Cuba.
Frog Hollow | 85 Church Street | Burlington, VT | 802.863.6458
www.froghollow.org