Happy New Year!
I hope you are as excited as I am about our newly launched website, madisonartsocietyct.org. We are fortunate to have found such a talented and capable webmaster. Her name is Jodi Miller. Jodi lives in Colorado where she and her husband are co-owners of Front Range CrossFit. She is responsible for all website, social media and newsletter creation. She designed and maintained the website for Train to Transition Veterans Project as well as for several other large companies. She was an associate art professor at Salt Lake Community College and an art teacher in elementary and high school and holds a master’s degree in Art Education.
For the first year, I will be working closely with Jodi as the web coordinator. I will submit the information about current events and upcoming shows and send updates as needed. Hi-Lights will now be incorporated into the website. Hi-Lights features in print format will be replaced with links on the website to all the information you usually receive in the mail. The majority of our members have access to computers, but for those handful who do not, they will receive notice of event dates and deadlines in the regular mail.
Artists who would like to have a link to their own website on MAS need only to email me with the website address. If you have an image you want to include, we will include that as well.
As you may know by now, the Scranton Library is undergoing renovation and will be unavailable to MAS for at least two years. Therefore, the 2019 Member Show will be held at the Henry Hull Library in Clinton and the 2019 Juried Show will exhibit at the Mill Gallery in Guilford. We have been invited back to the Essex Art Gallery for our Elected Artist Show in the Fall of 2019.
Our home page will highlight the most current event(s). In this case it is the Member Show in February. We are pleased to be able to exhibit at the Henry Hull Library in Clinton from February 2 – 28, 2019. You will be able to access the prospectus and entry form from the website events page. Jim Durkin and Jeanne O’Brien are co-chairs. If you haven’t paid your 2019 dues yet, please send in your check for $25 to MAS PO Box 1383, Madison, CT 06443.
The Elected Artist show was a wonderful opportunity to exhibit MAS artists’ work in a truly professional gallery. Sixty artists were represented, and 90 paintings were on display. Congratulations to Mike Eagle who won the popular award, and to Laurel Friedmann who sold a painting.
Our sincere thanks to Jay Babina who coordinated the Plein Air Program for many years and has decided to step down from that responsibility in 2019. We would like to continue this MAS benefit, but we need a coordinator. We will be listing the locations and directions on the website at least one month in advance. The coordinator would need to get permission from contacts for sites that are not open to the public. If you enjoyed painting out with a group of dedicated artists, please volunteer to coordinate the plein air group.
We on the board of directors know that you will be pleased with the new website as it will offer more marketing opportunities for our members as well as enhance communication with our members and each other, keeping everyone informed of the latest happenings in the MAS art world.
“Stay warm, keep creating”. It’s a brand New Year!
Marge V. Casey
MAS, President