San Pedro River Arts Council
You can pay your annual SPRAC dues, $15.00 for individual or $20.00 per family by hitting the donate button above.
Note: You may also send your membership payment or donation by check to:
SPRArts
PO Box 1358
Benson, AZ 85602-1358
Hi everyone,
Welcome to June (and to our newest members!). The Summer Solstice is approaching, and what we all hope will be the start to a spectacular summer Monsoon season--one of my favorite times of the year!
I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who contributed work to the recent Hospital Art project installation! Thirty-six members contributed nearly 120 works of art (photos, and drawings and paintings in many media) to brighten the atmosphere at the Benson Hospital for the next 6 months. As usual, the hospital staff and administration were very excited to see the new work as it came in and again expressed their appreciation to the Arts Council for making this happen. This is such a worthwhile project, and I hope that even more of you will consider participating at the next change out!!
In another "housekeeping" note--I have to point out that our "fiscal" year ends on June 30th. That means that it is time for membership renewal if you haven't paid your dues since last year. Please note that IF YOUR HAVE PAID YOUR DUES AFTER JANUARY, 2019, (and many of you, including all the new members, have done so)--then you are officially paid up through June, 2020-and do NOT need to renew at this time!!-
If you are unsure when you last paid your dues, please contact me and I can tell you whether you need to renew or not...
Note: renewals can be made by "donation" on our website (www.sprarts.org), by sending a check to SPRAC, P.O. Box 1358, Benson, AZ 85602; or by stopping by Endeavor Gallery at your convenience. Dues for a year's membership continue to be $15.00 for an individual, $20.00 for a "family," and $5.00 for youth members--what a bargain!!
Important note---For the first time in several years, we will be holding a GENERAL MEETING open to all SPRAC Members on Thursday afternoon, June 27th, at Cochise College Benson Center. Refreshments will be served; and we will look forward to seeing many of you so that we can get your feelings on the state of the Arts Council and listen to YOUR ideas for new activities and programs that might interest YOU! We will also discuss our new "Shadow Program" (see next paragraph) and introduce our new SPRAC Brochure. We really hope to see you there, so mark your calendars now!!
One more note before we get to the "fun stuff..." The Executive Board of SPRAC has asked me to send out a letter under separate email regarding what we are calling our "Shadow Program."
In the letter, Shryl has laid out the various programs and activities we offer to our members during the course of a year, with a list of the people that are currently responsible for those programs. We would LOVE to have more of our members actively involved with the Arts Council, and are offering everyone an opportunity to "shadow" us in the hope that some of you would eventually take over projects that interest you. Please do read the letter when you see it in your in- box! We will discuss this program briefly at the Member's Meeting mentioned above--so if you have questions or suggestions, we will hope to respond to them then...
OK--now to the fun---Our June "Lunch Time Learning Program" ( Note--we will be changing the NAME only of this free monthly event to "Our Artists Share" Program), will be held on the regular "third
Thursday," June 20th, at Endeavor Gallery beginning at noon. Our presenter will be SPRAC member and excellent artist and teacher, Deanna Cluff, who will come down from Safford to demonstrate working with Alcohol Inks. This amazing medium creates works in vibrant, flowing, fast drying colors with wonderful eye appeal and I can't wait to learn more about it!
I'll send out a reminder, but do save the date and plan to come a few minutes early to grab a good seat!
On Saturday morning, June 22nd, Glenn Renell has invited all interested parties to participate in a (FREE) Plein Air "Sketch Out" near the East Cochise Stronghold Camp Ground beginning at roughly 8:30 a.m.
We will be working on paper using vine charcoal; and Glenn will begin with a brief demo encouraging us to see light and dark and patterns rather than concentrating on specific shapes (Glenn is a master at this!!). We'll then scatter to make our own sketches; then regroup for a general sharing and gentle critique. I know it will be warm, but we'll be working in the shade; and this is a wonderful opportunity to work with a pro, try something new, and have some FUN with fellow artists!!
Please let me know if you might be interested in participating. We can arrange for car pooling; and I will be sending out a list of things that you might want to bring--water, a chair, an eraser!--closer to the date. Come out and play!!!
Lisa Sprietsma continues as our Featured Artist at Cochise College Benson Center during the month of June. The college is working on "summer hours" now--only open until 4 p.m--but do stop by and visit Lisa's amazing display of very large, very wonderful oil paintings if you haven't already done so!!!
Heads Up--Deb Warner will be offering another Acrylic Pour workshop at the Gallery on July 11th.The last one was a blast, and some pretty amazing artwork was created--so if you are interested in participating in July, please let me know so that we can save you a space. Cost will again be $25.00 to include all materials and the instruction.
And before I close--Shryl and Charline have asked me to tell you that we have been selling quite a bit of art out of Endeavor Gallery during this installation--paintings, sculpture, ceramics, and all sorts of wonderful pieces from the gift shop. We are paying the rent and moving art--YAY!! If you haven't stopped by the Gallery lately, do pop in, as it is full of lovely things and just a fun, welcoming place to be.
The next installation of "wall" art will happen in late July (Shryl will be sending out notification to the membership before hand, but you might want to be thinking about what pieces YOU will want to hang or stand on a pedestal or ?) Exhibiting art in Endeavor Gallery is one of the "perks" of membership; and we encourage all of you to participate.
Enough for now. Hope to see all of you soon! Do plan to attend the Members Meeting if you can... Go, Monsoons!!! Linda
Ooops--p.s. We are desperately seeking members who might be willing to serve as Youth Mentors. We'll discuss this further at the members meetingon the 27th...