Chair's Report 2019
As musician Elvis Costello once sang...... ‘It’s been a good year for the roses...’ and I think that we, The Eye Arts Guild, have also had a good one. We have a full membership and 3 on the waiting list. Two spaces became available and we have offered these to Elaine Phillips and John Walters. They will be attending a couple of sessions before they finally commit to the group or choose to go elsewhere.
We continue to flourish and evolve and are always looking for new inspiration and ideas that we like to try out. Some we take on board, some we don’t. But we’re prepared to have a go.
With this just said, we are going to try a new format for the winter sessions. We will be having one larger Still Life table, a smaller table for free choice and the usual end for figure drawing. The reason being that we have noticed that several people each week like to bring in their own work. This will lighten the workload for the person setting up.
Winter programme
There were 28 indoor sessions, the first one being the AGM and a show of work, then 5 themed mornings run by members, 16 model and still life sessions and 4 day long workshops. Unfortunately, two of these had to be cancelled due to problems from the tutors side. But not to be wasted, we made use of the days by everyone bringing their own work. In fact it was such a success that we are purposely bringing a free session into the programme. Finally, the chairman’s project - there was such a great show of work. Always a joy to see and find out how people got to their final piece.
Christmas Party
This Christmas there was a change to the format due to the playwright being indisposed. Instead of ‘The Panto’ we had a series of small sketches, poems, stories and songs which was warmly received along with the usual Quiz, Patchwork picture and a new challenge that went down a treat. Remember the reindeers, and of course not forgetting the lovely feast that you all helped to provide.
Coach trip
The changeover from winter to summer is marked by the coach trip. A natural break in the programme. The coach was not filled this year but those of us who went had a very enjoyable day and we were blessed with good weather...again. There is always plenty to do and new exhibitions to see along with the old favourites.
Summer programme
There were 22 summer sessions this year. We tried to make sure that more were local but we still like to include the sea, water and even a swimming pool! The average numbers for the summer was about 8-9. The first session at Gazes, was a bit on the cool side but in fact, what kept people away this year was the extreme heat! One particular session, at Angela’s, my parked car read a temperature of 48* at 3.30 and only went down to 36* as I drove along!
We do encourage car sharing on the further afield trips which allows more people to be able to attend.
Exhibitions
We still have our rolling exhibition at the Wetland Centre which is running well. We are quite the envy of some having this facility. So far we have sold 6 pictures there. It is a free exhibition space and just 15% commission for each picture sold.
We had an exhibition at The Bank in Eye over Christmas where we sold 6 pictures. We will be having another one this coming year.
There were two exhibitions at The Swan in Harleston. Although not a great success, we did sell two pictures. Sadly there was not a great deal of foot fall.
We have now stopped exhibiting at The Eye Surgery. This is by mutual agreement. Both parties feeling that it had reached the end of its course.
Thanks
I would like to thank ALL the committee members who work incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this club the success that it is. Organising the summer and winter programmes, the exhibitions, the web page, the Christmas party, the treasurer, the secretary and membership secretary, publicity and even for the tea and coffee provided each week. A big thank you to Jackie, who is stepping down from membership secretary after 10 years.
Thank you all for setting up fabulous still life and figure drawing scenes and for your input with suggestions and ideas that we try to incorporate into the programme. Also with help setting up, tidying away and all the little extras that do get noticed and are appreciated.
And finally thank you for all managing to put up with a year of me.....one down two to go!
Cheers
Sally P
We continue to flourish and evolve and are always looking for new inspiration and ideas that we like to try out. Some we take on board, some we don’t. But we’re prepared to have a go.
With this just said, we are going to try a new format for the winter sessions. We will be having one larger Still Life table, a smaller table for free choice and the usual end for figure drawing. The reason being that we have noticed that several people each week like to bring in their own work. This will lighten the workload for the person setting up.
Winter programme
There were 28 indoor sessions, the first one being the AGM and a show of work, then 5 themed mornings run by members, 16 model and still life sessions and 4 day long workshops. Unfortunately, two of these had to be cancelled due to problems from the tutors side. But not to be wasted, we made use of the days by everyone bringing their own work. In fact it was such a success that we are purposely bringing a free session into the programme. Finally, the chairman’s project - there was such a great show of work. Always a joy to see and find out how people got to their final piece.
Christmas Party
This Christmas there was a change to the format due to the playwright being indisposed. Instead of ‘The Panto’ we had a series of small sketches, poems, stories and songs which was warmly received along with the usual Quiz, Patchwork picture and a new challenge that went down a treat. Remember the reindeers, and of course not forgetting the lovely feast that you all helped to provide.
Coach trip
The changeover from winter to summer is marked by the coach trip. A natural break in the programme. The coach was not filled this year but those of us who went had a very enjoyable day and we were blessed with good weather...again. There is always plenty to do and new exhibitions to see along with the old favourites.
Summer programme
There were 22 summer sessions this year. We tried to make sure that more were local but we still like to include the sea, water and even a swimming pool! The average numbers for the summer was about 8-9. The first session at Gazes, was a bit on the cool side but in fact, what kept people away this year was the extreme heat! One particular session, at Angela’s, my parked car read a temperature of 48* at 3.30 and only went down to 36* as I drove along!
We do encourage car sharing on the further afield trips which allows more people to be able to attend.
Exhibitions
We still have our rolling exhibition at the Wetland Centre which is running well. We are quite the envy of some having this facility. So far we have sold 6 pictures there. It is a free exhibition space and just 15% commission for each picture sold.
We had an exhibition at The Bank in Eye over Christmas where we sold 6 pictures. We will be having another one this coming year.
There were two exhibitions at The Swan in Harleston. Although not a great success, we did sell two pictures. Sadly there was not a great deal of foot fall.
We have now stopped exhibiting at The Eye Surgery. This is by mutual agreement. Both parties feeling that it had reached the end of its course.
Thanks
I would like to thank ALL the committee members who work incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this club the success that it is. Organising the summer and winter programmes, the exhibitions, the web page, the Christmas party, the treasurer, the secretary and membership secretary, publicity and even for the tea and coffee provided each week. A big thank you to Jackie, who is stepping down from membership secretary after 10 years.
Thank you all for setting up fabulous still life and figure drawing scenes and for your input with suggestions and ideas that we try to incorporate into the programme. Also with help setting up, tidying away and all the little extras that do get noticed and are appreciated.
And finally thank you for all managing to put up with a year of me.....one down two to go!
Cheers
Sally P