0 – Any other business

• Welcome to our new member Sarah who came along thanks to Jude at Creative Conundrums
• Jude asked for people to sign-up to start organising a MIND/Together show on Sunday, 10th October with her
• Graham said that 3 works were now installed ‘On the Walls’ at the Doctor’s Surgery
  • Further details and info about our ‘Off the Walls‘ available from Jude, who manages the project
• Andrew quietly mused about conducting a survey of member’s desires
• Andrew more loudly stated that having a permanent secretary would be a good thing (contact us!)
• Rob Mason offered to give a creative narrative at our Thurs 15th July meeting based on a old Hampshire folk tale, ‘Wherwell Cockatrice‘ – all agreed and eagerly anticipated!
• This month’s meeting was short due to the Fairtrade for Whitchurch meeting that was to start at 8:15

1. Short Lines

• Graham gave a talk on lines, numbers, and symbolism — thanks Graham!

Present: Andrew (chair), Eric (treasurer), Graham (director), John (publicity), Liz, Steve Miller, Chris, Jacqui, Sally

0. Any other business

• Members asked about where framing services could be obtained; Graham suggested also to look in the charity shop for frames
• Andrew said he read a report about Whitchurch Arts at the recent Town Assembly
• Eric will give a presentation on Leylines at our July meeting
• Graham is booked to give a talk on ‘lines’ at our June meeting

1. Enjoy others’ works

• Poetry
  • Graham read a poem by Sally Watts (who joined the meeting later)
  • Graham then read 3 others by himself, ending by putting on a high-visibility jacket and reading his last poem, ‘Danger!’
  • Rob read 3 of his poems, ‘Lord Bertie’s Buttons’, ‘The Stilt People’ and ‘Barney’
• Drawings
  • Chris showed us his superb drawings of wildlife – including one of a Jay that had extrodinary feathers and of a snake (both devouring a city and sneaking up on us in the dark)
  • Graham said Chris’ style might be a good match for botanical drawings; he will put Chris in touch with a local who does this (Andrew: better, have them come to our next meeting!)

2. Bollards Update

• The candidate who campaigned against the bollards art project lost the recent election
  • He is now standing in the town council election taking place later this month
• Two sponsored bollards were approved by the town council at their May meeting
• Now, just awaiting insurance confirmation which Graham and Eric are sorting now, before starting the painting
• John (project manager) asked Steve if he could paint them – he agreed!
• A children’s bollard which was approved by town council already, could be painted by the children using a paint-by-numbers system
• Another idea is to cordon off a bollard and let younger children paint it with safe paints
  • then photos are taken of it as the interesting designs take form
  • later, an artist paints the bollard in one of the more interesting designs done by the children
• John showed preliminary drawings of bollards for the B&DBC Five Gold Rings project (same as shown to town council last week)

3. Off the Walls (OTW)

• Just a few days after going up, a few paintings have already been sold ‘off the walls’ at the White Hart!
  • Congratulations to Steve Miller and Aldo Galli
• Please, everyone, produce more works so we can get them on the walls to fill the vacated spots!
• After the meeting, Andrew read an email from Jude (project manager) saying that all artists in OTW need to sign the contract and return it to a committee member

4. Finances

• Eric presented the latest financial spreadsheet
• There was some discussion around the SEEDA funding, which Eric will be submitting more receipts for reimbursement for
• John handed over the takings from the Earth Hour event
• Proposal (Graham, 2nd by Andrew): The approx £50 expenses for last Saturday’s party for Richard Adam’s 90th birthday should be paid by Whitchurch Arts (approved unanimously)
• Note: After the meeting, Andrew remembered that he completely forgot to hand over £13 commission from earlier OTW sales to Eric! He will do so ASAP.
• Eric wrote cheques to artists for their OTW sales less commissions

5. Membership and Renewals

• No update

6. Beer/Washroom Break

• There was great rejoicing

7. Typography Intro by John Buckley

• John gave a “10 minute” overview of typography in about an hour
• Unfortunately, he had to resort to printouts as a town projector had gone missing
• Some samples of good (and bad) typography were shown and discussed
• He asked us all to remember:
  • “Typography and font use should achieve for the reader what voice tone and inflection convey to the listener”
  • “Words hurt more than anything els can because they last, sometimes forever” (note: ‘els’ was deliberately misspelled)
• John says his favourite letter is ‘o’ because of how it relates to all the other characters – there is so much space around it, it tends to look smaller than it should; thus, it needs to be made larger than the ‘x’ face
• John finished by asking us all to be creative with words – he gave us each a word to write in a way that reflected its meaning; results are shown below

The April meeting of Whitchurch Arts took place on Thursday, 22 April 2010 at 7:43pm in the back dining room of the White Hart. A quorum of coordinators were also present and this was a joint monthly meeting for members and coordinators (committee) meeting.

Present: Andrew Reeves-Hall (chair), Graham Burgess (Director), Eric Dunlop (Treasurer), John Buckley (Publicity), Jude Price (OTW Committee), Steve Miller, Liz Miller, Steve Morris, Jacqui Novis, Rob (from 9pm), Olive (“Ollie”) Bramley (new member joined from East Stratton)

0. Any other business

• May Day on Meadow and GNC
  • Eric Dunlop distributed posters to advertise the May Day events on the Meadow
  • Andrew Reeves-Hall talked about the Whitchurch town website launch and UP movie at the Gill Nethercott Centre
• Compaint about the meeting
  • John compained that there should be more food at meetings, specifically that Steve should share some of his tasty-looking dinner
  • This lead on to a discussion about Christmas Dinners, and that a social event should be planned
• Father’s Day at White Hart
  • Andy has asked Whitchurch Arts to help judge some chalk drawings to be done in the car park on Father’s Day, 20 June
• World Mental Health Day – 10 Oct
  • Jude suggested we look into a show in conjunction with Mind and Together-UK
• Thanks for Trashy Tree
  • Jude thanked everyone for helping erect the Trashy Tree on the Meadow
• Lending Screens to East Stratton Village Hall in October
  • Graham introduced Olive Bramley who asked if she could borrow our peg-board display screens for an art show in East Stratton on 30/31 October
  • Proposal (Graham Burgess, 2nd Steve Miller): Provide screens from Wednesday 27 Oct for 1 week to Olive Bramley for use at the art show provided a sign is put on them to thank Whitchurch Arts (passed unanimously)
• Five Gold Rings
  • Graham is in contact with B&DBC regarding the Five Gold Rings project to support the London 2012 Olympics e.g. Chinese maze in Basingstoke
  • John is considering Five Gold Bollards in Whitchurch to tie in with this project
  • Silk Mill might be doing something with silk ribbons

1. Admire others’ works

• Various artists showed their latest works to the approval of all gathered

2. Bollards update

• John says there are 16 designs in various stages of development, and 4 are ready to decorate bollards with
• Some of the designs were shown to the artists gathered
• The truth about the bollards project is out there
• Andy at White Hart has received permission (and enthusiastic encouragement) from Arkell’s to paint the bollards out front of the White Hart
• John will see if Town Council can approve bollard designs at committee meetings as well as at full council meetings (so don’t have to wait a month between approval opportunities)

3. Salvation Army booklet reprint idea

• Permission to reprint the booklet by the History Society is being obtained
• Salvation Army to march in Whitchurch on 17 July (same day as Carnival Procession)
• Concern raised over printing costs to do it, though

4. Off the Walls update

• Jude thanked everyone for helping with the recent Off the Walls exhibition at the Gill Nethercott Centre
• The White Hart and Bell pub are next to receive art for their walls

5. Finances – esp SEEDA grant

• Eric reported on our current finances; took in some money and gave some out for expenses
• New display stand bought by John is stored in loft of Andrew’s garage, bill for screen given to Eric
• Proposal (Graham, 2nd Steve Miller): Petrol and transport costs for Steve Morris getting the new pegboard screens is £30, no receipt (approved unanimously)
• SEEDA grant requires receipts – given to Eric up to now is £406.29 with further to be handed over after the meeting

6. Close of Meeting

• Rob read a couple of his new poems to close the meeting

Our March monthly meeting is a special affair – a guest speaker from the Creative Industry Business Advice Service (CIBAS).

We’re bringing CIBAS to town for one-on-one meetings during the day with artists who want to get specific advice on selling their works; We will have a dinner all together and then an evening session for general advice for all members.

Don’t forget that later that same week, on Saturday, is our Off the Walls show! And later that evening is our Earth Hour event. Its a jam-packed artistic month!

Here’s the timetable…
AT NINESPRINGS
12.00 GB BRIEF
12.30 KEVIN LONGSTAFF
1300 GB BOOK OF NAMES WRITING
13.45 GILLIAN THE LANE WRITING
14.15 JUDE PRICE CREATIVE WORKSHOPS
15.00 DAMIEN SCULPTURE
15.45 DOROTHY COLLARD STAINGLASS
16.15 SALLY START UP BOOKS
16.45 ANYTIME ANYWHERE ANY FACE PAINTING
TEA
17.30 SERENA READ

AT WHITE HART
18.00 MEAL WHITE HART
19.30 ALDO GALLI PAINTINGS
20.00 ANDREW REEVES HALL PHOTO
20.30 GROUP GATHERING WHITE HART

John was to have given a chat about typography but unfortunately was called away on other business at the last moment; so look forward to his talk in the coming months, perhaps April.

In his place, Graham gave a taster of his upcoming talk about hidden meanings in art. Thank you Graham.

We welcomed two more new members this month, who were promptly grilled (politely) about their creative talents.

Plenty of information was shared about all kinds of goings-on that Whitchurch Arts is organising or is involved in….such as, CIBAS (24th March), Earth Hour (27th March), Off the Walls (27th March) and Green Aware (20-27th March).

On that last item: be sure to start taking snaps of ‘green’ and ‘energy’ to enter into the photo competition!

Graham told us of the latest grants he is going after, from which all our members can benefit. Steve brought us all up to date on the Off the Walls show, its website, and a creative activity on the Meadow during Green Aware week called ‘Trashy Tree’.

Our next meeting is 24 March, a special event: CIBAS. Many members signed up for the one-on-one coaching to help turn their creative works into money making ventures.