Newsletters

July 2010 BSA Newsletter (PDF) This has been an interesting couple of years for the BSA. After a sort of soul-searching foray that we did with the strategic plan, we embarked on a bold course to more clearly define (and redefine) our organization, based on the stated wishes of the majority of our members. There was great wisdom in what you wanted: Better publicity; greater relevance to the community; more exhibitions; professional development. The Board with which I have been honored to serve has worked extremely hard to set these goals in motion, or, where they were already in motion, to make them work better. The changes, where made, weren’t entirely flawless or comfortable for everyone. Bugs had to be worked out, primarily with our…

May 2010 BSA Newsletter (PDF) I hate to start my message with a complaint, but at the Spring Meeting at the Burchfield Penney Art Center we navigated our agenda with the usual suspects—you know, those who feel that it’s important to play a vital role in shaping the BSA. Though I never get tired of seeing the same faces (because they’re all very nice people), it would be nice to see some new ones—future carriers of the flame, so to speak. Yes, people have lives outside of this organization; there are members on our Board and serving on committees who might have gone five, six, ten years off the radar, who decided it was time to get involved, and there are members right now who…

March 2010 BSA Newsletter (PDF) That Vision Thing There’s been an interesting debate floating around within our ranks of late. It goes loosely like this: what should the BSA be? There is a faction, of indeterminate size, which says, look, the seminar, the Video Archive Project, the studio visits—all that’s fine, but unnecessary. Just give us our two exhibitions per year, plus Artpark, plus the annual dinner, and be done with it. Indeed, if that were all that was required, our board meetings would be one hour, punch out, go home. On the other side–and I count myself as among the proponents – is the argument that with our long rich history, we have to be more! More than a self-congratulatory organization of artists –…

Bear in mind that while this was a bit of a departure from our usual spring shows of late, the Buffalo Society of Artists has held many Thumb Box exhibitions in its one hundred and nineteen years of existence. This particular show, then, might be viewed as a tradition revisited. Congratulations to those members who were accepted to this exhibition. The juror, Mr. Massier, was highly selective, accepting some twenty-five works by twenty of our members, out of slightly over fifty entries. Though this may be the smallest exhibition we’ve ever had, what it lacks in quantity, it compensates for in quality. For those whose works were declined, take heart: we have all been there before. We need not go into any discourses about the…

January 2010 BSA Newsletter (PDF) In the last few years, as most of you know, we have expanded our reach and operations in our quest to make ourselves more relevant—both to our members as well as to the Western New York arts community. It has been no cakewalk on either front, requiring as it does, dedication to the value of art generally, and to the value of the art produced by our members specifically. This takes hard work and commitment. That having been said, I want to welcome the two new Board members, Richard Christian and Gary Wolfe. Richard graciously submitted his name for Recording Secretary and the Board elected him. Gary, our former president, has stepped up to the plate to fill a huge…

October 2009 BSA Newsletter (PDF) First, our heartfelt congratulations to all the award winners and accepted artists in the Annual Catalogue Exhibition at the Kenan Center, which will run from October 18 to November 15. I need first to thank the fine work done by Chairperson Beth Pedersen and the Exhibition Committee for making this run smoothly. The catalogue, published by Patti Harris’s daughter, Erin, promises to be something special. Every member who attends the exhibit will be entitled to a copy. Well, our long-awaited web site is here, and as far as web sites go, it’s a Porsche. I invite our members to test drive it, if you haven’t already. It’s got all the news from the beehive of activity that has become the…

If you haven’t stepped forward to participate in any one of our vibrant committees, you’re missing something special. It’s been two years since you, our members, told the then Board what you want our Society to do and become when you answered the strategic plan questionnaire. You said we needed better publicity, a stronger connection to the community and other arts groups, and improved educational and professional developments through programs, workshops, studio visits, and demonstrations. Thanks to the hard work of the previous and current Board members and officers, and a surprising number of non-board, non-officer volunteers, we are achieving many of these goals, some at breakneck speed. I am honored to serve with these people. We have all benefited from the diligence and tenacity…

The Buffalo Society of Artists is a work in progress. It exists as one of the nation’s oldest arts organizations. The vision of its founders was preserved by capable and conscientious stewards who in turn left it stable and financially healthy, even through the Great Depression. Where many other groups and galleries came and shined a few moments before fading into the amnesiac ether of history, the BSA has been stable and adaptive. When the question is posed: “Are we relevant?” my answer is that resiliency and tenacity must count for something. We have weathered many storms. Transitions are tough. There’s always a period of adjustment as new and old board members and new officers get used to working with each other. When the stalwarts…