En Francais
Sandfield Centre, Alexandria: 21 Nov 2019.
The Collectif’s 3rd birthday & Annual General Meeting was held last night. Briefly: we had a great year & an interesting evening with lots of discussion!
Recap by the prez–dang we’re good!
In three short years, what began as a small group of ladies getting together to talk about & share art is today a widely-known & well-respected not-for-profit Art Collective that has helped enhance the beauty of our county & boost the morale of its residents.
We are the most fortunate of organizations! We have a board of directors who work well together & are willing to give endless hours to the furtherment of art. We have a township that believes in & works with us. We have a small core group of volunteers who never roll their eyes (in front of me) when I ask for help. There are many others who volunteer when & where they can. (Don’t get the idea we don’t need more volunteers – we often do!)
2019 has been another full & successful year. Here are the highlights:
1) Shows & events held in 2019:
- Brent’s Place, February 22 & 23
- Printmaking Workshop, Green Valley, May 4
- Glengarry Nor’Westers & Loyalist Museum, Williamstown, 18 May – 16 June
- Glengarry Pioneer Museum, Dunvegan, 6 – 14 July
- Bake Sale, Mill Square, June 29
- Award from Community Living, June
- Funky Pets workshop, August 17
- Life Drawing, Green Valley, September 7
- Another mural goes up! September 20 (north side of Township building)
- Art @ Mill Square, September 21
- The Cut-Out Project
- The Easel Project (more on that in just a bit)
- The Write Thing, La Belle Sorelle, October 19
- Collective Cabaret & Art Mash-up, November 2
- Almost weekly articles in the Glengarry news!
2) ArtBank report: François recapped the numbers & drafting of an ArtBank Mission Statement (https://cagacartbank.ca/home/) & invited more members to submit works as we expand. After a quick survey of the room it was suggested we hold a session to help people photograph their work for inclusion in the ArtBank. More information as plans firm up.
3) Our website is a treasure chest of interesting articles, a directory of Collective events, & we even promote events our members head up or are part of, such as
- Library exhibits
- Sketchers’ Meet-ups
- Exhibits at the Cailhuan, Cline & Arbor Gallery
- Apples & Art, for which we made signs identifying the 23 Collective members
- Martintown Mill
- Story Walk on Glengarry Trails
- Arbor Gallery
- Members’ debut albums & books
- Private member workshops
- Glen Robertson Art Show
- Maxville Mural .
If you aren’t following our website yet, you are missing out!
4) The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce has recognized The Collectif for its community-oriented events & made us an honorary member. They will, among other things, be promoting the ArtBank to businesses.
Also, we have been approached to take on several projects throughout the coming year. The Township & the Board of Directors are still in the process of discussing details, so there is nothing I can share at the moment, but wow – we really are in demand!
Painting students at Community Living will once again to take part in The Show. At Brent’s Place, with each of 8 students invited to show one piece. The people at Community Living told us their inclusion in last year’s show was a boost to morale & a first in that level of acceptance. It is one of the reasons we won the Community Excellence Award in June.
5) A few future endeavors include –
- Bright Nights – Cutouts & Art Exhibit, month of December
- Brent’s Place – February
- Glengarry Pioneer Museum, July 11 – 19
- Back by request for Heritage Days in September, details TBD
- More reading events, by request
- Cabaret in November, details aTBD
6) Membership:
We currently have 97 members. Brenda (membership director) would like me to remind everyone to please renew in the month your renewal is due: please let her know if you don’t intend to renew.
Conclusion
I would like to thank our board members for their tireless dedication & invaluable contributions to our success. I won’t give their titles because they do so much more than any title would suggest: Yvonne Callaway, Lynne Ayers, Jen McDonald, Brenda Kennedy, Katie Ditschun & Francois Desjardins.
Also, I would like to thank Alison Hall for her endless work on designing our posters, Sindy Leger for posting all of our events & news on Facebook, Danielle Hards for heading up our re-vamped Poster Distribution Committee and, again, Jen McDonald for heading up our Hospitality Committee.
Thank you to all who have given time, some LOTS of it, to making our Collectif successful in fulfilling its mission of “engaging with residents to create community-building programs & significant personal & community growth.”
I want to leave you with this short poem…
The Collectif (Le Collective)
Some artsy folks a commencé
To meet up à ma place,
Mais, very soon we did besoin
Quite a plus grand space.
From une spectacle at GFH,
L’endroit that we call Brent’s,
We’ve worked beaucoup & we’ve put on
Presque trente events!
Nos membres live in Glengarry
But they come from partout
To faire this grande collective band –
À vous je dis, Thank you!
©Bobi Leutschaft Poitras, 2019
After the Adjournment, Hugues Baribeau presented the group with his magnificent 10-foot wooden Easel Sculpture, which will be setup in front of the Township building on Main Street.
After the birthday cake a Short TEDEd video was presented & a lively discussion followed! Many opinions were put forth on the distinction (if any!) between art & crafts. The success of this event was simply that we discussed art & exchanged ideas!!
The video: Is there a difference between art & craft? – Laura Morelli
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/is-there-a-difference-between-art-and-craft-laura-morelli#watch
Note: At one point Van Gogh was mentioned & “the fact” (according to many of us) that he sold only one painting in his lifetime. Not so, according to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam!! https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/125-questions/questions-and-answers/question-54-of-125
And another question about selling artwork:
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/125-questions/questions-and-answers/question-66-of-125
So we all learned something!! Thanks ALLISON HALL for sharing this information & clearly demonstrating the value of digging a little deeper before forming a definitive opinion!
Thanks to everyone for making this a wonderful & thought-provoking evening of ART!
CAGAC 