VMAA President’s Letter – June 2016
I can’t believe a whole year has passed since I became president of the VMAA! On May 14th we held our Annual General Meeting at Vancouver Community College. Even though it was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, many old and new faces showed up in support of our organization. We said goodbye to some of our board members who had either served their full term or were moving on to pastures new – Jan Smith, Sarah Groves, Brendalee Astells and Patsy Kolesar, thank you for your service to the VMAA!
We welcomed four new board members who were voted in at the AGM. Cory Douglas is stepping onto the board as Chair of Social Media, Dana Reed will be working on our Newsletter and chairing our new Space Committee (more on that later), Carmel Boerner will become a Member at Large and Jessica Atkinson will be our new Secretary. They all bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm for our Jewellery and metals community, we are so lucky to have them!
Our website went live earlier this week! Check out www.vancouvermetalarts.com where you will be able to find contact information for our board members, update your membership, find out about the history of the VMAA, look at past newsletters and learn about upcoming exhibitions, educational and social events.
We were delighted to have partnered with the Crafts Council of BC for their third annual Earring Show fundraiser. It was a fantastic show with some stand out pieces. Congratulations to VMAA member Lydia Buxton for winning best one of a kind earrings and Fia Cooper for winning best production earrings. Thank you to Studio Magazine, Arts BC, Art! Vancouver, Gluten Free Epicurean, Estate Wine Shop, Benton Brothers for sponsoring this event.
In May we also ran a photo workshop, The Art of Photographing Jewellery. This was the second workshop that Kate Henderson has run for VMAA, and the workshop was well received.
Finally, you may be wondering how you could get more involved with the VMAA. We are a rapidly growing organization and value the skills and talents of our members. We are looking for new people to serve on our committees with the potential of joining our board in the near future. If you have experience serving on a board of a not for profit organization – we need you! If you have experience organizing exhibitions – please join us! Are you a book keeper, accountant or lawyer? Let’s talk – email me at president@vancouvermetalarts.com
This is an exciting time of growth for our organization, thank you so much for your support – I lookforward to seeing you at our next event!
Happy Summer,
Louise