State of the Society January 2008

STATE OF THE BLOOMINGTON WATERCOLOR SOCIETY

We had a great year with our membership more than doubling in size to 54 members. Our first exhibition of the year was held at the Monroe County Bank from January 22 to May 19, 2007. Seventeen artists displayed 43 paintings. The bank provided a beautiful, well attended reception and the show received a great deal of publicity.

Another venue for showing our work became apparent in late spring. We were invited by the John Waldron Arts Center to become a part of the new Baker Place Gallery which is located across the street from the JWAC and within the new downtown entertainment and arts district known as BEAD. We have six member artists participating at this time and this will be an on-going exhibition space for interested members.

The annual BWS Membership Show was held at the John Waldron Arts Center in the Rosemary Miller Gallery from November 2 through November 10, and many of the paintings remained on display in the Holiday Art Mart which was open the month of December. We had 31 members show 31 gorgeous works in this show. Even though the impressive show hung for a very short time, it still had a great impact on the community. The Waldron staff hosted the well-attended opening reception. Our artists provided delicious hors doeuvres for the event.

The Autumn Gallery Show was on display November 15th through December 15th at tutto bene Wine Cafe and More with twenty artists showing twenty paintings. tutto bene provided a beautiful reception for the opening of the show, and we were also fortunate to remain on display during one of four annual downtown gallery walks.

Early in December, we enjoyed our annual Christmas gathering at tutto bene.

Our visibility has increased due to the showing of our paintings in these exhibitions, and certainly helped foster the community's awareness of the many fine watercolorists working in our midst.

The year was very busy with eight plein air paint outs scheduled in a variety of interesting locations. We sponsored a well instructed workshop, and our monthly meetings and programs were both informative and fun.

A huge thank you to all my hard working board members and committee chairs who helped plan and execute the events, published our minutes, Brushstrokes, and manned the website.

The strength of an organization such as this is the enthusiasm of its artist members to help with the details so there is still time left for everyone to paint!!

From the "tip of my brush" to all the BWS: Thanks!

Your Outgoing President of 2007,

Tricia Wente

Summary of 2007 Financial Activities

In January 2007, BWS had 37 members. At the January 2008 meeting, we had 57 members.

Income generated from the Jeanne McLeish workshop, member dues, tutto bene exhibit fees, and other miscellaneous sources totalled $2427.00.

Expenses, including printing, postage, office supplies, space rental, and miscellaneous costs totalled $1940.38.

Submitted by Carol Rhodes, BWS Treasurer

2007 MEMORIES in PHOTOS