Arts society plans signing for its first arts calendar

This month, the Visual Arts Society of Texas issued its first calendar. Each month features art by the society’s members.

The artists featured in the calendar will sign their work Oct. 2 at Voertman’s, the only local business stocking the calendar right now.

CALENDAR SIGNING

What:                 VAST 2005 Calendar artist signing

When:                2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 2

Where:              Voertman’s, 1314W. Hickory St.

Details:             The artists will sign their work in the society’s calendar. The calendar is $13, tax included. Proceeds and advertising dollars from the calendar benefit the society’s scholar­ship fund and programs. For more information visit www.VASTarts.org.

The 2005 calendar showcases the groups painters: Beth Haywood, Crossroads; Jo Williams, Denton; Ernani Maxine Land. Pearland; June Impson, Denton; Mary Emerson, Oak Point; Patricia Tieszen, Sanger; Sharon Dawson, Denton; June Dal­ton, Denton: Fran White Schurtleff, Corinth; Lisa Daniels, Oak Point; K.R. Mendes Sanger; Mary Sigle Morris, Denton.

Ingrid Scobie, the society’s executive director; said the calendar is a fundraiser. The advertising money from the calendar and the calendar sales will help fund schol­arships, workshops, demonstrations, lectures, shows and contests for Texas artists.

“Fundraising is something we’ve come to need because our printing costs have gone up,” Scobie said.

When the society launched its new name and identity this year; it dedicated more money to its exhibit catalogs, which had color photographs of art in it for the first time this year. The newsletter and the membership brochure were reformatted, too.

‘We wanted to communicate the organi­zation’s new image” Scobie said. “We want­ed to reflect that this is a professional, statewide organization. That meant we had to do some things differently.”

Twenty-five artists entered a juried con­test to snake the 12 spots for the 2005 cal­endar. John Weinkein, the director of the Texas Woman’s University School of Arts, was the juror. The idea for the calendar came from a Wise County arts organization project, Scobie said. The group published a calendar and note cards of member art. Members of the local visual arts society liked the idea and Scobie was soon gather­ing estimates for printing costs.

The society has decided that it will pub­lish a yearly calendar to raise money.

The finished calendar cites the tradition­al holiday observances, but it also notes all of the society’s meetings, exhibits, work­shops and deadlines.

Each month’s painting also comes with a short artist’s statement from the featured artist.

The calendars were available Sept. 2, and the society has sold close to 200 copies. The majority of the art in the calendar is still life and landscape paintings, thought some figure painting is represented.

 

Groups starts

scholarship fund

named for artist

The Visual Arts Society of Texas honored one of its longtime members. June Impson, by naming a scholarship after her.

Impson is a society member and a painter who’s made a name for herself particularly for her gentle renderings of  Texas flora.

Ingrid Scobie, the society’s executive director, said the group wanted to honor the painter’s years of devotion to the society and her talent.

The Mary June Impson Scholarship is available to students — middle school and up — who want to take a workshop through the society. The group brings artists to Denton several times a year for intensive technique training and study.

Scobie said the society has opened the scholarship application for the upcoming color workshop with University of North Texas art faculty member Sally Packard.

The workshop is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16, and is open for artists regardless of what medium they study

This is not the society’s first out-reach to students. The groups hosts a yearly art contest for Denton County high schools, and membership is open to students.

The application is available online at http://VASTarts.org. The application deadline is Oct. 1. Artists can submit their application online, or can get an application by calling society presi­dent Jo Williams at 940-383-1092. Applications filled out by hand should be mailed to P.O. Box 1281, Denton, TX 76202.

— Lucinda Breeding