VCPG July 2024 Newsletter
Members' Meeting : No meeting this month
For Your Calendar:
July ……...…...................No Board meeting
July 15th ……..................Gallery Artists Meeting @ 7:00pm
July 22nd ……...........…..No Program meeting this month
August 2nd ……..........…No Board meeting
August 22nd ……...........Gallery Committee Meeting @3:30pm
August 26th …….............Program Meeting @ 6:30pm Gathering, 7pm Meeting
September 6th …….........Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
September 23rd …….......Program Meeting on Zoom; 6:30pm Gathering, 7pm Meeting
October 4th ……..........…Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
October 10th ……...........Gallery Committee Meeting @3:30pm
October 21st ……..…......Gallery Artists Meeting @ 7:00pm
October 28th ……...........VCPG Annual Meeting @ 6:30pm Gathering, 7pm Meeting
November 1st ……..........Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
November 25th ……........Program Meeting @ 6:30pm Gathering, 7pm Meeting
December 6th ……..........Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
December 12th ...............Gallery Committee Meeting @3:30pm
December........................VCPG Holiday Get Together
All Board meetings have the same Zoom link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88067937721?pwd=ZlZCSElGRGZrbUlNbmo0YWh3NGtFQT09
All Members meetings have the same Zoom link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86441314653?pwd=dVVRNkRUVXV1VXdmU3ZxN 29xeUFIZz09
All Galley Committee have the same Zoom link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85395421088?pwd=Rk5PWWxIdUJpajZqMEQ3TWdNTHUzUT09
All Gallery Artists meetings have the same Zoom link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89186713636?pwd=REFMTDBhZjJZSTgwZUp5YXZ5cVkvZz09
A Message from Your VCPG Board President • July 2024
Greetings VCPG Members –
Summer is here! As a result, the Guild is taking a little break – there will be no July Program Meeting and the VCPG Board won’t be meeting until September. But in the meantime, our Board, Team Leads and members are working on upcoming events for the summer and fall, including more opportunities for in-person get togethers and better strategies for communicating ceramic-related happenings. Additional information for many of these events can be found in articles below or on our Guild Calendar at Home (VCPG.org) once you’ve signed in.
And speaking of the Calendar – the Web Team has added a new Calendar to VCPG.org that is viewable by both members and the public. The new “Community Calendar” is just under the Calendar (Guild Calendar) and is a space where members can submit non-Guild-sponsored ceramic events. Just go to “Submissions” under “Guild” on the website and click the “Calendar”
button. They can be your personal studio sales, workshops or events at your studio or elsewhere in the area, etc. More details are provided in the article 'new Community Calendar section'. Take a look and share events you think your fellow potter would enjoy.
Upcoming events include:
• The Sgraffito Pottery Jam on July 21 st .
• The August Program meeting on the 26th will be The Anatomy of a Handle.
• The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts “Non-traditional Tea Pot” Show will be September 28th to November 16th . The deadline for submissions is September 1st .
• The fabulous School Outreach Program will start up again for the Fall semester – providing mentoring in ceramics for area middle and high school art teachers.
• The Marvelous Mug Marketplace will be September 14th and 15th at the Gallery – held in conjunction with the Ventura Art & Chalk Festival.
• The Guild is participating in the Ventura ArtWalk downtown September 21st and 22nd to promote the Guild and the Gallery. We are still looking for folks to demo.
• We are hoping to have something special this year for our October Members Meeting – stay tuned.
• We are planning to hold our annual Bowl of Thanks/Ventura Pottery Market on Veterans Day weekend. This year we will be moving the event to the Ventura Harbor Village. This will provide a great opportunity for juried, Plus members to sell their wares before the holidays, and is also a fundraiser for a worthy non-profit. Planning for this event is just starting – so stay tuned for updates. In the meantime – start making bowls (and other stuff)!
All of these events are the hard work of Committee and Program Chairs and their teams. If you are a Plus Member and haven’t yet completed your Team Service, there are opportunities to assist with some of these events – click on the Team Service button on the Home Page once you’ve logged in and look for an opportunity you think would be a good match for you.
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY OR ARE CURRENTLY COMPLETING YOUR TEAM SERVICE FOR 2024 – please make sure you are officially signed up for the appropriate Team Service slot – it makes it so much easier to ensure you are credited for your participation. Have you done more than one Team Service this year? Go ahead and sign up for them all. It helps us to plan for future events and projects.
That’s it for now! More next month. Take care and make stuff.
Stacy Rowe
VCPG Board President
president@vcpg.org
Jury Applications for the 2024 • 2nd Jury Cycle
Applications are being accepted until July 15th.
Click this link - Jury Page - or the Jury Application button on the VCPG.
The Jury process received a big upgrade in 2024. If you’re not familiar with the current process, take a look at the supporting documents — links on the Jury Page. The biggest change is Mentor support between Critique #1 and Critique #2 for members not accepted at Critique #1. Check it out!
Pottery Jams
Come, hang out with your friends, share your knowledge and learn from each other.
Please register for those in which you would like to participate by clicking on the event listing found on the Home Page Calendar (vcpg.org) or by clicking GUILD on the menu bar and selecting Calendar from the drop down menu. These Jams will fill so do not wait to register.
Pottery Jam #3 – Sgraffito Sharing
Sunday, July 21 – 11:30 – 3PM
Genie Thomsen is opening her Ventura studio for a Jam on Sgraffito. Bring any completed Sgraffito work. Bring your tools. Come prepared to share your knowledge, expertise, and questions. This no cost Jam is targeted to include novices and experts.
Let’s visit and share what we know with each other. Potluck lunch will kick the Jam off. Additional details will be sent to registrants. 5 spots available.
Pottery Jam #4 - A Saturday in late August.
Stay tuned, an email will be sent via MemberConnect once the details are locked down.
Anyone willing to open their studio for a Pottery Jam or who would like to offer a skills session or host a general gathering time for members in another member’s studio space, please contact Foz at programs@vcpg.org. Many of you have great skills that can be shared with a small group of 10-12 members.
The weather may be improving so it could be the time to offer to host an outdoor event?
5th Annual Marvelous Mug Event
Saturday Sept. 14th & Sunday 15th
Our Gallery's Mug event takes place the same weekend as the Chalk Festival at the Harbor. As in past years, these two events bring large crowds to the gallery.
Juried plus members and consignment artists are invited to participate by displaying their mugs for sale outside the gallery. All sales will run through the gallery and the gallery will keep 20% commission. Each artist who participates will need to sign up for 1 shift on Saturday or Sunday, 11-2:30 or 2:30-6 (we will need 2 artists per shift).
Please email Jody Cooper at jcooperceramics23@gmail.com, or text, 805 701-7797 if interested in participating or if you have any questions.
It’s coming! Beatrice Wood Center Show
Our annual show at the Beatrice Wood Center is scheduled for September 28 - November 16. The theme this year is “Non Traditional Teapots”.
Let your imagination go wild, from fantasy to abstract. Have fun with this challenge.
It is open to all guild members and you can enter up to three pieces.
The VCPG Library
Is finding a good summer read on your ‘to do’ list? There’s still time to check out VCPG's professional library. Our collection currently contains 42 DVDs and over 140 books. There is something for everyone, so please take advantage of this amazing resource!
Browse the collection by visiting the Library page under the Member Menu on VCPG.org. Click on Check Out Item to complete the check out request form. Items will be shipped at no cost to you. You can return items via mail (at your cost) or to the gallery.
VCPG Library Book Review
In Clay: Contemporary Ceramic Artisans, author Amber Creswell Bell interviews over 50 ceramic artists whom she has carefully selected from small studios around the world. Readers will gain valuable insight into the motivations, philosophies, and artistic processes of the featured ceramicists through intimate narratives and insightful quotes. Each artist’s journey is illustrated with high-quality photographs of their work, ranging from traditional pottery to avant-garde sculptural pieces. This thoroughly entertaining and easily accessible book is full of inspirational thoughts regarding daily life in the studio.
VCPG members should be aware that although this book is not currently available in the VCPG library, it can be checked out of the public library.
The Marketing Team urgently needs Graphic Artists
This role involves designing, creating, and updating marketing materials for the gallery and guild. If you have any experience with graphic art and are looking to contribute to the guild and earn team service, please contact Ellen Wohlstadter at (818) 321-8706 for more information. Thank you.
New Website Feature: Community Calendar
We have opened a new Community Calendar section on the Home and Classes pages for non-guild events.
A lot of people have asked for this, and now it is a reality. (See the Team Service description below for more details.) I know a lot of our members are involved in pottery happenings that are not guild-related, and now these can be listed at the website.
If you are a member, please use the Guild --> Submissions page to submit these events. If you are not in the guild, please use the Contact Us page to submit your event (Community Calendar, in the drop down menu). You may continue to announce your event at MemberConnect, but use the Submission page to actually get it on the calendar.
At the same time, we are renaming the Resources page to Classes & Resources (in the Learning menu), and will be adding a little more content.
We are seeking a coordinator for this Team Service option to reach out to entities holding events. I can't stress enough what a plum job this is. People in business know that networking in general will open all kinds of doors in unimaginable ways, and here's a chance to get to know people throughout the clay community.
The Team Service position is listed in Web Services. Here is the description:
Community Calendar Coordinator
This person will research, identify and communicate with entities holding pottery events to be posted on our community calendar, and keep in touch with them if they have ongoing events. We're looking for workshops, classes, pop-up sales, lectures, markets, exhibitions and any other pottery-related activity. It could be an individual or an entity such as the Ojai Clay School or Ventura College. Web Services will add the events to our separate community calendar. Your job is to identify events, field inquiries and submit appropriate items to Web Services via our submission form; also to initially reach out to regional studios, schools and other pottery event organizers, then keep in touch as appropriate.
We will ask guild members to submit their own events through our submission form. You may be asked to assist some members with completing the submission form.
Program and Workshop Team seeking members
Do you want to be part of identifying, selecting and introducing programs for our monthly meetings?
Please consider joining the Programs and Workshops Team.
A few creative and enthusiastic members are being sought to join the effort of bringing great program offerings to our members.
We try to meet once a month until the year’s program and workshop calendar is scheduled. Then, in small groups or individually, members shepherd their program or workshop. Mentoring and coaching will be offered.
If you are interested in joining this team, please reach out to Foz at programs@vcpg.org and we can at least talk about what you might be committing to.
Nina de Creeft Ward at
South Willard Gallery in Chinatown
Until August 10
Urns and Evocations
Handbuilt Raku fired a show of Redtail Hawk and Island Fox urns and Squirrel teapots, plus Cougar wall pieces and two larger resting deer. The deers are made and fired in sections, then assembled.
Check southwillard on Instagram for photos and information
Thursday - Sunday, 12-5
970 N. Broadway, # 205. Los Angeles
Summer Sessions at Vita Arts
July 24 - August 21
Wednesdays from 10:30 to 1:00
$200/class plus $25 for clay
Kristen Clawson
To sign up and for other classes go to the Vita Arts website.
Pre-Sale Sale
Ceramic Slip Casting Molds.
Huge local shop closed; selling thousand’s of plaster molds.
Delivery available.
Call or text for appointment: (858) 361-1811.
