Report on the January AGASC General Meeting
'Thank You' to all of you who attended the meeting at the Chabad Hebrew Academy in Scripps Ranch. We opened with a presentation of Ilanit's contribution of the Mechitzah glass wall room divider for Chabad. It was great to see it in person, as most of us had only seen the article in the newsletter. The photographs did not show how impressive it really is. Illanit showed sketches and talked about the lengthy process to make it a reality. The minutes of the last meeting were read by Bill Matulich and then each of the committee chairs gave an update. We then broke off into committees to plan 2012.
Education Committee Report by Rob Morey, Educational Committee Chair.
The following is a rough draft of what we came up with during the Educational Committee break out. We built the plan on the premise that the association would do something each month. Every third month is the general meeting and that would be that month's event. Realize that these are open to revision with most not having a specific date set and some months may have two events.
January: General Meeting
February 25th: Palm Desert Trip Organized by Rob Morey
March: LACMA and neighboring galleries trip organized by Kathleen Mitchell
April: General Meeting
May: Technology demo; possible adhesive presentation by industry reprehensive; LED lighting
June: Silicon mold making using brush on silicon and store bought GE silicon
July: General meeting
August: Lost wax casting party using the silicon molds made in June
September: Pacific Art Glass Open House trip/ Raysist tour and demo
October: General Meeting
November: "Make your own ornament"
December: AGASC Christmas Party.
So there it is people. I hope that you see something there which you would like to do. We always need people to help organize and make phone calls or email contacts. And of course, we need people to participate. This is all for you, so take advantage of all of these opportunities.
Technology Committee Meeting Report by Susan Hirsch, Technology Committee Chair
The group discussed some possible additions to be considered to the new website, such as rollover pics for the members names (like many galleries have) to entice viewers to use the links. Another suggestion was to add more pictures of glass and also videos or a "classified" section that might help members sell/buy studio materials from each other. Time ran short so it was decided that we would meet again on January 26th at Susan Hirsch's house to continue to discuss these and additional ideas.
At the January 26th meeting we discussed the creation of a forum or blog as a medium for more immediate and interactive member contact. Threads would be created to discuss a variety of glass topics like technical questions, sharing new sources, materials and discuss various areas of interest. This would be open to others to broaden our connection within the larger glass community and have the potential of creating revenue with Sponsors Ads. Mary Jo Nettles and Bob Hirsch are going to pursue host resources and start testing the concept. There was further discussion of a "classified" section to help members sell/buy studio materials and it was determined that the "forum" format would would be the best avenue.
The group did some brainstorming on how to increase our membership and create more income for activities. Printed materials promoting the AGASC and our activities to solicit interest for general membership, student membership and Sponsors was discussed. Susan is planning on soliciting Sponsors at the upcoming Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas.
Show Committee Meeting Report by Marti Blair, Show Committee Chair