This is YOUR ISGB, and in the coming editions of this column I plan to share with you the many projects and initiatives that are underway to expand the embrace of our organization. Behind the scenes, your Board and staff is already at work tying up the loose ends from the 2015 Gathering and re-envisioning the Gathering that will happen in 2016 in New Orleans.

 

As Fall begins, I encourage you to "turn over a new leaf" and seize some or all of the many chances that the ISGB provides to share your glasswork with other ISGB members and the public. Getting published is a great way to advance your art. Sure, it might give you some bragging rights, but it also pushes you to improve your work, to look at it with a more critical eye, and to invite input from peers in the glass art world. Did you know that every issue of Glass Bead Evolution ("GBE") includes a gallery of members' work? Encore submissions go to Babette Cox. Another way for your beads to be seen, and to interact with your fellow glass addicts, is through the ISGB's public Facebook group - are you a member? Check out some of the recent Throwback Thursday posts and consider posting some of your own work on that page. If you aren't ready for "show and tell", consider authoring a tool review or tutorial for GBE (You can reach our Editor in Chief, Stephanie Crider by email) or a send Kiersten Kern a "hot tip" for the Bead Release.

 

All of the information you need to take advantage of your ISGB membership arrives in your email in-box. If you don't regularly receive the Constant Contact messages from our administrator Sarah Riggle, check your spam box. You can email Sarah and she can help you find those messages. She can also help you download the GBE.

 

I'm excited about being the new ISGB president, but I'm also a little nervous and scared. The excitement is the easy part, like a new school year I start this job with a clean slate (I haven't messed up yet) and I have pristine new notebooks and sharpened pencils. How cool is it to take on a job where everyone I work with is also my friend?!

 

It's harder to explain why I'm nervous and scared. After all, our members have stepped up with offers of help and guidance. Angie Ramey remains involved as our past-president, and Kendra Bruno knows the ropes. But I think I feel nervous because I have never filled these shoes before, and because every task I do I'm doing for the first time. I'm scared because the ISGB is very important to me, I want to travel with this group into the wonderful future the Board envisions, and lets face it, there will always be bumps in the road!

 

When I teach beginning bead makers, I always remind them that typically as adults we learn differently than when we are kids. Adults are more afraid to try new things, because they worry they will make a mistake, adults know things can go wrong and childhood innocence is a thing of the past. As the new President, I promise that I will be brave. I will try new things, (even if they might not succeed), and I won't worry that things will go wrong, but instead will carefully plan for things to turn out just right. I ask you all to join me in being brave, don't just read our magazine and our newsletter, submit something to be published, don't just "wish" you could be in our new publication, The Art of Glass - Flameworking Volume 1, take the bull by the horns and go ahead and buy a page, there is still time! PARTICIPATE, even though it can be scary. Don't sit on the sidelines.

 

We have an energized and committed leadership in our organization, but we don't plan to drag our membership anywhere. Instead we plan to ride the ISGB wave that is heading wherever glass, jewelry and art is going next.  When I hand things over to the next president, I want to feel like we have all been on a wild ride filled with excitement, enthusiasm and joy.  That will only happen if we all take this ride together.