Pot Luck/ Tesserae Exchange Information – Holiday Party

The Guild’s holiday get together will be on December 11^th at Beth Karjala’s home. Her address is 1700 Lexington Ave. South, Apartment 406, Lilydale, MN 55118.

Our party will start at 7:00 pm. There will be no formal meeting on the 11^th.

 

Anyone who wants to mosaic some style of candle holder can do so. This can hold a pillar candle, a taper or a votive candle etc.  If you do not have time to work on this project please come to the party anyway. We are making a game out of this by guessing which mosaic artist created each candle. I would ask each person to bring their candle in a brown grocery bag (plain if possible). Beth will have a place to drop them off and someone will get them set up as a centerpiece on the buffet table. We will have a prize for the person who has the most correct answers. 

We will also have the annual tesserae exchange. Please bring a small bag or box of tesserae if you wish to be a part of the exchange.

Any questions please call Trudy at 952-975-0276.

Regards,

Trudy

List of proposed Mosaic Guild Meetings for 2014

 

 February 12^th at Trudy Vrchota’s home - We will all bring a new 8” x 8” mosaic with the theme of Love. This will be fitting for two days before Valentine’s Day. Judy Sell suggested that we all contribute new 8x 8 pieces with a theme. The thought is that there will be cohesiveness when they are all displayed together at a show. These could be hung in the same location that the Haiti quilt had been displayed for the last Edina Art Center show. Hopefully this will give everyone enough time to get a new piece completed by Feb.

April 9^th at Jo Shaddy’s home- Joe has a home studio where she teaches and she has purchased a saw that she has been using to cut detailed shapes. She will demonstrate how it works. Anyone who has a cool tool that they have been using can bring it to this meeting. Also if anyone has spent money on a tool and been disappointed in their results they could share their experience with us and maybe save us all from purchasing that tool.

June 11^th at Rachel Arntson’s home- Rachel has had several mosaic parties at her home and will share how to host a mosaic party. We will also have a demonstration on wood burning. Rachel has combined wood burning and mosaics and the results have been beautiful and unique.

September 10^th at Mosaic on a Stick- Show and Tell. Bring in a piece that you would like to share with the group and explain the inspiration behind the piece and any details that you wish to share in how you created the mosaic.

November 12th at Laura Lee’s home- Planning meeting for the following year.

December 10th at Beth Karjala’s home  - for annual Pot Luck Dinner- Dinner and tesserae exchange.

Hello Guild members,

 

I want to remind all Guild Members (and anyone that may be thinking about joining the guild) that our yearly planning meeting is coming up on November 13^th. Barb Napiwocki is hosting the meeting at her new home.

Please plan on attending this meeting if at all possible. It would be wonderful to get everyone’s ideas and input.

 I have dates for the June show at the Edina Art Center. I stopped into the center this week and they have some new display cases that will work really well for three dimensional art. This is also a great facility to show case pieces that need to hang in the windows. I spoke with the general manager and he is encouraging us to use the front windows along with the windows in the gallery.

We will have a social time starting at 6:30 and the meeting will begin at 7:00.

Barb lives in Prior Lake and car pooling may be the best way to go. I live in Eden Prairie and would be happy to car pool from my home if anyone is interested.

Barb thought it would be best if people use Map Quest for directions.

The address is:

5281 Shore Trail NE
Prior Lake, MN 55372

September 11th Meeting

 

The September Minnesota Mosaic Guild Meeting will be at Mosaic On a Stick’s new building. The address is 1564 Lafond Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104. We will meet at 6:30 PM for a social time, and 7:00 PM for the meeting. Please bring the mosaics that you plan to exhibit in the fall show. We will have an opportunity to share the inspiration for each piece and other interesting details that went into creating the mosaic.

 The fall show will run September 29^th to November 9^th. The Artists Reception will be on Thursday October 3^rd 7:00 to 9:00 PM. If you can not attend the meeting you can arrange with Lori Greene for dropping off your art pieces. Please remember to have the title and your name taped to the front of any art that you bring in.

 Non members interested in learning more about the Minnesota Mosaic Guild are welcome to join us too.

I hope to see you there.

 

Regards,
Trudy

 

June Mosaic Meeting

We had a great meeting at Susan’s house. Thank you Susan for all the good salads and bread. It was all wonderful and appreciated.

We had Verna Pitts, a professional photographer; give us some very good ideas on how to photograph our mosaic art pieces. She used some of our pieces, some with mirrors, some flat pieces and some three dimensional to show us a variety of ways to tackle the different types of art that we create.

It would be hard to adequately explain all the information but a couple of items that are easy to explain and have a large impact are using a couple of sheets of white poster board as a back drop if you want a white back

ground. She also had large pieces of a black velvet fabric that she used for most of the pictures. The black velvet made a very dramatic back ground giving nice contrast to most of the art she photographed.

Items that we discussed during the meeting are:

 Susan has a person that she knows that may be able to find a place for the Haiti quilt to be installed (in Haiti). Susan will check with Danette to see if there would be money in the Guild account that could cover some of the expenses.

Lori Greene would like to have pictures of our art sent to her by the end of July. She will decide what images might be used for the September show post card.

Lori loves her new space and said that there is a lot more room to hang art and that there is window space for glass on glass pieces.

 I will check with Lori to see if she wants members to have more then one piece for that show.

 

We need to decide when we will have opening night. Our meeting on the 11^th of September has usually been before the show so that we could bring the art that we wanted in the show to Mosaic on a Stick and just leave it for the show. I will check with Lori on how much time she needs between the 11^th and having an opening night.

 Lori asked me to also share with the group that Tara Nielson sold almost half her show on opening night. That is fantastic.

 Gil had checked with the Phipps Gallery on a show for 2015. He said that there is such a small chance of that happening that we should look for some other place.

 We did a little brain storming on other locations that might work well for a show but we really do not have a specific place that we are pursuing. If any one has any ideas please pursue them.

 We have 2014 covered with a show at the Edina Art Center, one at the 310 Gallery and the show that we always have at Mosaic on a Stick. Most places require a fairly long lead time so it is not too soon to be planning for 2015.

I hope you all have a great summer, provided summer shows up any time soon!

Regards,

 Trudy

June 12th Meeting

The mosaic meeting on June 12^th will be focused on tips on how to photograph mosaic art pieces. We have a professional photographer coming to our meeting. While she usually photographs weddings and portraits she will have helpful tips for the challenges associated with shooting mosaic art. If you would like to bring a mosaic piece she may use your art as an example.

 

Social time will start at 6:30 . Susan has said that she will provide a salad for us. Hope to see you on the 12^th.

Directions to Susan's:

County Road 19/ Keats Avenue/ Woodbury Drive is completely closed between Valley Creek Road and Bailey Road.  Do not take County Road 19/Keats Avenue/Woodbury Drive (different names for the same street) from 94.

Here are two recommended routes.  They are both straight shots to my house with no winding through side streets.  If you take one of these routes, IGNORE ALL THE SIGNS THAT SAY “CLOSED TO THRU TRAFFIC”.  You can proceed to my house on these routes with no problems.

Susan Mathis

3670 Village Court

Woodbury, MN  55125

(651)207-5872

From 94 Take the RADIO DRIVE exit.  Go south on Radio Drive 2.7 miles.  Turn left onto Lake Road.  Go 1.8 miles to Wedgewood Drive.  Turn right onto Wedgewood Drive.  Go four blocks to Village Court.  Turn left onto Village Court.  My house is #3670  and is half way down the street on the right.

From 494 Go east 4 miles to Wedgewood Drive.  Turn right onto Wedgewood Drive.  Go four blocks to Village Court.  Turn left onto Village Court.  My house is #3670 and is half way down the street on the right.

 

Please remember to ignore the “Closed to thru traffic” signs if you take one of these routes.

Hi to all Guild Members- I have spoken with Micah and she has told me that she would be happy to move our April meeting to next Wednesday April 17^th. I have had members express a concern to be out driving in the unpredictable weather this evening, which is very understandable. I hope this will work out better for the majority of the group. Please pass this info on to any one that you have spoken to that was planning to come tonight. Please also email me back that you received this information. Micah is going to try to call members this afternoon (if she has your phone number) and I will forward any responses I get so we have made every effort to reach each member.

 

Thank you to Micah and Julie for being so flexible.

 

Regards and stay safe,

 

Trudy

Hi All- Please note that the April Guild meeting will be on Wednesday the 10^th.We will be meeting at Micah Bach Kinder’s house and Julie Reeve will be a co hostess for our meeting. Micah’s address is 5607 Girard Ave. South, Mpls. 55419. She lives in a double bungalow so the address will appear as 5607 and 5609. Micah and Julie will be showing us a fused glass demonstration and we should all bring a 3 D mosaic that we have created. If you don’t have a 3 D mosaic to bring please don’t let that stop you from attending. I hope to see many of you in April.

 

Regards

 

Trudy

 

Trudy Vrchota

Office: 952-975-0276

Cell:    612-865-6323

February Meeting at Barb Steen’s Home

 If you were able to attend the February meeting thank you for coming. For those who could not make it I wanted to give you a brief update on what was discussed and what decisions were made, mostly in regards to the upcoming Hopkins Art Center show.

Drop off times will be March 4^th from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and March 5^th from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. It would help us if you can have your pieces marked with the title and the price. There is a loading zone in front of the building where you can park when dropping off your art work. Janine will send another email with more details on the drop off situation.

Art pieces can not be heavier then 30 pounds, must be hung from a horizontal wire on the back and should not have sharp areas where children coming thru could hurt themselves if they touched a piece of art.

Food for Opening Night:

Jo Shady has very kindly offered to make some bars. Along with the bars we will have cheese and crackers, fresh strawberries and cream puffs.

Hopkins Center does not allow alcoholic beverages so we will stick with water, coffee and a fruit punch.

I hope many of our Guild Members can make it for Opening night.

Janine has taken extra post cards and she will see if some of the businesses in Hopkins will put them in their stores. Hopkins is known for their Antique stores and that might be a good location to promote the show. If anyone knows of a place of business that might be open to having our show cards in their space please contact them and drop off some cards.

If you plan on helping to hang the art work please contact Janine just to verify that she needs additional help or that she could contact you if more help is needed at the last minute.

This is a ways off but we set a theme for the September art show at Mosaic on a Stick. This will be at Lori’s new building and she will have Gallery space in the new location. The theme is “Challenge Yourself Mosaics”. This will be different for everyone but should produce some exciting results.

Janine was approached by the 310 Gallery in Stillwater. They would like to have our mosaics shown again in 2013. We discussed some of the available dates and this July appears to be the best possible time, out of the dates that they have available. Janine and I would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in having some pieces in a show. If enough interest is shown we will pursue the July dates further.

The next meeting is at Micah Bach Kinder’s home. We are again challenging ourselves by creating a 3D mosaic to bring to the meeting to discuss and appreciate.

I will try to send out a reminder email approximately one month and again one week before each Guild meeting. Details will be posted on the blog site.

Regards,

Trudy Vrchota

Piece By Piece - Upcoming Show - Hopkins Center for the Arts

Postcard created by Judy and active members will receive 30 cards in the mail next week.

Next Meeting:

Wednesday, February 13, 2013, 6:30 PM
Barb Steen's home
4013 Basswood Rd.
St. Louis Park 55416-3844
612-618-5603

Directions to Barb Steen's home -
From I-394:
Take the Penn Ave. Exit going South
Going straight, head West on South Wayzata Blvd. (along the South side of I-394)
Take the Theodore Wirth Pkwy. ramp going South (left) on Cedar Lake Parkway
First right at Cedar Lake Road
Cedar Lake Road becomes Ewing Ave. South
Ewing becomes France Avenue South
Turn right on Basswood Rd.
4013 Basswood is on the left

From Minnetonka Blvd. going East, or West on Lake St. out of Mpls.:
Turn North on France Ave. South
After about a mile, turn left (West) on Basswood Rd.
4013 Basswood is on the left

Main topics:

Tools and Tricks in Mosaics

This will give us all an opportunity to share our collective knowledge. We all have found “tools” that may not be considered traditional mosaic tools but have helped us in the process of completing our art work. Please feel free to bring anything that you have used or just be ready to tell the group what tools or tricks have worked for you.

We are also trying to put together a Loaner Tool Kit that can be used as needed by members. If you have a community project where you may need additional mosaic tools this would be available to borrow. If you have any extra tools please bring them to this meeting.

Agenda items:

March- April Show at The Hopkins Art Center
* Post Cards will be available *
Shows for 2014 – Bring ideas
Discuss a Community Project- Ideas welcome!
Discuss thoughts for attracting new members
September Meeting- Mosaic on a Stick show and meeting topic

Interest in a Blog demo

A more detailed agenda will be circulated at the February Meeting.

I hope that we can have a great turn out for this meeting. Please call me if you have any thoughts, questions or want to add an item to the agenda.

Regards,
Trudy Vrchota 952-975-0276