President's Letter and Editor's Inspiration

“Sculpture is an art of the open air. Daylight, sunlight, is necessary to it, and for me, its best setting and complement is nature.”

Henry Moore

Hello to the last part of 2023! Many of you, like myself, are frantically finishing work for the McClelland Gallery Exhibition. The race is on with the deadline on 13th December. Unlike Douglas Adams we can’t appreciate the whooshing sound that deadlines make as they go by… to be late is to miss out in this case. And what an opportunity this coming exhibition will be! Here is the chance to strut our stuff on a prestigious stage and seek out new, appreciative audiences. The opening for our guest speaker’s exhibition at McClelland is coming up on 2nd December… check out the McClelland newsletter for details. John Meade’s exhibition will be a counterpoint to our “art of the object” approach to sculpture.

The Annual General Meeting was held on 15th November - our quorum came from both the face to face meeting in Camberwell Community Centre and the online Google Meet engagement. The reports gave us a snapshot of ASV activities in 2023 - here is the slide show and sound file from the AGM.

 

 John Ride gave us a report on our finances - a slim surplus for the year has added to our accumulated assets so we can plan for our capital work on the website as well as having a buffer in case our exhibitions run on the wrong side of break even.

The presentation of the website wireframes was a technical challenge and we shall run a separate meeting later to explain the process and plan for the website, to indicate not just the workings but also the proposed appearance of the new site and the process of building from where we are to the full implementation of the site.

The issues raised at the AGM included a spirited discussion on the commission on sales at our various exhibitions. We will produce a discussion paper for members and see where it leads us - but for the present the commissions will remain as they are shown in the documents for each exhibition. And of course this is the time of year when we celebrate community and friendship - I hope to see you at Carmel Ritchie’s place on Sunday 3rd December. The year has had varied joys and sadness for sculptors - let’s gather to share friendship and plans for 2024. 

 Jenny Rickards