Report on the SLWA Celebration and AGM

Report on the SLWA Celebration and AGM, held in the Linbury Room, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Thursday 2^{nd July 2009, 7.00-10.15pm}

 

AGM

The AGM began at 7.00pm and was chaired by Jenny Sweeney, who introduced the programme for the evening.

Jenny welcomed SLWA artists to DPG and talked first about how SLWA started. ‘I was running a series of lectures on Women Artists and through that I met Leonie Cronin, who pointed out how many women artists there were in the area’. Artists got together and decided that they wanted:

1. Regular monthly activities
2. A website
3. Exhibitions
4. Benefits of membership
5. Funding opportunities

For the one-year anniversary of the founding of SLWA we had a celebration of how far the group has come in a year – far further than expected! SLWA has a great website and a high profile in Dulwich and Southwark. [The SG recently conducted a telephone survey and found that most people loved the website but not everybody looked at if very often – more on the website later …].

Now we have funding and grants coming in we need a bank account and for that we need a constitution and for that we need an AGM! And it’s a great opportunity to meet up with each other.Before we began working our way through the agenda people chatted informally in groups of half a dozen or so, then all the ideas were collected on a flip chart at the front.

The consensus was that:

1. SLWA membership was a ‘very validating, egalitarian process’
2. SLWA was a good way to get to know other artists
3. There was interest in the idea of getting agents to work on the business side
4. Help was wanted on how to update profiles on the website
5. Help was wanted in finding studio spaces
6. People wanted to know how SLWA works and what it’s for

What SLWA has achieved

At the founding celebration artists were delighted to see their own work projected on screens in DPG alongside the great works of the Collection. Members see it as a great chance to raise their profile and loved talking to other artists.

Now there are just over 100 members.

There is a Steering Group [SG] and also:

 

Members’ activities – such as workshops [pottery and other topics], life drawing and experimental drawing, visits [Richter at the National Portrait Gallery; the Saatchi Gallery were offering a free talk and a focus on 3 pioeces in the new Abstract American Art exhibition] and critiques – SLWA members enjoy ‘giving as well as receiving’ – members don’t charge for their time, and SLWA is not about teaching or money-making, but about sharing. Liz Charsley-Jory reported that the critiques had been very successful. Artists chose an object and gave positive constructive feedback. The purpose was to gauge the response your work generates. The group would talk about the general context and members felt the critiques had been ‘hugely enjoyable’. Julie Bennett said ‘it was like being nurtured – I came back with fantastic new ideas’. More critiques are planned for the autumn.

Exhibitions – at Dulwich Library and ArtDog as part of Southwark’s celebration of Women Artists. Curated by ArtDog, Rebecca from Camberwell Art College and Jill Alexander (Chair of the Friends of DPG). Lots of lovely feedback – the Library is pleased to welcome the group back in the autumn. Amazing publicity – on the weekend Southwark News and SE21 magazine. People came to the Open Studios because they’d seen flyers at Dulwich Library. There was also work at All Saint’s Church. Julie Bennett’s highly successful flyers for Dulwich Open House were much admired. Lucy Bainbridge celebrated the first exhibition in her new studios. SLWA wants to build on the success at Dulwich Library and move on to have a big exhibition.

A logo, designed by Liz Dalton inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi’s 17th century self-portrait. The modern translation of the pose is a strong graphic image showing a woman artist as substantial and purposeful. The logo comes in three sizes and two colours, black and dark green, and can be used on T-shirts, exhibition labels etc.

A Website, Feedblitz and the Social Forum. Marnie Pitts talked about the website and how it raises artists’ profiles and how the extensive tags mean that search engines produce a lot of results for SLWA artists. Since the start the site has had over 56,000 hits. It uses WORDPRESS, which is a blog with entries displayed as posts. There are now 2 sites, Showcase and Members’ Pages, so there are two chances to promote artists. On the Members’ Pages you can leave comments on works of art, exhibitions or events and give details of how to contact the SG, update a profile or send a message to other members. The Members’ Pages and Social Forum can also be used to add links to other bodies and events (eg. Dulwich Festival) or to advertise or ask about studio space. Marnie provided a very helpful introduction to the Members’ Pages, Feedblitz and the Social Forum. Photos can be added by clicking on flickr. The calendar tells you what’s on.

A Constitution – A document was circulated among SLWA members. SLWA now has a name, aims, a strong membership, a Steering Group, funding and a bank account with Co-op Bank. This is the first AGM and there is provision in the Constitution for an Emergency General Meeting (EGM). It was decided to limit the membership to about 100, and try to ensure that access for new members is available by ‘moving people out’ who are for example no longer in the UK, or active in the group. The Constitution states that the Steering Group may terminate the membership of any member who fails to participate in any of the communal activities or who fails to pay the annual fee (unless waived or reduced in cases of financial hardship).

Proposal: that the SLWA Constitution be formally adopted.

Proposer: Liz Charsley-Jory. Seconder: Kate Redfern.

Carried unanimously.

 

A Mission Statement – it was felt it was important to do more work in the wider community, and that the website was crucial to SLWA. People felt that the terms ‘personality, energy, passion and intelligence’ were very apposite.

A Strapline – all SLWA members are encouraged to use it in their signature for all emails – this can added via outlook – tools – options –mail format – signature.

A Bank Account and a Treasurer’s Report. Lindsey Merriman spoke to her Treasurer’s Report and explained that the income was generated by the fee paid by SLWA artists submitting work for the exhibition in Dulwich Library/Artdog Gallery and by external funding from Southwark and from Dulwich Community Fund. There were no questions arising.

 

Proposal: that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted

Proposer: Elly Wright. Seconder: Lucy Bainbridge.

Carried unanimously.

 

 

Where is SLWA going 2009/10?

Moira Jarvis updated us on the plan for a major SLWA exhibition at Bankside, a very prestigious venue, which in the winter attracts about 19% of the visitors to Tate Modern. The space is terrific, the atmosphere great, there is provision for 3-D work and there is disabled access. Moira had seen an exhibition there where about 180 works ere hung very professionally. Works are secured with mirror plates, and professional help with hanging could be obtained. It was hoped to have the exhibition in April 2010 from Monday to Sunday and have space for ca 120 works. All the space has good light. There would be two Private Views, one at the start and one at the end of the run, with about 200 people. This would be a very celebratory occasion. The cost is ca £5,500, which for 100 participants would work out at £55 a head, with a 10% deposit to be taken on booking.

Volunteers are also needed for ART BELOW, and Art on the Underground. It was felt that SLWA offers opportunities to the group that would not be available to individuals.

Laura Moreton-Griffiths talked about the planned programme of Personal and Professional Development (PPD), which would take the form of a series of early evening sessions early in the week from 6-9pm, with a crèche provided. PPD will probably be held at Dulwich Library [check on the website]. The cost will be no more than £5 a session, and there will be a discount for block booking. Topics may include time management, good studio practice in terms of health and safety, finance, open houses, approaching agents and networking, how to apply for funding, artist in residence schemes, and curating. There will be a number of speakers and a call will go out for specialists on different topics. All ideas are welcome!

 

Membership fee

Proposal: that an annual membership fee of £10 be introduced.

Proposer:  Jacqueline Merry Bernard.  Seconder: Chrissy Silver.

Carried unanimously.

There was then a short session where people split into small groups to discuss what they hoped to get out of the evening –

Who will help us?

Those present at the AGM were encouraged to sign up for new roles and helping with the Steering Group.

SLWA needs a Publicity Manager, and Organiser for Celebrating Women Artistsz, a Schools Liaison Officer (this would need careful planning – schools would benefit a lot, especially if they link work to the National Curriculum – members thought this was a very useful avenue to go down), an Organiser for Art Underground and Reporters for the Website News. [see Website for more details]

 

The Meeting closed at 10.15 and members were thanked for their continuing support and invited to pay their £10 membership fee then or send it by post (see website for details of how to pay).

 

Conclusion

All present had an extremely enjoyable evening. The cake and refreshments were delicious. There was lots of discussion and everybody had the chance to meet old friends and meet new people. The first SLWA AGM thus succeeded in being interesting and enjoyable, and everybody is looking forward to a fruitful year ahead.

 

Celebration

On the evening of the women’s semi-finals at Wimbledon about 30 members of SLWA met for cake, a new Constitution and a chat. Before the AGM started I wandered round talking to people – it was a delight meeting new members and catching up with established members and people I’d interviewed over the last year – the conversations reminded me just how diverse a group SLWA is. The same basic questions [What have you been doing recently? What are you working on?] prompted fascinating answers. In the end I decided to put the snippets in alphabetical order of first names, as on the website.

Elly Wright was working ‘like the clappers’ getting invitations out for a joint show at WAC Gallery (formerly Waterloo Gallery). Jacqueline Merry Bernard hadn’t been painting this week – ‘I’ve been more involved with my felt-making’. The series of lectures on Gardens Jenny Sweeney had organised for the Friends of DPG has just finished, and she thinks it will now be interesting to visit Dulwich gardens and see what sort of influences on structures and space are in evidence. New member Joan Kendall is a photographer who specialises in street photography. She’d just been to her daughter’s graduation ceremony and had been taking shots there. Julie Bennett had ‘just got back from Glastonbury and managed to shake of all the mud, and went to Wimbledon on the opening day’. Kim Thornton was having Open Studios at Vanguard Court at Camberwell. Her new series of works is called The Domestic Alchemist. For this she takes ordinary household objects like a wooden spoon, an iron or a dustpan, coats it with gold leaf and then photographs it. She takes the object, photographs it so it looks as though it is in a museum case and thus turns it back into an ‘object’. Leonie Cronin was very proud that she had been in her new studio every day ‘even in the stifling heat’. Teacher Lisa Hendricks had managed one and a half days of painting – had ‘a bit of a thing’ about torsos, necklaces and memory. Linda Litchfield had been to her framing class at the Mary Ward Centre in Bloomsbury. Liz Dalton was just back from an Art Auction at the ICA where one of her paintings had been sold for the Charity CORAM, which uses music and art to help vulnerable children who have had trauma in their lives. Luci Soni is busy getting ready for a show in New York towards the end of the year. She’s represented by Blair Clarke who places her work in a series of venues there, and finally Moira Jarvis, who I’d interviewed earlier in the year, was ‘full of anticipation’ about our meeting.

Unfortunately there wasn’t time to chat to everyone – maybe people can pass on more updates via the Social Forum?