President’s Update 6/7/23

Notes from Studio Artist meeting June 7, 2023 Attending: Lisa Marie Patzer Caroline Brown Sakreea Monay Jackson Seong Kim Boyce Steph Boateng Rich Lopez Ken Mabrey Jenna Lucente Jennifer Borders Roberta Tucci Caroline Chen Hugh Atkins Diane Hulse Brad Vanneman Morgan Hamilton Shawn Pinkney Barron ***Please mark your calendars for a zoom meeting with studio artists and Leslie Shaffer on Monday, June 12 at 6 pm. Link to follow soon. Caroline B thanked everyone for helping her with her presidential duties for the past 2 years and showed appreciation to Lisa Marie and Caroline C for taking over for her and Sakreea as President and VP. Morgan told us about his efforts to document studio and Hatch gallery procedures and to keep an updated calendar. The calendar is online (he will send an updated link when he gets back in town later this month.) A new artists in residents cohort (ARC) will be arriving in September. All four artists will be sharing the large studio upstairs. New studio artists will be selected to move in by September. There’s also an artist from Iran who is moving in as a collaboration between U of Del and the Artist Protection Fund (APF.) We will have an artist meet and greet event when all the new artists are here. We learned that regarding the closed door to the museum, artists who are on the calendar to install/deinstall will have fob access for the whole week before their First Friday. We received a copy of the new studio usage agreement. Shawn talked to us as a former studio artist and chairman of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion board committee. He stressed that each of us should feel and have the right to be included, equal and heard. Roberta offered to represent the studio artists on that committee. The studio bank account balance is $2,493. We voted to suspend dues this year and revisit the issue next year. We voted to purchase a small/medium sized art moving cart that will be stored in the upstairs artist closet (by the microwave.) Other items for consideration can be suggested and voted on by email. Artists agreed that there should be a zoom option for every meeting. We will need to make sure we have the correct technology (borrow from museum?) so zoomers can actually hear anything. Artists want to have the fall and spring Saturday open house. There was some concern about artists on the 2nd floor not having equal visibility and less traffic. Ideas of how to address this included - letting people put tables outside their space or set-up in a more visible area such as the common area outside the elevator. We discussed onboarding for new artists and the lack of any kind of initiation to the processes of exhibiting and working at the studios. Caroline C offered to use her mad computer skills to create a private website for us that will have documents, the calendar link and artist & staff contact information. We agreed to pay her and pay for the domain from our account. There was a discussion of getting mixed messages about inclusivity and institutional neglect (fob issue, dingy bathrooms with no working hot water or vent, inattention to hallways.) I will bring this up with Leslie to discuss on Monday. We hope to rehang the art on the interior walls in August so there is new work up for the September Open Studios. (This wasn't discussed but I think it would be helpful to know soon when the art needs to be delivered to Chase for selection and where we will leave it. New members may not be familiar with the process. I also think a conversation about what to do with unused interior wall space would be productive at some point. Many of us have hung work for tomorrow's Open Studios to help fill in gaps but this process could be formalized.) Finally, we drew names for the upcoming Hatch Gallery season. Brad, Seong and John elected to stay out for a year. Jennifer wants to not have a solo show but coordinate a group show of small works. We voted to have that during December and have it available to any of the studio artists who want to participate. Some artists felt the distribution of shows in the Hatch wasn't fair. Either because First Friday Art Loop events and the openings at the museum detract or add to the attendance. There was some discussion about artists having receptions on different days during the month of their show. Morgan will update our online calendar and send a link to us all when he gets back in town later this month.

2023-2024 Hatch Gallery Schedule June 2023 Ken Mabrey July/August 2023 Lauren Peters (paired with Ruth Ansel) September 2023 Stephanie Boateng & Scott McClurg October 2023 Ruth Ansel solo (paired with Lauren Peters) November 2023 Margo Allman and Anne Oldach December 2023 Group show organized by Jennifer Borders January 2024 - closed February 2024 Caroline Brown (solo paired with Caroline Chen) March 2024 Ken Mabrey and Scott McClurg April 2024 Sakreea Monay and Stephanie Boateng May 2024 Hugh Atkins and Jenna Lucente June 2024 Diane Hulse and Roberta Tucci July/Aug 2024 Rich Lopez September 2024 Lisa Marie Patzer October, November, December 2024 will be picked next season. 

Caroline Brown