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Mohawk Valley Art & Woodcarving Association
November 2004

Edited by Eric Lawrence
Web published by Mike Bloomquist

Letter from the President Meeting Program Report Inman Center Report Special Notice

Classified Ads Club Apparel Program Pictures Show & Tell Editors

Next Meeting: Dec 7th, 2004 Time: 6:00pm
Location: Inman Senior Citizen Center, Amsterdam, NY

                            Program:    

The Annual Holiday Dinner

The annual Holiday Potluck Dinner will be held at the Inman Center on December 7, 2004. Bring yourself and your significant other and join in the festivities.  In addition to bringing a covered dishitem to share, remember to bring your own dinnerware including plate silverware and glasses.  The club will furnish soft drinks and decaf coffee.  Bring your favorite holiday carving to ìshow and tell.  Guests will arrive between 6:00 and 6:30.  Dinner will be served at 6:30.
 

Letter from the President Martha, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, James, Peter, Paul... beginning to sound a little bit like something from the New Testament?  But what about Fred and William and Carl and Ron and Robert and Michael and Dolores and Allen and Don and those unusual spellings... Pieter & Bettie??? I guess we must be referring to some of the many people who contributed so much to all our recent show. And the list goes on.  From all of us who had a good time at the show... despite poor attendance... thanks to everyone for all that you did to make the show an enjoyable experience for many of us. As I stated at our meeting, I think it will be necessary for us to just spend a little quiet time reflecting on what we need to do to improve our next show... whenever that may be... if our club does decide that it definitely wants to have another show.  Most important, I don't think we can make any move in that direction unless and until we have one or two people step forward and offer to serve as show chairperson or co-chairpersons.  The next step would have to involve soliciting input from many others willing to serve on a study group to determine not only where and when to hold it, but also what the primary goals of having such a show would be and how we could best accomplished those goals. If such a committee or study group is formed, I do hope it will consider "carving demonstrations" to be one of those primary goals.  I think that the small-scale effort made in that direction in this year's show certainly proved to be an asset. Enough said about the show for now! But speaking of carving demonstrations, I just received an e-mail from Peter Ortel's wife, Madelyn, letting people know about an upcoming special series of programs on "Wood Sculpting" which will be airing on TV during the week of December 13.  It is a 5-night series (30 minutes each episode) beginning on Monday, December 13th.  Pete Ortel will be doing the second episode, on Tuesday Dec. 14th.  He'll be carving a fireman (as Madelyn says, "What else?"), and some of the guys from Rescue 3 will be in the show as well. And now the bad news... the series will be airing on the DIY network (Do-It-Yourself network) which you will only be able to view if you have "digital cable".  It sounds like a great series, and one that I hate to miss, but, unfortunately, I'm not a "digital cable" subscriber.  However, maybe some club member who does have digital cable will volunteer to tape the entire series and donate the video to our club's video library for all members to be able to borrow... or better yet, to be shown in segments at future club meetings. And speaking of programs and videos, many thanks to Bill Johnsen and Bill DiCaprio who agreed to serve as program chairman and video library coordinator, respectively, for the club. Enough ramblings for now!  Hope to see all of you at our Holiday Pot-Luck dinner meeting on Tuesday, December 7th, and if you club members promise to bring one of your favorite Christmas carvings, I promise to suspend any business meeting!  And don't forget to invite your spouse or significant other; it will not be necessary for them to bring anything... except maybe some food for the rest of us to sample. If you are unable to attend, we wish you a wonderful holiday season, and let's hope we can begin the New Year and our club's 25th year, together, at our next meeting on January 4, 2005!     Sincerely,    Dick Moran

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  MEETING MINUTES

November 9, 2004

• President Dick Moran called the November meeting of the Mohawk Valley Art & Woodcarving Assoc. to order at the Inman Center with 30 members and one guest present. 

  A new member, Brian Nissley, was welcomed. 

• As long as there were no corrections or additions, the October minutes were accepted as published in the Newsletter. 

• Don Painter reported a treasury balance of $5787.40.  After Show expenses were deducted from receipts, a profit of $81.68 was realized. 

• Christmas ornament sales of $159.00 will be used to send Christmas gifts to our troops in Iraq.

• Carl Borst reported that the Carousel loon has been completed. 

• The Onondaga Carver's Newsletter is available to read. 

• Plans for a future Show are on hold and need much consideration as to location, date and content.  CBA  custodial staff was uncooperative and numerous complaints from visitors were made about the difficulty finding the location.Dick Moran said the carving demos at the Show were well received by participants.  The pumpkin carving done by Mike and Melissa Bloomquist was a popular attraction. Bob Christiansen said there have been several requests from 4H and Scouts for carving classes in the spring.  Special kudos to Dolores Kramkowski for her demo-carve along of soap carving with popsicle sticks that made a hit with the Scouts. Dick Moran reminded members of the December 7th meeting, which will be a Christmas Party to include a covered dish to share and table service, also a recent or Christmas carving.  Meeting time is 6:00 PM and eating will start at 6:30.  George Hallenbeck will present a slide show as he has previously done. 

• Dick also reported that Bill Johnsen has agreed to assume the Program Chairmanship since Dick is now responsible for duties as President. 

• Bill DiCaprio has agreed to be the video Librarian. An increase in the loan charge from the Club Library is recommended because of the greater cost of the Cheryl Dow DVDs as well as the greater cost of replacing other videos.  Several attempts have been made to contact someone who borrowed tapes that have not been returned.  If you have tapes or Library materials, please return them.

• Expenses were met at the David Sabol carving workshop.  Most participants completed or nearly completed their project during the workshop.

• Membership Chairman, Eric Lawrence has received 85 names of paid members.  There are 20 people who have not renewed membership and will not be receiving Newsletters until dues are paid. Names of new members will be listed in the Newsletter.  Eric reminded members that Email should be limited to those in the Club listing to avoid passing addresses around and to refrain from forwarding jokes, etc. to anyone not interested in receiving them. 

• Ron Batcher will take orders for Club paraphernalia until he has the minimum number that can be ordered.   Ron has decals and patches on hand.

• The Inman Center liaison reported that Jeannette Stevens-Daury has become the permanent Director of the Center by mutual agreement with the Board of Directors.  She has started some revenue-generating projects to help defray the monthly income shortage.  She said that Niagara Mohawk has increased the budgeted monthly utility bill another $200.00.  A change from mercury lights to fluorescent lighting has been suggested to reduce power usage. A motion by Bob Christiansen to donate $200.00 toward the cost of lighting was seconded by Walt LeClair.  After some discussion, the motion was approved by a majority vote.

• Our thanks go to the Altamont Enterprise for 2 weeks of free promotion  prior to the Show.

• Advise Fred Jenzer to add or remove name from the phone relay in the advent of a last minute meeting change.  If schools are closed on Thursdays because of snow, the Center will also be closed.  School closure during the day will not necessarily mean that the Tuesday evening meeting is canceled.

• Mike Bloomquist has set up a Mohawk Valley Woodcarving Association  website, which may be reached by a link from Mike's website.  Watch for his website in the Newsletter.  He plans to include pictures of the Show and Tell carvings and other Club activities.

• The need for a Parliamentarian to help conduct meetings according to Robertís Rules of Order was discussed.  Eric Lawrence was prevailed upon to accept the challenge despite his reluctance to be called an expert in the field.

• Jim Bollbach has donated a vise for holding golf balls while cutting the shells.  This will be kept for Club use in the Club cabinet. Following the business meeting, Richard Vandenheuvel displayed numerous pairs of wooden shoes, tools and method used to make them, while dressed in authentic Dutch-style clothing and wearing wooden shoes.  Besides the Netherlands, wooden shoes are also worn in other European countries. While he declined the invitation to dance here, he and his wife, Trudy, dance at the Festival of Nations and the Tulip Festivals held in Albany. Look at the Club website to see Richard in his wooden shoes.

Respectfully submitted,  
Martha Colinas,
Secretary Pro Tem  

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Director Jeannette Stevens-Daury announced that, having completed the three-month trial period, set between the Inman Board of Directors and herself, to their mutual satisfaction, she will continue as Director permanently.

After Jeannette's announcement, that Niagara Mohawk notified her of an increase in the budgeted electricity costs to the Center by $200 per month, a suggestion was made to install fluorescent lighting to replace the expensive mercury lights presently in place. This should improve lighting as well.  While the fixtures are inexpensive, it will be necessary to have wiring done by an electrician.  Savings on electricity will help reduce the monthly current expense deficit of about $1500.  Various fund raising efforts are being made to increase income.

 Martha Colinas
Inman Center Liaison