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If you walked into NEA during first weeks of spring you'd have been able to collect 'free' oranges, grapefruit and silver beet from a box outside the door; hear members talking about the upcoming AGM; found a well attended meeting of NEA's Sustainability Group or noticed all the tables in the events room. pushed towards the centre of the room, together with a large bucket of paint and a paint roller on a long handle, ready for a working bee in the lead up to the late October launch of The Rite of Spring exhibition.
Now into the fourth week of spring, Cornelia's 'Rite of Spring' concept for an exhibition of works, to be held during the Benalla Festival in the events room, is in the 'action stage'. Fliers and entry forms are now available. Working bees have been held in the events room which is now resplendent in a fresh coat of paint much more suited to a gallery space. The extra panels inserted by member Ray Hill in some windows to provide extra hanging space now blend naturally in to what is going to be an even more marketable room for exhibitions and workshops. Renovations will be completed ready for the 'Rite of Spring' exhibition launch on Friday 28th October. Just in case you don't have one - here's a downloadable entry form.
The foyer gallery continues to look inviting and provide the opportunity for NEA members to 'catch up'. It's often quite busy during 'handover time' as artisans changing roster shifts in the gallery can be heard talking about their work, sharing news of art shows and online resources suited to their work; and generally chatting about this and that.
The AGM, held on September 15 in the events room, provided a rich overview of NEA's growth and development to date. President Tim Schloss began the meeting by telling us about an inspirational meeting recently in Grafton with a founding member of the Emporium, a cooperatively run space for artisans. A visit to the Emporium during their honeymoon 16 years ago provided the seed for Tim and Ruth's passion for the ongoing development of NEA, and for their delight at the interest taken in what is happening at NEA by the person they met at the Emporium. Margaret Zaal was congratulated on presenting a most informative financial report which will provide a sound basis for future planning and decision making. The contribution of so many in the executive and its many task focused sub groups will continue, with David, Merrilyn and Annie agreeing to join as general members. Members also added their names to provide additional support to committee members whose burden needs some lifting. There is lot's more to report, but a better place to look would be in the minutes taken by Annaliese!
The Door of Hope Project is now moving into gear with selection interviews ready. Applicants will be invited to read them an hour before their interviews, to be scheduled in the coming weeks. This will be followed by a busy time with a number of members assisting in the next phase of marketing the program and selecting applicants. The program will largely occur during January and February, culminating in an exhibition in the foyer gallery space during the Wall to Wall Festival in March.
​NEA's involvement in Wall to Wall activities in 2017 includes providing the venue for the Benalla Shorts Film Festival previously held at BPACC. Filmmakers take note! Speaking of film-makers, Shane Douthie has written another article about Jake and Sam Bowtells' film 'Slope' (refer previous posts), this time titled 'Ice film hits the mark: local film on the drug ice is set for wider release'.
The Sustainability group has been actively working towards their goal of establishing an edible garden at NEA and is running the first of a series of workshops on topics related to this goal. The first session of two sessions on 'Holistic Decision Making for Community Groups' is only a few days away on Thursday 29th at 5. 30 sharp--it will last for 3 - 4 hours (please bring a plate to share) Read more.
The seasons bring change - two studio spaces are now available--including Deb's light and airy street facing studio. Deb is returning to work in her hilltop studio. We'll still see her at NEA!
There is so much to talk about - but that's just about it from me for now. On a final note, Merv recently recommended the ABC's 'Ahn's Brush with fame'' program on Facebook. It seems both Anh and Merv prefer painting with other than traditional paint brushes--Anh uses cake decorating tools, his fingers, various trowels and more..... You can catch past episodes on ABC iview.
​Bev Lee ​Non-artisan volunteer **'The Occasional Blogger' is open for submissions by NEA members who may, from time to time, have a strong urge to write about NEA for this column!. Writer and NEA secretary Carla Gardner, an active member of Benalla Library's 'Writers' Corner', is currently spreading the news about October's Writing Workshops and November's National Novel Writing Month activities at the Library..
October: Writing Workshops October 5th - 5.30 to 7 pm Join Elisabeth Holdsworth, novelist, essayist, poet, writer of short stories and inaugural winner of the Australian Book Review Calibre Prize and local author Brent Towns for a 'Planning and Plotting' workshop - Bookings Benalla Library phone 5762 2069 October 19th - Join Gabe Bergmoser, playwright and author of the recently published Boone Shepard for a 'Creating Characters and your World' workshop. Bookings - Benalla Library phone 5762 2069 November: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo' "Sign up and set yourself a writing challenge for November' ''Come write In!' at the Sir Edward 'Weary' Learning Centre, Saturday 12 November 1 - 5 pm. Bookings are essential for many of these events. For more information or to make a booking, contact Benalla Library on 035762 2069. A message for NEA members* from NEA's Sustainability Group
It has long been a goal for NEA to have an edible garden in which to showcase sustainability, self-reliance & Permaculture as well as making a welcoming place for people to gather, eat, do workshops & simply relax. It has now come the time when NEA may be in a place to follow through with this - by a series of workshops run by various individuals & organisations that both teaches participants in topics of Permaculture, gardening, cooking from the garden, worm farming, earth building, etc., and also helps to work towards the edible garden at NEA. To do this, though, we first have to define a clear vision for this project. We are going to run a workshop for NEA members in Holistic Decision Making for Community Groups. Facilitated by Warwick Bone, a Benalla Permaculture member experienced in both Permaculture and Holistic Management, this workshop will provide us with the opportunity and tools to formulate "WHY" we (NEA and/or the Sustainability Group) exist, the aspirations we have for the organisation, and HOW we intend, and WHAT we have to do, to achive those aspirations. The outcome? A foundation upon which to build, to guide NEA & its sustainability committee in future workshops, allowing us to work with other like minded people and organisations while achieving NEA's own goals. This will take place over two nights on Thursday the 29th of September & Thursday 6th October at 5.30 sharp. If you are interested in helping shape this vision, please come and join us. Please bring a note pad and pen, and your sense of humour. Please also bring a plate to share for dinner around 7PM. The workshop will be approximately 3-4 hours long and it would be good to have some food to sustain us all. *If you are interested in becoming a member of North East Artisans (either as an artisan or friend of NEA), membership forms are available at NEA (22 Bridge St Benalla) or on this website (refer footer or Contact Us page). STUDIO SPACE NOW AVAILABLE in the vibrant hub that is NEA Space is extremely limited and sought after. $30 per month (Conditions apply--for example;16 hours volunteering per month; room open to visitors, etc;--please speak to Cornelia for more information) Contact Cornelia - cooktheonion@hotmail.com A message to all the wonderful Artisans, Volunteers & Friends of NEA
If you are currently exhibiting, volunteering, or have exhibited, or been involved in some way with North East Artisans, we are informing you of our upcoming AGM. It will be held on Tuesday 13th September, 2016 at the NEA building, 122 Bridge St, Benalla. Join us from 5.30 for a pre-meeting barbecue (bring your own meat and a plate of fingerfood) or 6:30pm for pre meeting nibbles, with the AGM starting promptly at 7pm and finishing at 8:30pm. There will be brief reports about what’s been happening at NEA over the last 18 months, our finances and our future. All positions on the Management Committee will be declared open and nominations accepted on the night, and the week prior to the AGM. Please seriously consider how you can be involved. Remember that the Management Committee are just a bunch of dedicated volunteers who really want to see NEA succeed and be around for the long term, so we would really LOVE for a lot more people to be involved. The Management Committee consists of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, as well as a representative from all the different NEA teams. If you’re not so keen on being on the Management Committee, but would still like to be involved, please consider joining one or more of the NEA Teams. There’s always room for more people. If you are unable to make it and are a member or becoming one, a Proxy form is available. **IMPORTANT** If you would like to vote at the AGM, you need to be a registered member. Currently NEA memberships cost nothing but the time it takes to fill out the membership form, which gives you the right to vote at the AGM. These need to be returned to NEA in person or to northeastartisans@gmail.com no later than Monday, 29th August, 2016. Looking forward to seeing you at the AGM on September 13th. Carla Gardner, NE. Artisans Inc. Secretary NE. Artisans Inc A0090960Y 122 Bridge St Benalla, Victoria 3672 www.northeastartisans.org www.facebook.com/NE.Artisans
Follow up post found on Facebook about the successful launch of Jake and Sam Bowtell's new film last Friday evening. Great comments and a '10/10' from MP Tim McCurdy. Congratulations Jake and Sam!
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Email: northeastartisans@gmail.com
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Phone: 0402 563 918 (Gallery Hours)
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Address: 122 Bridge Street East, Benalla, VIC 3672
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