ACGA BLOG

Present: Mari Emori, April Zilber, Sally Jackson (recorder), Julie Taber, Tamara Danoyan, Jan Schachter, Chris Johnson, Ren Lee, Barbara Prodaniuk, Iver Hennig, Piper Christine, Scott Jennings, Sean Free Alcala, Susie Rubenstein, Vicki Gunter, Cheryl Costantini, Emil Yanos    Absent: Lee Middleman

Guests:  Britt Jensen, Deb Sullivan

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome & Announcements (Mari)

Mari noted the recent passing of Barbara Brown, a ceramic artist, teacher, collector, ACGA member, and longtime ACGA International Ambassador well-known in the Bay Area and beyond.  We extend our sympathy to Barbara’s family and friends.

Mari welcomed our member guests, Deb Sullivan and Britt Jensen.

Board of Directors Nominations Update (Mari)

Mari confirmed that there are four members running for the Board of Directors on the upcoming ballot: Britt Jensen, Haley Tessler, Pierre Bounaud, and Barbara Savage. Each has provided a short introductory statement and a photo.

Fiber and Fire Exhibit Update (Deb/Jan)

The call for entries for “Fiber and Fire” at the Sausalito Center for the Arts received 65 entries and a total of 175 pieces. Entry fee income was $2275, which will easily cover expenses. A secondary stream of income for the artists and the Center (not ACGA) will come from the shop, where accepted artists can offer 1-2 small pieces of their work for sale.  Juror Katie Johnson of the American Craft Council (ACC) will announce accepted work on November 25.

ACGA will pay $300 to ACC for Katie Johnson’s jurying. This fee will help sponsor a future ACC event, “Object Stories San Francisco”, a live story-telling event that will bring together artists, writers, and members of the art community to showcase handmade objects. ACC has asked that ACGA help establish connections that will facilitate this event and others like it.  Jan emphasized that, given this great opportunity, we should appoint one person to coordinate with ACC. We need details about when the event would happen, how much help would be needed, and what other cross-promotional opportunities will be available. Cheryl volunteered to serve as liaison with ACC.

April reminded the Board that we are also participating in Handwork 2026 and should make sure our events are included in that online calendar listing.

Vicki volunteered to write up information about what it takes to put on an exhibition.

Festival Jury Report (Scott)

As of November 1, seven new artists have been accepted as festival eligible. Those accepted are all clay artists. Scott has been corresponding with rejected artists to give them constructive feedback. He noted that some are frustrated, and some don’t realize that this jury is for lifetime status. He proposed editing the description of our jurying process and emphasizing the visual importance of photos to show work more clearly to the jurors.

2026 Festival Update (April)

April asked the Board to consider whether Board members should be offered a waiver to opt out of taking a two-hour job at the festival, and whether participating artists should have the option to pay extra (or receive a discount) to staff their two-hour job assignment with a paid worker. A two-hour slot would cost $66. Messenger Events would need to know well in advance if extra hires are needed.  Some important jobs during the Festival weekend would still need to be staffed by artists, so the offer has to be framed in such a way that we still have enough artist participants. The Board voted unanimously that active Board members participating in the festival can opt out of volunteering without paying extra (17 yes).

ACGA Archive Decision (April)

The boxes that contain ACGA’s archives are currently in Forrest Merrill’s storage unit in Emeryville.  His staff has asked whether ACGA wants to retrieve the boxes or cede ownership to Forrest’s estate in perpetuity.  The Board asked April to find out whether the archive will ultimately stay in California, whether ACGA could continue to contribute to the archive, whether there would be fees involved, and whether the archive might be digitized. The Board also discussed retrieving the archives; however, the quantity of boxes would tax our current storage space.

James Meyer Scholarship Update (Scott)

The Board discussed a new approach for the Meyer Fund distribution that involves partnering with reputable clay and glass nonprofits in California and directing funds through their established scholarship programs for young and emerging artists. This partner model would broaden our reach, increase ACGA’s visibility, and, as a trial, still allow us to move forward with the first planned distribution in January 2026 despite our limited administrative capacity. A counter-proposal emphasized keeping the money within ACGA and using it to help our own members.   Scott also proposed that ACGA match the funds each year to create a more robust fund. Further discussion is needed before any decisions can be made.  Mari will work on forming a Meyer Fund committee early in 2026.

Donation Proposal (Sean)

Sean reported that the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) will soon hold a fundraiser the help pay for a mobile glassblowing trailer, and he proposed that ACGA make a donation in support. The trailer will be available for demos in 2026 or 2027 at the Clay & Glass Festival. The Board voted to donate $1000 to BAGI for this initiative (16 yes, 1 no).

Financial Report and 2026 Budget Approval (Julie)

As of October 31, our bank balance is $150,187 and our PayPal balance is $6981. During the month of October, expenses exceeded income by $730. For the year-to-date, our net operating income is $28,843.

Board Timeline 2026 (Mari)

Mari asked that Board members on committees send their 2026 timelines to her by December 10.  She will prepare a master calendar.

The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.

Next Meeting: Monday, December 15, 2025, at 5:15 p.m. via Zoom

Present: Mari Emori, Sally Jackson (recorder), Julie Taber, April Zilber, Cheryl Costantini, Lee Middleman, Emil Yanos, Sean Free Alcala, Jan Schachter, Ren Lee, Susie Rubenstein, Tamara Danoyan, Barbara Prodaniuk, Iver Hennig, Scott Jennings, Piper Christine.

Absent: Vicki Gunter, Chris Johnson.   Guest: Barbara Savage.

The meeting began at 5:15pm.

Welcome (Mari)

Mari and Jan are working to update the ACGA Mission Statement on our website. They will share a revised statement for approval by the Board in the coming weeks. Mari asked the communications team to keep the homepage up-to-date at all times. Mari asked whether the registration form on the website could require physical addresses and digital marketing links such as Instagram or Facebook to help with regional mapping and grouping, since many addresses are missing from our proprietary membership database.  The Board discussed how publishing personal information such as address, email, or phone number could have implications for privacy and it was suggested that requiring only city and zip code might be sufficient for the artists’ profiles. Ren emphasized that we need all the data for where our members are located in our proprietary database and that there is no plan or suggestion that we should publish personal information. Emil will follow up with our website administrator to update requirements for the registration form and artist profile pages.

Mari let the board know that Piper is preparing the 2025 Festival Sales Report and will share it with the membership as soon as possible.

Nomination/Self-Nomination for the Board of Directors 2026 (Mari)

There will be four seats open on the Board at the end of the year. Nominations for new Board Members are open until November 23. The election will take place December 1-28 and results will be announced by December 31. Mari introduced guest Barbie Savage and announced that she would like to be on the ballot. Barbie is a ceramicist, retired from many years teaching high school ceramics, and now teaches at Clay Hands Studio in Fresno.  Several other ACGA members have also expressed willingness to be nominated.

Jury Update (Scott)

The Fall 2025 jury is underway. Of the 31 applicants, 30 work with clay and one works with glass. The five jurors will make their decisions in time for an announcement in our November newsletter. Scott noted that he’s been able to help several applicants with their presentations. He also expressed his appreciation for Tamara Danoyan’s help in getting things organized.

All-Member Meeting – January 2026 (Mari)

The Board discussed whether to have the All-Member Meeting as a hybrid meeting like our last one, or explore other models like in-person only and Zoom only.  The general consensus was to conduct a hybrid meeting from the Palo Alto Art Center as we did in January 2025.

Exhibitions: General

Mari proposed an honorarium for those who organize exhibitions since it’s such a huge amount of work. The exhibition committee will meet to discuss and propose a policy. Cheryl will contact Sebastopol Center for the Arts, following up on a proposed exhibition that Jan and Sally discussed with them earlier this year. Jan added that ACGA member Pierre Bounaud will be organizing an exhibition of Southern California member artists in the coming months at Studio Door, a gallery in San Diego.

Exhibitions: “Fiber & Fire” Update (Jan)

The show “Fiber and Fire” is coming together in collaboration with fiber/Dimensions, a Bay Area organization of fiber artists.  ACGA member Deb Sullivan is working on the logistics and all that goes with that.  The deadline to apply is mid-November and the show will be February-March 2026 at the Sausalito Center for the Arts.

Exhibitions: Santa Cruz Show (Iver)

Preparations continue for an exhibition of California ceramics at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, to be held September 2026-January 2027. The show will include 20 invited artists and about 40 juried artists.  California potters and sculptors are encouraged to apply between April 1-May 1, 2026.

Exhibitions: Arts of Fire (Mari)

“Arts of Fire”, organized by Board Member Vicki Gunter, earned $3290 in income. Expenses were $2391 and ACGA’s net income was $898.  Eight pieces sold during the exhibition, totaling $7305, an excellent outcome. The exhibition added 8 new ACGA members.

Financial Report, Moving Funds, 2026 Budget (Julie)

ACGA’s assets as of September 30 are $159,000.  Julie will send each committee a report of its income and expenses for the year-to-date so that they can generate their budgets for next year. Julie is looking into moving some of our assets into higher interest-earning accounts and will report more at the November board meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 6:45 pm

Next meeting: Monday, November 17, 2025 via Zoom