Board Meeting 

• Present: Mari Emori, April Zilber, Cheryl Costantini, Lee Middleman, Julie Taber, Susie Rubenstein, Sean Alcala, Ren Lee, Emil Yanos, Tamara Danoyan, Barbara Prodaniuk, Chris Johnson, Iver Hennig, Vicki Gunter, Britt Jensen, Pierre Bounaud, Piper Christine, Jan Schachter
• Absent: Haley Tessler

The meeting began at 9:30 AM.

Officer Elections led by April Zilber:

• Britt Jensen for Secretary: unanimous
• Julie Taber for Treasurer: unanimous
• Mari Emori for President: unanimous
• Vice President: no nominations, but Chris Johnson & Iver Henning agreed to informally take on Vice Presidential duties while Mari is away this year

The meeting ended at 9:40 AM.

All-Member Meeting

The meeting began at 10:00 AM.

Welcome by Mari Emori

Mari provided an overview of the agenda.

Meet the New Board Members by Britt Jensen

Officers 2026:

• President: Mari Emori was elected to continue to serve in 2026
• Vice President: no nominations, but Chris Johnson and Iver Hennig will informally take on vice presidential duties to support Mari if needed
• Treasurer: Julie Taber was elected to continue to serve in 2026
• Secretary: Britt Jensen was elected to serve in 2026

Newly elected Board Members 2026-27: 

• Britt Jensen provided a brief bio
• Pierre Bounaud provided a brief bio
• Haley Tessler – not present.  Britt read a brief written bio provided by Haley

Returning board members 2026-27: Cheryl Costantini, Tamara Danoyan, Chris Johnson, Ren Lee, Lee Middleman, Susie Rubenstein, Jan Schachter, Julie Taber, April Zilber

Second year of two-year term board members: Sean Alcala, Mari Emori, Vicki Gunter, Iver Hennig, Piper Christine, Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk, Emil Yanos

Chris Johnson was introduced as the first ACGA Glass Ambassador, aiming to increase glass artist involvement and raise awareness of the ACGA within the glass community. 

Treasurer’s Report by Julie Taber

As of 12/31/25:

• Assets: $162,847
  • Bank accounts: $157,110
  • Other current assets: $5,737
• Income: $157,177
  • Regular revenues: $34,845
  • Festival revenues: $122,332
• Expenditures: $125,400
  • Regular expenses: $39,188
  • Festival expenses: $86,212  
• Net Income: $31,777
• [Correction on what was stated in the meeting : festival expenditures should be $86,209, which lowers Expenditures to $125,397 and raises Net Income to $31,780.]

The Board voted in the November 2025 meeting to donate $1,000 to BAGI.

Membership Update by Emil Yanos

• 374 Active members
  • 240 are Festival-eligible
  • 62 new members within the last year
• Membership distribution:
  • 360 General
  • 14 Collaborative
  • 6 Honorary
  • 6 Student
  • 2 Corporate

• Emil clarified that our corporate sponsors are people.  Their sponsorships are $250-$1000 [Correction on what was stated in the meeting: Our corporate sponsors are businesses and organizations. Corporate Sponsorship is one of ACGA’s membership categories (“Sponsor Membership”), with sponsorship levels of $150/year (Gold Level) and $250/year (Platinum Level). Corporate sponsors are different from donors. Donors may be businesses/organizations or individuals.]

• Emil mentioned ongoing challenges with the renewal process, which the organization is looking to address by changing the system.
• Several members thanked Emil for his service managing membership renewals.

Studio Spotlight

• Bruce Pizzichillo
• Lindsay Langsdale
• Taka Unno

• Bruce and Taka were present to answer questions from members. Bruce, an Oakland-based glass artist, expressed willingness to help new glass artists and discussed the challenges of finding glass art programs in the Bay Area. Taka, a Berkeley-based ceramic artist, shared his journey into pottery during the pandemic and his experience at the ACGA Clay and Glass Festival.

Handwork 2026 Introduction by Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk

• Barbara presented a short video outlining ACGA’s participation in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative led by Craft in America, in partnership with the American Craft Council, that highlights the importance of handmade. Handwork 2026 will promote 250 events, including ACGA’s Clay & Glass Festival and exhibitions. 
• Members can share videos with Barbara for inclusion on the Handwork 2026 website. It was suggested that the three Studio Spotlight videos be added to ACGA’s page on the Handwork 2026 website. Mari will ask the featured artists for permission.

Exhibitions Update by Jan Schachter

Jan provided an overview of ACGA exhibitions, highlighting recent and upcoming shows, and explained how exhibition coordination works—including how the coordinator position was established and how exhibitions are organized.

• Art of Fire (past): Vicki Gunter provided detailed information about the Arts of Fire exhibit in Benicia in 2025, including participants, financials, award winners, and images of pieces and participating artists.
• Fiber and Fire (upcoming): Deb Sullivan described the upcoming Fiber and Fire exhibition at the Sausalito Center for the Arts. The exhibition is a collaboration with Fiber Dimensions. It runs 2/14/26 – 3/12/26, with an opening reception on Sat 2/14 from 5:00PM – 7:30PM. And a closing reception 3/12 from 3:30PM-5:00PM. 
• Silica/SiO2 (upcoming): Iver Hennig presented information about the upcoming Silica/SiO2: Northern California Ceramics exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH). The show is open to all ceramic artists in CA. Call for entries will be open 3/15/26 – 5/1/26, and the exhibition will run 9/4/2026 – 1/3/27. Works in the gallery will not be for sale, but there will be an opportunity to sell smaller works in the museum’s gift shop. Also, there’s a tentative plan to have a small show & sale in the gift shop around Halloween, starting in mid-October, called “Frank O’Stein,” to create more opportunities for artists to sell their work.
  • Lee suggested raising the price point from $100 to $150-$200. [Clarification (added during minutes approval): If pricing is implemented, Iver will discuss price points with the museum.]
  • Mari suggested setting up an online gallery to promote exhibiting artists and their work, and to enable interested collectors to contact artists directly for potential sales—similar to a previous successful model, the de Young Open in San Francisco in 2023. Iver agreed to propose this idea to MAH.

2025 Festival Financial Report by Piper Christine

• Revenue: $122,332.43
• Expenses: $86,208.83
• Profit: $36,123.60
• Piper provided tables and graphs that showed more detailed information on 2025 Festival sales data and artists’ sales.
• Several Festival Committee members have discussed interviewing 2025’s top sellers and presenting their business insights in the member or monthly all-subscriber newsletter. 

2026 Festival Updates by April Zilber

• Text updates: Important festival updates will now be sent via text in addition to email. Artists need to opt in to receive text alerts. 
• Festival job waiver: Registrants now have the option to pay $75 to be waived from doing a Festival job. Any jobs that are not done by artists will be covered by Messenger Events with the funds collected from the job waiver fees
• Responding to an inquiry about the all-member exhibit from Bruce Pizzichillo: The all-member exhibit became too costly with pedestal transportation and required a lot of staffing, but it is not completely off the table! Vicki Gunter proposed having a longer-term exhibit at PAAC that would overlap with the Festival.
• Pottery throwdown coordinator needed: Mari announced that she needs a new Pottery Throwdown coordinator for the Festival and asked interested members to contact her by email, ideally someone who is not participating in the Festival.

Festival Jury Update by Tamara Danoyan

• Spring 2025 jury: 

• • • 45 applicants: 11 glass and 34 clay
    • 25 acceptances: 7 glass and 18 clay

• Fall 2025 jury:

• • 31 applicants: 1 glass and 30 clay
  • 7 acceptances: all clay
• Jurying for festival eligibility will now occur once per year in the fall. 
• Tamara asked interested Festival-eligible members to volunteer as mentors to support artists who didn’t get juried in and to contact her by email. [Clarification (added during minutes approval): Mentors are intended to support both (1) artists planning to apply to the Festival Jury and (2) artists who are not accepted.”]

Communications Update by Ren Lee

• Ren is hoping to step down as social media promoter.  This could potentially be a paid position. Ren asked interested members to contact her via Instagram if they would like to take on ACGA’s social media promotion.
• Ren encouraged members to read the Newsletter, which contains a lot of important information.

Scholarship Update by Julie Taber

• James Meyer, owner of East Bay Batch and Color in Richmond, has pledged to donate $1,000 annually for the foreseeable future. We have received $1,000 from James in 2024 and in 2025 so far.
• ACGA will also receive several thousand dollars from a class-action lawsuit.
• The ACGA Board would like to create a scholarship program to provide funds for artists, prioritizing young, emerging, low-income, and/or POC clay and glass artists. A committee is needed to establish eligibility qualifications and to award funds to scholarship applicants. Please reach out to Julie if you are interested in being on the scholarship committee.

Q&A 

• Britt mentioned the perception of the ACGA as being focused on the festival and the need to continue prompting exhibitions, workshops, and community partnerships.

The meeting ended at 11:55 AM.

Minutes prepared by Britt Jensen, ACGA Secretary.

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

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome (Mari)

Announcements (Mari)

Mari welcomed new Board members Haley Tessler, Pierre Bounaud, and Britt Jensen. She noted that Tamara will become the Jury Coordinator this year, assisted by Britt Jensen.

Financial Report (Julie)

ACGA ended 2025 with $163,000 in the bank. Some of that is in PayPal, which receives fees from membership, calls-for-entry, and festival registration. ACGA has begun 2026 in good shape financially. Income for 2025 totaled $157,000, expenses totaled $125,000, and net income totaled $32,000.  Since Clay & Glass Festival registration opened last week, 95 artists have applied.

Archives Relocation Plan (April)

When we moved our ACGA storage from Berkeley to Santa Clara in 2023, we handed off our archives to a collector in Berkeley with the idea that he would add these papers to his ceramic art collection, for eventual donation to a museum or other institution. Now, over two and a half years later, the ultimate destination of his collection is still undecided, and he needs the space back. The Board feels that the archives should stay in California. April will retrieve the archives and try to fit them into our Santa Clara storage unit, with Bruno Kark’s help.

Proposals for Approval

Privacy Policy Update (Julie): Julie presented an updated Privacy Policy for ACGA’s website prepared by a lawyer. The Board suggested minor edits which Julie will incorporate into the final wording.  The Board voted unanimously to approve this new policy (16 yes)

“About Us” Page (Mari): Mari presented two options for the wording of ACGA’s “About Us” section on the website, prepared by the Communications Team and Mari. The Board voted unanimously in favor of Option 2 (16 yes).

Honoraria 2025 (Mari): Mari proposed honoraria for work done in 2025: an additional $1000 to April for her work as Festival Liaison, $500 to Ren for her work as Festival Media Liaison, and $500 to Ren for her work as Festival Social Media Promoter. The Board approved these retroactive honoraria (15 yes, 1` abstention). Mari also proposed that Vicki receive an honorarium of 50% of the net profit from the “Arts of Fire” exhibition, which Vicki coordinated. The Board amended the honorarium to $500 and voted to approve the amended proposal (14 yes, 1 abstention), but agreed that in the future such honoraria must be based on clearly defined criteria that apply to all the varied outcomes of exhibitions.

Proposed Stipends for the 2026 Budget (Mari): Mari proposed that the 2026 Clay & Glass Festival Liaison will receive $2000.  The Festival Liaison-in-training will receive $480, the Festival Social Media Promoter will receive $500, and the Festival Media Liaison will receive $500 only if these roles are filled by non-ACGA members, with a preference to find an ACGA member volunteer first. Ren will write job descriptions of the latter two positions, and her replacements will be recruited. The Board voted to approve these stipends (15 yes; April left the meeting before the vote).

Glass Ambassador

The Board approved Chris Johnson as ACGA’s first Glass Ambassador (15 yes).

All-Member Meeting: January 24, 2026

Mari shared the agenda for the All-Member Meeting to be held later this week.  This will be a hybrid meeting, in-person at the Palo Alto Art Center and also on Zoom.

Acting Vice-President Vacancy

Mari noted that she will be away for two months this year and will need an acting vice president to run meetings in her absence.

The meeting ended at 6:50 p.m.

Next Meeting: Monday, February 16, 2026 at 5:15 p.m. via Zoom

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

Absent: Lee Middleman, Ren Lee, Scott Jennings    Guests: Pierre Bounaud, Deb Sullivan

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome (Mari)

Financial Report (Julie)

As of November 30, ACGA has $156,000 in the bank.  Net income in November was $3000. ACGA will receive more income from membership renewals during the month of December.

Julie presented a draft of the budget for 2026. Some administrative expenses will increase and others need adjustment.  The Board discussed these adjustments, which will be reflected in the next draft.  The Board voted unanimously (15 yes) to accept this Budget Proposal, with allowances for the adjustments we discussed.

Festival Budget Update (Piper)

Piper presented a 2026 budget for the Clay & Glass Festival, proposing a net revenue of about $23,000.

Exhibitions: Sausalito Show (Deb Sullivan and Jan Schachter)

Accepted artists for the show “Fiber and Fire” at the Sausalito Center for the Arts have now been notified. Photos and information have been sent to the Center, and ACGA has paid the American Craft Council for the juror’s services. Deb and Jan are still working out the placement of some artists’ work in the Center’s gift shop, and they are still looking for a volunteer in the South Bay/Peninsula who could deliver work from that region to the venue in February.

Exhibitions: Santa Cruz Show (Iver)

Iver and his team will meet with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History later this week to finalize plans for a show there next year. It’s time to decide where to publicize the call for entries, and which entry platform to use.  The Board discussed the length of the submission window. The show will take place August 2026-January 2027.

Membership Report & ACC Partnership (Emil)

We have over 400 members at this time, about 260 of whom are festival-eligible.  Emil will know exactly how many festival-eligible members we have after the renewal period ends on December 31.

Emil has spoken to people at the American Craft Council about reciprocal membership possibilities.  ACC has proposed that we offer each other’s members a 15% discount to join our respective organizations. This discount would apply to one year of membership and would be purchased with a discount code on ACC’s and ACGA’s websites. The Board voted unanimously (15 yes) to pursue this reciprocal membership arrangement with ACC.  Emil will look into details, such as how we add this discount opportunity to our membership payment page, and how long this arrangement might last.  The ACC would like to start as soon as possible; Emil will report back to the Board in January.

ACC Handwork 2026 (Barbara)

Barbara has been in contact with Craft in America’s Handwork initiative, and would like to submit ACGA events to their 2026 calendar.  She needs photos, show descriptions, blurbs, etc. for each event that we want to post on the Handwork website.  There is competition for space, so the sooner we can get our information submitted, the better.

Festival Update (April)

April outlined several new projects proposed for the 2026 Clay and Glass Festival.

1) The Artists’ Party will take place in the shaded inner courtyard of the Art Center.

2) Messenger Events will get a Google phone number so that artists can receive notifications via text. The first step is to get festival-eligible artists to opt in to receiving these texts.

3) A limited number of artists may be allowed to pay a fee to opt out of working for two hours at the festival. This will be an experiment for 2026.

4) The facility rental fee has increased by $1000 to cover additional dumpster pick-up and other services.

5) Messenger Events will mount “You are Here” signs throughout the show with maps.

6) Reconciliation will no longer pursue correcting errors of less than $10.

7) April is still looking into renting compact water bottle refilling stations

Board of Directors Election 2025 & Guest Candidates Introduction (Mari)

The ballot for the ACGA Board of Directors election for the 2026-2027 term has gone out to our members. Three candidates are running for election: Pierre Bounaud, Haley Tessler, and Britt Jensen. Mari welcomed Pierre, a ceramic artist from San Diego.  He hopes to increase ACGA’s presence in Southern California. Ballots will be counted at the end of December.

Approval of a New Protocol for Approving Meeting Minutes (Mari)

Mari’s proposed changes to our protocol for approving Board Meeting Minutes each month was approved unanimously (15 yes). From now on, we will discontinue formal votes to approve the minutes. The Board will reserve formal votes for critical decisions, and we will approve the minutes by unanimous consent. This process will proceed as follows:

The Secretary will send out a draft of the minutes for comment. After receiving comments, the Secretary will update the minutes and redistribute them as “Revised Minutes—For Approval”. The Secretary will then request any additional corrections by 10 p.m. PT on the 6^th of the following month. If no additional corrections are received by the 6^th, the revised minutes will be considered “Approved by Unanimous Consent” and submitted for the next ACGA Newsletter.  Note that comments should always be submitted as “Reply All”, and minor spelling or grammar corrections can be handled editorially.

Upcoming All-Member Meeting: Agenda, Presentations, and Hospitality (Mari)

The ACGA All-Member Meeting will take place on January 24. It will be a hybrid meeting, with a gathering at the Palo Alto Art Center and an option to attend online. There will be a potluck lunch at the Art Center afterwards.  Sally, Jan, Tamara, and Cheryl will work on hospitality (coffee, etc.).  The meeting will be organized much like last year’s, including pre-recorded 3-minute studio tours by three of our members.

January Board Meeting Date (before All-Member Meeting)

Mari will send out a poll to determine the best date for the Board to meet the week before the All-Member Meeting.

The meeting ended at 6:52 p.m.

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

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

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome (Mari)

Financial Report (Julie)

Total assets as of August 31 are $161,635.  Income for this year is $139,000, which is $7000 over budget.  We expect additional income in December from membership dues.  Income for the Clay and Glass Festival was $120,000. Expenses for the festival were less than expected this year.  Julie will look into moving some money into higher-earning investment accounts, and will share some options with the Board at our next meeting.

Exhibitions (Jan, Deb Sullivan, Iver)

Jan was recently invited to the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) by ACGA member Janet Wolfe. They discussed the possibility of having an ACGA exhibition there, and Jan will report more as the opportunity moves forward.

Member Deb Sullivan reported that the Sausalito Center for the Arts will host an ACGA exhibition in collaboration with fiber/Dimensions, a Bay Area fiber arts organization, around February 14-March 12.  Deb is negotiating with a potential juror associated with the American Craft Council. Applications will open in mid-October with notification in November. Deb hopes to arrange various local drop-offs around the Bay Area for delivery to the gallery.

Iver continues to plan an exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. This will be a ceramics show, scheduled for September 2026-January 2027.  It will include 20 invited artists and 40 artists juried in by juror Stan Welsh. The application deadline will be in May 2026.

Festival Report (April)

April and the Palo Alto Art Center have established dates for future Clay & Glass Festivals:

July 11-12, 2026

July 10-11, 2027

July 15-16, 2028

July 14-15, 2029

July 13-14, 2030

Festival Financial Report (Piper)

Total sales for 137 artists in the 2025 Clay and Glass Festival were $511,606, topping last year’s total of $427,000 for 124 artists.  Average sales were $3734, and the top seller took in $19,450. Both numbers are higher than last year.  The Art Center site can possibly accommodate 140-143 artists, but that would be the upper limit. The Board discussed strategies to address the variation in sales during the two days, Saturday generally being more profitable. Piper added that she would like to calculate previous years’ sales in today’s dollars, just for comparison.

Jury Report (Scott)

Scott thanked all who have helped publicize ACGA’s next jury call for festival eligibility.  He would like to add one more glass artist to his group of jurors. He has had requests for mentorship during the application process.  He is also working to address frustration among rejected applicants who received unedited comments after the last jury. The next jury will announce results in November.  Ren will boost the announcement again on social media.

Festival Eligibility Revisited (carryover from the last meeting) (Cheryl)

The Board considered a suggestion that lifetime festival eligibility be withheld until a new artist has participated in the festival once and jurors have been able to actually see their work.  After a brief discussion, this idea was deemed too complicated and frustrating for new artists and jurors alike. The ACGA seeks to have only the best quality of work accepted in its digital juryings; that said, one of the main appeals of the festival is the range of work and the range of customers who come to shop.

Next President & Board of Directors Nominations (Mari)

The Board discussed nomination possibilities for our next ballot in December.

The meeting ended at 6:50 p.m.

Date of Next Meeting: October 20, 2025, 5:15 p.m. via Zoom

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

The meeting began at 5:15 pm

Welcome (Mari)

Mari thanked Vicki Gunter for organizing and facilitating the “Arts of Fire” exhibition at NY2CA Gallery in Benicia. The show runs August 7 – September 21. Mari also noted her own solo exhibition at Blue Line Arts in Roseville, as well as the Contemporary Japanese Ceramics show at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Exhibition Update: “Arts of Fire” Reception (Vicki)

The opening reception for “Arts of Fire” was very successful and attracted a large crowd to see the art, listen to live music, and enjoy refreshments.  Bruce Pizzichillo, Hannah Nicholson and Alana van Altena, Karen Urbanek, and Julie Kumar received awards for their glass creations.  Claudia Tarantino, Clayton Thiel, Vicki Gunter, and Amanda Klimek received awards for ceramic work.  Bruce Pizzichillo and Clayton Thiel also received awards from Pam Dixon in tribute to Robert Arneson and Manuel Neri.

Festival Jury Voting: Unfinished Business (Mari)

1. Jury Reapplication Fee: The Board discussed at length the pros and cons of reducing or waiving the jury fee for artists who reapply after having been rejected for festival eligibility. Ultimately the Board voted to keep the jury fee at full price for reapplication (13 yes, 4 no, 1 absent).
2. Juror Eligibility: The Board discussed what qualifications should be required for jurors selecting artists for festival eligibility. After much discussion, the Board voted that all jurors must be festival-eligible artists (13 yes, 4 no, 1 absent).

The new Jury Coordinator is Scott Jennings.  He will be assisted by Tamara Danoyan, and Chris Johnson will serve as an advisor.

Festival Report (April)

The 2025 Clay & Glass Festival accounting is still in progress, but overall the numbers look great.  Next year’s festival dates are July 11-12, 2026.

Festival Financial Update (Piper)

Piper reported that total sales this year were over $500,000, a first for this event.  ACGA’s net profit will be in the neighborhood of $30,000.  The Board voted to fully refund an artist who had to cancel on short notice for a medical issue (17 yes).

Post-Festival Volunteer Update (Sean)

Sean reported that 20 festival artists did not get volunteer slots at the festival and still need jobs.  Please let Sean know if you have ideas for how these artists might serve in other arenas.

Financial Report (Julie)

As of July 31, ACGA has $173,000 in the bank, and almost all festival expenses are paid.  We are $10,000 ahead of budget for the year.  Membership renewals in December will provide additional income.  Julie added that she and Festival Treasurer Piper Christine are discussing whether to consider changing banks.

Exhibition Updates: Sausalito (Jan & Emil)

Jan reported that ACGA might co-host an exhibition with Fiber Dimensions in Sausalito in February/March 2026. The details are still being worked out.  Emil reported that he’s been in contact with someone who wants to organize a festival like Clay & Glass in Sausalito, possibly as early as September 2026.

The meeting ended at 6:55 pm

Next Meeting: Monday, September 22, at 5:15 pm

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

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome (Mari)

Festival Update (April)

At present we have a full festival with 140 booths. April thanked Piper for all her contributions as our new Festival Treasurer.  Because of sparse voting and sign-ups, we are not offering People’s Choice awards again this year, nor do we think it worthwhile to conduct a gift certificate drawing for people who sign up for our mailing list. April will bring this last decision point to the festival committee. We will however continue collecting emails to add to the mailing list, both with a QR code on signs, and through mailing list sign-ups in artists’ booths. We have 25 new artists this year. They will have bright-colored labels for their booths. We will have a paid CERF+ staff person.  We are still seeking one person to staff Clay for All in the courtyard.  This job will pay minimum wage.

Website Report (April)

We have a new Festival landing page on our website. It was designed by the Mega Jewell Agency and we can refresh it each year. The Board discussed how to best archive Festival landing pages from past years. One suggestion is to keep the most recent ones easily accessible with live links to the artists, and archive older ones as PDFs or screenshots.

Meyer Fund Proposal (Scott)

Scott and Vivien Hart have been exploring ways to use the funds donated to ACGA by James Meyers.  They propose funding a robust selection of needs for ACGA members rather than restricting awards to a narrow category.  Examples might include travel or tuition funds for conferences or workshops, jury and booth fees, organizing a workshop, and so on. Vivien and Scott would review the applications for amounts in the $250/$500 neighborhood, available to all ACGA members in good standing.  The Board discussed when the application period might fall, and whether the awardees would be required to report on how they used the money. Other questions arose as to how to verify need, and whether we can enlarge the fund with contributions from other donors.  The Board will discuss these questions further at a future meeting.

Exhibitions: Arts of Fire (Vicki)

The call for Arts of Fire received entries from 83 clay and glass artists, most submitting multiple pieces for consideration. Jurors Lisa Reinertson and Demetra Theofanus selected about 40 pieces by 34 artists. Income from entry fees and membership sign-ups was robust. Vicki acknowledged valuable help from James Aarons, Ren Lee, and others. The Board discussed how to feature the show on our website. Options include a page of thumbnail images or simply a written list of the artists with a link to the NY2CA Gallery page featuring the artwork. Vicki will look into the costs.  The opening reception for Arts of Fire will be August 17, 6-7 p.m., at NY2CA Gallery in Benicia.

Financial Report (Julie)

We currently have $130,000 in the bank. $32,000 of that is in PayPal at the moment, reflecting payment of booth fees for the Clay & Glass Festival. Julie is moving it gradually into our bank account. Income in May was boosted by the Arts of Fire entry fees. Expenses were high as is usual at this time, when we are paying for many of the festival expenses. Paperwork for Piper to have access to our Bank of America account is finally complete and has been submitted to the bank.

Jury Process: Proposed Changes & Discussion (Mari)

Before the Board met, Mari wrote and shared a document listing proposed changes or refinements to the jurying process. Topics included jury frequency and structure, jury committee and role clarity, scoring and meeting format, and communications with applicants. Discussion of these important and complex subjects will continue in the coming weeks until the Board feels prepared to vote.

Date of Next Meeting: Monday, August 18, 2025, at 5:15 p.m. via Zoom