April 2023 Newsletter

President’s Message:

I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready and prepared for all those Springtime chores, which I will only mention a few; yard work, prepping the soil for the gardens, spring cleaning AND getting ready for our Spring Show at Renninger’s Farmers’ Market on Saturday, May 6.   We need everyone to talk to the weather people to give us a beautiful Spring Day.

I hope you are coming to our April 4th general meeting.  We will be viewing the fantastic, and I need to emphasize FANTASTIC Berks County Intermediate Unit Art Show which is on display currently at the GoggleWorks.  This is the event where Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen awards our Stanley Seltz Student Awards.  As I am writing this article our judges from our Guild are doing the difficult job of choosing the winners.  When I was at the Goggleworks the other night, I was transported into an art museum, an art museum of young talent.  What a promising future is ahead for us in the art world.

We need to continue our conversations with these young people; we need to share the history and the story of our arts and crafts.   They need to share with us their stories and workings of their craft.  Let’s remember that everything that is traditional was first contemporary and both make up art history.

As craftsmen and artists at our shows we share art history with our patrons, giving them the experience of seeing and holding  a piece and learning of its origin.

Some of us recently attended a chapter officers’ meeting in Lancaster held by our Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.  The meeting was informative for us and gave us a chance to learn more about other chapters and the Pennsylvania Guild.

“You have to have confidence in your ability and then be tough enough to follow through.”  Rosalynn Carter

Your President,
Barry L. Bennecoff

Vice President’s Message:

As part of my responsibilities for the guild, I am responsible for forming a team and reviewing the chapter bylaws.  The team did find a few things that needed modification.   The changes can be see on the marked up version of the bylaws by going to:
https://rbcrafts.org/wpcontent/uploads/2023/04/RBG_Bylaws_2023changes.pdf.

Red text indicates text being removed, blue text indicated text that is added.   Date and appropriate subcategory indications will obviously change once the bylaws are official.

The board has reviewed and accepted these changes.   The document will be read at the April general meeting and will be voted on at the May general meeting by all members in attendance.   The document has been signed by the following 3 people for submission to the chapter for approval:  Steven A. Hunter, Carol Haile and Matthew P. Vardjan.

Vice President,
Cleon Garl

Programs:

April’s program will be the BCIU Secondary Art Exhibit 2023  located on the first floor of the Goggle-works.

We will be altering the meeting format, as we will hold the general meeting first at 7:00 PM and afterward migrate to the first floor of the Goggle-works. The our judging team will highlight our picks for the winners of this year’s awards. Take time after our tour to view all the submissions made by the student. These are the future Craftsmen for our Guild.

Programs Chair,
Matt Vardjan

Shows:

The big news in shows this month is that we have received our date for the fall show and it is November 4th and 5th at the O’Pake Fieldhouse. With this bit of news the wheels can start to roll. Rack card sent to printer, applications about to be posted to the web. When you read the application this year please take sometime and read the whole thing. We have made a number of small changes and they are all spelled out on the application. Here’s a teaser… the show hours have been shortened on Sunday.

Our spring show is but a month away and we have over 40 craftsmen who will be joining with us at our event. The process to be in the show is now closed, however please come by and check out this growing spring show. May 6th, 9-3 at  Renninger’s Farmers Market.

Thanks to all the Show Committee for the many hours of hard work.

Social Media:

Now that applications have closed for our Spring Craft Show, the race is on – Promote, Promote, Promote!

We’re growing on Social Media, please continue the support. Please share our posts, start a conversation, and follow us.

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/rbcraftsguild

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/readingberksguild/

Send us your pics: images@rbcrafts.org

Thank you,                                                                                                                                                    Social Media Chair,
Lisa  Short

Media (BCTV):

Hope you didn’t miss seeing fellow craftsmen Jeff Cronrath, Lisa Short, Carol Haile, Steve Hunter and Barry Bennecoff sharing their craft and talking about our upcoming 3rd annual Juried Spring Craft Show that will happen on May 6.  BUT if you did miss it, please tune in on Wednesday, April 19 at 7:00 PM and you will see craftsmen Gary Rosborough, Hillary Deighan, Martha Ressler and Jay Ressler.  They will be sharing their craft and talking about the excitement of our upcoming Spring Craft Show on Saturday, May 6 at Renninger’s Farmers’ Market.  Again Steve Hunter, our show chairman, will also be there.  Thank you for watching “Your Berks Craftsmen” the show about YOU!    On Comcast, view on Channel 15.  You can also view and catch up on past shows of “Your Berks Craftsmen” at BCTV.org or on our website at rbcrafts.org.   We are also on “YouTube”.  Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen is everywhere!  Thanks for watching,

Standards:

We are pleased to announce our newly juried craftsmen.   Congratulations to:
John Buckner        Woodworking

Paula Conrow        Enameled Jewelry

Hilary Deighan       Scherenschnitte

Christine Hobson    Fiber- sewing

Bill Kassel               Painting

Jennifer Lehr           Glass Mosaics

Ed Vitz                      Woodworking
Standards Chair,
Louise Mehaffey

Mini-Grants:

Time is running out!  Be sure to apply for one of four mini-grants of $50 each.

Recipients will be drawn at our General Meeting on April 4, and you must be present to win.

  See application for details.

Education Chair,
Carol Haile

Membership:

From the State web site this month, we are showing a total of 151 members for our Reading-Berks Guild chapter.
You can see the status of your membership on the State Web site here: https://pacrafts.org/members/

For those five people who have filled out a form for a new badge, I have your badges now!  I will bring them to the April meeting.  If you can’t make it to the meeting, I will be at our May 6th Spring Craft Show and you can also get them there.

If you are new to the Guild and have not contacted me regarding obtaining a new badge, please let me know so that I can get you on the new list.
I will be at the April meeting at the Goggleworks if there are questions.

Thanks Much,

Membership Chair,
Gary Rosborough

Website:

A few people have mentioned that they think our chapter website could use some updating.  I agree totally, but need help on what needs updating and a few people who are familiar with websites that could help with making the changes. If you are interested, please drop a note to info@rbcrafts.org
Webmaster,
Bill Jones

Events:

General Meetings: (1st Tuesday of Month):

April 4, 2023, 7 PM at the Google Works,  check the board for location.

May 2, 2023, 7 PM at the Google Works,  check the board for location.  We will be voting on the new Bylaws at this meeting.

June 6, 2023,  Our annual picnic.  Watch for details in the coming months.

Shows:

Spring Show:  Saturday, May 6, 2023  

Holiday Show:   Saturday & Sunday, November 4 & 5, 2023

Newsletter:

Counting the days until the Spring Show!

If you would like to put something in the Newsletter, please contact me at info@rbcrafts.org

Newsletter Editor,
Sandra Jones