Hello and Greetings!
I am excited to begin serving as ClayHouston’s President this year and I’d like to thank Anne Steacy for all of her hard work. She set an inspiring example and is certainly a tough act to follow! I’m really looking forward to working with our 2020 board members to make this a wonderful year full of really fun activities!
BOARD UPDATES
We began January with our transition board meeting and a productive planning session. We wish a very warm welcome to our new 2020 board members:
- Maria Hernandez: Secretary
- Stacy Kuropata: Membership
- Anna Mayer: At Large
- Maria Raquel Morales: Exhibitions
- Marie-Hélène Nguyen: Programs
They join our 2019 board who are continuing with us in these roles:
- Jessica Phillips: President
- Abbie Preston: Vice President
- Melissa Symmonds: Communications
- Betsy Evans: Fundraising
- Mara Cavalcanti Reid: Strategic Planning
- Maura Ferrero-Baroni: Treasurer
- Anne Steacy: Past President
- Jessica Kreutter: At Large
Also, we want to say a HUGE thank you to our outgoing board members:
- Lauren Clay: Secretary
- Sierra Estes: Membership
- Kathryn Hall: At Large
- Laura Sprague: Exhibitions
We’re so grateful for all you’ve done and wouldn’t be where we are now without all of your hard work and dedication.
JANUARY EVENTS
This past month we enjoyed some social time during our Cultured Cocktails event at Boheme. It was wonderful to have a chance to relax and catch-up after the holidays and I enjoyed seeing many of you there.
Sadly, as you all have heard, Yasuhisa Kohyama fell ill and had to postpone his trip to Houston. Our thoughts are with him as he recovers and we look forward to announcing a rescheduled date for the demonstration/workshop events.
Later in January Betsy Evans organized a ceramics road trip to The Art Museum of South Texas to see the exhibition ABOUT FACE: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture as well as to attend a workshop with Sergei Isupov. Thanks Betsy for creating such an awesome opportunity for ceramics-travel fun!
UPCOMING
As we move from Winter to Spring we have much to look forward to! Mark your calendars:
February 15th 2:00 - 3:30pm: Clay Creative with Judy Adams at Foelber Studios. Register Here
March 7th: Craft Community Day at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Volunteer Here
March 14th: 2020 CREATIVE VISION: Social Media for your Creative Business. We are excited to be co-sponsoring a Social Media Workshop with WiVLA. Join us from 8:30 am – 2:30 pm on March 14, 2020 at the Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Road, Houston, Texas 77055. Five social media experts will present on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and MailChimp and then lead two afternoon break-out sessions for hands-on learning and Q&A. Learn the ins and outs of these social media platforms and how they can benefit your creative business and art practice. Register Today
April 4th: Empty Bowls. For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/EmptyBowlsHouston/ and please consider donating your handmade bowls at The Ceramic Store: March 16 - April 3, 2020 or The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft: March 21 - April 3, 2020.
WEBSITE UPDATES
Our communications chair, Melissa Symmonds, is leading a review process of our website’s information architecture and design. Our aim is to make the site easier to use through thoughtful updates to the navigation and graphics. Keep an eye out for the improvements!
VOLUNTEER TODAY!
We are always looking for more volunteers to lend a hand! If you are interested in playing a more active role in ClayHouston please send me an email (info@clayhouston.org) and let me know! We’re especially looking for some additional help on our Programs committee as well as on our Pop-Up marketplace event team. We’ll also post specific opportunities from time to time. I hope you’ll reach out, it’s a great way to get to know more of the friendly ClayHouston folks!
I’m really looking forward to seeing you all at upcoming events and activities. Thanks for all you do to make this such a great organization!
Jessica Phillips
President
ClayHouston.org
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