President’s Message – Sept/Oct 1998

Being on the Board of Directors has been an on-going education in the mechanics of running an arts organization. Dealing with budgets, meetings, and organizational planning is not really, however, why I belong to the NWSSA. My first experience with the Camp Brotherhood symposium was one of the most energizing experiences I’ve had as an artist and I still get a tremendous lift from attending. I also lose sleep and am generally burnt out by adrenaline overdose by the end. What I find to be most enjoyable is quieter: hunting the wild rock with fellow sculptors, seeing other people’s shows, finding out about new ideas and techniques from casual meetings.

An all-volunteer group such as ours depends on the informal networking of its members to sustain itself. Being a semi-shy guy, I’ve taken a while to get to know people. (Election to the Board of Directors has sped things up-new members might want to try this approach). One of the ideas from the Board retreat last fall is to have a way to bring new members into our activities. We are working on having our membership committee find out members’ talents and interests so we can get you involved in one of the committees soon after you join. This way you will have a direct voice in what we do as well as a chance to get to know your fellow sculptors better. Our membership has a wide array of talents besides stone carving and I hope we can use them to continue to strengthen our group.