Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 9-27-2013

Minutes of NWSSA Board meeting on September 27^th , 2013 at Carl Nelson’s home in Lake Stevens , WA

Present were:
Carl Nelson – President
Jon Schmidt
Ken Barnes – Treasurer
Verena Schwippert – Secretary
Ben Mefford  – Camp B 2014 Director
Pat Barton
Michael Yeaman – Vice President  – per Skype
Gerda Lattey – joined per Skype at 10:30am

The meeting was called to order at 9:45 am.

Previous BoD meeting minutes from Silver Falls were read and approved by all.

NWSSA membership fee was discussed and it was agreed previously at the Silver Falls BoD meeting, that it should be lowered to $ 45 per year. This needs to be promoted. All agreed to the new amount of $ 45 per year for NWSSA membership.

[At this point Michael Yeaman had to leave the meeting.]

Workshops

President Carl Nelson announced that locations and descriptions of one day workshops are now on the NWSSA website.

Folks have the ability to register for them through the website.

For those paying by mail, Registration and payment can be typed in and worked on by Renee.

Registration software is ready.

– Sabah Al-Daher was invited by Carl to host workshops. He agreed to teach a ‘face’ and a ‘figure’ workshop.

– Stone collecting and other workshops will be reviewed.

– A visit to Randy Zieber’s stone shop in Vancouver, Ca, is planned for Nov 23^rd.

– Marenakos’ Scott Hackney agreed to hold a tour of their facilities to show their variety of cut-off tools – big saws – in addition to their Boneyard as a resource for sculpting material.  Marenakos’ auction, specifically the NWSSA sculptors donations to it, were also discussed. 30% of their auction proceeds are donated to charity.

A conversation about inquiring with Tony Angell – stone sculptor – about a visit to his studio ensued.

Seattle Foundation:

NWSSA is now registered with Seattle Foundation thus opening the possibility for “Give Big” matching in the late spring and other grant possibilities.

Silver Falls Finances:

At this time no numbers have been forthcoming from Silver Falls Symposium.

Renee is collecting and registering them.

Survey for Camp B 13

There were 26 responses of 40 members participating. The results will go to Ben Mefford to be used for CB14.

Bulk mail cost

Talking about using bulk mail postage for the Journal. It will be cheaper and we will save $$ and so be able to print more hard copies of the Journal.

The same goes for postcards with announcements, as these and the journals are sent out approximately every two month. A chart with cost comparison was presented.

Camp B 13 finances

Treasurer Ken reports that a few items still needed resolved, but his estimate for revenues in excess of expenses for the 2013 Symposium at Camp Brotherhood would be around $10 thousand. This is additional information to the financial report, which Ken Barnes presented at Camp B 13.

An auction fund, as had been done for Silver Falls, needs to be set aside,  established for Camp Brotherhood.

Camp B 2014

Ben, the director of Camp B 2014, will send out an e-mail list of prospective instructors for the BoD and the ‘instructor selection advisory committee to comment upon, with opinions and preferences.

Selection of the instructors is planned for October, the list of the ones to be invited would be established late November.

Carl has connected with three Native American sculptors, Jon DeCelles, Jason Quigno and, locally, James Madison. Carl explains that he would like them to arrange for their tribes to sponsor young people for participation at the 2014 symposium. He received positive responses from them.

Verena suggested that all three should be alerted to the alcohol consumption at Camp, and also that the sponsored young people have to be over 21 years old.

Camp B food was discussed. The post symposium survey indicated a desire for attendees to pay a small amount extra for fresh and locally grown food. CB13’s locally grown organic food was mainly brought in by Tamara Buchanan from Lopez Island. Besides this source, we have to speak to Camp B management about arrangements for locally grown, plus serving more of fresh fruits and vegetables in the coming year.

Exhibitions and Shows.

Leon White is chairman of this committee and has singlehandedly organized, curated and set up shows for our association. Pat Barton and Verena Schwippert volunteered to contact him and offer him help.

This year the Flower and Garden Show at the Seattle Convention Center under management of Nicky Oberholzer did not win the prize for best educational both.

We should connect with Nicky and find out if she needs help.

Grant.

A follow-up to 4Culture Facility Grant is available, as reported by Ben Mefford. The land and the facility have to be in King County. Some Board members can see possibilities here.  Pat Barton mentions a property by Snoqualmie Falls. This could be used as a Sculpture Park as well. Ken Barnes reminds the Board that property is expensive. He also mentions a property available by Preston Mill in King County.

The BoD meeting was adjourned at  11:35 am.