Category Archives: September 2018

September LAG Monthly Meeting

The September LAG meeting, Tuesday September 4th, will feature Kirk Kuenzi.  He will be giving a lesson on caricatures and he wants everyone to bring paper and pencil so they can create their own cartoons.  You may bring several photos of someone that you might want to immortalize.  This is a schedule change from your membership booklet, as Kirk did not get to do his lesson during March when  our monthly meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather.   Refreshments will be provided by Lynette Fast.

Don’t forget! The Fall Show entries will be accepted on Thursday November 1st.

 

Chinese New Year Party

Lisa Cassel is in charge of the Chinese New Year Party coming in January.  We will be meeting at the Imperial Palace on 27th and Vine St.  Mark your calendar for the party: January 26th, 2019.  More information to follow.

Audit the Books

Toward the end of the year, we like to make sure that moving into the next year our accounting is up to date and accurate “to the penny”.  We need a couple of people to volunteer to help us go over our accounts and expenditures.  If you can, would you please contact Ethel Mount (402 483-0337), and she will provide all the materials.    Carmen Stineman

Christmas Sales

Every year the gallery members bring in small items for sale during the holiday season.  This year will be the same.  At both the November and December 1st Fridays, as a gallery member, you may bring in small items to sell such as small paintings, jewelry, cards, etc..  Those items will be made available those two evenings, as we cannot leave them in the store.

***President’s Potpourri***

Fall is almost here, the schools are back in session and cooler weather is on the horizon.  As an artist, Fall is my favorite time of year with the colors so abundant, and of course Football!  We have only three LAG monthly meetings left and it seems like everything is going faster and faster (my age is showing here) and I want to remind everyone that we are still looking for interested people to provide some leadership within the Lincoln Artists’ Guild.  Ethel Mount and Janet Fraley are doing a wonderful job of calling members to seek people to fill some vacant positions.  It would be helpful if we could use two people on some of our committees, so that there is always a reserve in case of circumstances beyond anyone’s control.  I would hope that many of the members would be willing to help out next year.  If you receive a call, please consider filling in some of our positions and by all means, if you wish to volunteer, let Ethel or Janet know.

Havelock Car Show

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We are a go for the car show on Sunday September 9.  We will have a shade awning set up in the middle of the road east of “Isles Pizza”.  This way we will be close to the gallery to let people know of our exhibits.  There will be screens around the awning for anyone from the Guild to bring art work to sell.  You do not need to be a member of the Gallery.   (you will need a tax number).  Kirk Kuenzi will be doing caricatures, Carmen Stineman and Donna Justen will be doing face painting, while Rita Wrenholt and Wanda Medina will be doing quick portraits.  Anyone else that wants to bring their expertise is more than welcome.  You will need to bring your own materials.  Also a couple of chairs for you and your client would be prudent.  We will be setting up at 7:30 a.m. and closing down around 4:30.  If you want to stop by and “man the shop” for a while to promote the Lincoln Artists’ Guild, hand out cards, or just answer questions, your participation would be appreciated.   Carmen Stineman

Gallery Change Date

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The last change date was Thursday August 16 and we had a wonderful showing of artists bringing in new work and changing out.  The walls are brimming with beautiful pieces and if you haven’t been to the gallery in a while, you must stop in.  The quality and variety are outstanding.  Everything from oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, jewelry and sculpture.  Something for everyone.

The next change date will be Thursday October 18 at 10:30 a.m.  If you cannot bring your work at that time, bring it in either Tuesday or Wednesday of that week and place beside the table on the west wall beside the card rack.  Make sure you have your art labeled and the “LAG Blue Book” filled out.  The gallery meeting will begin promptly at 10:00 with the change out after.  If anyone has comments or concerns, please call Will Rennick, our gallery chairman.  402 742 3414.  Remember; any gallery member may join the hanging or the meetings.

Carmen Stineman

Mastery Before Marketing

The two major components needed to be a successful professional artist are mastery and marketing.  A rule of thumb for building a successful art business: “Mastery before Marketing.”  What I’m saying is this: achieve a baseline level of competence in your craft before moving on mastering the art that is marketing.

Think about it:  Would you frequent a restaurant with mediocre food because they impressed you with a great website?  Would you spend an evening with friends listening live to music by an off-tune band with a singer who flubs the lyrics, just because they had a cool logo?  Would you hire a web designer who used harsh colors and janky typography simply because he had mastered search engine marketing?  Obviously, your answers to these questions is “No.”  It’s just the way of things. A guitar player who can’t tune his guitar and hasn’t mastered all his chords won’t be able to sell his music.

Let’s apply this idea to art:  Would you purchase mediocre art by an artist who had lots of website traffic, used a popover form to maximize newsletter sign ups, had a number one ranking in Google, and was the most prolific Instagram poster you follow?  You already know that the answer to that question for most people is “No.”  Like our guitar player above, an artist who can’t mix paint and hasn’t mastered drawing, composition, values and brushwork is going to struggle to sell art.  Look, I’m not saying you have to be a Master with a capital “M”, I’m saying you have to achieve a basic level of competence with your paintings to build much of an audience. Then once you’ve reached that baseline level of competence you’ll continue to spend time cultivating that competence into a mastery of your craft while you start building your competence with marketing.

Sincerely,

Clint Watson

FASO Founder Software Craftsman, Art Fanatic