SMA Annual General Meeting 1.10.26
32 people attended 14 apologies
Last years minutes were approved by everyone in attendance. There were no issues relating which were deemed to be unresolved.
Anne Anderson read out Ruth’s ‘Chairperson’ report. Ruth apologised for her absences over the year. She explained this was due to health issues, many of which are still unresolved and will require ongoing investigations and treatment for some time. She was sorry to have missed so much of the society’s events and hoped that she would be able to become more involved again soon, she says her art has kept her going through these difficult times.
In her report she highlighted the many things that SMA had been involved in over the year. These included our charity raising evening where a sale of picture frames generated money for Blood Cancer UK.
She thanked Peter for organising the trip to Grasmere, which was well attended and enjoyed. She thanked Steve Ridgway for leading this year’s exhibition. Jo Greer for arranging various workshops, and plein air sketch sessions. She wanted to mention Pam Wakefield who had been a long standing member of the society and had arranged our demonstration evenings, who will be missed now she has moved to Congleton, and has been made a ‘Country member’. Hopefully she will visit us from time to time. There were thanks to Anne Anderson who had supported her as Vice-chair and was now stepping down. Anne has had many years of involvement in the society and this had been greatly appreciated. A big thankyou went to Val who does many things above and beyond her role as treasurer, and has been a great support. Thanks went to Gillian for her fresh ideas with the ‘still-life’ sessions, Tony for organising the models, David Steeden for auditing the accounts, and everyone who, behind the scenes, had kept things ticking over and worked very much as a team.
She hoped that the society continue to move forward, and in this way it could grow.
We then heard from Maria and Val who gave us an overview of finances. The exhibition sales were similar to last year and generated just £11 more from sales. 37 members displayed artwork as opposed to 31last year. With the increase of room hire and printing costs this had resulted in a loss of £210. This loss is gradually increasing year on year. Costs continue to rise and are expected to do so again. It has therefore been proposed that we should return to our previous exhibition fee cost of £10, (this was currently £5) but in doing so this still offered good value for money as it gave artists the opportunity to display up to 8 paintings, several browsers and cards. The society offers 11 demonstrations per year, with 12 model evenings, 12 still-life sessions plus the opportunity for creating your own work. This year we invested in buying a ‘H’ frame easel, drinks flutes for our preview evening (more are to be bought), tablecloths and extra keys and padlocks. We plan to paint the wall white which we use for projecting the demo camera. This should make it easier to see the image. Painting will take place in October, if you’re able to help out it would be appreciated. Many hands make light work! We also had some business cards printed to promote the society. These are useful to have with you if you are ever out and about painting, which always generates interest and many conversations from passers-by. Everyone should have a few of these to hand out, please let someone on the committee know if you haven’t got any!
Despite the additional expenditure the society reaped some money back through workshop fees, visitors walk-in’s at demo’s and an increase in membership numbers.
Members voted and agreed to:
- increasing model payments by an extra £5 (included in your membership fee already)
- subscription fee increase to £80 annually, to cover the additional costs of next year’s exhibition.
MEMBERSHIP FEES ARE NOW DUE. VAL WILL SEND OUT BANKING DETAILS FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO PAY BACS, BUT CASH AND CHEQUES CAN BE GIVEN TO VAL AT ANY OF THE THURSDAY EVENING SESSIONS.
Steve Ridgway gave us an overview of last year’s exhibition. It was thought that the society should have a stock of ‘D’ rings, tape and string for any pictures that needed these prior to hanging. He said that the spacing of the artwork had enhanced the paintings and had contributed to the society’s high standards of presentation. Next year’s exhibition dates will not coincide with the FA cup final (we’ve already checked) and hopefully the weather will be kinder to us to encourage visitors!
Election of new officers: It was agreed that this forthcoming year the society would have 3 vice-chair persons in place of just one chairperson. This would mean a sharing of the role and therefore should not be too onerous a task.
Gillian Taylor, Beverley Chadwick and Maria Hoather were proposed and seconded.
Julian Ashworth: Secretary
Val Clark: Treasurer
Jo Greer: Membership secretary and workshop organiser
Steve Ridgway: Exhibition lead
Tony Berry: Model secretary
Gillian Taylor: Still-life lead
Peter Murray: Trips organiser
John Britton: Website lead
Mark Binks: Facebook promotion
The subjects covered in our AOB section unfortunately ran out of time for too much discussion. We will therefore have additional meetings to cover the subjects of digital art, and the possibility of taking orders for prints of our artwork at a future date.
This year’s AGM had a break mid way through for drinks and sandwiches. This was a great time to socialise as we’re often heads down behind our sketch books on Thursday evenings! A huge thank you to Val and John for doing the shopping and organising this, I’m sure everyone will agree this took away the formality of the evening and was much appreciated.
29th October will be a meeting for the new committee. This is an own work night for members. Don’t forget you can join any of our committee meetings, especially if you have an idea or opinion that needs discussing.
This week is a female clothed model night. Hopefully I’ll see you all there.
Beverley