Artist Fellowship Grant Workshop in Glens Falls on Aug. 20

NEW YORK FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS will be at LARAC on Wednesday, August 20 from noon-1:30 for a grant workshop for the 2009 Artist Fellowships.

Artists' Fellowships are $7,000 cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in New York State for unrestricted use. Since the awards began in 1985, NYFA has awarded over $22 million to over 3,688 artists. In 2008, NYFA awarded 136 Fellowships to 144 artists, with eight of them working in a collaboration.

Categories for 2009 are--Digital/Electronic arts, Crafts, Film, Nonfiction Literature, Interdisciplinary Work, Poetry, Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts, and Sculpture. The application is available at http://www.nyfa.org/files_uploaded/2009_Guidelines.pdf.
*The deadlines for NYFA's 2008-2009 Artists' Fellowships are: October 6, 2008 for Poetry Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts; October 8, 2008 for
Nonfiction Literature Sculpture; and October 10, 2008 for Crafts/ Digital/Electronic Arts/ Film/ Interdisciplinary Work*

Contact Anne at 518-798-1144 x 4 or anne@larac.org
Lapham Gallery
Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council
7 Lapham Place, on City Park, Glens Falls, NY 12801
(518)-798-1144 ext. 2
Gallery@LARAC.org

Artist Statement Workshop

Glens Falls, NY - LARAC presents artist-educator Dr. Renée O’Brien to lead an Artist Statement Workshop for artists on Tuesday, August 26th from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Dr. O’Brien will assist artists in all disciplines to develop well-written, focused statements about their work and provide insight into how their art functions in the contemporary art world. Artists of all mediums will benefit from this class for applying and showing art in exhibitions in the community and beyond.

Discussion will be on the following; finding your unique perspective, talking to your audience, explaining your story, discussing your influences, communicating your feelings, and introducing who you are and why you are making the art. Attending artists should bring a copy of their current statements, resume, and some samples of their work (can be color copies). The class will include instruction, writing exercises, and actual development of a new statement.

Dr. Renée O'Brien is an artist-educator who exhibits her photographs regionally and nationally, and lectures and writes on the history of art and photography. Dr. O'Brien completed her Ph.D. at NYU with a dissertation on photography and aesthetics, The Post-Romantic Vision of Contemporary Pinhole Photographers. She teaches at Adirondack Community College, Queensbury, NY and Empire State College, Center for Distance Learning, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Pre-registration is required. Cost to attend is $15 for LARAC members and $20 for non-members. Light refreshments will be served. Class size is limited. Please call 518-798-1144 x 2 or email Patrice at gallery@larac.org to register and for directions.

Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council is a non-profit arts service founded in 1972 to promote arts and culture in the region. LARAC is open year round Monday through Saturday 10-3pm and is located at 7 Lapham Place on City Park in Downtown Glens Falls. For more information about LARAC services call 518-798-1144. www.larac.org

Donate Lesson Rather Than Product
Ziemke Glassblowing Studio donated a glassblowing lesson to The Point, independent radio station in Vermont, for their April Adventurequest Month. The Point ran a full page ad in Seven Days, a weekly entertainment VT newspaper, listing four adventures people could win. The glassblowing lesson from Ziemke Glassblowing Studio was the first one. In this case, donating a lesson (an experience rather than a product) generated some great publicity and will bring someone to the studio who will, most likely, buy product.
April 09-16, 2008, p. 18B, Seven Days

Small Shops See Smallness as Their Big Selling Point
"(Small retailers)' most important step may be that they are trying to make the most of their inherent advantages over larger companies. ... The ability of small stores to react quickly and directly to customers may be one of the most effective weapons they have ... Gregory Choron, for instance, the owner of Merry Go Round Toys, a small retailer in New Rochelle, NY, is relying on his ability to glean intelligence quickly about what customers want and then order product for delivery practically the next day. ...
'Stores are upping the ante with more personalized customer service' said Mandy Putnam, vice president of TNS Retail Forward, a retail market research firm. ... The owner of Larson's Toys and Games in Columbus, makes sure his staff ... (has) a list of recommendations they can offer bewildered shoppers buying for children of different ages.
Stephanie Gamble, co-owner of the House Downtown, a home decorating store in Baltimore and Havre de Grace, Md., ... is offering free gift wrapping for purchases over $50.
... Ms. Johns of Gecko's Corner ... is (e)mailing special promotions to the people (on her) ... extensive e-mail list with members of the 15 or so community groups, from the Chamber of Commerce to the local country club, that she belongs to. ... (She) ... held a midweek open house strictly for (her) email contacts. Almost 200 people attended - and sales skyrocketed. 'It was the best day we ever had,' she said."
December 15, 2007, Business, p. 1, New York Times

Grant for Fiber Collage and Honorable Mentions
"Judith Plotner received a NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization Individual Artist Grant from the Tri-County Arts Council. Her project is to create a stitched fiber collage contrasting the horrors of war with our idyllic life in the Adirondack Mountains. It will be displayed at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Gloversville, NY in September.
Members Marilee Litwa (2006 and 2007 Buyer Days exhibitor), Elizabeth O'Brien and Tom O'Brien received honorable mentions for work submitted in LARAC's March show It's About Time: Glens Falls Centennial Juried Exhibit."
The Arts Letter, April 2008, p.6, Saratoga County Arts Council