Last night marked the first 'official' gathering of the Winnipeg Jewellery Artists' Collective and we had a blast! Thanks to all who were able to make it, and to those of you who couldn't, we missed you!
We met at Café 22 on Corydon and although the place has great ambiance, the low lighting made it tricky to truly appreciate everyone's work - oops. We'll be in need of a new, bright and equally cozy location for our next meeting, so please feel free to offer suggestions everyone!
We looked at some bronze chain maille and wire wrapped earrings and pendants by Dave, a gorgeous sterling lotus pod pendant by Bea and I brought some neck-pieces in sterling and bronze that I've been working on. Dave also recently scored some used jewellery books from powells.com so we had fun checking them out! Dave, do you think you could list some of the better books here in case anyone would like to pick one or two of them up for themselves? I also brought a book called "Jewelry Techniques" by Anastasia Young that I've found to be a great resource book - if anyone's interested in taking a look at it, let me know!
We also got into talking about a long term plan for our brand new Collective... Some of the visions offered included a shared studio space and eventually a retail location. The studio space seems like a good first goal and there are many hoops to jump through to accomplish this - we'll continue to research and discuss this possibility, I hope. We also tossed around the idea of booking booths/tables at some of the major art & craft shows and venues in and around Winnipeg. If everyone were willing to take a turn manning a table here and there, the potential for exposure would be great! Let's keep this idea going :)
Some aspects of this new group will still need to be nailed down such as our name, meeting place and frequency of our get togethers. I've tentatively labelled us as the Winnipeg Jewellery Artists' Collective, but I'd love to hear any ideas the rest of you may have! The name and address of this blog can be changed in a snap to reflect whatever we decide as a group.
Wednesday's from 7-8:30 seemed to work for the majority, but that can always be changed too, so please speak up if you have a request or suggestion for meet times. The question of frequency is also up in the air. I felt that perhaps once a month would work, but once every two weeks or once every two months could be good too. Could you all let me know your vote on this via email?
I'm really proud that we've finally got something rolling here and I'm looking forward to seeing where this road leads us all! Thanks again for your support, encouragement and enthusiasm everyone!
All the best,
Jill
