TexasWAX/Houston September and October Meeting and Sister Bee

I have included in this post the minutes to both the September and October meeting.
"Ike" came along and really messed things up for awhile and I just never got back to it.

Julia Kiovumaa graciously hosted the September meeting at her house in the Heights. Thanks Julia, for the tasty Thai nibblers. They were great. Your house is lovely and it was really great to see more of you work.

We had a small group in attendance. Besides Julia, in attendance were Cynthia Robertson, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Gwen Plunkett, Robert McGehee.

One of the things we discussed at the September meeting was our schedule for doing demos at two Houston locations later in September. (Jerry's Artarama and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.) Because of the Ike however, these activities have been put on hold until a later time.

Other topics of discussion were mainly centered around exhibition plans for our TexasWAX group show (Degrees) in 2009.

I did a show-and-tell with some melting pots I purchased at IKEA in the children's department. Some of the artists who gave presentations at the conference in June were using these lidded pots. I was told where they were purchased and decided to get some for myself. Unfortunately, you have to buy them in sets which proves not so economical. I purchased two sets even so.

Julia gave us a tour of her studio which is set up in her garage just behind her house and of course we got to see more of her work, some still under way. She works quite large and we are all impressed.

We ran out of time though to watch the Sister Bee movie by Laura Tyler.

That we did do at the October meeting at Robert's house, and thank you Robert, for having the meeting at your house.
I just want to say here that it has been a special treat this past year meeting at various members homes. I feel we get to know each other on a different level doing this. Thanks to all of you, Suzanne, Cynthia, and Billie, Julia, and Robert who have generously hosted meetings.

Having said that, we are discussing the possibility of securing a permanent location that can be used for meetings, workshops and, why not? even exhibition space. Something like the space that Sharon Kyle-Kuhn has secured in Austin. Money is always the first obstacle and not just money but whose money. But it is do-able. If we decide to do this, I am sure we will figure out a way. In the mean time, Billie is on the lookout.

We had a small group in attendance. Suzanne, Cynthia and Julia were missing this month but we were joined by two new members, Susan Crowson, Elaine Thuener. The other guest was Sandy Haubien (whom we are trying to recruit.) She came with Billie Forney.
Gwen Plunkett and Robert McGehee were the other members present.

Of course, after watching Sister Bee, we were all "a buzz" about the propagation of bees, the many ways our lives are enhanced with bees and bee products, and possibilities for us as artists who depend bees for our medium, to help heighten awareness of problems facing bees and bee keepers alike today. We talked about how the Dallas Wax group is addressing Colony Collapse Disorder (CAD) with a panel discussion at MAC in Dallas this November 12th at 6:30.
Elaine Thuener, one of the new members is also a volunteer with the Houston Arboretum and we discussed the possibility of working up something with them regarding this issue.

Other news, the Dallas group is taking their exhibition "Some Like It Hot" on the road to Port Arthur at the Texas Artists Museum in November. They extended an invitation to our members to exhibit with them there. We thank Junanne and texaxWAX/dallas for including us in that exhibition.

Time line for Some Like It Hot:
October 31 - All work should be delivered to Gwen by this date.
November 1 - installation (Gwen will deliver Houston's work and help install)
November 9, Sunday, 2:30 - 4:00 - reception - demo at 3 pm (Gwen from the Houston group will do the demo)
November 29 - Work comes down. Gwen will bring Houston's work back.

Regarding our joint four group exhibition in 2009, "Degrees", we have secured a venue and a date.
MSquared or M2 Gallery on 19th in Houston Heights is hosting the show in May. All particulars are forth coming in the form of a prospectus as soon as all those particulars have been established.

Welcome again to the newest texasWAX group---TexasWAX/SanAntonio.
Congratulations.