Director's Blog - March 1, 2015

As the Executive Director of North Bank, I spend quite a bit of time exploring what comes next for our organization. The future is a moving target, and new developments extinguish old plans with regularity. Nevertheless, we plan, create, and implement. We set goals, adjust and achieve them. We move forward.

For 2015, we will be at home on Main Street and hosting many fabulous new exhibits and events. Already, we have plans that make me smile and clap my hands like a child with an Easter basket.  Undoubtedly as the year progresses we will add to our schedule.

Here is what we have in the hopper:

· Spring Art Talks: “In Process” is the theme for the three lecture events to be held in May on the weekends. We are shoring up the schedule, but already have confirmations from three phenomenal artists. Seattle film maker Danielle Villegas will show her short films “Dos Almas” and “In Between: One Body, Two Spirits, Third Gender” and discuss how she makes films. Encaustic artist Erin Leichty will discuss how she makes her stunning work. Last but never least, North Bank Artist Sharri LaPierre, master printmaker, will give an informative lecture about different kinds of printmaking and then demonstrate one. Yay.

· Unjuried Show: In celebration of the ten year anniversary of the Recycled Arts Fair in June, North Bank Artists will host an unjuried event with special guest Bill Leigh. The call-to-artists for that event will be out by next week and all recycled artists in Clark County are welcome to submit a piece to the show.

· Professional development it a recurrent theme for us. We want to support our artists in their craft, community, and development. For the broader community, we are looking at providing professional development lectures for the Fall Art Talks for free. Obviously, there has been a lot of grant writing going on as we seek financial support for quality programming for the arts community. I have noticed when we ask for support our community provides, and for this we are all quite thankful.

· Art of Legacy 2015 will be winding up in a few weeks. This year, we provided the program to a drawing class from Hudson’s Bay High School and an advanced art class from Thomas Jefferson Middle School in partnership with the Clark County Historical Museum. Thanks to Arts of Clark County for coming through and funding the museum portion of the project. For more information about this program, please check out the Art of Legacy page at this site.

· The gallery schedule is the focal point, the alpha and omega of what we do here at North Bank Artists. Our fabulous gallery committee decides on the creative vision and schedule, and they have some very cool things in store. In March, our founding member Rebecca Seymour will exhibit new work based on her fascination with the Hubble Spacecraft photographs. Her work is large and captivating and a must see. Another show I am excited about is the November Arts of Clark County Open Studios Preview exhibit. Fifty of the finest artists in the county will have a piece of work here for the month. Exciting.

What comes next for North Bank Artists is, well, more art, and also discussions about the process of creating it and professional development. Being a community of artists, we will surely have fresh creativity, lots of new ideas, and some of the coolest happenings around town. Join us!

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