Raritan Valley Arts Association
Newsletter

RARITAN VALLEY ARTS ASSOCIATION est. 1939

Frosty White Greetings!

and a very happy and healthy New Year! To start your new year off perfectly you'll want to come to our next meeting, Monday, January 28th, 7:30 pm, when award-winning artist, teacher, and demonstrator Steve Zazenski will come and demo a winter landscape in watercolor. He is known for his fresh, transparent, and dynamic landscapes, so you're in for a treat! Barbara Fiorentino will be our Hospitality Lady for this meeting and we thank you, Barbara!

February 25th our own Doug Axmann will demonstrate and in March, Jim Leslie.

RVAA thanks Doug Axmann for chairing our annual Holiday Dinner. We had a very fun and spirited evening at McCarthy's Restaurant with good food and company, the Story of the Poinsettias told by Eleanor DeMott and the story "Circle of Christmas" read, and by, Diana Patton. We had a lovely gift exchange, as well. These annual Holiday Dinners always put us in a Christmas/holiday mood and are just great as we relax and talk and laugh together.

We look forward to a trip to NY City in the spring-to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the AWS Show. More on this later..

Before we forget ... and many of us have ... Dues were due! And they still are! Please send your checks made out to RVAA to our Membership Chairman Doug Axmann, 16 Schoolhouse Lane, Somerville, NJ 08876. Dues are $30. Individual, $35. Family, and $15. Student (through high school). Dues will get you all these demonstrations, two or three exhibits a year (including our Holiday Extravaganza at the Somerset County Library, which runs a month), the annual Big Apple Trip, the newsletters, a presence on the internet, and last, but not least, lots of camaraderie.

Our Holiday Show and Sale at the Somerset County Library is but a memory. I (Diana Patton) want to thank Mary Creasy for helping me on Receiving Day and all 20 artists who entered the show and graciously hung their work. Although the final reckoning is not quite done, it looks as though eight artists sold about $675. worth of work. Unfortunately that is just about half as much as was sold last year and the year before, but the show was beautiful and lots of people enjoyed it. Articles and photos were sent to newspapers, but I didn't see any of them in the papers. If you have, you might contact me--

If RVAA members are interested in the "Art Encounter Painting Tour" in Tuscany, Italy, from June 29th -July 7th, 2008, you may phone Nina C. Harlan, Director at (973) 584-3373, or email ninaharlan@verizon.net for complete information. The prices are reasonable and the itinerary is fascinating with time for painting and explorations. You must contact Nina soon, though as the deadline for registration will probably be the end of January.

You can have a presence on the Internet. And it's free. RVAA has its own website and you may post 2 paintings and a very short bio on our webpage. Please go to www.raritanvalleyarts.org and see what we're all about. You don't have to have a computer; simply mail Diana Patton (address at top) photos of 2 paintings and we will scan them in and put them on our website.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

ELSA HERRMANN received The President's Award in the AAPL's Open State Juried Fall Exhibition of Representational Art, held in Millville, NJ. at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts. The show ran through November eleventh.

JOAN MCKINNEY was given The Award of Excellence for the NJWCS Open Juried Show and an Award of Excellence NJWCS Annual Members Show. Joan also received an Award of Excellence at St Mark's Show. She helped jury the Seniors Show in Hunterdon, and was accepted into The Skylands Art Show.

DIANA PATTON'S students will have a show at the Somerset County Library during the month of January. Those RVAA members in it are SUSAN BOYD, AMY ERDMAN, WILLIAM GILBERT, MARGE MCGOVERN, SHIRLEY ODWARKA, and PEGGYE COLE TOMBRO. Diana also had a one-woman show of 30 paintings at Capitol Health-Mercer Center Hospital, in Trenton, from November 14-January 9th.

DEBBIE TINTLE had a RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT of her paintings at the Bernardsville Library during December.

Please, please, please write or email me with YOUR NEWS. We all want to hear from you. Please feel free to let us know about any special shows or travels with art happenings that you want to share! And thank you!

Previous Newsletters

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Oct. 2007 newsletter
Sept. 2007 newsletter
May 2007 newsletter
April 2007 newsletter
March 2007 newsletter