Dear LAA Members,

I want to update you on the status of LAA events in light of the national and local efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.

First of all, I am hoping that everyone is doing well and taking the experts’ advice to practice social distancing and stay home as much as possible. Wash your hands often, don’t touch your face, and follow all the government’s suggested restrictions. This is a very dangerous virus, especially for our over 60 members.

This leads me to the announcement that the Board of Directors has decided to cancel a number of LAA activities and events in compliance with what is best practice during this pandemic. We hate to cancel any of our events, but we don’t want to endanger the health and well-being of our members.

The following are now officially cancelled through the end of May 2020:
All Monthly Programs through the end of May 2020
the Spring Member Show
the remainder of the Youth Art Show
All Workshops are cancelled through the end of May 2020
All fees and payments for shows and workshops will be refunded.
We will attempt to keep the National Photography Show and the National Fine Art Show in some form this year. We will tentatively postpone The National Photography Show to August or early September. The entry deadline will be extended to June 7.
The National Fine Art Show Call for entry will be delayed at least until May 1st, 2020.

The board is working on ways for LAA members to stay connected while we wait out this virus. One of the most important aspects of this association is the camaraderie and support we give each other in our artistic pursuits. Because we don’t want to lose this connection, we are exploring virtual classes and groups, as well as virtual workshops, Holding the monthly program via video stream is also an option. All of those ideas require some research and possibly some new equipment, so it will take a couple of weeks or more until we can launch those offerings. We will start small and go from there.

Note that some of our groups will be able to go outside when the weather permits, so the Plein Air Group plans to start up in May with new guidelines on Social Distancing. Open Studio and the Drawing Group may also be able to continue if held outdoors. We will keep you informed. Obviously, if there is a lockdown of some sort, even these outdoor activities may be cancelled.

I will also post this announcement to our Blog on the website. I encourage you to leave comments there. We want to hear from you and to get any suggestions you have on how to weather this crisis as an organization. Your Board continues to have on-going communication with each other regarding the many areas of stewardship that you have entrusted to us.

Helen Harrison,
President

Hello Artists!
 
I just read a newsletter article from Dan Scott of drawpaintacademy.com. Here is an edited version of his story:
 
Dan writes, “Where do I find painting inspiration?” He answers with this story: “I was out running, doing laps around a nearby lake. I was dazing in-and-out, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. Suddenly, a bolt of inspiration brought me to an abrupt halt.
 
As I stood on the bridge overlooking the water, the light tried to burst through a small gap in the clouds. Everything just clicked—the trees, water, rocks, and the dramatic battle between light and clouds. It was one of those “I need to paint that” moments.
 
I didn’t have my painting equipment, so I snapped a photo. I returned to the same spot about 10 minutes later and the clouds had won the battle; the gap was closed and the light was shut out. And with that, my inspiration was gone, like a fleeting puff of smoke.
 
That is what finding inspiration is all about. Being able to recognize and capture fleeting moments like this.”
 
How do we find inspiration? Like love, sometimes inspiration cannot be engineered. We can’t go looking for it, we cannot make it happen. We can do the work and clear the path for inspiration, but we never know when and how it will find us.
 
Substitute “inspiration” for “love” in this excerpt from the poem, Honey & Salt, by Carl Sandburg, and consider how inspiration will find you:
 
“Bidden or unbidden? How comes love?
Both bidden and unbidden, a sneak and a shadow,
a dawn in a doorway throwing a dazzle
or a sash of light in a blue fog.
a slow blinking of two red lanterns in river mist
or a deep smoke winding one hump of a mountain
and the smoke becomes a smoke known to your own twisted individual garments:
The winding of it gets into your walk, your hands, your face and eyes.
-Carl Sandburg, Honey and Salt
 
Happy Valentines Day! Be on the lookout for inspiration…it will come. Be ready to embrace it when it does!
 
Yours,
Helen