With the exception of our Gallery Manager, RGA is a totally volunteer-run organization which relies on the hours and hours members provide for all sorts of jobs.  For example: a volunteer husband-wife team installed a new tile floor in the bathrooms on the main floor and painted them.  Other volunteers tend to our garden, cutting, weeding and watering.  There are countess smaller, less physical jobs that always need to be done, such as helping to serve during exhibition openings, planning and receiving art for exhibits, working on community outreach, camp teachers, and the list goes on!

If you have any skill that you could use at the Guild, please call the office. We would love to hear from you. If you only have an hour to give, we need it!  So, please let us know if you can help in any way.

Here are some pressing needs for the general upkeep of the Guild and our mission:

- Handy-man experience to move, repair, patch, etc.

- Painters who could help with the changeover from one exhibit to the next.

- Gallery sitting on an occasional basis.

- Gallery committee work, including receiving and hanging art work.

- Event participation, bar-tending, cleaning up, etc.

- Data entry and clerical preparation for exhibitions.

If you’re interested in getting involved and having some fun, please call the Guild at 203.438.8863 or email rgoa@sbcglobal.net.

The Wednesday Group

This exhibit will feature works by students from Jock MacRae’s Wednesday painting class.  The exhibit will run from May 27 – June 30.

Opening reception:  Sunday, June 20, 12-3pm

Instructor Jock MacRae is an accomplished artist and has taught painting for many years. He completed his formal education at the Art League in New York City in 1980. His paintings appear in numerous corporate and private collections.

“I have been studying under Jock’s guidance for about three years now and continue to learn from his outstanding knowledge of art history as well as technical guidance. Students of Jock tend to be very devoted because he is an outstanding teacher. He has the unusual ability to stand back and observe without interfering with your creative process but then know just when the right moment is to intervene if you are stuck. Each artist in the class is working on something different and Jock is able to instruct each accordingly. For instance my work is mostly abstract figurative while another student will be working on something representational. One artist will be working on something for weeks while another will crank out several paintings in one class. we are all very different and that’s what makes it interesting and gives us all the opportunity to learn from one another as well as from Jock. There is a great dynamic in there, in addition to be really interesting people, all the artists are very generous with their positive support for one another. Jock’s class tends to attract artists with certain sophistication and focus, especially the student’s who come back year after year.” from student Maria Poosikian.

The 6th Annual Festive Home: Objects for Living & Giving hosted by Ridgefield Guild of Artists is seeking crafters and artisans.

Festive Home is a six-week holiday show that takes place at the Guild.  The galleries are transformed into a holiday emporium by a team of interior decorators and decorative painters. This specially designed venue helps to highlight the high-quality merchandise for sale.  Fine art and furniture, decorative and useful objects for the home, apparel and hand-crafted jewelry, as well as selected vintage items will be installed and sold by the Guild committee.  In addition, extensive publicity via print and social media will be handled by the Guild staff. Running from Friday, November 19 – Friday, December 24, Festive Home attracts thousands of visitors throughout the region.

Extended gallery hours are from 11am – 5pm weekdays and 12-5pm weekends.  The Guild is closed on Mondays. In addition, the Guild hosts private parties for other business groups and not-for-profits during off-hours.

Artisans working in 2 and 3-dimensions and all media are invited to apply.  Standard commission of 40% will apply to anything sold during the course of the show.

Click here to download a Festive Home PROSPECTUS.

Click here to download a Festive Home ENTRY FORM.

This year’s Spring Fling
promises to be a fun night of
Play
with various interactive
play stations
set up throughout the Guild

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY BLUE MARBLE

Have fun.  Come out & Play!
For more information please contact the Guild at 203.438.8863, rgoa@sbcglobal.net or visit our website rgoa.org
. . . .

Call for Artists & Volunteers

RECEIVING
Saturday, April 24 & Sunday, April 25 — 12-4pm
Accepting member artwork in any media, with the theme of play.
No size restrictions.
———
Once PLAY is installed, an independent juror will chose
Best In Show (cash award $100)
as well as non-monetary awards for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places.

ENTRY FEE
$10/piece; $20/piece for works larger than 36″ in any direction with frame
Artists may submit up to 3 different pieces.

VOLUNTEERS
Please contact the Guild at 203.438.8863 or rgoa.org if you’re interested
in helping out with the show. Volunteers needed to help with
receiving, set up and bartending.

Have fun.  Come out & Play!

. . . .

Making Public Presentations

Saturday, May 8, 1 – 4 pm

At the Guild barn, 34 Halpin Lane, Ridgefield, CT

Fee:  $30, $25 for Aldrich members [Artists attending 3-course Radius series: $50, $40 for Aldrich members]

If a primary goal of art-making is to create a connection with viewers, portfolio presentation is key to reaching the people who control exhibition space: curators, gallerists, collectors and art publication or website editors/designers.

Join us at the Guild as art professionals lead a workshop for practicing artists and offer candid thoughts about the art marketplace and strategies for succeeding in it. Participants will learn how to make public presentations as artists, building captivating narratives of their work for an audience. They will learn how to select works and what information to include when speaking,  as well as essential uses of non-verbal communication. Attendees will compose a slideshow presentation of their work, around which they will model a short talk. Participants will have the opportunity to present their talks the following week at For Artists Only!, a networking event and open house exclusively for artists at The Aldrich.

To get the most from this workshop, attendees should already know the basics of PowerPoint. Participants should bring digital images of their work and their own laptops.

This is the last of three workshops in the 2010 Radius Professional Practice Series.   For more information, please contact jkopta@aldrichart.org or call 203.438.4519.

Radius Professional Practice Series is supported, in part, by The Gage Fund and the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Trust Fund.

May 16, 2010, 1-3pm  –      $15.00
In this class you will learn how to use Citra Solv, a non-toxic cleaner, to alter pages of magazines -specifically National Geographic – into beautiful papers. These papers become gorgeous, one-of-a-kind textured surfaces we will use to create beautiful collages.  You will go home with a pile of usable and unique papers to use later as well as finished artwork. Individual attention a keystone to this workshop. Product samples will be given out to bring home so you can continue the work after the workshop.  Come, bring those old National Geographics, loosen up, and experiment!!

Christopher Staples is an award-winning mixed media artist who loves to experiment with new techniques. Her work is abstract, but she incorporates found objects, printmaking, image transfer and collage to create polyphonic pieces of art. She teaches in NY and in CT at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. For further information, see www.christopherstaples.com.

33rd Annual Juried Exhibition

The Guild is pleased to announce that noted New York City artist and teacher Steven Assael will be the juror for the 33rd Annual Juried Show this year. The Juried Show showcases artists in all media from the regional area and Mr. Assael will be on-site for jurying this important show. We eagerly anticipate the entries for this exhibition, since there are so many wonderful artists in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey who bring their works to the Guild. Receiving for the show starts on September 9, and the show opens on September 26 and runs through October 31.  The Juried Show prospectus is available to members online this year, so please click below for complete information and entry forms.

JUROR:  STEVEN ASSAEL

Steven Assael is a professional artist and teacher based in New York City.  He teaches at The School of Visual Arts in New York. Assael is preparing for a solo exhibit at the Naples Museum in Naples, FL in October this year.  He has had many solo shows nationally, including the Columbus Museum of Art, Cress Gallery of Art at the University of Tennessee, Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, and Forum Gallery in Los Angeles.  In 1999, a retrospective one-person exhibition was held at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington.  Steven Assael’s work has also been exhibited at The Arkansas Arts Center, (AR), The New York Academy of Art, (NY), The Arnot Art Museum in (NY) and is represented in the public collections of The Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, (TN), The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Design (MO), The Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, OH) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY).  He is represented by Forum Gallery in New York City.

PROSPECTUS Click here for downloadable form.

Awards:  $2,000 in cash awards: Best in Show; 1st, 2nd, 3rd; plus Awards for Excellence.

Media:  All media accepted but must be fully set up for on-site jurying.  Any work previously exhibited in any exhibition at the Guild is not eligible for submission to this competition.  All wall-hung pieces must be submitted securely wired and/or ready to hang.  Sculpture must be fully assembled with its own secure, stable base; no component over 150 lbs.  The Guild reserves the right to reject any entry that does not comply with guidelines.

Entry/Fees:  Open to all artists in Northeast U.S.  Up to 3 works per artist.  Fees: Guild members $15 per entry; nonmembers $20 per entry, payable by cash, check, money order, Visa/MasterCard.  Fees are nonrefundable and payable to RGA.  Artists joining the Ridgefield Guild of Artists with entries pay the lower members’ fee.

Delivery:  Hand deliver works for jurying to the Guild gallery barn: Thurs & Fri, Sept 9-10, 12-4pm; Sat & Sun, Sept 11-12, 11am-5pm.

Accepted Work:  Only accepted artists will be notified by mail and website no later than Fri, Sept 17, 9pm of their inclusion in this exhibition.  All accepted work must remain in the show through Oct 31.

Work Not Accepted:  If you have not been contacted by 9 pm on Fri, Sept 17, please pick up your work Sat & Sun, Sept 18-19, 11am-5pm.

Sales & indemnity:  Works must be for sale.  Guild retains a 40% commission on all sales.  The Ridgefield Guild of Artists will take the greatest possible care of all submitted works but will not be responsible for any damage to or loss of work submitted, exhibited or left unclaimed.