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Welcome to the website of the Montgomery Art Association (MAA), the oldest art association in Montgomery County, Maryland. Established in 1954, and incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit in 1991, MAA supports the visual arts in the Washington Metropolitan area. Our members, 18 and over, come from throughout the area, including Maryland, Virginia, DC, and even as far away as the Eastern Shore. They include beginning and experienced artists, amateurs as well as professionals, working in a variety of media and styles. In support of our increasing membership, we sponsor regular lectures and artist demonstrations, member exhibits, museum field trips, a physical Gallery store (currently under renovation), an online sales Gallery (future plan), and community outreach through our children’s art activities and college scholarship program. Join us! All are welcome, and our membership dues are only $30/year ($15/year for college students).
This website is intended as a resource for our members as well as for those looking to learn more about MAA and its events, the arts in our area, and the work of our members. Reviewing the site briefly:
- HOME provides the MAA calendar, contact information and important member links for show registrations and special events.
- ABOUT contains more information about MAA and its history, its officers, and sponsors.
- “ARTPORTUNITIES” lists show opportunities or exhibits of member interest and RESOURCES provides listings of members providing services, other area art associations, and past newsletters.
- GALLERY provides information about our physical Gallery in Westfield Wheaton (currently under renovation)
Latest Message from the President
As I’m sure you can imagine from the announcements included with the election ballot and from the various articles included with this newsletter, it’s been very busy since my last president’s newsletter message to you.
And all indications are with the Gallery closing, the search for a new Gallery location, the implementation of our new website, and the preparations for the June member shows as well as for our major show over Labor Day week-end, it will also be very busy over the next few months. I look forward to working with many of you as we meet these challenges.
First of all, I want to relay congratulations to all of the candidates for the 2012-2013 MAA Officer positions. All were elected, and I’m happy to say the member voting “turnout” was excellent!
Second, I want to ask that you review the articles in this e-Newsletter carefully. This is our last e-Newsletter until August and there’s much to communicate with regard to our shows and new initiatives.
One article discusses the new website. There are some exciting features with it, some to be available right away and others to be completed later in the year. One of the features included is the ability to complete show registrations online instead of by mail. This feature will allow members to enter all the information related to the pieces they are entering in each show, and pay any entry fees online via credit or debit card. This approach will make administering our shows much easier. Just think of all those labels our show registrar, Elizabeth Stecher, has been typing and all those checks Treasurer Barrie Ripin has been depositing individually! Of course, for those who do not want to register online, we will still support the standard mail-in form, and for those who do not want to pay online, we will offer a middle-ground option that allows online registration with a mailed check if a fee is required. Given the benefits to your fellow volunteer members like Elizabeth and Barrie, please carefully consider using our new online capability.
Right now, we are racing the clock to see if the website will be up and this new feature available in time for our two member shows in June. The instructions in this newsletter for entering the shows include using both the online registration and the current, manual method. Before you do your registration, I would just ask that you look at the website, www.montgomeryart.org, to see if the online capability is available, and if it is, to use that new capability. It will help us immensely in the preparation for these two concurrent shows.
For the Labor Day Show, we will definitely have the online registration feature ready. In addition, because our membership period ends August 31, members will need to renew their memberships in order to get the discounted entry fees and the benefit of displaying bin work and cards for sale at the show. To support this process, the website will also have an online membership enrollment and renewal process available.
Besides the shows, we have a number of community outreach events related to children’s art activities—at Westfield Wheaton, May 12 and June 16 for Mother’s and Father’s days and in “downtown” Wheaton, the Taste of Wheaton Festival. If you can assist, please do—more hands are always a plus. It’s a great way to re-connect with your inner child. It’s a fun time, and besides you’re helping promote the arts in the community! Contact Judith Levine at julevineRN@aol.com for more information.
And we’ll have our Summer Social Get-Together at the Artistic Gallery on July 11, 6:30-8:30 pm. Hope to see you there and at our next monthly meeting at Plaza Art on May 9. See the Upcoming Dates article for more information.
Til next time,
Cathy Hirsh