Fall Greetings fellow pastel enthusiasts!

As my first act as the incoming president, I will kick things off with a he-art-y round of appreciation to our outgoing board members. Please join me in thanking: Paula Fraser & her trusty sidekick Art for taking the helm of the Member’s Show Chair for six years. Shows were held at the Jaffrey Civic Center, online in conjunction with the Library Arts Center during the Pandemic, and at the Monadnock Center for History & Culture in Peterborough. Paula also helped institute online submission with Show Submit. Also, a heap of gratitude for Keith Demanche and his long tenure as the National Exhibition Chair/CoChair--over a decade! Keith and Shuk Susan Lee have split the duties for the past six years with Keith tasked with securing the sponsorship and prizes for the exhibition, venue contracts, and the feat of literally hanging our beautiful juried show.

Speaking of… It’s Pastel! Our 16th Annual Nat’l Juried Exhibition opened 10/26 and was a huge success! This year Shuk added a PowerPoint presentation so that the works could be displayed while handing out the certificates. The food was amazing & our Juror of Awards, Karen Israel gave a warm & engaging gallery talk. Her 3-day workshop was a rousing success and the work produced was inspired!

Next up is our annual meeting: Wednesday 11/13 at 7:30pm! Outgoing president Annie Halvorsen has lined up a wonderful demo that you won’t want to miss! We promise to keep the required business short to give us all more time with Chicagoan, Kathleen Newman, IAPS EP, PSA, AIS, CPPM, TWSA.

I would be remiss if I didn’t put out a bright and cheery welcome mat for some new board members and/or committee volunteers as we have a few ongoing positions that we would love to fill! We’ve had a wonderful influx of new members over the past few years, if you’re one of them, why not jump in & get involved? We welcome new ideas and while there is real work to do, we try to make it fun as we work really well together.

Coming up next year, be looking for announcements for our 2nd Pastel Retreat in June and information regarding a third exhibition--our Signature Circle Member Show. We recently voted to change the Signature Member Requirements, so if you hadn’t thought to apply before, maybe 2025 is your year!

In closing, I want to thank Annie for all of the efficiencies that she incorporated into our Zoom meetings and how she tackled the mammoth undertaking--updating all of verbiage and the job descriptions for the board chairs and everything else to keep us in compliance with the bylaws. Annie is staying on as VP and am also pleased that the two other most recent presidents will be staying on for continuity. I have worked with all of them since joining the board in July of 2018 as webmaster. I will continue in that role as well as President (one less chair to fill!).

Ready, Set… Back to the Easel,

Susanne Larkham, President