Notice of the 2022 Canberra Art Workshop Annual General Meeting

2022 General Meeting

Where: M16
When: 3.00–4.30pm SATURDAY 22 October.

You can download all the AGM documents on the buttons above:
  • Agenda
  • 2022 Annual Report
  • 2022 Financial Report
  • 2022 Events Report
  • Minutes of the 2021 AGM
You will also find the following two forms available for download:
  • A Committee Nomination Form. If you are interested in nominating for the Committee, please fill this form in and return it via email — canberraartworkshop@gmail.com — by 2pm Friday 21 October.  Please note that you need two CAW members to nominate and second you. Don’t forget to sign the form.
  • Proxy Declaration Form. If you are unable to attend and would like someone to vote on your behalf, please ensure this form is completed and returned via email — canberraartworkshop@gmail.com —  by 2pm Friday 21 October.
We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.
However, if you are unable to attend, please send you apology to canberraartworkshop@gmail.com

Agenda

General Business

1. Opening and Welcome from the President
2. Acknowledgement of Country
3. Recognition of Quorum and receipt of proxies
4. Apologies
5. Confirm Minutes of Previous Meeting
6. Business Arising of Previous Meeting
7. Correspondence
8. Annual Report – President Amanda Adrian
9. Finance Reports
10. Election of Board Members and Office Bearers
11. Announcement of 2022 Mavis Hall Trust Recipient
12. Any Other Business
13. Next Meeting/Close Meeting

2022 Annual Report

Once again, we have had a challenging year as we continue to live with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Despite the restrictions and lockdown that have affected all aspects of our normal operations for most of the year, CAW has still managed some significant achievements. We have continued to maintain and grow our membership; conduct two of the three planned exhibitions; hung and had a third online exhibition; conducted a number of workshops and courses before lockdown; and the art groups continue to attract keen sponsorship with some moving to online mode with the lockdown that hit us on 12 August 2021.

The CAW COVID-19 Policy has continued to serve us well and has been reviewed and kept up to date – thanks to Prue Power.

 

Membership – Paulina Piira, Membership Coordinator

2021/2022 has seen a steady increase in new memberships. Since the last AGM, we have averaged 269 members for each reporting period of two months.
It’s pleasing to see a small increase of full memberships and full-time students which now amount to 55% of total memberships.
CAW seeks to find ways to meet the needs of its members and the public and has introduced a new temporary pass. The pass allows a visitor to Canberra or someone wishing to try CAW activities a temporary 30-day pass in which to do so. We’ve had two people take up this offer since it was established in August 2022. CAW also introduced Gift vouchers in December 2021. Three have been used to specifically purchase memberships.
CAW continues to investigate and introduce improvements to the website interface to improve members’ experience.

 Events Report – Prue Power, Events Coordinator

Workshops and Courses

 Revenue from the Workshops and Courses component of the CAW Events Program was the most productive since the inception of this program, with a net result of $44,028.00 in 2021-22. This compares to the next best result of $41,856 in the previous financial year.  
As well as being CAW’s main revenue source, the program adds a highly successful teaching element to CAW offerings, enhancing our reputation significantly in the arts community as well as with potential artist-tutors. CAW has developed a stable of very skilled workshop and course tutors who enthusiastically return year after year. However, we also continue to introduce new tutors for variety.
During the 12 months to 30 June 2022, we ran no less than 17 workshops. We have introduced two new regular workshops: 1) Michael Creagh runs a 1-day workshop for models and Peter Pickernell convenes a fun evening of Wine Paint & Pizza with Stephen Clively as tutor.
We also run three highly sought-after regular courses every term, teaching basic to more skilled painting and drawing techniques using various media. Congratulations to the tutors – Rick Cochrane, Kate Scott and Leigh Walker.
Bookings for all these events are open but members receive a 25% discount, which often serves to attract new members wishing to take advantage of the lower price. 
See below for detailed lists of all workshops and courses run in this period.
Art Groups


CAW’s art groups are the other component of the Events Program. We continue to run 12 impressive art groups every week for members only, including an online life drawing session which runs simultaneously with the Monday afternoon life drawing group. CAW is eternally grateful to the Convenors of our art groups who work diligently to maintain a friendly and supportive community of artists. The high standard of art produced is evidenced by the remarkable shows on the Studio Wall throughout the year.

Models


Without our wonderful models, CAW would be unable to run seven of our art groups and many of our workshops and courses. We maintain a comprehensive list which is augmented frequently via the Michael Creagh workshops and from many direct requests. A heart-felt thankyou to Michael Creagh for his attention to this critical element of our association.

CAW Events Team

Events team
Each member of the Events Team works hard to ensure our continuing program. They not only plan and develop an interesting, varied and challenging program each year but maintain an accomplished behind-the-scenes administration effort which involves: contacting and scheduling tutors; maintaining their proposals and agreements; writing and posting material to the website; creating posters; keeping a running record of bookings; handling participant requests and attendances; managing social media and then making sure each event runs smoothly on the day. Many thanks to them all: Prue Power (program manager), Amanda Adrian, Sallie Saunders, Paulina Piira, Fiona Baker, Richard Heaney, Peter Pickernell (social media and website) and Carolyn Brooks
(graphic design and posters). Thanks also to Rick Cochrane for printing the posters. 


If you would to be part of this stimulating and exciting activity, new members of the team are
always welcome.

Note from the President – our particular gratitude to Prue Power who has again had the
unenviable task of managing the scheduling and re-scheduling of workshops and courses this
year and last year during the lockdown periods.

 

WORKSHOPS

17-18 Jul-2021 Stavros Papantoniou Expressive Landscape Painting
Sunday, 25 July 2021 Rick Cochrane How to Draw a Portrait 2
Sunday, 25 July 2021 Rick Cochrane How to Draw a Figure 2
16-17 Oct 2021 Ann Rayment Investigating Colour with
Expressive Acrylics
Sunday, 14 November 2021 Rick Cochrane Expressive Acrylics
20-21 Nov 2021 Elisa Crossing Collective Nouns
4-5 Dec 2021 Anne-France Fulgence Landscape Masterclass
19-20 Feb-2022 Jan Cristaudo Bringing the Outside In
Saturday, 26 February 2022 Michael Creagh Model Techniques
19-20 Mar 2022 Chelsea Lehmann Still-Life Painting
Saturday, 2 April 2022 Rick Cochrane Portrait 1
10&24-Apr-2022 Elisa Crossing Composing towards Abstraction
Saturday, 7 May 2022 Rick Cochrane Acrylics 1
21-22 May-2022 Noel Thurgate Dynamic Life Drawing #4
4-5 June 2022 Anne-France Fulgence Landscape Masterclass
18-19 Jun-2022 Peter McLean Wood Block Printing
Friday, 24 June 2022 Stephen Clively Paint & Pizza

COURSES

Rick Cochrane Monday Fundamentals
Kate Scott Tuesday Fundamentals
Leigh Walker Drawing: the basis of creation

 

 CAW Exhibitions – Amanda Adrian, Exhibitions Coordinator


Exhibition Team
Rick Cochrane
Jill Mail
Francis Johnson
Amanda Adrian

Testamur 3 2021 Exhibition
The Testamur 3 2021 Exhibition was to take place from Friday 13 August to Sunday 29 August 2021 and was successfully hung at M16 Artspace but was not opened as the ACT COVID-19 lockdown occurred the day the opening was to have been held; though a digital exhibition has been available.
The Exhibition was open to visit in person for a short time at the end of October. The beautiful Testamur 3 Catalogue is a great reminder of this ‘almost’ Exhibition.

On Show 2022 Exhibition
The CAW On Show 2022 Exhibition took place from Saturday 14 April to Monday 1 May 2022 and was held M16 Artspace, in Gallery 1.
While the opening was a minimalist affair with COVID19 restrictions still in place it was great to be able to see the works on the walls and enjoy the masked company of some of our colleagues and friends.

Profile Exhibition 2022
The CAW Profile 2022 Exhibition was held from the 16 June until 3 July 2022 and the opening was a joyful event that was a platform works of the human face and form as depicted by CAW Members.
Most significantly, it was also the showcase for Sonia Thoms, the winner of the inaugural CAW Mavis Hall Trust Grant. Sonia’s magnificent portraits in the exhibition were enhanced by the Artist’s Q and A Session and tour through her creative journey that was held during the exhibition.

Curation and hanging
Once again our thanks go to Ilona Lasmanis who curated these exhibitions; and to Berend Kraak and CAW member Francis Johnson who professionally hung the exhibitions.

 

 Graphic Designer

The colourful and delightful CAW posters and exhibition catalogues are the work of the very talented CAW volunteer, graphic designer Carolyn Brooks. Thanks to Carolyn for her professional and creative work!

Communications, Marketing and Website Report – Peter Pickernell, Communications Coordinator
Overview
The CAW website maintenance continues to be combination of professional management/maintenance by OPF with smaller changes and aesthetic ‘tweaks’ by the volunteer website assistant Peter Pick.
For the most part it seems to be serving CAW well as both an interface with our members and the public and an efficient point of sale for all CAW’s products. The CAW website has had minimal downtime to my knowledge.


Exhibitions
The web portal for exhibition entries seems to be working reasonably well, ‘On Show’ and ‘Profile’ worked smoothly and submissions for ‘Testamur 4’ are currently possible.  The exhibition catalogues are on sale rather than free and these can be purchased within the exhibition entry form to avoid handling cash during the event. A PDF version of the catalogue is available from the website for those who do not want to purchase a paper copy.


Blogs
There is plenty of material coming through for the ‘What’s New’ blog section but there is no metric to monitor visits.


Interface Improvements:
The board worked with OPF to streamline the booking/payment process:
1. Art group booking can be made on multiple dates before proceeding to checkout/shopping cart (tho’ this only works well on the current month).
2. The default payment method is selected upon reaching the checkout.
3. “Term and Conditions” is checked by default rather than requiring a click each transaction.

Social Media
Building on Michael Creagh’s hard work, the CAW Instagram page has now passed the milestone of 1000 followers and the number continue to grow. The CAW Facebook account does not enjoy the same success, while the metrics show a reasonable amount of visits there is very little interaction with the account.
With the Website improvements we are also working on further developing our overall communications strategy – we already have regular Newsletters; occasional blogs on the website and our social media, however there is a need to improve this and integrate it into a rational plan.


Newsletter
Thanks to Sallie Saunders for the management of the Newsletter. This remains an important conduit for information going out to members.

The CAW Studio
The improvements to the CAW Studio are continuing and are making the working space more efficient. We are continuing to employ cleaner weekly which has reduced the burden for members.
Our thanks to Sallie Saunders, Peter Pickernell, Richard Heaney, Paulina Piira, Jill Mail and Prue Power for all their hard work. Jill Mail is the CAW Studio Officer and has continued to liaise with the M16 team in relation to all repairs, maintenance and replacement – thank you Jill.

Finances
The Financial Reports for CAW are in a separate report. They are comprehensive and selfexplanatory. However, I do want to express my thanks to the Finance and Membership Teams – Richard Heaney, Prue Power and Paulina Piira with the able assistance and scrutiny of our Keeper of the Books, Richard Cobden and our Reviewer, Sharon Sidhu.
Our application for charity status submitted to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission has been successful. Thanks to Richard Heaney and Sallie Saunders who invested an enormous amount in preparing this application.

Mavis Hall Trust Grant
 CAW member, Sonya Thoms was awarded the first Mavis Hall Grant winner in 2021, and as noted in
the Exhibition Report, the CAW Profile Exhibition showcased her work and included an exciting
presentation and show in the gallery and studio. Congratulations Sonya!
Preparations began for the second
Mavis Hall Trust Grant and the successful applicant will be
announced at the 2022 AGM.

Mavis Hall was a longstanding and active member of CAW. She died on 29 July 2017 and named
CAW as one of the beneficiaries of her estate. The CAW Trust, set up to administer the scholarship,
must use the interest generated from the capital for payment of the scholarship.
Our thanks go again to Prue Power for organising the selection process. A more detailed report of
this will be made in the 2022-2023 Annual Report. However, the value of the second grant will be
$2,500.

 M16

Our thanks goes again to the M16 Director, Emerson Radisich and James Lieutenant for their
continuing support and good humour during the difficult 2021-2022 year.

CAW Board
My thanks also go to the 2021-2022 Board in run up to AGM:
Jill Mail – Life Member, Exhibition Team member and Studio Officer
Sallie Saunders – Secretary, Public Officer and Events Team member
Richard Heaney – Treasurer, Mavis Hall Trustee
Prue Power – Vice President, Life Member, Events Team Coordinator, Mavis Hall Trust Trustee and CAW achiever across many other aspects of CAW business
Fiona Baker – Events Team Member
Peter Pickernell – Website Liaison
Paulina Piira – Membership Coordinator, Events Team Member
Amanda Adrian – President, Events Team and Exhibition Team member, Mavis Hall Trust Trustee.


Amanda Adrian
President
October 2022