GIVING TUESDAY IS DECEMBER 3rd

Giving Tuesday (#GivingTuesday) is the first Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving, and is an international day of charitable giving.  

PRS dues are kept very low, and PRS does not charge members a fee to enter exhibitions. Why? Because the PRS Board recognizes that costs of living are exorbitantly high in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the majority of PRS members reside.

But that means PRS programming depends on donations from those who can afford to give more. 

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So if you can afford to do so, please make a donation now. And if you cannot afford to give funds, please donate your time as a volunteer. It is by the effort of PRS volunteers that the excitement happens!

Click here to make a donation or else click here to find your nearest Area Coordinator and ask how you can volunteer your skills and time!

AREA COORDINATOR NEWS

PRS Area Coordinators diligently explore opportunities for events & exhibitions in their geographic areas. They truly appreciate your contributions of volunteer time & energy. Contact your Area Coordinator to find out how you can help.

Marin County:

Peter Keresztury organized the October 18-20, 2019 PRS Exhibition at the Bioneers 30th annual conference at the Marin Center Fairgrounds in San Rafael (see www.bioneers.org). Artists who installed sculptures for exhibition received free tickets to the conference plus payment for participation. Read more further below. A hearty thank you to Peter Keresztury for organizing the exhibition! Read more about the exhibition below.

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San Francisco:

Dale Eastman & Charles Stinson are meeting with a curator to explore two new potential San Francisco venues for PRS exhibitions, both of which can accommodate large-scale works. This is especially exciting because PRS lost its reliable and versatile mainstay San Francisco exhibition space several years ago when the venue sold. Watch for more news soon.

SPECIAL:  SECOND SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT -- PRS Exhibition at Bioneers Conference

OCTOBER SPOTLIGHT:  

Many PRS members showed their sculptures at the 2019 Bioneers 30th annual conference at the Marin Center in San Rafael, from October 18-20, 2019, in an exhibition organized and curated by PRS's Marin Area Coordinator Peter Keresztury (with Deborah Keresztury, below). 

Outdoor sculptors exhibited along the lagoon on the Marin County Fairgrounds included works by Eric Saint Georges (below).

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Below are exhibiting sculptors Eric Saint Georges, Michelle Echenique, Peter Keresztury, and Eleas Kostis. 

Zahava Sherez exhibited her new sculpture "InBodied Light #3", pigmented polymer and mixed media (image left). 

Also exhibited outdoors were sculptures by Barry Beach, Catherine Daley, Natasha Dikareva, Marguerite Elliot, Jonathan Hyman, and Flavia Krasilchik. 

In the image below, Peter Keresztury describes his sculpture; works in the background include sculptures by Marguerite Elliot and Barry Beach.

MEMBER NEWS

Gabrielle Gopinath, writer, curator, and PRS member in Arcata, CA, wrote the excellent lead article, "Oliver Ranch: A Relationship to Land", in the November/December 2019 issue of Sculpture magazine. Congratulations to Gabrielle! PRS has had exciting past visits to Oliver Ranch, and a future visit is in planning.

An interview with Corinne Whitaker entitled, "The Artist as a 'Vessel for Universal Soundscapes'” (images above and below) was featured in the October 10, 2019 issue of Interactions magazine.  Interactions describes itself as "a free online space for reflection"; published quarterly by distinguished authors and intellectuals in India, it invites creative thinkers to share their process and ideas with the public. You can view Corinne’s interview and selected work at this link: https://dev.lilainteractions.in/the-artist-as-a-vessel-for-universal-soundscapes/

Jeff Key’s wall sculpture, "Vessel #54—Timbre" (image above, 2017, wood & flax), was selected for inclusion in ECHOES: From There to Here — Alumni Exhibition at the Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute. Curated by Tim Berry and Jeremy Morgan, the artworks selected for ECHOES accentuate a breadth of vision and concerns, underscoring the significance of art in general and the importance of studio practice as indicative of a lifetime commitment to art and creativity. The exhibition opens November 11, 2019; an opening reception is on November 14, 2019, and the exhibition continues through November 17, 2019. For further information see: http://sfai.edu/exhibitions-public-events/detail/echoes-from-there-to-here

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Glass sculptures of Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) were included this year in the International Biennale of Glass, held at the National Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria, The glass artists and people of Bulgaria are among Marvin Lipofsky's many friends around the world. The exhibit stands as a continued gesture of peace and friendship, extending best wishes into the future. The exhibit, curated by Konstantin Valchey, opened on October 4, 2019 and runs through November 5, 2019. See more information: http://glassbiennale.nbu.bg/bg/

The image above is "Czech Flowers 1991-92 #4", blown glass, 1992, 12" H x 20" W x 16" D, Photographer: Monika Neydenova.

The image below is a view of the Marvin Lipofsky Installation at the National Art Gallery, 2019, Blown glass; Photographer:  Monika Neydenova.

Peter Keresztury designed and created 2 display stands for sculpture info for his 2 sculptures on display at the Bioneers Conference. The stands, viewable in the video at this link, are made of steel and aluminum. If interested contact Peter at:  peterker@pacbell.net

Dear PRS Member,

Since 2012 I have been President or Acting President of PRS's Board. 

How did that come to be? 

I am a late-comer to the professional arts world. My background was healthcare and technology, with no practical experience in an arts career.

But joining PRS connected me with many inspiring members and provided me with exhibition opportunities. I was thrilled to get a piece in a PRS-organized museum exhibition.

So I wanted to "pay it forward" by volunteering my skills in organizational management, communications, and software systems to help PRS achieve its mission statement goals, which are:  

• Promote artistic excellence
• Provide collective opportunities & resources for members
• Foster development of young artists
• Contribute to communities by increasing public awareness & appreciation of sculpture as an important art form.

But here's a little secret.  Volunteering isn't just labor:  It is also an opportunity to learn new skills.

By volunteering I also determined to gain skills important to my arts career. I learned how to assess needs of an arts organization, to define goals, and to prepare proposals and other communication materials to help reach those goals. I learned how to politely, boldly, and succinctly introduce myself and get the attention of galleries, curators, and exhibition venues by saying:

"Hello, I'm Charles Stinson; I'm with Pacific Rim Sculptors, one of four Chapters of the International Sculpture Center, publishers of Sculpture magazine and producers of the annual International Sculpture Conference.  I'd like to talk with you about possible exhibition opportunities for the group."  

I also learned to encourage individual artists to join PRS and to benefit through their own volunteer efforts -- because PRS as a group can do more than any single individual can accomplish.

I am thrilled that PRS has so many active volunteers:  Area Coordinators; members of our Exhibitions, Events, and Fundraising Committees; website volunteers; newsletter volunteers; and our dedicated Board of Directors. I am especially grateful that new members of the PRS Board are stepping forward to serve as officers for 2020; they bring new energies and are even now planning exciting ideas for 2020 and beyond.

I am not disappearing:  I will continue volunteering for PRS & ISC, working on publications, websites and data systems, and I hope my efforts will have a positive effect. And I hope you, also, will help PRS with its mission!

Very best regards, 

Charles H. Stinson

PRS is an entirely volunteer-run professional arts organization that serves its members and the community. It succeeds by your contributions of time, energy, skills and funds. Please donate (click to donate) and / or volunteer by contacting your Area Coordinator (click for email addresses). And if you are up for a leadership position, offer to be a candidate for the PRS Board of Directors (description here; application form here).

ISC's 2019 Conference in Portland, OR

Several PRS members attended the recent 2019 ISC Conference in Portland, OR, including Laura Van Duren, Stephanie Metz, Catherine Daley, Stephanie Robison, Jerry Barrish, Cheryl Coon, and Charles Stinson. 

Included in ISC's annual littleSCULPTURE exhibition were works by Cheryl Coon (image below), 

Barry Beach (image below), 

Eileen Fitz-Faulkner (image below),

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Catherine Daley (image below),

and Charles Stinson (image below).

PRS Board members Catherine Daley, Eileen Fitz-Faulkner and Charles Stinson had a breakfast meeting with ISC Executive Director Johannah Hutchison and Associate Director Jeannette Darr to discuss ways that ISC & its four Chapters can work together on future exhibitions, events, and other programming. 

Charles Stinson will work with ISC Associate Director Jeannette Darr and others on tailoring ISC's new software platform to best meet the needs of ISC and its Chapters, with an aim of encouraging inter-Chapter collaborations.

As always, the conference was tremendously exciting with its many workshops, panels, receptions, and other events, including focused visits to Portland Open Studios. The weather was delightful and the changing leaves were gorgeous; the rains started only as we departed for the Portland Airport for our flights home!

MEMBERSHIP & PARTICIPATION

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Len Zeoli of Vallejo, CA, trained at Washington State University. He has worked as a Technical Assistant at the University of Idaho Department of Art and Architecture, and also has taught woodshop skills and furniture making.  He creates abstract, ephemeral, and figurative sculptures with wood, stone, metal, and found objects, often creating public and/or interactive pieces. Check out his website at www.LenZeoli.com.

Invite your sculptor colleagues to join and get one month free membership for each new member you recruit (cannot previously have been a member). Just ask the new member to mention your name while filling out the "How did you hear about us?" blank in the application form.