The next General Membership Meeting of Grand Clay Arts will be held on November 16, 2023 at 9:00 am in the Hopi Room of the Chaparral Center.  This is an extremely important meeting which includes the election of our new board for 2024.(*** ballots will be emailed to all members in good standing)

Fellow Members,

 

Membership:290 Residents

 

GCA Board Elections:

This month the club votes for the 2024 GCA Board of Directors. Voting will begin on-line at the conclusion of the 11.16.23 General Membership meeting. All members “in good standing” will receive an email ballot. Simply note your BOD officer choices and return the ballot. Results will be announced on Friday 11.24.23.

 

SAM Valenti and SHERRY Grundman:

Please note when receiving your ballot that the Vice-President and Secretary fields of candidates are reduced to one per office. The reason is interesting and goes directly to the strength of GCA membership. Sam Valenti and Sherry Grundman are both Grand Clay Arts past Vice-Presidents. They both submitted their names for nomination to ensure that the Vice-President and Secretary offices were covered, eliminating the possibility of a scramble to fill board positions.  Additionally, SAM and SHERRY recently withdrew their names for nominations to the positions. The reason for the withdrawal is both felt that the members aspiring to positions will do great! Plus bring fresh ideas and viewpoints to clubleadership. Join me in congratulating SAM and SHERRY as caring members in support of the advancement of GCA.

 

Fall Fest Art Walk (11.11.23)

Perfect weather along with an estimated three thousand attendees celebrated The Grand Fall Fest Art Walk this past Saturday. The event featured all seven Artisan Fusion club plus additional resident artists. Terrific “How to Create” demonstrations were held for attendees to enjoy.

 

A GRAND highlight of the event was the Soldiers Best Friend Silent Auction. Close to one hundred items went up for bids. Generated donations of almost $9,000.00 went directly to  purchase and train a specialized support dog for a disabled veteran. Congratulations to our community for supporting the Soldiers Best Friend event. 

 

Grand Clay Arts Performance.

Thank you, JIM PEREZ WOOD and LYNN GIULIANI, For the great potter’s wheel performances during the FFAW demonstration event. For sure a favorite among attendees! Also, a big note of thanks to JEAN ZEIDLER. Jean spent four hours (in the direct sun) non-stop assisting both potters and answering attendees’ questions. Thank you to all!

 

Please take a few minutes to glance at the following numbers: 

Grand Clay Arts Charitable FFAW Contributions:

$1,050.00  (11.11.23) Plates of Plenty

$1,360.00 (11.11.23) Soldiers Best Friend silent auction

$2,410.00 donated by members of our club to help feed the hungry and help retired soldiers in need, 

 

Special Thanks to EVERYONE donating their personal time to create the beautiful Plates of Plenty masterpieces. By donating your time and talent meaningful contributions (100% plate donations) are generated that make a real difference in people’s lives.
Special thanks to the POP “plate makers” and “plate sellers” for another outstanding event!  

Have A Great Month!

Market Sale Set-Up Crew

Grand Clay Arts participates in the monthly Markets at Grand on the first Saturday of October, November, December, January, March, April and May.  We are looking for a crew of 3-4 members to manage the set up for each market.  This entails staging the equipment on the Friday afternoon (around 3pm) before the sale and then setting up tables and signage for the day of the sale (6:30-7:30am).  There may be a need for some alternates for the Crew as well.  We are seeking a reliable crew to have consistency for each of our sales.  4 Service hours are earned for each Sale event (staging and set-up)

Required Capabilities:  

• getting equipment/supplies from high shelves
• organized stacking of equipment & supplies
• setting up and moving tables, display towers & racks
• timely availability on day of sale
• work with CAM staff on morning of sale to ensure allotted equipment is available

Please contact Cathy Rick via text 414-803-6468 or email cathyrick9@yahoo.com with your interest.  Arrangements will be made to get oriented to the duties.

IT Corner

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New CAM IDs:

If you get a new CAM ID, you’ll need to change it in the GCA member roster.

Once you’ve logged in to the website, click Change Contact/Profile Info. (under Member Information)

Allow 24 hours for your new ID to take affect.

 

Elections:

Ballots will be emailed on 11/16 to all members in good standing.

 

In Good Standing:

This means you are current on your service hours and have no outstanding invoices.

You can check your service hours online: Volunteering > Volunteering Reports.

You can see if you have outstanding invoices when you log in. Click the Billing Info tab.

 

Email Considerations:

• Make sure your email address is current in the GCA member roster.

Click Change Contact/Profile Info. (under Member Information)

• Some mail servers are picky about mass emailing, such that our ballot and other club email may be rejected. If you think this might be an issue, add this address to your contacts list: groupmessaging@memberleap.com  

Adding *@memberleap.com and *@grandclayarts.com is even better, if your email app will accept it.

• Check your spam. If you don't receive email from GCA that you think you should have, check your spam folder.  It's always a good idea to check it once in a while anyway.  I'm always surprised to find one or two perfectly legit emails in there!

 

If you have any concerns, contact me: webmaster@grandclayarts.com

The club has marked all the plastic molds in the back cupboards with blue painters tape. Please remove the tape when you use a piece. In the spring the molds will be reviewed.

Hello everyone,
It is so great to be back and to see so many new faces at the club and i look forward to getting to know everyone better as the season moves along.
My first few days have been busy getting most of your special orders together and my first trip to Marjon to see the shelves stocked up was a pleasant surprise. We had a few years during and after Covid that were a bit trying but it looks like things are slowly improving in stock and supply.  We are patiently waiting for RedStone clay as yet but it will return in the next 3 weeks for those who are asking about availability. Most other clays are in stock at the moment.  I have replenished our tool cabinet  but if there is any particular tool you might be interested in please place your order on the order sheet located on the pegboard by the glaze room.
The  studio will be very busy over the next couple of weeks as everyone returns. We also have 3 Market Sales and our Art Walk sale which keeps our artists very busy.  

(Please keep in mind that we have a 2 week shelf space limit for your lovely art work and the shelf monitoring has already begun.  There are a few projects that have been sitting on the shelves for well over a month at the moment. So if these are your pieces , we kindly ask that you take care of them as soon as possible. Thank you on behalf of your Club directors)

Once again, welcome back to all of our Snowbirds!
 

With many of our members returning after their summer elsewhere and those of us who remained in Surprise suffering from toasted grey matter, it is a good time to remind everyone of the process to follow when it becomes necessary to cancel your participation in a class.

 

1. Notify the instructor that you will be unable to attend the class.  Keep in mind that notification must be at least 7 days prior to the start date of the class to be eligible for a refund (unless you have a medical emergency).
2. Submit your Request for Reimbursement for Class Fee.  This is an interactive form available on the website.  Go to Member Menu>Engagement>Interactive Forms> Request for Reimbursement for Class Fee.
3. The refund check will be mailed to your address of record.

 

If a class must be canceled due to lack of registrations, illness of the instructor, or another club or studio issue that prevents the class from happening, you will be notified of the cancellation and your refund will be forthcoming.  You do not need to submit a request.

 

If you experience difficulty with any of the above, please notify us via email to education@grandclayarts.com.

 

 

 

Class/Event	Date	Time	Instructor
Basic Clay	11/7, 14, 18	3-6	Connie Johnson
Puzzle Pots	11/9	3-6	Patti Jones
Raku/Horsehair	11/12	8-11 AM	Diane Niehof
The Doctor Is In!	11/15	3-6	Diane Niehof
Basic Glazing	11/30	3-6	Connie Johnson
Raku/Horsehair Firing	12/3	8-11 AM	Diane Niehof
What is Naked Raku?	12/3	8-8:45 AM	Diane Niehof
Beginning Wheel	12/4, 5, 11 & 13	3-6	Pat O’Brien
Basic Clay	12/5, 12, 19	3-6	Connie Johnson
Welcome Back Potter!	12/6	4-8 PM	Diane & Trish
Sundancer Luminaria	12/7	6-10	Lynne Shanrock
Columns & Bottles	12/8, 15	3-6	Diane Niehof
Raku/Horsehair Firing	12/10	8-11	Diane Niehof
Carving SW Images	12/13, 20	3-6	Diane Niehof
One StepNaked Raku	12/17	8-11 AM	Diane Niehof
Basic Glazing	12/21	3-6	Connie Johnson
The Doctor Is In!	12/22	3-6	Diane Niehof
The Doctor Is In!	1/2/2024	3-6	Diane Niehof
Mask Making	1/3, 1/5	3-6	Diane Niehof
Puzzle Pots	1/4	3-6	Patti Jones
Raku/Horsehair Firing	1/7	8-11	Diane Niehof
Bucket Purse	1/8, 19, 29	3-6	Pat O’Brien
Throw/Aler./Carve	1/8, 10, 16, 18	6-9	Brian Marx
Basic Clay	1/9, 16, 23	3-6	Connie Johnson
The Doctor Is In!	1/10	3-6	Diane Niehof
Underglaze This!	1/11	3-6	Mary King
Textured Planter	1/11	6-9	Lynne Shanrock
Raku/Horsehair Firing	1/14	8-11 AM	Diane Niehof
Beginning Wheel	1/15, 17, 22, 24	3-6	Pat O’Brien
Carving SW Images	1/18, 25	3-6	Diane Niehof
Betwix & Between	1/23, 25, 29, 31	6-9	Brian Marx
Puff Pot	1/24	6-9	Lynne Shanrock
The Doctor Is In!	1/26	3-6	Diane Niehof
Alternative Fire Saggar	1.27 Prep  1/28 Fire	8-11	Diane Niehof
Basic Glazing	1/30	3-6	Connie Johnson
The Doctor Is In!	1-31	3-6	Diane Niehof

 

Please check Event Registration on our website for the most up-to-date information.  

If you are interested in a specific subject or project, please send an email to Education@grandclayarts.com.