NSAL meeting minutes for July:

The  special July NSAL meeting, organized as a 4 hour, multiple activity event, was held Sunday, July 21 at Tettegouche State Park in Lake County. The chosen location is roughly the halfway point between the North and the South ends of the Lake Superior North Shore, to encourage all members to consider attending and getting to know each other. It was scheduled for the Park's Board Room ($50 fee pd. by NSAL) at 10:00 a.m., rain or shine, and members were asked to register on NSAL's website.  Eight members registered. Attendees were invited to bring art tools and materials they no longer needed, priced for sale, or offered free. Members were also invited to use the park after the meeting if they wished to hike, do plein air painting, etc.

Attending members were Mary Bebie, Deb Birkeland, Marti Mullen, James and Lura Lee Ellis, and Maxene Linehan. Everyone arranged their art materials on tables provided in the boardroom for browsing later; it was a remarkably large, inviting, and varied selection. The meeting began in a circle configuration with introductions, Which were extended by asking each member to share at length events in their life that led them to creating art. It evolved into conversations about life's tragedies, its funny moments and  much more.  Questions by listeners drew out more, and those who brought recent artwork showed it, sometimes passing our electronic device photos around, and asked for feedback or explained more about how they worked in their chosen medium.   We ate our bag lunches and talked, then browsed each other's art materials displays at length and visited about how the materials were used, and made our selections or purchases.  

By the end of the meeting we agreed that we felt like close friends, and some expressed that we could learn more about art from each other and talked about possible follow-up activities. We all felt energized and supported in our art. 

We also felt that this type of meeting would benefit other members as well to create camaraderie and a supportive atmosphere in the organization that is difficult to get from zoom meetings. This could be done by members in their own locales with artists who live nearby, as well as choosing an interesting venue and modeling the meeting after this Tettegouche meeting. Questions other than the conversation starter we used could add variety to the discussion. Perhaps members should feel free to declutter their studios and bring their extra materials to in-person meetings anytime. From our conversation emerged other things that could be done in this type of longer, in person meeting, which could be held less often than monthly local meetings.

Respectfully submitted,

Maxene Linehan