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Top 10 Reasons to be a member of WiVLA
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- Exhibit your visual and literary work online in our virtual gallery.
- Read your work at WiVLA literary events.
- Exhibit your creative muse in art shows, collaborations, and performances.
- Opportunity to win an Education and Cultural Opportunity grant.
- Opportunity to share your accomplishments and feature your work in the monthly newsletter.
- Grow connections with other creatives.
- Receive discounts on workshops.
- Access online resources from WiVLA workshops and programs.
- Receive notices of national CFEs and other exhibitions/competitions.
- Participate in WiVLA Members private group on Facebook.
To renew your membership for 2021 please visit, www.wivla.org or click here.
WiVLA now accepts payments from Zelle! To send your renewal or new membership payment via Zelle use the email address treasurer@wivla.org To learn more about how to use Zelle, click here.
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Holiday Virtual Party
Tuesday, December 15
6:00 pm - 7:30pm
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Zoom Meeting Information
Due to security suggestions by Zoom, we will send out another email with the Zoom meeting information one day before the meeting, August 19th. Be certain to look for it. If you need the meeting code please send an email to newsletter@wivla.org to get the meeting code no later than 5:00 pm on August 20th.
If you need information on how to use Zoom prior to the meeting date please use the links below:
If you need to download Zoom, it's free: https://zoom.us/download
Here is the link to a video on how to join a meeting:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting |
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Holiday Haikus
To brighten the season, all WiVLA members (writers and visual artists) were invited to submit one or more December-themed haikus for the December newsletter. The themes but universal. May you be inspired and may the works bring comfort during a time of reflection. Many thanks to Leigh Owen and Margo Stutts Toombs for their work on our holiday haikus.
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Haikus, Copyright (c) 2020 Leigh Owen, Houston, Texas
Images created for newsletter by Hayley Kyle
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Eyeku, Copyright (c) 2020 Margo Stutts Toombs, Houston, Texas
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Haikus, Copyright (c) 2020 Sally Worthington, Houston, Texas
Images created for newsletter by Hayley Kyle
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Haikus, Copyright (c) 2020 Ellen Seaton, Houston, Texas
Images created for newsletter by Hayley Kyle
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Haiku, Copyright (c) 2020 Jo Zider, Houston, Texas
Images created for newsletter by Hayley Kyle
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Proposed By Law Changes for Review
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As a 501(c) (3) organization, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts operates within the guidelines of the Internal Revenue Service and our organization bylaws. We periodically review the bylaws to verify that they still meet our needs, and determine if changes in technology require some changes. During the most recent review, the Board agreed on the following changes to Article Five and Article Seven.
According to our bylaws, to change them, we must present the changes to the membership and then request a vote. In addition to this notice, these changes were presented to the members who attended the November 17 meeting. There being no objections prior to December 3, a survey will be sent to the membership that will request your ratification of these changes.
Article 5 provides an overview of the Board of Directors
The change to Article Five removes the limitation of a member serving more than four consecutive years on the board. Specifically, in the first paragraph, the fourth sentence, change the following sentence: “Directors can be elected to the Board for a maximum of four (4) consecutive years and a maximum of two (2) consecutive years in the same position.” to “Directors can be elected to the Board for a maximum of two (2) consecutive years in the same position.”
Article Seven describes some of the duties of the officers. The board is recommending changes to the duties of the president and treasurer.
The change to Article Seven removes the requirement of co-signing checks over $500 by the President and changes the date of an annual financial report to coincide with the calendar year.
- In the first paragraph, remove the following phrase: “and shall co-sign checks in amounts over $500 with the Treasurer.”
- In the sixth paragraph, change the following phrase: “shall co-sign checks in amounts over $500 with the President; and shall, at the first meeting after February 28, submit to the Board a complete set of the organization’s financial records.” To “and shall, at the first meeting after December 31, submit to the Board a complete set of the organization’s financial records.”
Watch your Inbox from Survey Monkey, which will enable you to ratify the proposed changes.
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ClayHouston has announced that their annual Bayou City Clay Crawl has now been moved to an all virtual experience. To support the members in our community and help make their event a success please share this information on your social media and consider shopping virtually for unique gifts for the holidays from their members. To learn more about the vendors, click here.
In addition they are also announcing that Empty Bowls will be available on many virtual artist websites, and you can also make a direct donation to Empty Bowls Houston by following this link https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/EBH2020 or text EBH2020 to 71777 (Msg & data rates may apply). Now more than ever, the Houston Food Bank needs our support.
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What you missed in October
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Resilience
WiVLA's annual November literary reading event
hosted by Ellen Seaton
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During the November membership meeting, we asked for essays and poems on the topic of “Resilience”. Since not everyone was available to attend the meeting, we have collected some of the ideas, suggestions and collective wisdom for the writers who read for us that night. Please enjoy the following and hopefully you will be as inspired as the rest of us were with the following:
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Celeste Budwit-Hunter:
A body, broken-hearted and longing for another, can rest
Held in the arms of Earth –
Breathing in as the Earth exhales,
Breathing out fresh air.
Kay McStay:
Enough weight to drown a sinking heart.
But the words on newsprint
Give me resilience,
Give me buoyancy,
Keep me afloat.
I have constructed a buoyant boat
From the thin newsprint
And the millions of words and
Thousands of pictures, charts, and graphs on it.
I’m afloat and sailing in
Deep facts, a stream of knowledge,
Bearing me along in the swift current of historic days
Denise Bossarte:
In honor of National Poetry Month, I committed to writing at least one poem a day. I recorded those poems and turned them into videos for Youtube. And then I self-published the poems on Amazon with an audiobook forthcoming. This creative work was the container in which I found sanctuary from the anxiety and stress of COVID-19 and the lockdown.
Varsha Shah:
Gratitude has become my most fulfilling and steady friend. It has become my rosary of the head and the heart. For things obvious to invisible like fresh air and inanimate objects such as a soap pad with foam. My own precious feet and round-the-clock waiters like the stove and frig in the kitchen, laptop and printer, internet and the smartphone.
Laughter and being child-like have so often lifted me out of doldrums. I act as if my arms are tree branches.
Nature has been my ultimate partner in resiliency. Stepping out onto the porch and backyard for sunrise and sunsets, running over to the park to clear my head. Silence and clarity of late night skies and viewing stars on the deck comfort me for a good night’s slumber.
Janet Ruffin:
look for tiny green leaves
crawling down an enclosed wall
where the sun can’t enter,
and your fingertips touch moist,
cool dew sitting on foliage in the dark.
Zita Giraldo:
Going there was more of a premeditated execution, rather than a sort of tight sequence of experiments where ideas evolve day to day, and the blank canvas is there to mess with;
Ellen Seaton:
Self-Isolation, Quarantine, Social Distancing and Global Pandemic.
These words were not part of my daily vocabulary last February. By the end of March, they consumed my world. These are crazy difficult times. Have I ever survived difficult times before? You bet I have. That doesn’t mean this is not still difficult, but I know I have some survival skills that I can pull from. The most important for me is a sense of humor. Then I combine that sense of humor with a wonderful network of friends and loved ones. These are the bits of glue that holds it all together for me.
Patricia Flaherty Pagan (writing from South Korea):
Trading comprehension and connection for safety, I forge a new lexicon. Guksabong, rising behind me like shield, ignites into gold and crimson as America burns. The characters on the mask-mandate signs, in the daily emergency warning texts, whirl before me. Bong, bong! The announcement from the intercom fills our shiny modern apartment full of someone else’s furniture. Words fall past me onto the heated floor. I do not understand.
Illiterate, I read the mountains. The air is cool and fresh on my forehead and arms. Remember when we could take deep breaths from open, free mouths? I climb high up the stone steps to the beacon.The network of old perches on jagged peaks was once home to sentinels ever watchful for the repeated Japanese invasions. Now we watch for the convergence of two worlds.
My loneliness is a luxury. The bath run Guksabong cuts behind the school children’s garden. Lopsided plants bathe in sunlight and children’s laughter. I think of then children in the cafeteria, behind their Plexiglas booths, smiling with their eyes. I think of them sitting far apart in the music room, banging on disinfected xylophones, happy to be out of the house. Butterflies alight. The trees breathe.
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If you missed the readings and would like to watch the recording you may do so via WiVLA's YouTube channel. Resilience Recording. To directly access specific readings, click Show More, and click on a time link.
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Denise Bossarte has several announcements:
1) Introduction to SoulCollage®: Artful Self-Expression Workshop, Denise will be a co-facilitator. Dates: February 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021 | 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Zoom. To learn more visit Unity Houston's website, click here.
2) Contemplative Photography Class, Facilitated by Denise Bossarte
Dates: 4-week course, March 6, 13, 20, and 27. Registration limited to 12 participants!
Contemplative Photography is a nourishing and enriching contemplative practice. It breaks you out of the normal bubbles of how you live. It is your entryway into a deeper realization of yourself. To learn more you may visit Unity Houston's website, click here.
3) Denise has a poem, Joy and Wonder, featured on episode 72, Cultivating Patience, of The Homecoming podcast with Dr. Thema. This is one of many poems Denise wrote during lockdown in April. To listen, click here.
4) During December 26-30, Denise will have a holiday sale on her kindle ebooks. This will include her poetry books as well as her fiction books. To check out the sale visit Denise's Amazon author site, click here.
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January -February Virtual Exhibit
Deadline: December 15
To apply for the 2021 exhibits you may complete the application located under the Resources tab on our website or by clicking here. Each exhibit will feature one visual artist and one literary member.
For further information on this new member perk please visit our website or click here.
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Valentines Limericks
Deadline: December 22
The newsletter will be accepting limericks for our January 2021 newsletter. Topics can range from Texas Day (Feb.1) to Love your pet day (Feb. 20) and of course, those love holidays: Galentine's day (Feb. 13), Valentine's Day(Feb. 14) and Anti-Valentines (Feb. 14). For more celebrations in the month of February you can check out the website National Day Calendar, click here.
Limerick, a popular form of short, humorous verse that is often nonsensical and frequently ribald. ... It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the dominant metre is anapestic, with two metrical feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. (Source).
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Call for Art: Soft: A Group Exhibition (ContraCommon - Austin)
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2021
Exhibition: April 19-May28, 2021
Application and further information: Click here.
ContraCommon announces a national call for entries for SOFT, a juried group exhibition to be held from April 19th to May 28th in conjunction with the West Austin Studio Tour. Open to all US residents working in any 2D or 3D media that involves fabric or fiber art--with particular attention to soft sculpture and installation. Only works completed within the past three years are eligible. Proposals for new works at the early stage of development are welcome, as long as the finished work is available for the drop-off period. Work will be selected by a jury of ContraCommon members.
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Open call for writers and artists - Sunspot Literary Journal (Online) (Hillsborough, NC)
"Sunspot Literary Journal is now open for the last quarterly edition of 2020. The journal is dedicated to amplifying diverse multinational voices. We offer an Editor’s Prize of $50 for the annual edition. Artwork selected for a cover will be paid $20.
All types of prose from flash fiction and poetry to stories and essays, including scripts and screenplays, are welcome. We also accept long-form, novelette, and novella length works up to 49,000 words. Poetry can be up to 1,250 lines. Translations welcome. Submission address: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit."
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We'd love to celebrate your good news. If you are interested in sharing, please send your items to newsletter@wivla.org. There is no deadline for this content. Thank you. |
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