February 2021

Feb 1

Written By WiVLA Houston

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Inspire. Promote. Collaborate. January 2021

Article header: (text on image) President's Message

Planning Ahead!

When I was a young girl, the Statler Brothers struck gold with “Flowers on the Wall.” My family didn’t listen to country music, but this song was a crossover hit—before crossover hit was a term. As a very young child, I had watched Captain Kangaroo, so I keyed in on the phrase “smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo.” The lyrics seemed funny to me, and I was an adult before I thought about it again or understood its lyrics.

I heard this song again recently, and this time “playing Solitaire till dawn with the deck of 51” struck a chord. As an only child, and long before computers, I played hours of Solitaire. I loved winning at that game, but more often than not, I lost. With Solitaire, winning has a lot to do with the hand you’re dealt and less about skill.

It seemed that we were dealt a bad hand during this past year, and perhaps for some of us, we were denied a full deck. In cards and life, we have to play the hand that we’re dealt. However, playing with a full deck doesn’t guarantee success.

Your board just finished the first planning session for 2021. The ideas were flowing and we’re committed to providing you with informative and engaging programs, as well as workshops to help you be more successful. Although it’s been only days since our Compassion Exhibition ended, we’re starting to plan for the 2022 Collaboration. However, you won’t have to wait until 2022 to show your stuff. Marie Casamayor-Harvey and Gladys Jones are planning for a 2021 exhibition, and Ellen Seaton and Gladys Mae Bullock are planning literary events. We’re also going to explore some opportunities for some in-person (outdoor) events. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear from you.

We’ve started a conversation with the leadership of ClayHouston to see if we can find common topics of interest for another series of workshops. Regardless of your hand, we want you to succeed. We’ll be sending another survey to collect your thoughts and suggestions.

We want WiVLA to be that place where you can learn to play that bad hand or try a new game that doesn’t require a full deck. For the record, my family played hundreds of hours of “Oh Hell,” which is usually played with fewer than 52 cards. The name seems appropriate for the season of COVID.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6DmeR9a6ig

- Melody -

The Statler Brothers - Flowers on the Wall

We are compiling a Membership Roster to go on our website and be accessible by other current WiVLA members only. Please take a moment to complete your registration, https://fs8.formsite.com/wivla/form3/index.html. If you choose NOT to participate, please show that as your choice on the form (so we don't keep trying to contact you for information!).

Magpies & Peacocks: Sustainable Fashion
presented by Ahshia Berry

February 16th

6:00pm - 7:30pm

Owners of Magpies & Peacocks wearing recycled blazers, facemask, and a t-shirt stating " Fashion is a force for good".

Ahshia Berry from Magpies & Peacocks will be talking about the mission and accomplishments of this non-profit organization, a leader in the sustainability and recycling movement.

Magpies & Peacocks, Inc., based in Houston, is the nation’s only 501(c)3 non-profit design house dedicated to the collection and sustainable reuse of post-consumer clothing. Scrap textiles and accessories are diverted from landfills in order to disrupt the cycle of waste in the fashion industry and mitigate its enormous environmental and social impact. They collaborate with a network of designers, makers, and artists to create unique upcycled products, provide a resource library of reusable material for the creative community, offer skill-building and sustainability education, and incubate circular fashion innovation. Their model rests on four pillars: Collaborate, Create, Educate and Invest.

Collaborate: Connecting local businesses, donors, artists, designers, and educators

Create: Producing up-cycled high quality, socially responsible products and solutions

Educate: Providing training, sustainability mentorship, raw materials, and support for emerging designers and makers

Invest: Supporting local grassroots organizations and community workforce development

Upcycled fabric clutches, various designs

By empowering emerging designers, they can promote arts education and build on the long-term platform needed to build the designers' careers. Providing post-consumer raw materials to colleges as part of their programs promotes sustainability, circular design, social responsibility, and ethical practice systemically, and offers a budget-friendly, creative solution to keeping fashion out of landfills. And by raising essential funding and supporting local grassroots causes, Magpies & Peacocks can invest back into their community with workforce equity and opportunity.

MAKR Collective
Empowering local survivors of Human Trafficking & Domestic Violence

As part of their upskilling program, Magpies & Peacocks (M&Ps) has partnered with the Houston Mayor’s Office of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence (MOHTDV) to launch the MAKR Collective - a formal program to provide survivors with the tools and skills to help them become successful independent makers, business entrepreneurs or to attain gainful employment. The MAKR Collective robustly addresses the social and economic hardship associated with gender-specific trauma, and it is the missing piece to a city’s services landscape for survivors. To learn more about the MAKR Collective, click here.

Meeting Schedule
6:00 - 6:15pm: Social Gathering.
6:15 - 6:30pm: WiVLA Updates/News from the board.
6:30 - 6:50pm: Presentation with speaker.
6:50 - 7:05pm: Questions & Comments.
7:05 - 7:30pm: Member news, Show & Share opportunity for members.
Each person is limited to 1.5 minutes, time permitting.

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, February 15. 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 February 16th.
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

Top 10 Reasons to be a WiVLA Member!

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.

Gladys Jones
February's Member Highlight

Gladys Jones knew at 12 years of age that she loved drawing; her favorite thing was the largest box of crayons you could get and poster board. In her early 20s, she started taking workshops and studying with various artists whose work and techniques were interesting. She became interested in abstract expression about 10 years ago. She uses acrylic, mixed media, and encaustic paints in her adventures of turning an idea into art. Gladys resides in Fort Bend County, Texas, and is a current member of our board serving as Visual Arts Co-Chair.

Instagram: Gladys Jones Art, @gladysjonesart
Email: gladys.jones.art@gmail.com
Facebook: Gladys Jones Art

Abstract painting in purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Forms are rectangular and circular with "arms" releasing dandelion puffs upward.

©2021, Gladys Jones, Houston, TX.
Compassion Rising: 30x40 Acrylic Mixed Media on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 2020 (on Exhibit in WiVLA's Compassion Exhibition).

Painting in contrasting colors of orange and blue. Imagery is a landscape with blue clouds in a red sky with mountains, and the sky reflecting in an orange lake. The foreground in purple.

An encaustic painting with dense white clouds concealing and revealing a purple mountain range with a pink sky.

An abstract painting that is composed of a background and foreground. Suggestions of a landscape with a horizon 1/3 from the bottom. The remainder is billowy clouds in hotpink, blue, teal and a small amount of orange.

An abstract painting whose primary subject is three dandelions on the left side. The seeds are releasing on the right side. The colors are blue dominating the background with some yellow-green in the stems and in atmospheric dust. A very textured painting with many layers/

January - February Online Exhibit

Members, Sally Worthington, Jo Zider, and Gretchen McDaniel are featured in the WiVLA virtual gallery show which will run from January to February. To view their exhibition please click here.

Sally Worthington, Artist's Statement:

Sally likes to explore the world in different media - sculpture, printmaking, collage, and paint. This Jurassic series is based on a visit to the Jurassic Coast in England, where she was raised. She was inspired by the story of Mary Anning who, though uneducated, spent her life discovering and annotating fossils along the Lyme Regis cliffs and discovered the first intact Plesiosaurus.

Jurassic Undersea III, Relief Print Collage, 11 x 14 inches, USD $350.00
©2021, Sally Worthington, Houston, TX

Gretchen McDaniel, Artist's Statement:

Gretchen McDaniel grew up in a Christian-like cult. Breaking free of that when she was 18, she has explored the concept of “truth” ever since. Gretchen was born in Houston and raised along the Texas Gulf Coast. Being the oldest of five children taught her leadership skills. She moved to Detroit on a whim and stayed there for eight years. Her discovery of Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” and Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry Murals” showed her the power of art in making a statement. Gretchen is focused on bringing about world peace through her art and spreading love wherever she goes.

Excerpt from Compassion I
©2021, Gretchen McDaniel, Houston, TX

Jo Zider's Artist's Statement:

Jo Zider’s Relic series started as a commission for a piece of garden sculpture that would inspire meditation and upon which one’s attention could be focused. The form rises as a mountain yet exhibits the outer strength and mechanism of a high-rise man-made structure. The surface is a lichen glaze, red, from matte to glossy, reflecting the centuries of exposure to the earth’s atmosphere. The outward appearance draws one in to examine its crevices and contemplate the forces which have acted upon it. One piece from the series was selected to be presented to the CEO of the Hitachi Corporation in Tokyo, Japan.

On Tuesday, January 19th, WiVLA welcomed Fern Brady, Founder & CEO of Inklings Publishing. She discussed how to generate ideas to jumpstart our creative process by revisiting floorplans from our past experiences. Throughout the workshop, Fern spoke about her own passion for saving floor plans of places she has visited. She then led WiVLA members through several exercises intended to act as springboards to generate new ideas. Several members shared their drawings and writings that they created during the evening. To view this meeting, you may visit the WiVLA YouTube channel or click here.

Image from Zoom meeting showing multiple members participating in the virtual meeting.

Janet Ruffin's poem “Goodbye” is one of the featured poems on the website “The Healers Burden” for January 2021. This poem is from her unpublished Book “Swimming In Empty,” which is her artistic response to the lived daily moments she encountered working in pediatrics in a cancer hospital’s environment as an art teacher.
The Healer’s Burden is a website established to help continue the conversation on professional grief. To read the poem, it is located on the website, http://healersburden.com, under the tab titled FEATURED or you may click here to reach the poem on the site.

Janet Ruffin's art piece “White Buffalo Woman” is in a virtual International Exhibit out of New Zealand call ART>70. This is a show of work done by artists 70 years or older.
The Virtual Tart website is https://tart.co.nz/exhibit2.htm. I am in room 2, but be sure to visit all the rooms. The art is exceptional.

Amanda Wenger wrote in to let us know that she was recently selected as a Writers’ League of Texas Fellow and a FORGE Fellow.

Section Header (image text) Opportunities for WiVLA Members

A visual member is needed for March - April Virtual Exhibit
Deadline: February 15

To apply for the remaining 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.

Artist Residencies:

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft - Deadline - March 1, 2021. The application for the 2021-2022 artist residency cycle is open from January 1 – March 1, 2021. This year, there is no application fee!
APPLY HERE.
To learn more about the residency, please visit HCCC's website or click here.

Open Call for Visual Artists:

Virtual Vendor & Virtual Demonstrators: Deadline, Feb 15. Midtown Art in the Park will be a virtual event in 2021. This event hosted and underwritten by the Cultural Arts and Entertainment Committee of Midtown Houston. The area is known for its many attractions, including picturesque park spaces, long-standing arts organizations, national award-winning public art, and is a State of Texas designated Cultural Arts & Entertainment District. 2021 event theme Art is still in our heart.

Call for Artists: Deadline: March 1. The 36th 2021 Texas & Neighbors Regional Art Exhibition is open to all artists 18 and older living in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Sponsored by the Irving Art Association and the Irving Arts Center, it will be on display at the Center from May 15 – June 12, 2021. For the Prospectus, click her e. For more see the website: TexasAndNeighbors.com.

The Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston (IHCH), a non-profit organization founded in 1965, is one of the oldest Hispanic organizations in the city of Houston. This year the Institute invites local artists to participate in the selection of annual exhibitions at the IHCH gallery located in the Upper Kirby District. This year the selection of the exhibition proposals will be juried by the artist Pablo Bobbio.  The deadline to submit an application proposal is APRIL 4, 2021. To learn more about the application process please visit IHCH's website or click here.

The Breast Show II, Deadline June 1, 2021. Echo Gallery in Johnson City, Texas, invites artists of all visual media residing in the United States to enter its juried art exhibition: The Breast Show II, the art exhibition is open to all visual mediums and aesthetic directions. A percentage of the proceeds are going to the La Leche League and other organizations that promote breastfeeding. Elyse Gonzales will serve as the juror for this art exhibition. She is currently Director of the contemporary art center Ruby City in San Antonio, having formerly served as the Acting Director of the Art, Design, and Architecture (AD&A) Museum at the University of California in Santa Barbara. To learn more click here.

Image: Inklings Publishing is accepting manuscript submissions starting on May 1, 2021 - June 30, 2021. www.inklingspublishing.com

Open call for writers: Find new writing opportunities

Poet Laureate for the City of Houston (Deadline, Feb. 25, 2021) The Houston Poet Laureate Program (HPLP) celebrates Houston’s rich culture and diversity through the work of a poet who will represent Houston by creating excitement about poetry through outreach, programs, teaching, and written work. The current term will commence in April 2021 and expire in April 2023. To learn more click here or visit the website for the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs.

Spider Road Press has announced a new contest, The 2021 Web Microfiction Prize for Women Writers. Contest entries will be accepted from February 1, 2021, to May 1, 2021. The theme for this year's contest is metamorphosis. Word Count: 20 to 100 words. First Prize: $150 USD and publication on the SRP website. Judge: Award-winning speculative fiction author and writing instructor Jae Mazer. To learn more please click here or visit www.spiderroadpress.com.

Atmosphere Press is currently seeking submissions of full-length book manuscripts in all genres - from poetry to fiction to memoir and beyond. There is no reading fee. To learn more click here or visit www.atmospherepress.com.

New Rivers Press: Experimental/short nonfiction call - submit manuscripts of creative nonfiction, essays, experimental, mixed-genre, and multi-genre work between 70 and 120 pages in length, May 1-June 30, 2021. There is an $8.00 reading fee. Selected manuscripts receive publication contract and 25 author copies. To learn more, click here or visit www.newriverspress.com. They are also accepting General submissions March 1-31, 2021.

The Medical Literary Messenger seeks thought-provoking poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art related to medicine, illness, and the body. Online submissions are free and accepted on a rolling basis. To learn more click here or visit www.med-lit.vcu.edu

Ad for workshop, Writing in Color. Information for workshop is below the image in text.

D. Marie Prokop, an Editorial Consultant at Spider Road Press, wrote into the WiVLA newsletter to promote the workshop, Writing In Color: Using Ekphrastic Tools to Write Vivid Fiction & Memoir. The virtual workshop will take place on March 9 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm CST. To learn more or to register click here or visit www.spiderroadpress.com.

Image - GIF that is a section header for the new Technology Tidbit section

Google Maps will soon be releasing information on where to locate COVID-19 vaccines in our area. To turn on this feature on your mobile device simply follow the below steps.

Turn on the COVID-19 layer

You can view COVID-19 related information as a layer in Google Maps.

On your mobile device, open Google Maps.
At the top, tap Layers COVID-19 info.

Original Source: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/9795160?hl=en

For news stories related to this new Technology Tidbit please see the links provided below:
1) Google Press Release: https://blog.google/technology/health/vaccines-how-were-helping
2) CNN - https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/tech/covid-vaccine-google-maps/index.html
3) ARS Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/01/google-maps-will-soon-show-covid-vaccine-locations/

Article header: (text on image) Keep in Touch

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.