BWS Highlights Newsletter • June 2024

President’s Palette

June brings us more sunlight each day! It is wonderful. We can see the world in more detail and enjoy a vast array of color in nature that does not exist during the long winter months. As primarily a landscape artist, I enjoy painting moonlit, dark, long shadows with midnight blue skies but each spring everything re-awakens and begs to be painted. Sunlight reflecting off of glass windows, and sparkling on the tops of waves as they roll into the shoreline are beautiful things to capture in watercolor. Reflections would not exist at all without this light!

I am looking forward to following the sunlight when I travel across the Atlantic this month to again view the John Singer Sargent Exhibition at the Tate Britian, “Sargent and Fashion”. I traveled to Boston to see this exhibition last winter. It will be exciting to see how the museum curator presents the collection in a different venue. An added bonus is the inclusion of “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”. This painting did not travel to Boston. But “Madame X” who was in Boston will be making her appearance once again. It is always a good day to visit with her! Many workshops and classes were created at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to encourage a larger audience of all ages. We will be doing some of these same things in our future exhibitions to increase art exposure that enriches all of our lives.

The trip will not be complete without seeing paintings done by the original watercolor “Painter of light” J.M.W. Turner. Follow the light, enjoy the process, share it with others!

Keep painting!

BWS President

Seeking Help from Writers and Proofreaders

It is said that “many hands make light work”. BWS is forming a Committee of Writers and Proofreaders to support various tasks done by the Board of Governors to improve what we create. Our goal is to have a large pool of volunteers so no one person is constantly being asked for help. Instead, we’d rotate through the volunteers throughout the year.

Examples of tasks where this committee could be asked to help include:
• Final Proofreading and Editing of the BWS Highlights Newsletter
• Drafting, editing and proofreading of emails and communications to the BWS membership
• Adding captions (e.g., Artist name, Title, Size) to online exhibitions

Training will be provided in the use of Word, Pages, and other tools needed for these tasks.

The BWS Bylaws were modified last year to require members seeking the (dues-free) Life Status, including Associate members, to build a record of volunteer work for BWS. Here is a great way to do just that in support of your Baltimore Watercolor Society.

If you are interested in participating on this committee, please contact bwsocietytreasurer@gmail.com, and please let us know if there are particular types of tasks you would most like to be involved with.

How Many Annual Exhibitions has the Baltimore Watercolor Society held?
by Jim Sandford, BWS Mid-Atlantic Exhibition Chair

In previous articles we’ve noted that the Baltimore Water Color Club (BWCC), the precursor to today’s Baltimore Watercolor Society (BWS), held its first annual exhibition in 1897 and, with the exception of an interruption from 1942 to 1947 due to World War II, shows were held most years through 1968 when its “64th Annual Exhibition” was held.

In 1976 the BWCC renamed itself to The Baltimore Watercolor Society (BWS), as it remains today. In that year, the group also began a new exhibition counting system. The name of the exhibition varied over the next few years, but the 1983 exhibition used the terminology we know today: “BWS presents [the] Eighth Annual Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition”. The upcoming 2024 exhibition will be exhibition number 49 since BWCC became BWS.

The in-between years of 1969-1975 are perhaps the most problematic to account for. From newspaper archives we know that BWCC sponsored five exhibitions entitled “All Maryland Exhibition” in the years 1971 through 1975. Although BWCC held exhibitions of members’ works in 1969 and 1970, none of these exhibitions seem to be on the level of the Mid-Atlantic or earlier regional exhibitions.

So my answer to the “how many annual exhibitions?” question is: 64 (officially numbered BWCC exhibitions) + 5 (in-between All Maryland exhibitions) + 48 (BWS exhibitions) = 117 total exhibitions, with the upcoming 2024 exhibition being number 118.

Some of the most popular repeated exhibition venues have been:

• The Peabody Art Gallery in the early 1920s
• The Baltimore Museum of Art (soon after it’s opening) between 1925 and 1961 (excepting the war years)
• MICA in 1962, 1964, and 1965
• The WCBM Gallery (At 2610 North Charles Street where WYPR is today) in 1966-1968
• The JHU Turner Auditorium (soon after it’s opening) most years between 1971 and 1997
• Strathmore between 1998 and 2011
• Blackrock between 2015 and 2019

You are invited to be a part of the deep history of BWCC/BWS exhibitions by submitting your work for consideration to the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition which will run October 11, 2024 through January 5, 2025 at the Arts Barn and Kentlands Mansion Galleries in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Russell Jewell (AWS, NWS, TWSA, ED.D) will be this year’s juror and workshop instructor.

The CaFÉ (Call for Entry) system will be open for applications from June 7 through August 7, 2024. Applicants may submit one or two paintings, of which one may be selected for the exhibition. A detailed exhibition prospectus and other information is available on the Mid-Atlantic web page https://bws.wildapricot.org/page-1856630.

Frequent Errors Found in Applications to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition
by Jim Sandford, BWS Mid-Atlantic Exhibition Chair

Applications to the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition will be accepted in CaFÉ between June 7 and August 7, 2024. There are a number of common errors that come up in submitted applications. I will do my best to fix any problems, particularly once paintings have been selected by the juror, but being aware of these may help you avoid getting into a fight with your computer or getting more notes from me than you really wanted to see.

1. Don’t get confused by the two step CaFÉ process. Step 1 is putting your painting images and information into your CaFÉ portfolio. Step 2 is completing your Mid-Atlantic application, including selecting one or two paintings from your portfolio to submit. Starting Step 2 before you have Step 1 completely squared-away is an invitation for trouble. For artists who apply to a lot of shows from a large portfolio this is probably a more understandable process than for artists who just want to submit one application to the Mid-Atlantic, but that’s the way it works. In any case, I’m happy to help technologically-challenged artists get through the process, so please don’t hesitate to ask.
2. Pay close attention to the exact title of your painting. Capitalization, spelling, sometimes punctuation are all important. Please imagine exactly what you type appearing on a label under your displayed painting and make sure it is exactly what you want.
3. I am particularly careful to include foreign language accent marks on painting and artist names, so don’t be afraid to put them in your application exactly as you want them.
4. In cases where artists’ names have changed I understand that your CaFÉ account may not have your name the way you currently want it and CaFÉ doesn’t make it easy to change, so, of course, send me a note and I’ll fix it before the exhibition opens.
5. All works must be for sale. Placing an unreasonably high price on a painting to discourage its sale is not permitted. Yes, this is a subjective question but on occasion a really high price may trigger a discussion.
6. Make sure that, when framed, your work will expose no less than 10 inches inside the mat, and frame size will not exceed 48 inches in either dimension. This rule is strictly enforced at painting drop-off and has resulted in works being disqualified.
7. The coupon code for members to use to receive the discounted application fee will be sent via email around June 7, the day that CaFÉ opens for applications. It is important that members use the coupon code at checkout to avoid being charged the $45 non-member application fee instead of the $30 fee for members. While it is true that the application form asks you if you are a member, this information is not automatically applied at checkout (because that’s how CaFÉ works). Many of you missed this last year so paid more than you needed to (my sincere thank-you for the additional contributions to BWS). We will not be able to give refunds to members who pay the higher entry fee because they don’t use the coupon code. For non-members who choose to join at the last minute, no problem, just contact me for the coupon code prior to submitting the application.

I invite you to contact us at midatlanticexhibit@baltimorewatercolorsociety.org with any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to seeing your submissions to the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition.

All images are the property of the artists and protected by copyright. No image can be used without the written permission of the artist.

Membership

Welcome New Associate Members

Skip Lawrence, Mount Airy, MD
Skip died January 13, 2024. He is best remembered through his own words on his website: https://skiplawrence.com/about

Save the Date!

September 23rd, 2024
BWS Annual Luncheon with En Plein Air opportunities
Washington Grove, MD

Other Organizations’ “Call for Entries”

The New Orleans Art Association
25th National Juried Show
October 9 – November 2, 2024
New Orleans, LA
Application deadline: July 31, 2024
https://showsubmit.com/show/noaa-25th-national-juried-art-show