Inside the Tempe Artists Guild

Tempe Artist Guild member Anshu Priya took this screenshot of the Guild’s January, 2023 evening meeting.  As you can surmise from this photo, we had a great time.  Artist Sandra Bacon was our guest.  Sandra is an expert on acrylic paints and ways to increase their range with grounds, media, and other materials.  She is based in Chicago, so Zoom was essential.  It’s also convenient for members like Ted Yao, who live in far away Sun City, and for folks who don’t like to drive at night.  Zoom took us through the Covid crisis and remains an essential part of our organization.  TAG members enjoy in-person gatherings too – workshops, receptions to kick off exhibits, and most recently, selling art in teams of two or three at a Christmas celebration in Tempe.  All these activities are designed to encourage art making and to share what we do with the community.

TAG benefits from an active membership that supports each other.  It also benefits from a strong leadership structure, with a team of two secretaries, Gabrielle Theilmann and John Mainieri, who keep careful track of what we do and plan to do.  Our treasurer, Rosemarie Orlick, pays our expenses and keeps us right with the state, who is curious every year about our nonprofit status.  Vice president Debbie Erickson has the sometimes-challenging responsibility to consider, invite, and sometimes track down, the artists who are our speakers and workshop leaders.  Other important supporters are Doralee Ewing, who has taken major responsibility for exhibits and making our events successful and Sue Norton-Scott, who has been an invaluable help in writing grants, keeping the excellent web page in order, figuring out logistics, and gently reminding me of important issues.  Other members assist in outreach to memory care patients and schools and in suggesting artists who might be interesting speakers, securing venues for exhibits and meetings, and suggesting ways to help TAG thrive.  My job is to follow the footsteps of our past president, Janet Fagan, who remains an important part of the executive team.

If you happen to find this blog, check out the others in this section to get an idea of some of TAG’s non-meeting activities.  And, if you haven’t already, join the Tempe Artists Guild!