The PCA TX Annual Meeting weekend began on Friday, May 5 when members gathered for a festive dinner at Napa Flats Wood-Fired Kitchen in College Station, Texas. Everyone was looking forward to the paperweight exhibition at the Forsyth Galleries. Saturday morning, 17 members and 6 guests gathered in a meeting room on campus in Rudder Tower.
At 10:00 AM, President Mike Taylor called the meeting to order, welcoming Guest Dealer Ben Clark, Guest Artist Cathy Richardson, and Casey Eichhorn, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass.
President Taylor, a proud Aggie, gave a brief history of Texas A&M.
Treasurer Jan Whitley reported that the balance in the Sunny Lou Peer Memorial Scholarship Fund is $2,515.
Webmaster Sam Terry reported that he has updated links and that, in addition to a Scholarship Application for artists, a Grant Application for nonprofit organizations has also been posted on the website.
Elizabeth Appleby, Assistant Director of Art Galleries and Curator of the Forsyth Galleries presented a history of the Galleries which were established in 1989 as a museum to house the Bill (Class of ‘35) and Irma Runyon Art Collection. The Donald C. and Ruth C. Smith Paperweight Collection of about 300 pieces was given to the Galleries in 2001. The current exhibition has 150 on view. Art Elder commented that it is “the finest and largest of paperweight collections in a public museum west of the Mississippi.”
After the lunch break, Ben Clark presented three exciting videos, including one for a film about Paul Stankard. He also spoke about successful events to introduce paperweights to collectors in their 20s and 30s.
Cathy Richardson’s New Explorations and Variations on Golden Oldies presented “new work in the context of older work.” Her bouquet, coral reef, snowflake, and engraved paperweights all express her love of nature and wildlife.
Jenn Korolenko, Curator of Education and Public Programs for Texas A&M Art Galleries, spoke about materials and programming she used to introduce paperweights to children ages 5–12: a paperweight puzzle, a glass artist at work video, and a hands-on suncatcher workshop.
Casey Eichhorn spoke about their “kids design a paperweight” program which attracted abound 90 designs by children. Selected designs were then made into paperweights by David Graeber, Damon MacNaught, Cathy Richardson, Clinton Smith and Gordon Smith. The weights were exhibited for three months and then given to the young artists.
The remainder of the afternoon provided time for a leisurely visit to the Forsyth exhibition.
Members later gathered at Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen for a lively farewell dinner.
