The Struggle for Survival Part II (1990-1999)

     The December 21, 1993 minutes recorded the following:
     "Jurying Procedure: Several members felt that a more equitable system for jurying in prospective members would be to have a point system rather than a 'yes' or 'no' vote. John Dirks moved to have a 1-5 point voting procedure. A prospective member would have to receive an average of 4 points to be accepted as a member…. Nancy Livesay pointed to the fact that the by-laws state that a 2/3 vote is need to approve a new member. John amended his motion to a 6 point system with 4 points still be the criteria of acceptance. Earl seconded the amendment to the motion. This would be done on a trial basis for the January jurying. The vote was 4 to 2 in favor.

     The February 15, 1994 minutes recorded that there was an attempt made at updating the history.
     Studio visits continued in 1994 including Carol Leach, Carl & Mandara Provder, M. Sue Hiatt, and Ken & Stephanie Goldman.

     Here is the President's Message by M. Sue Hiatt form the March 1994 newsletter:
     "We saw the slides of the work Gerrit Greve juried into the LYCEUM SHOW, and it will be an excellent exhibition!! The quality is terrific, there is some 'cutting edge' work and Gerrit was extremely conscientious about his selections."


     The following is from the April 1994 newsletter:
ARTISTS GUILD IN ARTWALK!
     "The Artists Guild will be participating in Artwalk this year. Selected work from the Lyceum show will be moved to The Studio building at 2400 Kettner Blvd. Studio #236."

     The following is from the April 19, 1994 minutes:
     "New Business: Should the Guild consider members from across the boarder in Mexico?
Cova: Should the Guild be part of Cova?"

     The following was recorded in the May 17, 1994 minutes:
     "COVA: We may not become a part of COVA."

     Carl Provder resigned from the Guild in this letter he wished to have published in the Guild's newsletter, written on December 27, 1994:
     "I have been a member of the San Diego Artists Guild since I came to San Diego in 1974. I was not 'juried in' as the policy for membership at that time was one's resume and exhibition record.
     For many years, the emphasis of the Guild has been concerned with juried shows. Wee used to have non-juried shows also, which was more democratic since it could involve more people.
     Many competent professional artists I respect (in and out of the Guild) do not enter 'juried shows'/ I have not entered juried shows for twelve years, primarily because I want to put most of my energy into making art and I try to do better paintings than I have done before, not to make better paintings than someone else. We all know that the acceptance or rejection of 'professional artists' in a juried show depends upon the particular jurors taste. I also do not believe artists should pay money to audition….
     I am very fond of the people in the Guild, but the most involved people in the group are excited about competition, just like most 'non-professional' local art leagues in the area. In all good conscience I feel I can not stay on as a member of the Guild, if this is primarily what the group is concerned about…."

     Judith Jarcho, President of the Guild wrote this response on January 18, 1995:
     "Your correspondence was read and discussed at yesterdays Board of Directors meeting. The Board respects your thoughts regarding the 'jurying' process and we believe that most professions have some type of process to address professionalism within their chosen field of work. It is our understanding that the founding members of the Artists Guild also established a jurying process. They began by jurying members from two actual works of art. Through the years it has evolved from these actual works to the Artists professional standing in the art community…
     The Board remains open to suggestions and has responded to suggestions from members. The Lyceum Exhibition now has money awards, which for some members is important….
     In the next newsletter the 'jurying' of new members will be addressed. The Board wishes you would reconsider and remain a member. The Board will not include your letter in the Newsletter, but will mention your concerns."

     On January 16, 1995 Lenore Simon wrote this letter to Judith Jarcho and the Board of the Guild:
     "Congratulations on all your efforts of the past year. As we embark on another, I am taking a few moments to offer the following as a result of a recent conversation with Dorothy Annette, who shared with me her disappointment in not having been accepted into the Artists Guild…I recommend the prospective applicant be given an application form which contains the precise criteria that is required to become a member….
     Additionally, following the jurying process, I believe the receipt of a Summary Statement by the Jurying Chairman and/or Copies of Juror's recommendations might benefit anyone, who like Ms. Annette was not accepted. As an admirer of Ms. Annette's creative efforts as well as someone who appreciated her valuable contributions on behalf of her art colleagues, I am sensitive to her feelings of exclusion….
     I believe we would do a service to the potential members as well as our organization if we were to make clear what our qualifications are for consideration and what steps are necessary to make our application more acceptable should that applicant be faced with having to reapply."

     Judith Jarcho replied to Lenore on January 18, 1995:
     "Your letter was read at yesterdays board of directors meeting. In light of your concerns about the juring process for prospective members I have enclosed some documents that we feel makes the process as fair as possible…We vote secret ballot and there is no discussion of the artists.
     The board has talked about giving the rejected artist some comments, but whose comments. We feel the best advice is to keep working on your art and resubmit at a later time." (Note: Dorothy Annette reapplied in 2000 and was rejected again. After much discussion the author convinced her to reapply once more, since the Guild had reformed its exclusionary jurying system in 2002, and she reluctantly reapplied again. She was narrowly accepted, with the help of proxy votes, and went on to greatly benefit the Guild by working on its newly designed and improved newsletter, submitting her work for the Guild website, consenting to a published interview, creating and spearheading innumerable social art projects, and with her position as a Public Commissioner of the Arts in San Diego helped the Guild regain some of the luster in the community it had lost.)

     On March 18, 1995, the Guild presented The Art of the Book at the SDMA with several luminaries and special guest Harry Sternberg.
     The Guild celebrated San Diego's 200th anniversary with banners in rotunda sewn by Lilli Hill.
     In June 1995 the Guild was active with an Athenaeum & Guild show, the Lyceum Show with juror Martin Petersen, the Guild Days at the Del Fair, and Art Walk.
     Six current and past Presidents of the Guild participated in the Del Mar Celebration of the Arts.
     A meeting with Steve Brezzo, director was held on July 24, 1995, minutes were taken, and the following was recorded in them. The Guild discussed the biannual membership shows, an 80th anniversary Retrospective show for 1996. The director stated ONE show only and no retrospective. Reasons given were that the curators are not very supportive of the Guild. Nobody knows where the works of early Guild members are. (Note: Very simple easy research, conducted by the author, has uncovered hundreds of early Guild artists work.) Who would take the photographs? Jurying would be difficult. Looking for donors or sponsors for the 80th anniversary catalog would not be acceptable to the Museum Board because it would "spoil" donors for larger projects. David Kencik the Guild SDMA liaison, suggested a special SDMA 75th anniversary, which was also the Guild's 85th anniversary, exhibit. (Note: The Guild was totally omitted from all SDMA 75th anniversary programs and not even mentioned at the festivities.)

     The minutes of July 18, 1995 recorded the following:
     "Museum and the Internet: The Board would be interested in learning more about the museum's involvement on the Internet. For instance, whether the Artist Guild can also be listed and whether the listing will be written or actual art work of individual artists."

     Ilse Hable & Carol Leach, Co-Presidents of the Guild wrote a letter to Ms. Martha Shumaker, Special Events Coordinator of the San Diego Historical Society and Ms. Bonnie Hage, Director of the SDHS on September 28, 1995:
     "Subject: Juried Art Exhibition/San Diego Historical Society, Designer Showcase.
The Board of Directors of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild desires to secure space for a Juried Membership Exhibition to celebrate our 80th year of supporting the visual arts in our community. The ideal exhibition space would accommodate approximately sixty works of art, including some sculpture….
     The Artists Guild, established in 1915, is one of the founding committees of the Museum and is a non-profit organization. At this time we have not scheduled any exhibitions for the calendar year 1996. We are due to have a membership exhibition in the museum at the end of 1996, however this is not been scheduled in as yet and will not be an 80th celebration. We are also in the process of locating gallery space near the convention center, during the Republican Convention in August 1996, to give Guild Artists some national exposure. (Note: This attempt was unsuccessful.)
     In recent years, the Artists Guilds has held two exhibitions annually. One in the Museum and one in a venue outside of the Museum. We held the last four exhibitions outside of the museum at the Lyceum Theater, in Horton Plaza….
     The concept of combining our 80th exhibition celebration with the showcase leads to thoughts of a designer developing a gallery space with intriguing colors and modern lighting. We hope you will find this concept mutually beneficial for both organizations." (Note: this proposal did not succeed either.)

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