July 27, 2011 Meeting minutes

Members in attendance- Cathy Cunningham, Jay Dryan, Linda Dumich, Jeri Lake, Crystal Radnitzer, Stephanie Sopka (new member), Paul Southwood, Andrea Walker (new member), Amber Woolsey.

Officers reports:

Secretary- No minutes available from previous meeting held on June 1, 2011. Treasurer- report on line. Budget is running close with decreased sales at this year's Taste of Champaign. Discussion followed related to options of pursuing increased membership or more sales options. Membership- There are currently 34 members. We have been running between 34 and 40 members this year. Fall fees due at next month's meeting! REMINDER to members that each session's fees are due at the meeting one month before the session begins (December, April, August meetings) and late fees apply after that meeting date for a 14 day period, after which you are removed from the member list if payment has not been received. This allows the membership chair to have a completed member list prepared for the first meeting of each term.

MEMBERSHIP FORMS WITH SIGNED WAIVER MUST BE TURNED IN FOR EACH SESSION DURING WHICH YOU ARE A MEMBER, ALONG WITH YOUR CHECK FOR $120.00 AND THESE MUST BE GIVEN TO CRYSTAL RADNITZER, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, ONLY!!! If you give your check to anyone else, Crystal can not maintain complete membership records. You may get forms and checks to her in 3 ways:

---Mail to Crystal"s home address. (given on the membership forms.) ---Turn in at the membership meeting. ---Leave in drop box at the studio PRIOR to the meeting when the forms are due.

Standing committees:

Membership- Currently 39 members. List will be available after all member data checked for accuracy. Membership form will be revised by next session to simplify renewal when no change in member information.

Glaze- Bev absent. Report received post meeting: Current glazes are being maintained. 50# of Wollonstanite is needed and can be picked up at Great Lakes Clay Co. in Chicago or Krueger's in St. Louis. If anyone is going to be near either of these, please contact Bev about picking up this order. Also Tin Oxide will need to be ordered soon at a cost of about $126.00.

Firing- - Members will notice the addition of fans around the kiln to help protect the control box from excess heat. Shelf warping is beginning to be a problem again so the firing committee plans to discontinue use of kiln wash on shelves and fire pieces on cookies instead, enabling shelves to be flipped to decrease warping. A glaze firing will be unloaded tomorrow.

Clay- Two new members, Jodi Birdwell and Abi Razo, have joined the clay committee. Deb Halle reports excellent support and flexibility of other members in getting clay committee work covered. THANKS to those members!!

Clean-up and maintenance - Continued problems with general maintenance of the studio. Problems also reported with the use of the Cink (apparently fondly known as "Fred"!) Cink has been recently repaired by Phil and Jay and is liable to damage if the water in it's system runs too high or low. PLEASE READ CINK DIRECTIONS BEFORE USING THIS EQUIPMENT AND CHECK WATER LEVEL CAREFULLY. IT IS A CLOSED SYSTEM SO WATER MUST GO OUT OF AND BACK INTO THE CINK IN NEAR EQUAL QUANTITIES. The directions describe where the water level should be.

Linda suggests that a whole club re-orientation to the studio may alleviate some problems with cleaning, proper placement of pieces and supplies and use of equipment. She has offered to work with other committee chairs to create an orientation check list and then lead re-orientation meetings in the studio for all members before the fall term begins on Sept. 28. She will have sign up times available at the Aug. 24 meeting. All members will be expected to attend a re-orientation session in an attempt to improve general workings of the studio. The check list can then be used to orient new members as they are added, ensuring that we all have the same information. IF YOU CAN NOT ATTEND THE AUGUST MEETING PLEASE CONTACT LINDA DUMICH TO SET UP A TIME FOR YOUR RE-ORIENTATION.

Website- Bev has cleaned up the web site and the Urbana Adult Ed class is now listed on the home page.

Sales - Rashmi and Deepa absent. Discussion of possible sales opportunities and adjusting pricing to move pieces with differing levels of expertise.

President’s report

Rachel is out of town. Questions for Rachel: --- Do we have email addresses from the Taste for people who are interested in the club, in sales, or in the class?

--- Is there a final plan for guest use of studio and has the waiver been revised?

--- Open Studio events. Next one should be Aug 14. Was there to be on-line sign up for these and info about them on web site?

Old Business

- Update on Urbana Adult Ed class- Class preparation is completed and sign up through Urbana Adult Ed. will begin next month. The class will meet at the studio on Tuesday evenings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. starting Sept. 27, 2011 and ending Nov. 1, 2011.

-There has been no further discussion of individual sales. The group of interested members has not met. Other old business which could not be addressed without further information is listed under questions for Rachel.

New Business

-It was suggested that we begin looking into Holiday sales opportunities now. (Lincoln Square and/or other)

-Suggestion for orientation check list creation (this will be done as part of the re-orientation planning), and for more posted instruction/information in the studio to remind members of studio rules.

Next meeting: Wednesday August 24, 7 pm, Champaign Library Robeson Room C.