President Lynn Sures’ Letter on NAHP's response to COVID-19
We, individually, are finding ways to exercise our passion for papermaking in the face of the COVID-19 virus. At this point, most national organizations have canceled their 2020 conferences. In discussing our Conference/Annual Meeting, the board weighed currently available advice from public health experts and the needs of our membership. Your NAHP Board of Directors felt that our traditional annual gathering has been an irreplaceably vital source of energy, innovation, and friendship for us and for the field. We are committed to staying connected with each other while staying healthy. We are looking forward to our Paper Currents 2020 Virtual Conference to stay connected to our papermakers community. Read President Lynn Sures' Letter on COVID-19 to NAHP members below.
April 2020
NAHP President’s Letter from Lynn Sures to Membership of North American Hand Papermakers, formerly Friends of Dard Hunter
Dear fellow member of North American Hand Papermakers,
Welcome to our new look, as we launch the NAHP logo! I hope that this letter finds you, your family, and your friends safe and well. Social distancing has recently helped us learn new ways to make, teach, and study paper. Many of us are teaching studio art and papermaking online. Even at a distance, we still bring our passion. As our Executive Director, Paul Romaine, reminded me, “distance learning” dates back to written manuals, as well as twentieth century correspondence school classes. We, individually, are finding ways to exercise our passion for papermaking in the face of the COVID-19 virus.
At this point, most national organizations have canceled their 2020 conferences. In discussing our Conference/Annual Meeting, the board weighed currently available advice from public health experts and the needs of our membership. Your NAHP Board of Directors felt that our traditional annual gathering has been an irreplaceably vital source of energy, innovation, and friendship for us and for the field. We are committed to staying connected with each other while staying healthy. For this reason, after due deliberation, your Board has decided to host an entirely new kind of event for us. We are proud to announce that NAHP will hold a virtual conference in October 2020, accessible to all current members at no cost, to engage the widest possible audience.
Our Board has developed a three-year cycle of special exhibitions to accompany our conferences–the first in the new exhibition cycle was the Collegiate Paper Triennial in Philadelphia, 2019. The call for entries for the 2020 Juried Exhibition, the second in our cycle, will be announced shortly to non-student paper artists. A separate call for the Members’ exhibition will be issued in May. Both the 2020 Juried Exhibition and the 2020 Members' Exhibition will be hosted online with downloadable exhibition catalogues that can be freely accessed all around the world.
There are great possibilities inherent in hosting a conference online in 2020. Given the economic impact of the current moment on our members, we want the 2020 conference to be as available to everyone as possible, while offering a rich feast for mind and eye through new media. The usual processes for conference content will remain in place under the leadership of our Co-Vice Presidents for Annual Meetings. Much work has already been done in preparation for the conference, which we had all anticipated would be held face to face in Providence, RI.
The Board’s Conference 2020 plan:
1. Present our Anita Lynn Forgach Keynote Speech
2. Ensure that the first Elaine Koretsky Memorial Presentation occurs
3. Feature presenters offering lively and engaging panel discussions, talks and demos--and possibly a workshop
4. Offer events that permit discussion and interaction for all members
5. Hold our annual business meeting and elect new officers for the 2020-2022 Board of Directors
6. Showcase products created and designed by members in a trade fair
7. Conduct the annual silent auction, the source of our generous scholarships, and offer Keepsakes as a way to share samples of our work with each other
8. We on the Board are currently familiarizing ourselves with the platforms used by museums and industry to successfully hold large and inclusive virtual meetings.
A revised Call for Proposals will be sent out soon, and we invite your creative ideas to capitalize on reaching not only our current membership but also a much larger virtual audience of papermakers through digital technology. See you online soon!
Yours sincerely, Lynn Sures President, North American Hand Papermakers
Email: nahandpapermakers@gmail.com
www.northamericanhandpapermakers.org
