The May 9, 2020, meeting of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild was held via Zoom. President Connie Farrell called the meeting to order. We had a total of 14 in attendance with some of those being out of state/country members who typically don’t get to participate. We had three guests, Debbie Jackson, Deb Hart, and Debbie’s friend, Dee.

The format was a little tricky, but several members did have items for Show and Tell, although we obviously couldn’t pass them around.

Debbie Jackson, who had been scheduled to be our guest artist for our annual retreat in April which had to be canceled due to the virus, offered to do our demo. She showed us many ways to use simple bullseye canes and gave several tips for doing so. We loved seeing all her wonderful pieces and were inspired to try incorporating her ideas into our own work. The demo was recorded and members who were unable to attend may contact Betty Bolerjack for the link to watch it.

The minutes from the March meeting were approved.  Betty agreed to record the minutes for the May meeting.

We don’t currently have a Vice-President so we are deciding on lessons/demos together for the next meeting. Deb Hart offered to do a demo for our June meeting before leaving. No one else was willing to give it a try, so Connie will contact her about that.

Lee Ann presented the treasurer’s report. We have 18 paid members. The report was approved.

Tom reported that nothing has been done with Bottles of Hope due to the pandemic.

Our webmaster, Betty Bolerjack has set up a Zoom account which she has offered for us to use during the pandemic and possibly even beyond to allow members to participate who are unable to do otherwise. We used Zoom to have a “Mini Virtual Retreat” for a few hours on the Saturday that we would have been at our annual Twisters Retreat. It was very successful which led to having the monthly meetings via Zoom until we can meet together again.

We still don’t have a permanent meeting place for when we are able to meet again. Connie has tried to contact the new Contemporary Arts Center, but they are not open due to the virus and she has not heard back. She has also contacted Hobby Lobby at I-40 and MacArthur about the use of their meeting room, but they are not currently scheduling. We will continue to meet via Zoom until other arrangements can be made. We also had a brief discussion about meeting in small satellite groups in addition to our regular monthly meetings.

Our June meeting will be held on the 13^th at 1:30 pm via Zoom.

Submitted by Betty Bolerjack

Meeting for Central Oklahoma polymer clay group

March 14 2020

Call to order

6 people members attending no visitors

Program today is by Betty Bolerjack: making roses

President report :  I have email arts Institute about renting room on an ongoing basic still waiting to hear back

Ask Angel to check on using Tinkers room

Ask Jane to check on Hobby Lobby in Moore

The May meeting after retreat will be at Bettys house, we will talk more about a new place.

Approved Minutes from last month (Feb) Jane first and Tom second all in Favor.

Vice Pres is Vacant we need a VICE Pres!!

April: retreat

May: finishing up on retreat projects

June: Tom Fairy wings

Still need a July project

Treasure report by LeeAnn Kelly    18 paid members  Betty first and Jane second all in favor  to approve

Bottle of Hope Tom will collect bottles after retreat to take treatment center

Nothing from Jane librarian, web master Betty

OLD business

New business  still looking for a place to meet

No announcements

No drawing today for gift bags waiting until after retreat Tom and Connie brought gift bags

Inchie in April at retreat

Submitted by Connie Farrell

Connie Farrell, our new president, called the February, 2020, meeting to order. The meeting took place at Betty Bolerjack’s house once again. Six members were present along with one visitor. Penni Jo, Lee Ann, Tom, and Jane brought items for Show and Tell.

Lee Ann taught us how to make molds of virtually any shape container which can then be made into a decorative polymer clay container by adding layers of clay to the inside and out of the mold along with any other embellishments desired.

The minutes for the January 11 meeting were approved. Tom made the motion and Lee Ann seconded. Our secretary is still not able to be with us, so Betty agreed to record the minutes this month. Katherine is unsure how much longer it will be before she can rejoin us. We need to find a new secretary. Any volunteers?

Penni Jo shared the info on programs for the next three months. Betty will teach how to make roses in March, April is our retreat, and we will have a “Let’s Finish It” time in May to finish any projects that we weren’t able to complete at our retreat or other projects that you would like to work on.

Lee Ann gave the Treasurer’s report. We have 16 paid members for 2020. Betty moved to accept the report and Penni Jo seconded. The Treasurer’s report was approved.

Jane brought the 2019 Polymer Journeys to be placed into the library. Polymer Arts Project – Organics has not yet arrived.

Tom reported that we have 18 registered for the retreat. Seven of those have not signed up for the classes. Angel has received some gifts from sponsors.  These include Basket Market and Tinker Federal Credit Union.

Connie discussed getting more exposure by doing demos at places like the Yukon Library as well as holding classes for the public at Hobby Lobby in Yukon. We will discuss this more in-depth after we again have a permanent place to meet.

The winners of our January drawing were Angel, Connie, and Tom. They will need to bring bags for our next drawing in March.

Our next meeting will be on March 14, 2020, at Betty’s home.

President Betty Bolerjack called the meeting to order. We met at her house for our January meeting and nine members were in attendance. Lori, Kathy, Penni Jo, Connie, and Betty brought items for Show and Tell.

Tom brought some small bottles for us to cover for Bottles of Hope and some wonderful ones were made! You can see a video of some of those in progress on our Facebook page here.

The minutes for December were approved. Penni Jo made the motion and Lori seconded. Since our secretary was not able to be with us, Penni Jo agreed to take the minutes this month and was helped by Connie. Betty agreed to write them up. Team effort!

Shirley was not available to update us on the upcoming programs, but Betty had the information. Lee Ann will be showing us how to make vase molds at our February meeting and Betty will teach us how to make roses in March. Our retreat is in April. The new VP will set the programs after that.

Lee Ann gave the Treasurer’s report. We ended the year with 26 paid members. We have 11 who have paid for 2020. Several of those paid at the meeting.

Jane gave an update on the Guild Library. The 2019 Polymer Journeys has arrived. Organics is on the way.

New officers were elected for 2020. The members Betty had contacted about holding an office declined which left us without a ballot. After much discussion and cajoling, Penni Jo offered to be Vice President if someone would take the job of President which Connie volunteered to do. Kathy made the nominations official and Angel seconded. Connie and Penni Jo were unanimously elected. Katherine had thought she would be back and would continue as secretary. No one has heard from her, so it was decided to wait on a decision for the position of secretary until the February meeting.

The rubric for State Fair judging was discussed and it was decided that we will get together with Chris Crossland at the Retreat to hammer that out.

Because of changes in Betty’s circumstances with New Day Church, it was decided that we will continue to meet at her house until we find out something about the new Arts Center. Other options for a meeting place were discussed. The Yukon Library is always a backup, but we can’t have our ovens there. Connie has checked into the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Building. There is a one-year waiting list to get a room there, but she will check into putting us on their list in case we can’t get back into the Arts Center. Betty will check to see what Bethany First Nazarene’s policy is for groups to meet there. Angel will check into the possibility of meeting at Tinker.

Tom addressed the need to work on the letters to request sponsors for donations for the Retreat. Angel has already contacted some. It was also discussed to get a UPS box at $30/month for the deliveries that will be arriving. Other options were discussed including deliveries to someone’s home who is home much of the time. Betty volunteered to use her address and it was agreed to by unanimous consent.

Betty showed the new website with the options for registering for Retreat. We will be using PayPal to process payments. Since we will be having to process payments for the rooms in addition to other Retreat items, we discussed whether we should charge extra to cover the PayPal fees. Penni Jo moved for the Guild to cover the fees and Angel seconded. Motion carried. Part of the issue with the website was not having the ability to put multiple options for the rooms in just two listings instead of needing to make a listing for each option, e.g. the number of people in a room. It would be $49/year for a plugin that will give the ability to choose how many in a room which will make it easier both for Betty and for those registering. Penni Jo moved to purchase the plugin. Connie seconded. Motion carried. It was decided that we would have a 30-day cutoff for the Early Bird price after we open Registration to the public. The member coupon will be good the entire time. Tom will send out emails to the members as soon as Betty can finish the website which will be within the next week.

Betty mentioned the need for a Publicity Person and offered to take on that job. She will set up a Facebook Group for the Guild, create events for meetings and the Retreat, and will do Lives from time to time to help promote the Guild. Connie will work with her on other ways to promote the Guild.

We held our bi-monthly drawing. Tom, Betty, and ?? provided bags. The winners were Angel, Connie, and Tom. They will need to bring bags for our next drawing in March.

Betty reminded everyone that has not paid their dues yet that they are due now.

Our next meeting will be on February 8, 2020, at Betty’s home.