Thursday, September 20, 2012

As Club members prepare to meet in Corning, New York for our annual Symposium, Director of the Club, Vivienne Richards of Port Perry, Ontario, Canada sent her view and vision of the Club to her fellow directors. This is triggered by the fact that Vivienne has served a very effective four years as a director. We have term limits, so her formal service comes to an end. Because her message is so well stated and says so much about the Club I think it is well worth while sharing with Gazette subscribers.

Hello Board President and Members,

On the eve of our 2012 Symposium and my last couple of days as a Carder Club Director, I would like to express my satisfaction and pride at what we have accomplished during my time on the Board.

Our Club saw its share of challenges, which we overcame without incurring any lasting effects.

The website is elegant, easy and useful, and best of all, always kept current and interesting. The integration of Alan’s blog into archivable and searchable documents is excellent.

Board members have solidified our relationship with CMOG and have done valuable research on previously unexplored Carder drawings and documents.

We have put on some of the best symposia ever, increased membership and made much appreciated donations to museums and projects.

The Club has been well run, the meetings well managed and properly documented. The book-keeping has been accurate.

My contribution was implementing the vetting process for website photos. The no compromise, full consensus review was, I believe, necessary to get us through an initial period of critical scrutiny when the procedure was introduced. Now perhaps, it is time for my replacement on the Board to look at a more flexible process – not necessarily faster, but giving more weight to expert opinions and possibly involving more members at large. Some caution is needed – the Whitefriars Glass Club had to discontinue its member-rating of photos due to extreme spamming. I have asked Lon if he will continue to provide review comments and my replacement could follow up on this.

I am still pitching for inclusion of modern Steuben in our club. It is a fine heritage of internationally recognized American glass making which probably won’t be seen again, at least not on a factory scale, and it is Carder’s legacy. I collect Carder colored glass and always will. However one of my favorite pieces of Steuben is my Droplet Plate. It is elegant, functional, and exquisitely beautiful. Yet I cannot look up the designer, date and details on a website. I have not heard any valid reasons for excluding modern Steuben from my fellow Board members – lots of groans and grumbles but no substantive or well documented reasons to exclude. I hope that my replacement on the Board can take another look at this.

Guys, you have been great. I have always been treated respectfully and fairly as a Board Member and I know you will continue doing your good work. I am available to volunteer for individual projects as needed.

Let’s have a great Symposium, and I look forward to seeing you all this weekend.

Vivienne

www.cardersteubenclub.org

Any opinions expressed by participants to the Gazette e-mail newsletters are the opinions of the authors and are not endorsed by or the opinions of the Carder Steuben Club.

2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.