WRABA,
First off, thanks to all of you for having faith in me and electing me President.
I look forward to the challenge of leading this great group. I won't be alone, we have a great group of Execs and board members. I firmly believe in supporting and empowering people when they have been given a particular responsibility, so don’t be surprised if you have a question for me and I direct you to the person in charge.
My main objective during my term as President will be to Upgrade the Education, Training and Activities offered to Club Members with skill levels above 0. The efforts we take to introduce Blacksmithing to the novice are commendable and I do not intend to reduce those efforts, however we (The Leadership) must also make sure that we offer value to those of moderate and advanced skill level, as well as the Professional Smiths. I am calling out to all of you to let me know directly what type of Classes, Workshops or Lectures you would like to see. What do you want to learn, or try, or see? Email me at: MichaelBarton@WRABA.com
We have an excellently talented smith, Patrick Quinn, lined up to demonstrate for Conference this year I am very excited, and I hope you are as well. His Sculpture is out of this world, and he will be sharing his process with us. If you want to see his work, you can follow @handforgedinVT on Instagram, visit www.PatrickJQuinn.com, or visit www.CenterforMetalArts.org.
Interest in our Guillotine Tool Workshop was immense, in a matter of days we filled all 23 available slots, I have had several people express interest in a second workshop. If you are interested in a Guillotine Tool Workshop let myself or a Board Member know, when interest gets around 10-15 people I will schedule. I apologize for the SNAFU with posting the workshop to Facebook only to moments later announce that it was full, as I mentioned interest came in fast, and that post went up slow. In future I will make sure that the Facebook groups are updated upon announcement of the events.
Keep your eyes peeled for official WRABA Emails, in December we passed a by-law authorizing E-Mail as an official communication method. We will do everything we can to make sure social media and the website are up to date, but E-Mail is official.
Remember: If you don’t have a pile of burnt, mangled, squished or generally messed up iron, you aren’t pushing yourself. My pile is probably bigger than it should be!
Thanks,
Michael Barton
