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Membership
Application
History of EAFA
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EAFA can help
you meet your artistic goals -- whether you are a professional seeking
to network with other artists, an amateur seeking opportunities to learn,
or a supporter seeking to expand the role of art in your community. The
Eastside Association of Fine Arts has been a vital part of the Puget Sound
art community since its founding in 1975 and has grown into an important
resource for artists in this region and beyond. EAFA members work in all media and enjoy many excellent opportunities
for education, exhibition, and interaction.
For membership information, contact Membership Chair
Marcia Broderick
marcia@rarified.com
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In 1975, EAFA was founded by six local artists: Miriam Lansdon, Deanna Morgan, Sibylle Pearsall, Joy Iverson, Margaret Dragseth and Jean Ryan. The early meetings were attended by an average of 25 people. In 1976 the first exhibition was held at Bellevue Community College. The Eastside Association of Fine Arts (EAFA) is a volunteer-managed, non-profit visual arts organization that has served artists and communities in the Puget Sound region for the past 31 years.
EAFA’s mission and purposes, as stated in its Constitution Bylaws, are to:
A. Promote, encourage and educate its members and the public in art appreciation;
B. Promote public appreciation in creative art;
C. Sponsor and provide programs for art education and artistic improvement of its members and the community;
D. Initiate, promote and participate in charitable projects;
E. Conduct these activities with the goal of providing opportunities for the display of art work;
F. Perpetuate good fellowship among its members, to encourage and assist other art groups, and to maintain the highest standards in relations with the public; and
G. Have and exercise all powers necessary or convenient to affect any or all of the aforesaid purposes.
EAFA received its 501c3 non-profit status from the Federal Internal Revenue Service in 1997. Its membership has increased from its original six local founding artists to nearly 350 amateur and professional painters, photographers, and sculptors. Its annual program of exhibitions, monthly demonstrations, lectures, and Public Art displays at Overlake Hospital and Urgent Care Center, Bellevue’s Regional Library and Newport Library, Redmond’s Old Schoolhouse Community Center and Bellevue’s Winters House has brought art experiences to the general public free of charge. EAFA networking between other art organizations and among its amateur and professional artists has contributed in major ways to the Region’s reputation as host to the large and growing number of high quality visual artists.
EAFA services are especially relevant to the generation of “baby-boomers” who may have had other careers and whose artistic expressions were put on hold as they attended school, worked, and raised families. EAFA now provides a forum and means for new artists for connecting with supportive artistic outlets and resources.
The EAFA Board of Directors consists of elected officers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer and approximately 15 other volunteers who have program responsibilities, including exhibition chairs, newsletter editor, program chair, volunteer coordinator, Public Art committee chair, Digital Committee chair, among others. A complete Directory of officers and Board members can be made available under separate cover.
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Featured Volunteer:
May 2010
Lucille Berkowitz
Lucille Berkowitz, EAFA Nominating Chairperson, was reluctant to be interviewed for the newsletter. Remembering her pleasure at receiving "Yeses" when she solicited our Editor, Program Chairman, Bulk Mailing chaps, VP, Greeter, Historian and other volunteers, she graciously said "Yes" to me when I asked.
In her youth, Lucille had no exposure to museums or galleries until an artist employed by the WPA taught art at her school. Then she proceeded to quietly do her own thing at home. Her first still life was of a ketchup bottle in the kitchen, probably using poster paint on cardboard. As a teenager in Sioux City, Iowa, she had to produce her mother’s signature in order to join a male nude life drawing class. (Back then modesty required the models to wear jock straps!) As a dancer, she tried to paint ballet figures and a few of her efforts (which she described as pathetic) were displayed at recitals.
Never one to sit on her hands, she worked as secretary, married and served as Program Chairman for an art group in the San Fernando Valley. She has published a few poems and was paid seventy-five dollars for a magazine article. In addition, her alma mater, Morningside College, accepted thirteen of her paintings for their permanent collection.
All her life, Lucille has been a voracious reader and in the past played tennis with the energy which she gives to whatever she undertakes. She describes her association with EAFA as gratifying. The meetings, the company of other artists and working behind the scenes with the Board have been wonderfully stimulating. When a call goes out for Volunteers, she urges all the members to come forward, to say "Yes" and enjoy the same satisfaction that Lucille has found. Her credo in life is "Just Do It!" and we’re very glad she does.
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