The Marquetry Society

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MARQUETARIANS
A few words from your President

Hi Folks,

Time seems to pass quickly these days, and it amazes me that it is now nearly three years since I was elected as your President after dear old Eddie Stevens' stint at the post reached its own 3 year conclusion.

As most of you probably know now, we lost our Eddie during the winter months of 2007, he is very sadly missed by all of us. Eddie was a true marquetarian right to the end, and even in that unfortunate year of 2007, Eddie was still producing marquetry of the very highest quality. A natural artist and a real gentleman of the old school was our Eddie.

I'm now happy to be able to tell you that we have recruited a most genial new Hon Secretary to our ranks. Many of you will have already seen his award winning marquetry works displayed in the Marquetarian and on this web site over the years and will have been suitably impressed. He is, of course, that brilliant maker of marquetry pictures and pieces, Neil Micklewright.

Neil has now comfortably settled into his new post and is tackling the tasks of Hon Sec with gusto and relish. So, if any of you have any questions or queries you'd like Neil to answer for you, his details are available on this web site on our "Contact Us" page, or further down this particular page. Do have a "chat" with him, I know he'd like to hear from you.

Our 2009 National Marquetry Exhibition hosted by the Meopham Group, was an undoubted success and helped to put the seal on the prominence marquetry is now achieving in the rarified world of the visual and tactile artistic disciplines.

The high quality of the 2009 exhibits has once again reached new heights and the clever use of the natural grain of the veneers always seems to amaze me with the invention our marquetarians appear to be able to conjure from such inert base material.

The personal visitor level to the 2009 National Exhibition exceeded our expectations once again, and, once more, as in 2008, the host group had to arrange for a further print run of the catalogues to satisfy the high demand.

Ernie Maxey
our President from
June 2007

Thanks must go to Peter, Gordon, Vaughan and the rest of the Meopham team for the superb work they put into the adminstration and hosting of the 2009 National, it was a faultless and superb effort on their behalf. Well done Meopham.

The "Presidents Choice" gallery was back again this year displaying eleven of my favourite pieces, with a special emphasis on miniature works. I hope you enjoyed my selection.

I must at this point make a special mention on the quality of the photography we are achieving these days when recording the exhibits for display in the Marquetarian and on this web site. I think you will agree with me that the reproduction of each exhibit is as near reality as is possible with today's technology.

Peter's specialised lighting rig and carefully angled and aligned display easel arrangements, along of course with his trusty Canon digital camera, ensures that we end up with a photographic record of each exhibit that is truly second to none. Do you know, I would swear that I can pick out every grain of the wood when I look at the full size photos, how can you beat that? I think it's marvellous!

As I said in my previous President's message, I think that exhibitions always bring pleasure to everyone. Especially for those who are for ever pushing marquetry to even greater heights. So keep up the good work all of you!

Happy cutting. Bye

Ernie Maxey, President

MEMBERS OF THE MARQUETRY SOCIETY

A message for 2010 from your Chairman

Peter White
our Chairman from
June 2007

Having had the benefit of watching David Middleton take the chair for the three years before I proceeded to the post, I have taken note of how important it is to let business take its course with a minimum of interference. He only stepped in to get things back on track when absolutely necessary, as did Eddie Stevens and Pat Austin before him. I hope to emulate this approach and refrain from chipping in too often when Chairing committee meetings. Just don’t get me started, as they say.

There is a wealth of experience on the committee and I’m confident we will have a mature approach to dealing with issues as they arise. The challenges for the Society have always hinged around two basics. How do we keep our members happy with their lot and what can we do to gather more members into the fold.

We are largely driven by our constitution and the committee has always been mindful of its basic responsibilities. As far as I know, we have always been able to mount our annual exhibition and competition, and the quarterly publication of The Marquetarian magazine has never faltered.

With the added benefit of this remarkably well developed web site we can be proud of doing, not just what our constitution drives us to do, but to exceed it by miles. We now have a very long arm to reach out with and I’m sure this will help us gather in new members to the Society.

I can remember only too well, many, many years ago, the delight of discovering that the Society existed, at a time when I thought I was the only person in the universe interested in marquetry. There must be many like me who are yet to make the same discovery and at times I feel like going around shouting - ‘don’t you know we’re here!’

Anyway, those of you who are interested in marquetry and have only just discovered this site, have a good browse around. There is so much here, I have no doubt that you will get caught up in the enthusiasm of the contributors and you will want to become one of us if you are not already.

Well done again Alan and the editorial team on your excellent development work. I’ll be back to the site again soon to see what else is new.

Peter White, Chairman

A letter from your new Hon. Secretary
A warm welcome from a most genial fellow

Dear All

Since Ashley Warren stood down, the Hon Secretary’s post has been run on a somewhat temporary basis. Firstly by Eddie Stevens who sadly passed away and then by our ubiquitous President Ernie Maxey.

I see my initial task as bringing some long term stability to the post.

The Marquetry Society had unfortunately reached a little bit of a critical point in its existence. The membership had dropped slightly and despite much hard work, recruiting new members had, for some unknown reason, proved to be difficult.

(Note from the Editor: since Neil wrote this piece in early September that situation has recently reversed very much in our favour with a sudden increase in new membership!)

As the Chairman said in his 2008 message we have always managed to put on the National Exhibition and to produce The Marquetarian on a quarterly basis.

We have a venue for the 2010 (and possibly 2011) Nationals but not for 2012, so far.

We now have a new editor for our publication, making the future of The Marquetarian secure.

Neil Micklewright
Our new Hon Sec
from mid 2008

The Meopham Group last year proved that, with an enthusiastic group led by an equally enthusiastic committee, you can put on a successful National and as I understand it recruit some new members as a bonus.

The number of members, however entering competition this year as opposed to actual entries was just over 100. This is only a small percentage of the membership and we do not need new members to up this figure. Existing members can do this and hence ensure the successful continuation of National Exhibitions.

Of the hundreds of enquiries (I wish!) that I have received from non-members since taking on the job, two are worth a mention. The first concerned a man who had inherited a marquetry kit which had no instructions. I sent him a copy of ‘Marquetry for Beginners by Ernie Ives’ and pointed him to the website. He rang me back thanking me on both accounts. The second was a man who wanted to buy Marquetarians for his niece as a present. I told him that she needed to be a member to receive copies. When I told him the cost of a membership he thought this was a bargain. Unfortunately his niece does not live close to a group but I told him help was always available through the website and the magazine.

I hope to be writing further on these subjects in more depth on the website and in The Marquetarian.

Neil Micklewright, Hon. Secretary.

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DVD OFFERS

Two Superb Special Offers!: Offer 1: The Publicity Dept of the Marquetry Society is now making available for purchase a DVD of the award winning pictures and applied pieces that were entered into our 2010 National Exhibition.

The DVD’s are a fantastic reference library of the very best examples from today's marquetry that you will be pleased to own.
The photography is all in high quality JPEG format and is available in a universal format.

The DVD’s are currently available at £8.00 each (UK) & $15.00 (USA)

Offer 2: We also have an excellent "Marquetry Techniques & Tips" DVD available at £10.00 (UK) & $20.00 (USA)

To purchase a copy of either DVD please contact our Publicity Dept by simply e-mailing your requirements to: peter@marquetry.org - (or if using Windows Mail, Outlook Express, etc, click here: peter@marquetry.org )

USA members -
please order your DVD through our USA representative Mr J. Monks (contact details on our Marquetry Society page)

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To contact the Marquetry Society Web Site please click this e-mail link: Web Site

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If you would like more details on The Marquetry Society, contact:

The Hon. General Secretary

Neil Micklewright
14 Buntingsdale Road
Market Drayton
Shropshire
TF9 1LT

Tel: 01630 656550

click here to e mail Neil

The Membership Secretary

Ken Southall
Aspen Cottage
Nettlestead
Ipswich
Suffolk, IP8 4QT

Tel: +44 (0)1473 831174

click here to e mail Ken

PRINTABLE MEMBERSHIP FORMS:-

For a membership form you can print and then submit to our membership secretary, Ken Southall (address above)
Click here

For a USA and Canada membership form
Click here

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Subscriptions

Location	To Join	Renewal
UK	£19. 00	£18. 00
Europe	£21. 00	£20. 00
Overseas	£23. 50	£22. 50

If you need a currency converter at the latest rates then click the link below

http://www.xe.net/ucc/full.shtml

Membership of The Marquetry Society includes the quarterly journal with hints, tips, letters, designs and of course the prizewinners from the National. Membership also entitles you to enter the National competition.

Special bank arrangements for USA and Canada

After some months of negotiations with the United States IRS Department, we have been granted Tax Exemption as a "Non Profit Organisation" and can now run a bank account in the USA for American members to pay their dues through. Will all US members and citizens wishing to join the Marquetry Society, please send their forms and checks via;

Mr G J Monks, 8071 Wildflower Way, San Diego, California, CA 92120

Should Canadian members also wish to avail themselves of the slightly preferential rates of currency exchange between US$ and C$, please do so through the same address.

All general enquiries should be sent via the Membership Secretary Ken Southall in the UK.

It is the policy of the Marquetry Society never to infringe any copyright holder's ownership rights in any way or form by knowingly displaying a copyright protected work on their web site, or in any of their publications, without the consent of the copyright holder.

If a copyright holder feels, however, that we may have compromised their position by inadvertently displaying a piece that may, or could, be viewed as possibly contravening their title of copyright over the work; would they please bring this to our attention by contacting us in the first instance via the e-mail links they will find on this web site.

We will then do our utmost to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, to the complete satisfaction of each party concerned. Any such item thus in dispute shall be removed from the web site while the infringement is being investigated and an appropriate notice shall be displayed in its place until the problem is amicably resolved.

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