MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Atlas Mill, Suite 150
CALL TO ORDER BY CHAIRPERSON TOM SUTTER
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 45
OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Tom Sutter, Mark Moderson, Gwen Sargeant, Linda Muldoon, David Buss, Laura Leimer, Karen Probst, James Krueger, and James Richter
REVIEW OF UPCOMING MEETINGS AND PROGRAMS:
June 21 – Light Up the Fox River- Luminary Celebration and River Bike Ride, Co-Chaired by our own Gwen Sargeant.
July 17 - The History of Fox Valley Technical College presented by Alice Dumke, Jerry Rickman and Ron Toshner.
August 18- AHS Cemetary Walk at Riverside Cemetary.
August 21 - The History of the Appleton YMCA presented by Bill Breider and Sue Pawlowski.
Sept 18 - History of Presto Products.
October 16 - History of Pierce Manufacturing.
November 20 – Appleton Picture Show.
December 7 – 7th AHS History Fair, Appleton City Center.
APPLETON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION:
Officers and Committee Chairs for the organization are as follows:
A. President - Thomas Sutter
B. Vice President - Christine Williams
C. Secretary – James Richter
D. Treasurer – Laura Leimer
Committee Chairs for the organization are as follows:
A. Mark and Karen Moderson, Principal Organizers
B. Brian Schneider, Technical Resources
C. David Buss, Research Specialist
D. Gwen Sargeant, Public Relations and Web Page
PRESIDENT SUTTER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
A. Thanks to Matt Jackering and last month’s program on the History of the Waverly Masonic Lodge #51.
B. The Wisconsin Magazine of History published by the State Historical Society has a
wonderful article in it’s current issue on Catwalder Washburn, a relative of Tom Sutter.
C, Another article published by the State Historical Society titled “Life on the Fox River
Locks” is also available. This article was written by our own Christine Williams.
D. AHS Board Member Linda Muldoon was featured in a Post Crescent Article on the
Butterly Project underway at Arbutus Park.
E. Sutter and Manske have been asked to do a History Display at the Menasha Public
Library.
F. Door Prize – a $10.00 Gift Certificate was donated by Van’s Northside Hardware. l.
G. HISTORIC EVENTS COMING IN THE AREA:
1.The Historic Grignon Mansion has reopened in downtown Kaukauna.
2.Open House at Pierce Manufacturing celebrating their 100th Anniversary, July 13th.
3. Light Up the Fox River Luminary Celebration and Bike Ride on June 21st.
H. Thanks again to Randy Stadtmueller for the use of Suite 150 in the historic Atlas Paper
Mill Complex for tonight’s meeting.
I. Just a reminder that previous meeting presentations can be found on YouTube.
J. Another reminder that Sutter and Schneider still have DVD videos of Appleton’s
historic trolley cars and their history.
K. We again encourage those who have not renewed their memberships to do so.
L. Presented a review of upcoming events and programs as listed above.
AHS Cemetary Walk – Sunday, August 18, 2013 Report:
As previously reported, the AHS Board has approved another Cemetary Walk. The event will be held on Sunday, August 18, 2013, at Riverside Cemetary. Gwen Sargeant will again be serving as Chairman. A number of Role Players have been arranged to appear during the tour.
PROGRAM – Transition “Appleton Gallery of Art” to the Trout Museum, Phil Sealy, presenter.
Phil Sealy, Background:
A. Board Member of Appleton Gallery of Arts and a local artist.
B. Arrived in Fox Valley in 1961, bringing his wife Faith and four children.
C. Helped form the Appleton Gallery of Arts in a cooperative effort to help artists promote and show their work.
D. His own art work is included in many private and corporate collections worldwide.
E. He’s known as “Sealy – the Dean” among local artists.
How It All Began:
A. In the 1940’s Chris Borwrent, an area art teacher, cited the need for a local art facility.
B. Finally in 1960 the Appleton Gallery of Arts was formally organized.
C. Initially met on the 2nd story of Heid Music Company. Had regular programs highlighting specific forms of art.
D. For 12 to 14 years they met at the Heid Music location. Programs evolved into doing actual demonstrations of different artistic types and styles.
E. In the 60’s AGA hosted their first art show at City Park in mid August with the works of seventeen painters being displayed. (2012 event had 300 exhibitors)
F. For a time they did have a Midwinter Art Show featuring local artists only, but then went to hosting an event highlighting a nationally known artist instead.
G. When the Valley Fair Mall opened in March of 1955 the management collaborated with leaders of the Appleton Gallery of Arts to do a Public Art Show twice a year at Valley Fair Mall.
The event was held for many years.
H. AGA then assisted in the development of the Secura Art Show began by Secura President Gordon Bubolz. This was a juried show and has been operated ever since. This year the show will move to the Trout Museum.
I. In 1972 AGA acquired it’s first building at the corner of Washington and Morrison Streets from owner George Cato. With $15,000 from their bank account and a Block Grant from Outagamie County they were able to make the purchase. In 10 years they had the $70.000 building paid for.
J. They had a sister organization that operated as the Appleton Art Gallery in a building owned by John McKenzie on Appleton Street. The Gallery operated until early 2000 and closed.
K. As the organization grew they found a need for a bigger facility and acquired the Brettschneider Furniture building on College Avenue, their current site.
Original Goals of the Organization:
A. Highlight the work of local artists.
B. Bring in noteworthy artists from the outside.
C. Strive to develop a permanent gallery.
The Appleton Gallery of Arts Today:
A. Their organization has evolved from all volunteers in a borrowed meeting room to buying their own building and hiring a Director and Staff.
B. They have become less of a social organization and more of a formal business.
C. Their building has recently been renamed “The Building for the Arts”.
D. Their College Avenue location have been well received. From that site public art education and training have been very successful.
E. When the Trout family showed interest in making the current AGA facility a repository for their collection, local leaders reacted quickly. Kurt Detjen, Director of the Community Foundation, and the AGA Board of Directors negotiated successfully to bring the Trout Collection to Appleton.
F. AGA received the collection as well as a $1,000,000 endowment to maintain the collection.
G. Although the Trout collection was a tremendous boom for AGA and the community, it created problems with local artists for 3 or 4 years. (Tim Riley was director during this time)
H. When they hired their current director, Pamela, she restored good relations with the art community.
I. Currently doing a $2,000,000 fund drive to (1) help debt reduction; (2) cover remodeling and rebuilding expenses, and (3) offset the cost of having professional art teachers on staff.
J. One of their biggest challenges has been to maintain and rotate exhibits, as well as properly preserve all of their collection and display items.
Respectfully, James L. Richter
AHS Secretary, 7/1/13