Karl Schutz Thrice Welcomed

Karl Schutz made his third visit to Prestoungrange on May 5th/ 7th and presented two Workshop sessions for local artists and for the public at large. They were held both indoors at The Hall in Cockenzie and on site at Kate Hunter's two murals and at the commencement of the third. They were extremely well received - as always.

He also held in depth discussions with Jane Bonnar, Director of our Arts Festival, on the operational aspects of the work in hand.

He was, he said "mightily impressed with the progress made in getting not only the initial murals painted but also the development of our pottery, our website, the Brushstrokes Newsletter and the comprehensive Gothenburg initiatives".

Indeed, he was so pleased that he has gone further and entrusted to us the challenge of taking over the WebMaster role of the Global Association itself. You will recall that Henry and Joyce in Bowen, Queensland had been calling for this initiative for some considerable while. This we are planning to get shipshape in time for an official unveiling at the Moosejaw Congress in mid October and the subsequent drive to get as many member's collections into the database as possible.

Essentially our Appointed Suppliers, Bis-Web, will create a database of murals and other public art around the globe with keyword search facilities. Inputs to the database will be online by the local members globally to a pre-agreed template (artist's name and CV + the story behind the mural itself ) with keywords for the search. In addition each member's own idiosyncratic website will be linked for the myriad other activities in hand.

Once the database is well in its stride the option for a hardcopy Murals of The Globe book will be further explored.

Further discusions took place on our proposal to host the next and 4th Global Congress in 2004 in Prestoungrange, but after careful deliberation it was decided to opt for the 5th Congress in 2006. Our Application to be considered will go to the Steering Committee of the Global association in Mossejaw in October.

Details of Karl's visit had been promoted in the first issue of Brushstrokes and that, together with the new fold-up A.3 x 8 leaflet on all the work of the Baron Courts, went through letterboxes across Prestonpans at the end of April.

To view the pictures taken from Karl's visit, click here.