How Can I Help the APG ?

I get asked that question alot. We started raising money by selling painted miniatures but the buyers market is small and can be hard to reach. Delivery of the painted pieces could be problematic. Shipping these things is risky at best. Delivering in person could also be a logistical problem. We still sell painted miniatures and several clubs have allowed us to put on a live auction and we try to man a table at the shows to sell the stuff in person. But selling painted miniatures isn't the only way we raise money. Here are some ideas for everyone, including folks that don't paint or collect to help.

Become a Member.
For an individual becoming a member is probably the easiest way to get involved. Membership is $35 a year with a $25 renewal. (for anyone under 18 the fee is $15 and $10) For $35 you will receive your choice of gift. Currently those choices are an APG T-shirt, personalized paperweight, or name tag. Other benefits are a 10% discount at Michael Roberts Ltd, 10% off APG Store items, and discounted admission to our show. Right now our membership is small but as it grows we hope to include other benefits and incentives to join. Just today I had some one who is in the process of starting a miniature company offer a %10 discount once he starts production.

Individuals can also make a donation. We are now officially a Not for Profit Organization registered in the Commonwealth of VA. and will soon have our 5013C status. (check with your tax guy for any benefits that may be appropriate) People can also check with their employers to see if they offer any matching funds for donations to Not for Profit groups. In many case these benefits aren't known to employees. It's a great way to double your money!

Club, Business, and Organizational Support.

We've asked clubs, business, and other organizations to support us with donations. For that we link your organizations' website to ours and list you on our website. Sort of free advertising. We hope to expand the benefits of that in the future. Another idea that could be fun would be for your group to have a raffle of donated items from your "grey army" at one of your meetings. Hold a flea market at your meeting and charge a percentage of sold items. Donate that to the APG. One club just put out a "donation" coffee can and filled it up at meetings. The Atlanta Military Figure Society has offered an annual donation from proceeds from their show. In this case the club is honoring their charter to educate, support the hobby, and military history.They have also graciously offered to pay our legal fees for gaining our Not for Profit and 5013C status. There are lots of ideas. Use your imagination! If you have any ideas on how we can raise money please share it with us.

We will soon anounce plans for a membership drive. Once the dates are decided we will offer a raffle if we gain 10 or more new members. The raffle prize will be a painted miniature. More to come on that.

Of course you can help by attending the show next summer. All of those profits will go to our restoration and conservation projects.

Remember that all donations of time, material, and resources go to our restoration, conservation, and preservation efforts. No one is paid and no compensation is given for anyones work. We have some small administration costs and most of that is donated.

Thanks for your support.

Mike Stelzel
President
APG

The Gettysburg Show 7 - 9 August 2009

The Artist Preservation Group invites you to join us in honoring the spirit of men like them on Aug 7-9 2009 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania at the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center. The APG will be hosting a miniature show and art exhibit in order to raise funds for our ongoing restoration and preservation projects. Here's a quick update on where we are for the 2009 Gettysburg Show:

- We're starting to line up seminars for the show. As of today we have Matt Springer, Chris Mrosko, and Keith Rocco. Matt will be doing is on the sculpting and painting of his 2009 APG bust. Chris will be giving us a demonstration of his superior airbrushing techniques. Keith will be giving his presentation titled "Working on a Grand Scale-Cycloramas". Several others are in the works and we will announce those when they become available.

- We have a contract with the hotel and they've given us an extremely good rate of $110 a night for double occupancy. That rate is good for one week prior to and one week after the show. We'd like to encourage folks to bring the family and make a vacation out of the weekend!

- We are also beginning to put up links on our web site (http://www.artistpreservationgroup.com/gettysburg.htm) for other attractions in the area as well as a link to the Gettysburg Visitors and Convention Bureau. For those traveling by air we will also be listing airports in the area and contact information on transportation from the airport to Gettysburg.

- In lieu of a banquet we are planning a barbeque on Sat. night. We are tinkering with some sort of a contest at the barbeque; John Jefferies is working this. Stand by for news on that. Should be fun.

- We've talked with Keven Dunne, and he's working on a event that would feature some reenactors and Picketts Charge. As soon as it's available we will post the list of events hosted by the National Park Service for those days encompassing the show. As a side note, there is no charge for these Battlefield Walks and they are excellent presentations that are given on location in the park. Mike attended one a few years ago on the fight at the Wheatfield and Rose Woods given by Scott Hartwig and it was superb. There are also demonstartions given at various locations in the park by reenactors on subjects like artillery, sharpshooters, infantry tactics, etc. We will post that info as well when available.

- Vendors are encouraged to contact John Jefferies ASAP for tables(birchtreejohn@aol.com) there is an incentive for booking early...

If you have any questions, please contact Mike (infomikeapg@aol.com), Patrick (fourkirks@aol.com) or John Jefferies (birchtreejohn@aol.com). Pete (pculos@histroybrush.com) or Kreston (kbpeckham@aol.com) are avialable for questions, too.

Summer 2007 Update

We will announce very soon our next project...folks are working hard to find the right project, and this year Pete Culos is heading this effort up. Pete is tying up some of the details and we expect to make an announcement very soon about our new project. Keep watching the blog and our website.

A couple changes we'd like to share with everyone; first, in regards to artwork donated for the auction, we will no longer be limiting donations to a piece limited to the subject or time period of the project we are undertalking. We have decided that we'll accpet artwork from all periods! We are really excited about this change, and hope it broadens the appeal of the auction but also interst within the APG! Second, we will no longer be holding our auctions on EBay! The problems with that venue are numerous and the logistics for delivering items difficult and have caused some concerns, so to eleviate that stress on us all we are looking at some new options for the auction. We have several ideas in mind for venues and will announce the decision very soon.

A quick update on the 2009 Show; the contact for the Eisenhower Convention Center, venue for the 2009 APG Show should be in the hands of our Hotel/Vendor Chairman in a very few days. After it's approved we will sign it and will officially be on our way. Dave and Lee Peschke have volunteered to help us get the word out by doing mail outs, while Rodger Spahr has contacted the local tourist bureau and is compiling info on things to do in Gettysburg and the surrounding area (yes, there is more to Adams County and the local area that the Civil War ;o) ), and we are proud to announce that Mrs Matt Springer has offered to handle the registration. Paul Kelly is working on designing a website for the 2009 Gettysburg Show and we'll have a page on the site with an advance registration form that can be aded and sent to Mrs. Springer.

Hope everyone is doing well...keep checking back here for updates, and the website, too!

2007 APG Auction

Thanks to everyone that participated in the auction!

We made our goal and the restoration process of the Fairchild artifacts will start this week. The folks at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum were very happy with what we've done.

A few pieces didn't sell and we will be offering them again either for sale on the website or at a show sometime in the near future. Keep checking back to the website and here for more updates!

The meeting with the hotel for the 2009 Show in Gettysburg went well and we will be asking for a contract very soon. Everything looks like a go right now so mark your calendars for the first weekend in Aug 2009.

The show staff is coming together very nicely. Lynnette Springer has agreed to take charge of registration for us and Kathi Myers has agreed to be our official hostess for the show.

We are looking for people to make commitments to help with organizing and running the show so if you are interested please let Mike Stelzel (usmcmks@aol.com) or Patrick Kirk (fourkirks@aol.com) know as soon as you can. The is a lot to be done and we can use the help. Some areas we would like some help in are but not limited to: Setup, Registration, Judging, Security, Awards Committee, and Show Publicity.

We've already had several discussions on how to improve our auction and fundraising for future projects. We have several good ideas and will get them on the street as soon as the final decisions are made.

The Moy painting by Keith Rocco (now owned by our very own Kreston Peckham) will become a plate in the Military Uniforms in America (MUIA) series by the Company of Military Historians. Looking forward to seeing that one.

Thanks again to everyone for your support.

Where we are...

We'd like to remind everyone that we are almost a month away from the Atlanta Show...and, if at all possible, we'd like your finished figure there as part of the APG Display. We've talked with the show chairman, and like last year, we'll have a show table set aside specifically for our auction items.

We would like to have all of the auction figures centerally located on that table along with the two paintings to convey a sense of unity and focus everyone who is interested in an auction item to one central location on the show floor as early as possible on Saturday morning.

If you plan to set up on Friday night, your welcome to have your figure judged as part of your display...However, we'd like to have them all centrally located on Saturday morning. If you don't plan to be at the show on Friday night, no worries, we've talked with head judge, and they've assured us that figures on this table are apart of the show just like all the others, and they too will be judged accordingly. We'd ask that you follow the normal protocol when filling out and registering your figures.

If you plan to have your figure at the Atlanta Show, and just important, if you don't, just shoot Mike a note so he can make the plans necessary to transport them and keep the head judge in the loop in regards to ensuring all are included in the show judging plan. Mike will have constant liason with the head judge on Friday night and then again on Saturday...

If you can't get your figure to the Atlanta Show, we need all auction figures finished by then...

Any further questions, get a hold of Mike or Patrick.

December Update

Upfront, we'd like to send to John Jefferies a speedy recovery from his recent hip replacement; if you would like to drop him a note, his email is: jjefferies@freeportny.gov
We continue to see some excellent figures being finished up; Matt's figure is done, and if you haven't seen it, check it out. Jon is well along the way with his 9th NY Standard Beare, and we just got word that Doug has finished his figure, and we should have those pictures in a couple weeks.
Also, Gary finished up his Fairchild portrait and Pete's canvas work is done; both are simply amazing!...
As a reminder, once you have your work done, shoot Mike a picture and he'll work with Paul to try and get those posted on the website. If you've finished your piece and Mike doesn't know, just shoot him a note, and we'll add your work to the website, and our next blog update, too.
Ken Thomas has agreed to make available free bases for those that are donating figures for out auction. To get a free base from Ken please contact Mike with your request and he'll forward it to Ken.
As a reminder, if you can't get to your APG figure at all this year, please let Mike know as soon as possible. Shoot him a note and let him know so we can update our website and arrangements can be made to return the figure(s) or pay for them and a base if you've received one from Ken Thomas.

November Update...

Lots of news to pass on after the Chicago and Long Island Shows... First we'd like to thank Kreston for arranging the display of artifacts from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum at the MMSI Show. It was a real treat to be able to view in person the items we plan to restore as well as some other significant Civil War artifacts. Thanks as well to Bill Brewster for coming down and patiently standing by the display and answering questions as well as his informative presentation. And of course a big thank you to Dave Peschke for giving us the space and hosting the exhibit and talk.