8. The Art Society Makes Plans

Erin O’Shea opens the Art Society meeting Monday evening a week after Glen Lund’s murder and says, “We had our break. It’s time to get back to deciding what to do with our earnings from the July 4th Art on the Lake Exhibit and make plans for next year. I’m sad we have to do this without Glen. We will miss his many contributions to our group.”

Rev. Penny says, “Yes, Glen loved art and did creative work. His style added a different dimension to our exhibits. If there are no objections I’d like to offer a brief prayer for Glen.”

No one objects so Joe says a brief prayer asking for God to receive Glen into heaven and to comfort Trudy with the blessings of the Holy Spirit in her time of grief.

Erin says, “Thanks, Joe. By now I expect all of us have heard the City Council plans to ask us to share the earnings from our exhibit. I don’t want to. We always put our earnings toward things that benefit people in our community. I don’t think to give the money to the City Treasurer satisfies our mission and it won’t help much given the size of the deficit from what I hear. Any other thoughts?”

Harrison says, “I haven’t thought about the city’s financial problems. I’ve been wracking my mind trying to think of a suitable tribute to Glen that adds to local culture. The best I’ve come up with is a large painted portrait of Glen for the Courthouse.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Harrison. We could also make a smaller portrait and give it to Trudy for sharing Glen with us on Monday evenings,” says Sarah Brown.

Pam says, ‘I agree with both suggestions. We can have a plaque made to include with the public portrait explaining Glen’s contributions to our community.”

“I agree, if no one disagrees, let's do it,” says Jolene.

“Done,” says Erin. “Who wants to paint the two portraits?”

“Since it was my idea, I’d like to paint the large one,” replies Harrison.

“And I’ll paint the small one for Trudy,” adds Sarah.

Erin says, “Great, I’ll be looking forward to seeing those portraits. Now, getting back to the issue of sharing our money with the city I want to tell you another reason I’m opposed to agreeing to any request from the city. Nancy Wells, the councilwoman came to my Cut and Curl salon last week. She said the council is seeking comments from citizens on fixing the budget deficit. As we talked she said she is disturbed by how much expenses have grown in the last two years. She told me she compared some of the recent increases with trends from five and six years ago. The trend lines from the past don’t match with the big increases in the last two years. I asked her if she discussed this with the mayor or the treasurer. She said no, she didn’t want to make waves. I’m not surprised. She always goes along with whatever the mayor wants.”

“That’s interesting,” says Jolene. “Jack Gauthier said something similar while I was cutting his hair this morning. He compared the percent increases in his home electric bill with the increases in the city’s electric bills for the last three years. According to Jack, the treasurer claims the city’s electric bills have increased due to inflation. Jack says his home bill has increased the same as inflation but the city’s bills have increased half again as much the last two years. He can’t figure out why.”

Pam says, “Maybe that’s why the mayor asked Glen to help Ralph Hess with the budget analysis. I agree with you, Erin. Let’s not agree to give the city any of our money, especially if there’s something funny going on,”

Harrison adds, “Looks like we all agree not to give any money to the city. I propose we allocate $800 for two high-quality benches for the parks, one for the park area by the harbor and the other for the public area in front of the Courthouse building. I further propose we give $300 to the food bank at the Methodist Church and allocate $400 for an air conditioner for this room. It’s beastly hot in here even with the windows open. We’ll be helping the poor as Fr. Joe wants and making this room cooler in summer. If we can find a bargain on room air conditioners we may have money left over for painting this drab room.”

After some discussion Erin says, “I think we have a consensus on Harrison’s proposals. Everyone agree?”

All nod their heads in agreement. Then Erin says, “Now we have to plan for next year. Any ideas for a theme?”

Jolene says, “Yes, I propose our theme be lake scenes. We can show tourists, and locals who don’t live on the lake, how the colors change from sunrise to sunset, and during the seasons of the year.”

“Could we include some with views of the harbor with the lake, some with views of the Perch Point Lighthouse with the lake, and some with views of the lake with fall foliage on the shore,” asks Harrison.

“Wonderful ideas, I’ve never looked at the lake under all conditions. It’ll be a blast painting scenes of the lake. Thank you, Jolene for thinking of the lake scene theme,” says Pam.

Erin says, “With all the enthusiasm for lake scenes I think we have our theme for next year. Well, it’s been a productive night. We know what we're doing with our money, and we’re not giving any to the city with there being questions about their budget. We have a theme for next year’s exhibit and we have a plan for a nice tribute to our friend Glen Lund. Let’s adjourn for tonight. See you all next week.”