FROM THE PRESIDENT - AKI KANO
To my Fellow Artists and AAPL Members- I am so pleased and proud to present to you the AAPL’s 93rd Grand National Exhibition! Congratulations to all the talented artists in the show. It is an honor to serve as President of this almost 100-year-old art organization with over 500 members — and still growing! I am thrilled that our show is back to being in-person at the beautiful Salmagundi Club in Manhattan. Despite all the hardships and challenges, 2021 has been a productive and dynamic year for the AAPL. •
We started off the year with our annual Members’ Only online show, which can be viewed on our website, www.aaplinc.org.
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We donated a scholarship to ARC (Art Renewal Center) for the first time and awarded $2000 to an accomplished, young American artist. Our AAPL Award recipient Ryan Gondarowski’s painting is on display at this year’s show. We hope to continue this partnership with ARC going forward.
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Our website, logo and branding have been revamped and updated. It was definitely a team effort to complete this big endeavor and I thank everyone who helped make it happen.
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We streamlined our membership categories.
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We held our first Studio Auction Sale with Bidsquare earlier this summer and we are gratified to have a selection of work from the 93rd GNE available for a “buy now” sale again on this platform. (www.bidsquare.com)
I’m excited to let you know that we’ve added several new awards to our list this year, including two Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine Awards of Excellence which will grant FAC website ads to two artists, several new merchandise awards and AAPL Board of Directors Awards in all 5 medium categories! Thank you to the AAPL board members who worked so hard to make this show possible. I am especially grateful to the support from the organization’s loyal members, award sponsors, patrons and benefactors. I hope you are inspired by this year’s show! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any comments or feedback on the 93rd GNE. I’d love to hear from you at: aaplpres@gmail.com Sincerely, Aki Kano
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