I have been involved with TAE since it began 12 years ago, and I am always amazed each year by the generosity of our TAE Family! Every year we ask you to create and donate, free of charge, your art, time, and talent and every year you step up to help another charity! As always, you give us to worry, that no art will arrive on time and every year you put our doubts to shame as the art floods in the last two weeks! Why do artists always leave it to the last minute?
So, this year, we will be celebrating The Encephalitis Society in York and the work that they do in spreading awareness worldwide of the condition and giving help and advice to those who need it. I have seen this year, firsthand, the wonderful help they have been able to give a longtime TAE artist, whose wife has contracted encephalitis. Amazing that this year, we should support this charity and thereby help someone who has supported TAE for so many years!
THANKS to...
Our TAE22 Curator!
We have all enjoyed the exuberance that is Mathew Bose! Never again will there be such fabulous videos created to highlight the call for artists and make the basic 'housekeeping' of TAE such fun! Thank you, Mathew! You have been an absolute delight to work with! We have forgiven him for creating a postcard way bigger than the rules permit, as it is such a sublime giraffe. What hope do we have if the curator breaks the rules?
The fabulous team at The Encephalitis Society has also worked so hard to make the event run smoothly, and we thank them all too.
As ever, thanks to Carole Gray-Weihman for her work with the website and sorting all the tech to make a TAE sale happen. If you have had questions about the website, then Carole will have been there, helping you from California! We couldn't do it without her.
A big thank you to David Sandum and John Wilson who have both attended countless TAE Zoom meetings and floods of messages, as we all work out logistics each year!
Our thanks to artist Rachel Toll for creating the stunning front cover of the TAE22 Catalogue:
YORK 25th-26th June - TAE22 Gala and Sale.
Watch the event LIVE via the TAE website!
If you are coming to TAE22 at Hiscox Insurance in York at the weekend, we are excited to see you there! Remember, the Gala opening event on the Saturday 25th is by pre-registration only this year. But the Sunday 26th is open access for all! Come and go as you like and buy as much art as you can fit in your boots!
If you cannot make it to the sale in York, Carole has some great ways for you to watch the event live and hear where the sale will be held next year! Head over to our LIVE Channel on the Saturday evening (5pm-8pm UK time).
Online sales of the TAE22 cards, still available after the weekend, will open on the
29th June in the late afternoon UK time. The website is stuffed with ALL the cards we have been sent and you can go there and 'favourite' your favourites! Then you will be all set to press the BUY option when the online sale opens!
Goodbye from Cat:
I, Cat Salter-Smith, will be stepping down from volunteering with TAE after 7 years. I have sent a piece of art to every TAE sale since David Sandum mentioned it to me on Twitter all those years ago. I have, in that time, curated two TAE sales and helped behind the scenes with many others, as well as posting on all the TAE social media channels and creating the catalogue each year. I have loved being part of it, but now my personal life means I have to step down. I will of course continue to send art in the future and look forward to seeing how TAE develops!
A personal message from me.... TAE is not a big organisation and is only run by very few volunteers, who give up hours and hours of their time. Sometimes, it has to be said, we struggle to meet our everyday life and work commitments and keep on top of the TAE workload! We do get many kind messages of support and thanks from you all, which is lovely and makes it very worthwhile. But, just occasionally, a message or complaint is made public on social media, which knocks us down and can be hurtful. It is so easy, these days, to press the button to send a message, without maybe thinking about how it will impact someone at the other end. If you do have any complaints, just privately DM or email us and we will do all we can to help or adjust the problem.
Thanks again for another amazing year of support and generosity! Remember to spread the word about the online sale, when it starts, so we can sell ALL the cards and raise lots of cash for this wonderful charity!
Cat Salter-Smith (TAE Member)