Granite State Creatives

This is currently a small, casual group for art lovers, artists, writers, and anyone looking to explore the creative side of the New Hampshire Seacoast/ Rockingham, Hillsborough, and Merrimack Counties. Initially founded on Meetup as ‘The Manchester Artists Group’ in 2021 by Tristan Collins, a Graphic Designer of the locally renowned Hippo Press, the group would continue to grow and expand under new management as the Granite State Creatives in 2023.

You can now join us on Discord for discussion and updates! https://discord.gg/Gx37rc6Uuq

For those who do not have Discord downloaded for their phone or computer, you can access this link here! Afterward, access the link above to join our group discussions and updates!
https://discord.com/download

Your main organizers are Brittany Batchelder and Sierra Willenburg. Brittany Batchelder is the Main Organizer of the group. She is a professional Illustrator, Author, & Graphic Designer who currently freelances for Chronicle Books in San Francisco, California. She is native to NH and the Hillsborough county area. With creative exposure outside the New England region, such as residing in Cleveland, Ohio, she has returned to NH in hopes of spreading creative awareness. She will mainly hold events around the Manchester and Nashua areas within Hillsborough county, while also expanding around the Essex & Middlesex areas of Massachusetts.

Sierra Willenburg is the Co-Organizer of the group and is a professional UX Designer who has worked for well established companies in the state of Massachusetts. Native to the state of Vermont, Sierra has recently moved to the state of New Hampshire and looks forward to learning more about the community and its creative occupants. Sierra currently resides in the Rockingham county area and will mainly hold events within the Seacoast region and bringing assistance to the group.

This is mainly a meetup for those who are interested in the fine arts and commercial arts, ranging with skill sets of those with no experience to experienced and are interested in honing their skills and creative expression with en-plein air, sketching, painting, and digital works through the adobe suites or other applications (Non-AI), etc. We are all about supporting the process of creation and interests to self express with traditional and non-traditional media. We will also host a mix of coffee chats, working sessions where we can make art together, and visits to museums and galleries, etc. This is a great place to meet new friends, and explore art and creative expression. We welcome anyone who wants to participate in fostering their personal voice, artistic growth, and building the community needed to support those aspirations.

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for events, please reach out to one of our organizers! We are excited to hear your feedback and look forward to seeing you at our events!

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[LAST UPDATED: 03/09/2023]

Group Rules & Regulations:  Treat others with respect and kindness as you would with a friend or stranger. All participants who engage within this group are responsible for their own physical, mental, and emotional well-being and are self accountable for their own actions, behaviors, and participation. The main responsibilities of the organizers only act as primary liaisons to occurring events. We will not tolerate derogatory or inappropriate behavior. Failure to comply or to take into account the aforementioned, depending on circumstances, will face permanent exemption from the group and all future events.

Depending on the accessibility of the event, the organizer(s) will give a window of 15 minutes into the event to provide everyone the opportunity to attend. Allowing open communication with their attendees in the comments section of the occurring event only during the aforementioned time frame. If attendees fail to show up within the allotted time frame after the event starts, you will be marked as "absent" or "did not attend" and we will commence the event thereafter.

This is a NON-AI group, while we certainly do cover the subject matter as a topic within our group discussions, we do not support those who are more interested in collecting the hard-earned efforts of traditional and digital artists willing to step forward, share their vulnerabilities of the human experience, and taking their copyrighted work without their consent under the The Copyright Act of 1976, (Public Law 94-553) and putting it into a database to steal for profit. This is not the group for you if you're interested in learning how to make quick financial gain off the coat-tails of flourishing creatives & artists, or simply playing with technology that does more technological harm to the human condition than advancement, as the aforementioned is the antithesis to the fine art/ professional creative process and what this group represents. We want to promote a culture on the basis of human connectivity, passion, interest, and community support. We are aware that there are cases of individuals that have found interest in art through AI and are transitioning to taking the next steps in creating their own work from the joys and challenges that art brings in learning the fundamentals of creating line, shapes, forms, color theory, etc. through tablets, pencils, paintbrushes, and other forms of traditional and digital media. We are very much a group that emphasizes and supports the long term process of creating original, non-extrapolated work.

Please also be aware that in some rare cases (mainly en-plein air events), locations listed will not be able to provide exact address locations due to the limitations of the website's app itself. Exact addresses and coordinates, if not listed in main description or image header of the event , always make sure to check the Google Maps listing on the right side of the event's main description if your using the desktop app, or after the event's main description if you're using the phone app, to see additional information for exact meetup coordinates. Even if a location is listed in the header or event description, always make sure to double check the Google Map's description for more accurate meetup directions!

While we welcome individuals all ages, this group is specifically geared towards being 18+ only. If a parent of an adolescent or trusted caregiver decides to bring their child or children to one of our events, you are fully responsible for their wellbeing and safety, Granite State Creatives and it's organizers will hold no responsibility for looking after your child. Your child under the age of 18 must be accompanied by you at all times.

Make sure when applying for membership with our group, you must upload a clear photo of your face for confirmation, otherwise, your membership will be left continually pending if not properly applied. In some instances, your membership will be declined and you will have to apply again. These photos must be taken from a camera and not edited or extrapolated in any way, shape or form. For members who have applied prior to the date of March 8th, 2024 without a face/ portrait upload are exempted from this process due to this rule not initially enforced.

While events for our outdoor sessions mainly consist of en-plein air sessions, be sure to check back regularly on our main Meetup website concerning cancellations or extensions for inclement weather or other related updates. Be sure to also subscribe to our Discord server through the hyperlink above to receive reminders and real time updates for all of our events!

For further inquiries about group rules, regulations, and expectations, feel free to message Brittany Batchelder or Sierra Willenburg for further clarification.