President's Note from the Pacific Arts Journal, NS 1

Dear PAA Members:

Pacific Arts, the journal of the Pacific Arts Association, began as a newsletter. It was transformed by Phillip Dark, and then Jerome Feldman, into a significant journal in the field. Unfortunately, we ran into a series of managerial situations that prevented publication in recent years, with the last volume, #25, dated 2002. Now, after this 3 year hiatus, we are finally able to present the first in a new series of Pacific Arts, the Journal of the Pacific Arts Association. This series is being published in association with Jordan Wright and Volo Publishing Company, New York. Along with his dedicated staff, Virginia-Lee Webb and I decided to try some new things, as you will see, especially full color (and to help pay for that), advertising. It is, honestly, a work in progress and was a real learning experience for us. We know that it is very different and not quite “there” yet, but we felt that we really needed to get something out by the PAA-Europe meeting earlier this month as a start in getting the journal back on track. Frankly, the "new look" surprised many people, but their reactions resulted in many very fruitful discussions with a lot of positive suggestions and feedback that we are working on for the next issue. We are hopeful that discussions started there will lead to a new and permanent editorial board, with an active and involved group of peer reviewers.

This volume is New Series #1 and dated 2006. It includes only articles, as a result of space constraints due to a backlog of articles and our own learning curve. Future issues will also include a range of reviews (book, exhibition, and video), and with the establishment of a new editorial board, we are sure many other improvements and changes will take place. We hope to produce 2 issues this year, in addition to a "triple" volume that will end the old series, and represent volume numbers 26-28 (we hope all of our library and institutional members will be satisfied with this). In this way, we hope to both fill the vacuum of the last three years, while moving the journal forward. This is very ambitious, but we are committed, with Jordan's help, to putting the journal on a stable schedule. Please do know that we are developing specific guidelines for advertisers and for authors, and other such details.

All 2006 PAA members (dues paid) will receive two issues this year (NS 1 and NS 2). All those who were members during the period 2003-2005 will also receive the special triple issue. So, we encourage everyone to become current in their dues (go to the MEMBERSHIP to pay online).

There is another note from me in the journal that thanks many people who have worked on the different incarnations of the journal in the past in a variety of roles: Phillip Dark, Jerome Feldman, Roger Rose, Deborah Waite, Wendy Arbeit, Robert Kahekili Kenny, and George Ellis, among them. I also thanked Dorit Shafir, Shane Prine from WSU, Jennifer Hintze and Terri Czeczko from Wright (Volo) Publishing. Most especially, we would not be where we are now without the enthusiastic support of Jordan Wright and the unselfish dedication of Virginia-Lee Webb. We also thank all of the authors whose articles are finally being published in these volumes for their patience and assistance in this and forthcoming issues.Finally, I would like to thank the PAA members who are supporting the new Pacific Arts financially with their ads, contributions, and memberships.

We know that this issue is an experiment. The journal will continue to evolve. We are committed to it becoming a truly professional, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. We have a ways to go, but with your involvement and support, we believe this will happen. I welcome your comments, suggestions, and recommendations.

Sincerely,
Carol Ivory