On the 22^nd of July this year, the next version of the exposition of Dutch artists - members of the GSA in Hilversum - will start at the Galeria Sztuki Wspólczesnej (Gallery of Contemporary Art) in Opole. It will be an exposition with multiple disciplines; artists bring their paintings, ceramics, photography, structures, multimedia and (computer) graphics. The competing artists: Cecile van Spronsen, Dolf Schifferstein, Joost Schmidt, Douwina Govers, Frida Kole, Nora Baetens, Noor Sickens de Wal, Karen Ebert, Juul Bogemann, Aleksandra Govers-Zielinska.

The union of artists GSA recently celebrated its 60 years existance (it was founded the 13^th of may 1949). Herewith it has a rich history, not once with a struggle to maintain a gallery location. But the GSA survived the turbulence through the years, by the steady group of joined artists that would not allow it to disappear. The GSA is of great value to them, enabling the artists to combine their forces and interests. Today the GSA has a beautiful modern gallery which the organisation has occupied in 1997, in the center of Hilversum.

GSA means "Goois Scheppend Ambacht". "'t Gooi" is a region in the Netherlands with Hilversum as "capital". "Scheppend Ambacht" means "Creating Handicraft". Originally it was a union for artistic handicraft (textural art, ceramics, souvenirs) but after years it turned out to be impossible to maintain the conditions of entry for handicraft-artists only. Today the GSA is a society for artists of all disciplines of art. His artistic members are found not only in and around Hilversum but in the whole country as well. Membership is obtained after examination of their works by a commission responsible for it.

The GSA gives a platform for meetings of artists working in different branches of art, with the intention that the members receive mutual inspiration and achieve common projects as far as possible. One of the aims of the society is bringing together the biggest amount of different art-disciplines and a lasting continuation of that.

During the year 12 expositions are organized in the gallery of the GSA (with the possibility of buying works of art). Most of the time it concerns expositions of new works of GSA-members, but there are also expositions with works of guests from the country and from abroad. Further on there are thematic expositions as well. 

The GSA is a society for artists and guided by artists. The members are expected to participate in the activities of the society, to take part in commissions and to bring in ideas. These activities have resulted for instance in a exchange of artists between Poland and the Netherlands. In this respect GSA-member Aleksandra Govers-Zielinska, artist of Polish origin, is organising exchange-expositions. To that end the GSA welcomes in Hilversum every two years Polish artists who are nominated by the Galeria Sztuki Wspólczesnej and so does GSW in Opole every two years in respect of Dutch artists.