This is from ACN member Sherri Lipman-McCauley
San Antonio, Texas - SAQA
Conference Review 2018
I attended the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) conference,
TEXtiles, in San Antonio, Texas early in
April. What an inspirational time I had. I wanted to share some of the
highlights with you. I served on the Special Events Committee, so I had some
insight into the amount of planning and number of volunteer hours it took to
pull this conference off.
It was exciting to be in a room
of about two hundred people who ‘get me’, if you know what I mean. I sat with
friends from Facebook in the flesh. I got to share meals with ‘rock stars’ of
the art quilting world. I heard some informative and entertaining talks. It was
a time to connect with like artists and to share our thoughts, techniques and
experiences in an informal setting.
The hotel setting was on the
Riverwalk and close to many historical sites. The conference included a variety
of activities including, a cruise on the river, SAQA committee presentations on
regional energy through local connections and upcoming 3D exhibitions. There
were great breakout sessions from Miki Rodriguez (Design Rebel), Heather Grant
(Best Practices for Professional Art Instructors), Lynne Koolish (Back to
Basics-Design Basics, That Is), and Carole Staples (TEXtiles Gallery Talk).
The Lightening Talks, 20 slides with 20 seconds per slide, were educational and entertaining. My talk on “Secrets of Painted Threads” was fun to put together, and a little intimidating to present.
The Lightening Talks, 20 slides with 20 seconds per slide, were educational and entertaining. My talk on “Secrets of Painted Threads” was fun to put together, and a little intimidating to present.
During some of the free time, I
toured a couple of the Mission sites and ate some great food!
The spotlight auction included
over 200 donated pieces. The auction took in just over $22,000! I managed to ‘win’ two pieces to add to my
collection. Here’s a photo of the piece I donated -
“Orange Notes”, 2018, 8”x 6”
I had a chance to attend the
rep meeting and gain insight into being an effective SAQA rep for my Texas
region and enjoy a couple meals with the SAQA board. I led a JAM (Juried Art
Member) photo scavenger hunt with Susie Monday. In a breakout session I
listened as Lynne Koolish discussed design elements. I heard Heather Grant
share insight on proposing class offerings in the quilt world, and I sat in on
a critique session with Judith Trager.
The keynote presentations from
Meg Cox and Jane Dunnewold were a great way to end the conference.
Meg presented “Tips and Tricks
for Giving Memorable Lectures Every Time”. She shared some personal stories and
included five tips: 1. Open yourself up wide to the audience, 2. Be dramatic:
good lectures are theatrical, 3. Humor is good: self-deprecating humor is
better, 4. Practice! Practice! Practice! and 5. Stage fright is real: make it
your friend.
Jane spoke about “Standing
Tall: Artists as Stewards of Our World”. She presented the seven chakras and
how we can apply them to nurturing our artists selves. Jane summed up the seven
challenges with her personal seven-line phrase, which she considers her daily
practice - 7. Stay in present time, 6. Seek only the Truth, 5. Surrender your
will to God, 4. Love is the only true power, 3. Honor Thyself, 2. Honor one another,
1. All is One. You can listen to her lecture here.
The TEXtiles regional exhibit
showed a great variety of Texas themed quilts. I had three pieces in the
exhibit-
“Triangled”, 2016, 40” x 40”
“Rescued Scraps”, 2017, 24” x 24”
“So It Flows”, 2018, 48” x 32”
Perks included a custom
designed conference bag filled with fun items and a great printed program with
all of the attendees’ email addresses. It was a great way to connect with old
and new SAQA friends.
San
Jose, California – April 25-28, 2019
Toronto,
Canada – March 19-22, 2020
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