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.
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”x6” |
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: “Standing Tall: Artists as Stewards of Our World”
The TEXtiles regional
exhibit showed a great variety of Texas themed quilts. I had three pieces in
the exhibit-
 |
| "Triangled", 2016, 40"x40" |
 |
| "Rescued Scraps", 2017, 24"x24" |
 |
| "So It Flows", 2018, 48"x32" |
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.
Future
SAQA conference locations are:
San
Jose, California – April 25-28, 2019
Toronto,
Canada – March 19-22, 2020
If
you are interested in more details on the conference, shoot me an email at sherri.L@mccauley.net.
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