When I last left you dear readers, I had arrived in Philadelphia for the 2016 SAQA conference. Friday of the conference was a big day for me 24 SAQA members. For months, I had been organizing two dozen speakers. These speakers were divided into rounds of eight. Each spoke for 6 minutes and 40 seconds about the topic of their choosing while a slide related to their talk advanced at an even 20 second pace. These type of talks are called PechaKuchas, Lightening Talks, and Ignite. We called them PK’s.
I had participated in a talk session like this at the 2014 Alaska State Council on the Arts conference as a featured artist. I wrote about that adventure here.
From that experience, I knew that these talks could be super fun for the presenters AND the listeners, I just needed to overcome my fear of technology and properly format the slides. With a little help from my SAQA friend Carrie Payne I did it. Thank you Carrie! I should also say that organizing these talks took lots of
The afternoon of the talks, a crowd gathered.
And stayed put for THREE hours. Riveted by our own ability to entertain ourselves. It was standing room only. Every one in that room left knowing that the members of SAQA are not only amazing artists but also incredible speakers. It was a thrilling event to be a part of. If you are a SAQA member (and if you are reading this blog you most likely should be), there will be a live broadcast of a selection of the presentations from the conference–called Lightening Talks-– this coming Tuesday. < >
To entice you to participate in the webinar, I am going to take the next three days to introduce you to the presenters from the conference. Here we go. Please click on the links and visits the artists first hand. I think you will meeting all of them.
Martha Ressler
27 Quilts in 30 Days
Martha Ressler accepted a challenge from her artist friend to join the international 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. Watch her fast paced progress through 30 days in January, breathlessly completing 27 quilts. Guess what happened to her quilts during that month? They became humorous!
Susan Polansky
Twenty Ways to Go Further: Exploring Inspiration and Discovery
You’ve reached a dead end, so you think. But wait…there’s more…could that be a path in front of you that just wasn’t visible from where you were first standing? I’ll share, through work in progress photos, both starting points and detours that helped me continue my creative journey.
Cindy Friedman
The Shadows
2015 Quilt National artist Cindy Friedman will share her personal fascination with shadows, and how she has spent the last five years making Shadowscapes featuring human figures and their shadows in any given landscape. Shadow reading is part of how our brain makes a fight or flight recognition and how we read volume and mass. It is a representation of a 3D object and has been frequently used as a tool by artists over history.
Diane Melms
Making textile art with kids……. pass it on!
Diane Melms has taught art to kids in public schools and in small group classes in her home studio. She shares tips to help you inspire the kids in your life to put down the cell phone and make something fun and creative with their hands. Share your passion and pass it on!
Jill Kerttula
A Walk in the Woods
Last October, I I had the privilege of living and working within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as an artist in residence. This presentation will be a look at both the experience itself, and the resulting photography and art quilts that resulted from my stay.
Karol Kusmaul
How an elementary school principal has influenced SAQA exhibitions worldwide!
You will hear a true story of how people from a small town in rural Florida can affect the world! A dramatic story of leadership, confidence, conflict, and persistence – with a happy ending.
Misty Cole
The Kung Fu of Quilting
Find out what kung fu really means and how you can be a kung fu master at quilting or any other endeavor.
Susanne Jones
Fly Me to the Moon
Preview The Fly Me to the Moon exhibition, marrying art and science. This celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon walk will be traveling the country for the next four years. Meet some of the stars of the exhibit, artists, and art quilts.
Join me tomorrow to meet eight new SAQA artists and hear their ideas. It is going to be good.
Maria! This is so awesome! I am excited that I will get to see some of these talks since I didn’t get to attend the conference!
Debby- I know. I am very grateful to Deborah Boschert who runs the SAQA webinars for deciding to make the talks a webinar. It is going to be great! I hope you are doing good!
Maria, thanks for sharing these. It was a fabulous group of talks!
Thank you Heather! The event was so much fun and I am glad you were a part of it!
Damn, I’m sorry I missed this. It sounds like the webinar was fantastic!
Carrie- If you are a SAQA member and I hope you are, then you can watch a rebroadcast once the live version is edited and put it on the SAQA website. In fact, the SAQA educaiton committee does a great job of creating webinars as a member’s benefit. Let me know if you need more info.
is SAQA an American only organisation or can people from the UK join?
SAQA is an international organization. It is totally worth joining!